Re: [Marxism] May I ask not to be wrongly labelled

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis wrote:
Nestor, if you want to bring up Russian history, the real issue is 
whether the social democrats should have voted for Cadets, even if they 
came from oppressed nationalities.

Fred comments:
I suggest to Nestor that asking "not to be wrongly labeled" by Louis is a
fool's errand.

Did Nestor ever advocate a vote for Obama? Does Louis even care whether he
did or not, in using this characterization to demagogically advance his
argument?

I am not certain, by the way, that Bolsheviks never voted for Cadets, but
that like the rest of what Louis said is not the issue here. (Of course,
Louis may have intended to denounce the Bolsheviks for having done so. His
meaning isn't quite clear.)

What has taken place is a complete misrepresentation of the debate that has
taken place. Not deliberate, but in blind sectarian indifference to what was
actually being discussed. This misrepresentation was central to poisoning
the debate. All points of view short of the one Louis held were generally
treated as Louis presents them here: "Marxists for Obama."

The alleged "Marxists for Obama" Fred, Walter, and Mark, who strongly
supported other candidates  and, I suspect, have never supported capitalist
party candidates, aside from the fact that they do not even hold a common
views in the debate. The issue for many of us was one of assessment and
tone.

I make no pretense that tone is not politics, by the way, and I think the
assessment and tone of Louis and others on this is classically sectarian. As
is this type of casual mislabeling of those who disagree, lumping those who
voted for Obama (and often politically misrepresenting them as well) with
those who advocated a critique that focused on the positive changes taking
place in US politics.

These are changes that revolutionaries should respond to seriously if they
are political-minded rebels and not just critical-critic nay-sayers.

The mislabeling has also gone goes beyond its role as normal sectarian
practice, extending to mislabeling Walter as a supporter by way of apology
of imperialist war (a position he supposedly takes to advance the interests
of the Cuban government). This is unadulterated demagogy as well as false in
fact. And thus, the "Marxists for Obama" argument has become part of the
basis for an exclusion from the list.

This biased way of debating is part of the way Louis as owner and moderator
sets the tone for discussion on the list, although we are each responsible
for the way we engage. 

Of course, I know I can't do well what Louis does well, and therefore I have
to wait for someone else who will do well what he does well (in a less
capricious way, more even-handed in his treatment of comrades) to take the
initiative, as far as the issue of a new list is concerned. 

Until then, my attitude toward our moderator is the same as what I was
taught early in my political life: "We do the best we can with the material
we got."
Fred Feldman



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