[Marxism] Neoconservatives and Trotskyism

[David Walters <dwalters@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Having known a few of these Trotskyist-turned-neo-cons personally, the
evolution is fascinating, to say the least. The TV documentary on The
New York Intellectuals (I think the title was something else) explains
the real common thread between all of them, especially the older
generation: they were almost all academics or students. I can't think
of one that was an exception to this. That is, they came to
Marxism-Leninism via the intellectual ferment of the 1930s,  a very
large percentage from CCNY, albeit not all of them. None of them to my
knowledge were recruited directly out of the massive working class
struggles of this decade, a struggle that turned the Marxist-Leninist
SWP into a mostly blue-collar, industrial based party. It's also true,
interestingly, that most of these intellectuals attracted to
Bolshevik-Leninism were given second-class citizenship inside the SWP,
reflecting the 'syndicalist-demeanor' of the Marxist-Leninist movement
then. While most of these intellectuals came from working class
backgrounds (thus their attendance at CCNY and not Columbia or NYU)
workers recruited to Marxism-Leninism-Trotskyism, while quitting the
movement, rarely, it seems, became professional anti-communists.

Back in the 1970s, at various places of work in industry, I would run
into ex-SWPers from the 1940s, always good trade unionists, always with
fond memories of being a Leninist in the 1940s, battling the boss,
social-democrats, CPers, etc.

David Walters


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