[Marxism] sectarian? Re: The Obama Cult

["Dayne Goodwin" <daynegoodwin@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Fred Feldman <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> . . .
> because we are dealing with deeply consolidated sectarian phenomena on
> the US left.
>
   . . .


I agree that sectarian-ism is a deeply consolidated problem on the U.S.
left.  I assume that Fred - as a veteran of decades within one of the deeply
sectarian U.S. left organizations - is quite familiar with sectarianism.
But i don't understand why Fred lodges an accusation of sectarianism in the
midst of discussion on this list.

The word "sectarian" is used in the marxist movement to refer to
organizations which put their own organizational self-interest - their sect
- ahead of the best interests of the working class generally.  (Of  course
the validity of the charge is a matter of judgment.)

If Fred thinks that it is in the best interests of the working class to have
illusions about Obama, and Fred observed a marxist organization which
criticized Obama and which argued that workers should join their particular
organization to advance working class interests instead of putting faith in
Obama then from his point of view Fred could accuse that organization of
being sectarian.

I think that it is ridiculous to accuse some among a loose array of marxists
on a self-selected marxist discussion list of being sectarian for
criticizing Obama or for pointing out widely-held popular illusions about
Obama on that discussion list.  We would need to know about list
participants' political practice and their organizations to consider whether
they're engaged in sectarian behavior.

I would be interested to learn how Fred's view that it is sectarian to
confront illusions about Obama impacts his actual political activism, beyond
this discussion list.   In regard to this issue of how to respond to
widespread illusions about Obama, what are other "sectarian" marxists doing
in their activism which he chooses to avoid doing?  What does he choose to
do in his activism which distinguishes him from these other activists who do
not properly restrain themselves from criticizing Obama?
Dayne
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