Re: [Marxism] re: New Orleans: "It's the system." - are we missing an opportunity?

[Josh Saxe <joshsaxe@xxxxxxxxx>]

"But despite the clear and unmistakable validity of a Marxist,
anti-capitalist critique in a situation like this, I think we greatly
suffer from our total lack of an objective presence on the streets."

Junaid, for once we have similar sentiments.

But I'm struck here because I've heard nothing but cynicism from you
on this list about the existing left organizations - whether it's that
they're sectarian, don't have a serious analysis of race, oppose third
world nationalism, or are paralyzed by dogma there is some reason to
write off the work those of us in Marxist organizations are doing to
remedy the very situation you are deploring - the lack of an organized
presence of socialism in the lives and consciousness of the oppressed
in the U.S.  You talk about how "white nationalism" gets glossed over
-yes I agree intellectually, but not with your sectarian attitude
towards white workers- but how about the cynicism of academic Marxists
and other Marxist intellectuals who write, talk and discuss constantly
as a part of advancing their careers but are totally alien to the life
and struggles of American workers, who have no plans to build
revolutionary circles organized on the basis of anything more than
just talk?  But you'll probably just dismiss this as "workerism" - a
writing off of activity in the SWP tradition which by the way is
partially responsible for the absence of socialist militants amongst
the black working class of New Orleans (I'll bet the CP has members
there and would be interested to hear of their activity within the
prisons that have been the refugee centers there)...
Anyways, you might have some issue with every single grouplet of
Marxists trying to build itself up - whether they are inside the
unions or outside, supporters of the Democratic party or not, think of
themselves as a "vanguard" or not, but if so, and this question goes
out to all of the "independent" Marxists on this list, why are you not
trying to build new circles of revolutionaries that are equipped to
_act_ even in small ways in the face of a crisis like this?
Josh

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism