[Marxism] Re: Critical Support

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Nestor wrote:

"...between a semicolony and an imperialist nation, the
duty of any radical was with the semicolony.

Critical support, under such a condition, implies remembering that
'critical' is ADJECTIVE to 'support'.  Trotsky did _not_ choose the
term "supportive criticism", much less the term "unsupportive
criticism". So that if one stands with LDT, then must support Mugabe
and criticize him (if one can do so) by generating a bolder and more
coherent alternative to offer to the Z. masses."

And more specifically,
Nestor Gorojovsky added:

"The practical problem, however, is how to replace that government
with one that confronts imperialism by resorting to "extreme" (that
is, socialist) measures, when it is the _imperialists_ who want the
civil war and the camp of the workers and peasants has been weakened
by the very government that one wants to replace?

While you can't replace it, you must push it forward or at least
offer the masses a program to push it forward, in the hope that you
will be able to offer a credible alternative. If you can't do that,
then you should refrain of any move that sets you on the side of
imperialism, if you want to ever be (again) credible for the masses
in the future.

If you don't, then you will load the word "Left" with such a nasty
odor that you would rather face the masses saying that you belong to
the Clownist Party never the Communist Party. Maybe this way you will
catch their attention for a little while."

With respect to Nestor's analysis, do well-intentioned campaigns,  
such as the one on Zimbabwe sponsored by Eric Lee on the Labour Notes  
website, unwittingly become another tool in the toolbox of  
imperialism?  Since Eric and I both belong to the same union, the  
IWW, and since Eric posts a column on a regular basis in our monthly  
newspaper the Industrial Worker, I have more than a passing interest  
on the subject.  As you may be aware, the current incarnation of the  
IWW does good work organizing immigrant workers and service sector  
employees, is involved with the Immokalee Worker coalition which has  
successfully targeted such huge corporations as Taco Bell and   
McDonalds, and has made strong gains organizing the Starbucks Workers  
Union (SWU). The IWW's creative meld of loose anarcho-syndicalist  
structure and strong marxist-based class analysis draws people from  
diverse political orientations.  This is both a strength and a  
weakness.  The following is a letter I forwarded to my local branch,  
the upstate NY James Connolly Branch of the IWW:

Hello Fellow Workers,

As you know, FW Eric Lee runs Labour Notes, an on-line educational  
website which also mounts pressure campaigns in support of unions  
across the globe. You may or may not be aware that one of the recent  
campaigns has involved the ZCTU and a two day work stoppage in  
Zimbabwe, (which by the way flopped), with the intention of  
undermining the admittedly autocratic and disastrous Mugabe regime.   
A contributor on Marxmail posted an article published in the "Sunday  
Mail Reporter" which details an eight point program by the US State  
Dept. to destabilize Mugabe's government. One of those planks was  
devoted to funding and supporting the ZCTU, and, in particular, the  
recent two day work stoppage. My question to fellow workers is,  
should Labour Notes and Eric Lee be actively involved in supporting a  
pressure campaign, in conjunction with the US State Dept., to  
destabilize and undermine Zimbabwe's Mugabe government? What position  
should our union, if any, have on the matter?

Below are the websites for the news article,
and for the Labour Notes campaign in support of the ZCTU.

http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1490&cat=12

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/ 
show_campaign.cgi?c=212


OBU,
FW Greg McDonald



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