Re: [Marxism] Antideutsche, once again

[Les Schaffer <schaffer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Henning Böke wrote:
> Normally I do not write on Marxmail because the dogmatic style
> predominating on this list is not my cup of tea. Expressions like
> "petty-bourgeois left" do not belong to my vocabulary because  ...

i join with others here in welcoming Henning to active participation in
the list.

in THAT spirit, i thought it would be interesting to check how many
times the phrase "petty-bourgeois left" showed up in Marxmail posts.

a '"petty-bourgeois left" site:archives.econ.utah.edu' at google shows
there are a total of 4 uses of the term over a 5 year period. see below.

my point is NOT that Marxmail is free of dogmatic style, but that its
best to be somewhat analytical about how strong or frequent such style
appears, and under what conditions.

and, yes, there are over 10000 hits for the plain term
"petty-bourgeois". i'll leave it to some resourceful subscriber to make
careful analysis of the use of the term. for example:

    As long as we do not use the term petit-bourgeois pejoratively, it 
    may be occasionally useful.  The politics of Ralph Nader, for 
    instance, may be usefully described as petit-bourgeois reformism, and 
    that is one of the reasons why I'm supporting it.

    Yoshie

    http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2004w33/msg00162.htm
      


les schaffer




1. /Date/: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 14:02:25 +0100 (GMT) (message sent twice)

    The dedication of many comrades amongst the petty bourgeois left in
    opposition
    to the Turkish regime is not in question.

in

    =========================================
    Weekly Worker 396 Thursday August 23 2001
    =========================================

    Death fasts
    Marxists and the politics of suicide
    Aziz Demir analyses the class background to the hunger strike by
    political prisoners in Turkey.

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2001/msg05727.htm

2. /Date/: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 20:39:39 -0500

    STAN SMITH WRITES
    I am not a partisan of the US SWP, but in fairness to that
    organization, some of you are being a little too dramatic
    in your characterizations. The SWP always had the tendency
    to characterize others in the movement as social democrats,
    stalinists, various other types of petty bourgeois
    left-wing, radical "opponents". This was always somewhat
    sectarian

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2003w49/msg00124.htm

3. /Date/: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 05:42:14 EST (message sent twice)

    The intellectual core of the black elite is leagues ahead of the petty
    bourgeois left and the bourgeois intellectual concerning American
    history and
    politics.

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2004w07/msg00253.htm

4. /Date/: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 01:26:41 -0400

    All SWP politics today starts from the defense of its bureaucratic
    organizational structures (the norms, the centralism, the discipline,
    the permanent leadership team). The starting point is opposition to the
    "opponents," the petty-bourgeois left or nationalists, who prevent
    workers from joining the SWP or related groups, or exert pressure on
    members to differ with the leadership.

http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2005w15/msg00047.htm




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