[Marxism] re: More on Morales explusion from COB

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

the expulsion of the leader of MAS and of the six
federations of coca growers of  Cochabamba, Evo Morales, for "traitor",
"vendepatria" and "Mesista".

I misread this passage as saying that the six federations had been
expelled along with Morales, but I now recognize that's not what it
says.  Of course, this would have made the move worse.   I have a sense
that the split is bad, even if Morales' course should be opposed, as is
entirely possible.  I have had this sense that things might be off
course in Bolivia, with factionalism a major problem, since I read the
article by the post-Grant group's Jorge Martin hailing the first stages
of the break between COB and Morales.

"Division in the face of the enemy was never a revolutionary or
intelligent policy."  When Fidel broke with the Miami bourgeois
opponents of Batista in 1955, he did it with clear politics, not
hysteria about treason and vendepatria although these people  were
vendepatria in fact, as the revolution demonstrated. He tried to keep
lines open for the broadest fight against the dictatorship, while
pursuing the revolutionary course of the July 26 Movement.

I've got a nose for trouble of this type, and the tone of the COB's
actions smells like trouble for the struggle to me.  Why can't the
counter-lines of the boycott and the line of referendum be tested in
practice, without definitively splitting the movement over it at a time
when military plotting is accelerating? If Morales is a  TRAITOR, how
does the union leadership plan to punish what might be viewed as a
capital offense?  And will the COB leaders oppose a coup against the
present government in the spirit that Lenin opposed Kornilov or will
they put their opposition to Mesa and Morales first?

I hope it all works out for the best.
Fred Feldman

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