Re: [Marxism] re:Buying off the German people [carlos], and Greens [david]

["Ian Pace" <ian@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "M. Junaid Alam" <mjunaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>
> The problem with the Greens in being mostly white and mostly middle
> class -
> well, that is the "problem" with most of us. I don't think it's necessary
> to fret too much about this in the sense that we have to start off
> somewhere,
> and we are obviously starting off at the beginning. If the leftist Greens
> have good politics, then who cares what their specific backgrounds are.
> Any
> socialist/radical group in this country of any size doing good work in any
> area
> of activism is basically the same . If we could start off at where we are
> supposed to end up - with all the good "ordinary" folks already lined up
> among us - well then things would be rather easy and we'd be living in a
> utopia.
>
> It's vulgar reductionism typical of the Trotskyist movement, and probably
> others, to dismiss people as having "petty-bourgeois" backgrounds as a
> means of avoiding the real issues. Historically, most revolutionary
> upsurges in history were led in some major way theoretically and/or
> politically by that layer in society directly above the masses. Anarchists
> do a lot of handwringing on this subject when harping on Lenin's concept
> of "professional revolutionaries", but the historical record cannot be
> denied on this score. Middle class layers - professionals,
> intellectuals, writers - can be leaders of mass movements. The real
> question is only whether they individually choose to adopt the defense of
> the masses or become traitors
> or simply remain aloof. And that depends on the individual. To suggest
> otherwise is vulgarized Marxism.
That's not vulgarised Marxism, it's a serious scepticism about how reliable
the allegiances of middle class people can be, and how their 'defence of the
masses' might manifest itself upon leading a movement which gained power (a
very real question with respect the history of Eastern European communism).
A mass movement primarily led by middle class people should always be
questioned. If you want to call that Trotskyist reductionism, then so be it.

Solidarity,
Ian



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