Re: [Marxism] Alan Woods versus James Petras

[Jorge Martin <jorge@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary MacLennan:
"What strikes me about the above is the absence of any reference to the
often barbaric treatment of women, other religious groups, youth, and gays.
It might seem to some that I am simply genuflecting here towards political
correctness. Not so; we surely need to acknowledge that Woods' formulations
are much too narrow. They betray for me the limited emancipatory potential
of a certain type of Marxism. "Economistic" I think would be the correct
word to describe what Woods has put forward."
It is very easy to raise a straw man and then call it "Economicism".

Alan Woods:
"In addition, there is a steep rise in crime, the absence of personal
security and many freedoms. The oppressive nature of the regime is
manifested in a thousand different ways. Those who want to be students or
teachers are interrogated to see if they and their families respect Islamic
values. The system is heavily weighted against women. A female student may
be expelled if she is caught laughing with an unrelated man. This is
supposed to represent a sensuous invitation to sin! The suffocating regime
of the mullahs which interferes in all aspects of life, big and small, would
be bad enough in itself. But when everyone is aware that the clergy is
corrupt and rotten to the marrow, it becomes utterly intolerable." (...)
"Above all, it is necessary to work out a concrete programme to link the
struggle for democratic rights with programmatic demands to solve the most
pressing problems of the working class, the peasantry, the unemployed and
the women and youth" (...)
"But the students alone can never triumph against the monstrous state of the
mullahs. It is imperative that they link up with the oppressed masses--the
workers, peasants and urban poor--who are tired of the heavy hand of
clerical reaction. It is also necessary to fight for the complete social and
legal emancipation of women--that section of society which has had to bear
the heaviest burden under the tyranny of the mullahs. The women of Iran are
destined to play a key role in the coming revolution. Already a very
important development was the magnificent participation of the women who
played a very active role in the demonstrations in Tehran, and were
everywhere at the forefront of demonstrations. It is also necessary to
defend the democratic rights of the Kurds and other oppressed nationalities
in Iran." (Alan Woods, The First Shots of the Iranian Revolution,
http://www.marxist.com/first-shots-iranian-revolution170799.htm)

Also, if you listen to the audio here:
http://www.marxist.com/audio-iranian-revolution-has-begun.htm Alan Woods
specifically stresses the importance of the role of women in the
demonstrations over the last two weeks.

Also on the question of democratic demands:
"The Iranian proletariat is much bigger and stronger than the Russian
working class in 1917. It has powerful allies in the peasantry, the urban
poor, the oppressed women, the revolutionary students and intellectuals.
These are the real, living forces of the Iranian Revolution! In the first
stages of the Revolution, when the democratic tasks are on the order of the
day, the proletariat must strive to put itself at the head of the Nation by
the most energetic defence of democratic slogans, particularly the
Constituent Assembly. (...) Our duty is to march shoulder to shoulder with
them, to build links with them, and, taking as our starting-point their
present level of consciousness, to try to fertilize the movement with clear
revolutionary socialist slogans. In the case of Iran, this means that we
pose the boldest and most consistent revolutionary democratic slogans,
combining them with transitional demands that raise the question of a
complete revolutionary transformation of society. ... In order to put itself
at the head of the Nation, the proletariat must prove to the whole
revolutionary movement that it is fighting energetically for democratic
slogans with revolutionary methods." (Alan Woods, Iran, how can the movement
go forward, http://www.marxist.com/iran-how-can-movement-go-forward.htm)

>From the statement of the Venezuelan Revolutionary Marxist Current on the
events in Iran: "A particular interpretation of Islam was imposed on the
population as a whole, bringing the most ruthless denial of women’s rights
and creating an atmosphere of ideological oppression for the majority of the
population."

Jorge
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