[Marxism] Another Chavez or another Lula

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 I agree with Carrol...then,on the other hand I think this thread is good in
a way. And I say that as one who is inclined to prematurely cheerlead
Morales and revolution going on in South America as a region. I think the
comrades who are expressing caution and skepticism about Morales and others
do us a service by forcing us to study soberly the recent and long term
history of Bolivia and the other countries.

Carrol's main point that our activities must be where we are, and that most
on this list are not in Bolivia is still undeniable. But to that point, it
seems to me that there may be some ways in which the revolution in South
America may become a revolution in the whole hemisphere. At the very least,
our practice in the U.S. must include preparing to oppose our imperialist ,
dog, pig state from militarily attacking or otherwise intervening in Bolivia
or elsewhere in that region - regular old solidarity work. But I wonder if
we can get inspiration from South America for what we do in North America.
What about working to get local areas to take Chavez up on his offers of
cheap oil for the poor ? Are there other ways to connect the U.S. working
class to the "movement" in the South ?

So, perhaps we can get some inspiration from the success there for our work
here. Elan is a necessary aspect of revolutionary activity. Revolutionaries
around the world were inspired to act in their own countries by the success
of the Great October Revolution.

So, we must find a unity in the opposites of inspiration and
sobriety-for-analysis.


Charles


^^^^^^^
Carrol Cox

Fred Feldman wrote:
>
> Why is this thread continuing?

Yes, my question from the beginning. Even if Morales turns out to be a
Menem, his critics on this are already wrong -- they are substituting
mere speculation about a foreign struggle for concrete consideration of
OUR tasks, HERE, in the U.s. In the past it seems to me that Walter
Lippman has done something similar: he has substituted an abstract
(verbal) defense of Cuban foreign policy for our concrete task of
building a left movement in the U.S. But at his worst, Walter is only a
nuisance, not an aggressive barrier to useful political discussion. One
can only speculate that these premature critics of Morales, having
nothing useful to do themselves in their own locations, have substituted
such speculation for the absence of political practice here.

> This kind of speculation when Morales
> has hardly spent a week in office becomes truly bizarre as it drags on.
> I know I have said all I have to say at this point.  I await the
> judgement of the facts,

"Bizarre" is almost too kind a description.

Does anyone on this list have some proposals, even speculative ones, on
what the scattered marxists in the u.s. might do to move forward the
struggle here.

This way of putting it implies the belief that it is unattached
marxists, not members of 'organized' grouplets, who have most to
contribute to the growth of a more coherent left in the u.s.

Carrol



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