Re: [OPE-L] Raya Dunayevskaya, Bernice Shoul, and Henryk Grossmann

[Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

> Yet it remains true that RD basically took over Grossmann's
> interpretation of Capital without ever citing him. She even
> speaks of the third volume as Marx's closest approximation!
> She repeated HG's criticism of Luxemburg. My point
> is of course political: as a leader of anti Stalinist political
> organization she could not admit what she had to admit
> as a scholar--her 'economics' were taken from a political
> Stalinist. Mattick dealt with the problem much more honestly.

Rosdolsky and Mandel, both Trotskyists,  were influenced
by Grossmann and had no problem citing his works in a
favorable context.   Of course, _many_ have read both
RD and HG -- yet none (save you) have attributed intellectual
dishonesty to RD.   Your 'political' point attributes a personal
and intellectual dishonesty to Raya Dunayevskaya which is
contrary to what I have read about her life and heard about her
from those who knew and wrote about her.  While I am not a
great fan of her writings, especially her perspectives on state
capitalism,  I have a lot of respect for her political life: by all
accounts (except yours)  she was a committed, brave, and
_honest_ revolutionary --  someone who told the truth the way
she saw it even at a great personal risk and cost to herself.

btw, the idea that Dunayevskaya and Shoul were the same
person assumes that no one in New York City while Shoul
taught at Brooklyn College and Bard College  and Boston
at UMass would have noticed the similarity!  Yet, RD was
a quite well-known figure on the anti-Stalinist Left by this
time and she had supporters and opponents in both locations.
The idea that RD would have, without anyone taking notice,
worked for capital and the state (the government of Puerto
Rico and the Gillette Corporation) is also absurd.

In solidarity, Jerry

PS: While I'm not going to tell them, I can assure you that
an attack on the integrity of RD will not go unnoticed by
members of the News and Letters Committees  --
including 2 former OPE-L members.  I'm not sure you
comprehend how many people will feel that your claim
is insulting.