Re: [Marxism] Preventive Detention

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

David Schanoes wrote:
> The moderator has outdone himself (not really) imposing moderation on me
> before I even respond to Bustelo's bluster.  Real Marxist method that is
> of encourgaging deep, penetrating analysis.
>
> What a  joke.
>
> Adios, Bustelo, that's a weak brew you're trying to promote as coffee.

For recent subscribers to the list, a word or two of explanation is in
order. David Schanoes has been subbed to the list in one guise or another
for perhaps the last 3 years. After I placed him and Joaquin on moderation,
they both unsubbed in protest. When Schanoes (who had been posting as
"rrubinelli") reappeared as "sartesian", another one of his tags, I decided
to place him on moderation if for no other reason that he has a rather
checkered history not just on Marxmail but other mailing lists. He was
banned from both LBO-Talk and PEN-L and has unsubbed in anger here too many
times for me to keep track. Generally speaking, I don't unsub him. Instead,
he storms out in protest over one or another issue like the supposed
"Malthusianism" of Marxmail subscribers, including me.

To put it bluntly, if he or anybody else views Marxmail as a place to
reenact the great "dividing line" fights between Marxism and revisionism of
the past 120 years, they'd better look elsewhere.

And, just to repeat a point to Joaquin that I've made before, I would
strongly advise him not to leap immediately into the "scratch to gangrene"
mode that he has exhibited here over the past 6 months. I am not Judge Judy
and have little patience for acting as a referee. I am sure that he
understands that this list is a valuable forum and should respect the norms
that I am struggling to uphold.

Finally, our enemy is the capitalist ruling class not the Marxist movement
broadly speaking. If we "defeat" our Marxist opponents ideologically, it
does not follow logically that capitalism is weakened. Our emphasis, it
seems to me, should be on exposing the contradictions of the capitalist
system and challenging the propaganda on its behalf from the obvious
sell-outs like the Euston group or the "anybody but Bush" spokesmen of 2
years ago.

My friend Cynthia Cochran, who is the widow of Bert Cochran, once told me
that she understood internecine fights on the left as an expression of our
weakness. Lacking the ability to deliver significant blows against the
ruling class, we seek to feel like victors in our squabbles among
ourselves. Let's try to break this bad habit.


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