[Marxism] Michael Moore, Paul Berman and John Weeks

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(In doing some background research on Michael Moore for a Revolution
Magazine article on Fahrenheit 9/11, I found an article that reminded me
why I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him whatever mistakes
he makes around electoral politics. In 1990, I was setting up a debate
on Nicaragua with Paul Berman defending a kind of State Department
liberalism that would eventually reach epic proportions around NATO's
war on Yugoslavia. Moore seemed like the logical choice for debating
Berman and he agreed to do so after I called him up. This was just
around the time he was starting to make "Roger and Me", I believe, and
before he had become a big-time celebrity. Unaccountably, I took the
advice of NACLA to go with a crypto-Maoist named John Weeks who was
teaching at Middlebury and who was some kind of "expert" on Nicaragua.
Berman read a from carefully prepared article, while Weeks "winged" it.
As bad as it was to not come prepared, Weeks compounded matters by
presenting an ultraleft analysis of the FSLN, namely that it was doing
nothing in Nicaragua except trying to become another Mexican PRI. So the
USA was acting foolishly when it tried to destroy what was nothing
except a nationalist and reformist government. At the time, I was too
pissed off at Weeks to follow up with a suggestion, namely that he use
his good graces as an "expert" on Nicaragua to explain the error of
their ways to the CIA and the "secret team".)



The New York Times
September 27, 1986, Saturday, Late City Final Edition

HEADLINE: RADICAL MAGAZINE REMOVES EDITOR, SETTING OFF A WIDENING
POLITICAL DEBATE

BYLINE: By ALEX S. JONES

Mother Jones, the radical magazine that says it is the nation's largest
political monthly, has removed its editor, who has filed a $2 million
lawsuit. The situation prompted a bitter debate in the columns of other
publications with similar views.

The editor, Michael Moore , said he was dismissed in early September,
after four months on the job, in large part because he opposed the
publication of an article critical of the Government of Nicaragua.

Adam Hochschild, chairman of the Foundation for National Progress, the
nonprofit organization that owns Mother Jones, said that Mr. Moore was
asked to give up his post because of inadequate job performance that had
nothing to do with ideological issues. But senior staff members also say
that Mr. Moore was so rigidly ideological that he opposed publication of
a legitimate article because of his disagreement with its conclusions.

Columnists at The Nation, The Village Voice and other liberal
publications have lined up on opposite sides in the fray, which has
intensified in recent weeks from an angry internal dispute to a
full-blown public battle waged in print and colored by old feuds and
rivalries.

'The Neanderthals Are Afraid'

But the debate has also raised the larger issue of whether journals that
are left of center should critically examine causes of similar orientation.

''I think there is a conflict between the modern democratic left and a
few Neanderthal remnants of the 30's, and the Neanderthals are afraid of
an open public debate about political values,'' said Paul Berman, a
Village Voice columnist who wrote the article Mr. Moore opposed. The
article refers to the Sandinistas as Leninists and describes human
rights and economic lapses of the Government, although Mr. Berman said
he remained a supporter of the Sandinista revolution.

Mr. Moore said that he opposed the article because it was untrue, not
because it was critical, and because its appearance in Mother Jones
could be used by the Reagan Administration against the Sandinistas. The
article is scheduled for publication in December, according to Mr.
Hochschild.

The controversy intensified as Mother Jones was trying to fashion a new,
aggressive editorial policy to recoup flagging circulation.

Peak Circulation of 238,000

Mother Jones, which is based in San Francisco, was founded by Mr.
Hochschild and others in 1976 as a muckraking magazine of the left that
was named in honor of Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, a militant union
organizer and Socialist who died in 1930 at the age of 100.

Circulation peaked in 1980 at 238,000, according to the Audit Bureau of
Circulations, but slipped precipitously in the Reagan years to about
140,000. This year circulation has bounced back to 160,000, largely
through a sweepstakes offer, according to Deirdre English, who preceded
Mr. Moore as editor. But a consensus remained that the magazine needed
an editorial slant away from the fiction and culture that Ms. English
had included and toward its muckraking roots.

Mr. Hochschild, 43 years old, who has used his inheritance from family
mining interests to shore up Mother Jones's substantial deficits, chose
Mr. Moore to be the new editorial leader. Mr. Moore, 32, was editor of
The Michigan Voice, a militant monthly based in Flint, Mich.

Mr. Moore's first issue scored a public relations coup with a cover
article by Ben Hamper, a Flint automobile worker, headlined ''Revenge of
the Rivethead,'' which described life on an auto assembly line. But Mr.
Moore's relationship with his staff was stormy, with acrimonious
disputes over a range of issues, including the Berman article.

Mr. Hochschild insisted that the article be published but agreed to let
Mr. Moore commission another article, to appear with it, by Alexander
Cockburn, a columnist for The Nation who has called Mr. Berman a
''right-wing'' columnist. After Mr. Moore's removal, Mother Jones
decided Mr. Berman's article should appear alone.

According to Mr. Moore, his removal was also linked to his objection to
the Aug. 1 dismissal of Richard Schauffler, an advertising salesman who
lost his job after one day.

Mr. Schauffler had been a member of the Democratic Workers Party, an
organization that he describes as ''left of Mother Jones.'' He said he
had been told that he had been dismissed because of his affiliation with
that organization.

Don Hazen, publisher of Mother Jones, said Mr. Schauffler's dismissal
was a ''business decision'' because Mr. Schauffler's past affiliation
would have made him ineffective as an advertising salesman. California
law prohibits termination for political affiliation, and Mr. Schauffler
has filed a grievance through District 65 of the United Automobile
Workers, the union that represents Mother Jones employees. The grievance
remains unresolved.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Hochschild told Mr. Moore he must give up his position
as editor, and five days later Mr. Moore filed a suit charging fraud and
breach of contract and asking $2 million in damages. He said the Berman
and Schauffler disputes were the principal reasons for his dismissal.

Mr. Hochschild and other senior members of the magazine staff say that
Mr. Moore was unable to lead the magazine effectively.

''He was impossible to deal with,'' said Bruce Dancis, the managing
editor, who added that Mr. Moore's failings included missing deadlines,
an unwillingness to consult with other top editors and failure to
attract writers. Mr. Moore said such charges are false.

Soon after the dismissal, other publications with similar political
views joined the battle.

Many specialists in the field say that, if the row continues and
undermines Mother Jones's credibility with its readers, it can do
serious financial harm to the magazine, which depends on supporters to
provide about $500,000 of its $3 million annual budget. And they say
that the dispute comes at a time when the ideological left is already
much diminished by the nation's movement toward the center and right.

But Mr. Moore said he had no intention of backing down.

''The magazine is damaging itself -I'm not damaging the magazine,'' he said.

--
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism