Re: [Marxism] [A-List] Moldova

[Thomas Campbell <avvakum@xxxxxxxxx>]

Nestor,

I don't know why you have decided that the communique I sent to the
list is "pseudo-Trotskyist." I merely mentioned that the communique
was originally published (in Russian) on the website of the Vpered
Socialist Movement, a Russian group which does call itself Trotskyist.
But the fact that they published a communique by the Moldovan group
Resiztenta Populara doesn't imply that RP is Trotskyist. In fact, as
far as I know, they aren't. They call themselves "Marxist-Leninist,",
and as far as I know, they're a coalition of earlier leftist groups in
Chisinau.

I admit their language is a bit hackneyed, but, for better or worse,
they're the only game going in Chisinau when it comes to something
resembling a real socialist movement. They do a lot of work defending
the rights of pensioners and workers whose jobs have been privatized
out of existence. And they managed to get their candidate on the
ballot for the parliamentary elections, which involved going door to
door collecting signatures and talking to lots of people. Since he got
on the ballot, that meant he also got airtime during the debates on
TV. Not much, you might say, but as someone who just witnessed what an
incredibly hard time anyone to the left of United Russia had getting
on the ballot for the recent district council elections in Petersburg
(because United Russia didn't want them on the ballot), I would say
that RP scored a minor victory.

And they're emphatically anti-nationalist, meaning the group includes
both Romanian speakers and Russian speakers (and people who speak both
languages). From what our contact (Vadim) has been telling us on our
mailing list, during the protests they spent a lot of time on the
streets talking to the protesters and bystanders, including
nationalists.

As for you what you've cross-posted, it certainly is helpful in
filling in the background for folks who don't have that background,
but (as you might have guessed yourself) it's an excerpt from the
Wikipedia article on Moldova.

Since everything in the Wikipedia article is common knowledge to
Moldovans, I can imagine that RP wouldn't need to cite it in their
communique, which was intended primarily for people in Moldova and
Russia, not for Marxmail subscribers.

I regret that I sent the communique to the list. In order to foster a
deeper understanding of what is taking place in Central Eastern
Europe, we should definitely spend more time reading Wikipedia and the
New York Times, not listening to what pseudo-Trotskyists on the ground
are saying.

> From: Nestor Gorojovsky <nmgoro@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Marxism] [Fwd: [A-List] Moldova]

> I am quite ignorant of what the hell is taking place in Moldava now, but
> I find this report on the situation there far more down-to-earth than
> the pseudo-Trotskyist communiqu? that has been sent to this list. Sorry
> for cross-posting. Hope it won?t start a stupid skirmish on Tralinism
> and Stotkism here, but foster a deeper understanding of what is taking
> place in Central Eastern Europe.

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu