[Marxism] Why do we criticize?

[Eli Stephens <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

There's been a long discussion, mostly between Ruthless Critic and Jscotlive, 
around the question of criticizing anti-imperialists who might not meet with 
our 100% approval on some ground or other - FARC, Hamas, etc. Here's a key 
assertion from Ruthless in this discussion:

"Marxists *must* get out of this habit of defending some entities merely 
because imperialism attacks these entities. They *must* be criticized for their 
failings, whether they are under attack by imperialism or not. That is the only 
principled position for Marxists to take."

Actually it's rather interesting that in this one paragraph, Ruthless goes from 
saying we shouldn't *defend* some entities to saying we *must* (must!) 
criticize them.

So why *do* we "criticize" things? Well, we criticize our *own* imperialist 
governments because we want to overthrow them, and we need to rouse and/or 
educate those who will effectuate that overthrow. But why would we criticize an 
*anti-imperialist movement* in *another* country (and here I'm referring, as I 
believe Ruthless is, to *public* criticism, not criticism in a private, 
internal discussion amongst revolutionaries)? Not to belabor my lame analogy, 
but I think this relates directly back to my "cooties" theory 
(http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2007w47/msg00158.htm). It's 
very uncomfortable to be accused of being a "Saddam-lover" or an "apologist for 
Ahmadinejad" or a "supporter of Hamas or FARC terrorists" etc. People like 
Ruthless want to remain pure, uncontaminated by the "cooties" associated with 
something that people (liberals, generally) perceive as unacceptable about, 
e.g., FARC, Cuba, Hamas, etc. Far easier to join in the criticism (as if there 
isn't already enough).

What I'm saying, then, is that criticism of imperialism is about overthrowing 
imperialism. Criticism of anti-imperialists is, in my opinion, about one thing 
and one thing only - the criticizer. Allowing the criticizer to feel good about 
him or herself, *at the expense of the anti-imperialist movement* being 
criticized.


Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com


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