[PEN-L:1959] Re: Something completely different

[Jim Jaszewski <jjazz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 13 Dec 1995 akliman@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I left the "Marxism" list.  I work as an academic, but I'm a Marxist and
>  an activist.

	Good -- `cause a lot of `academics' are _not_ activists .


  I resent the notion that one is not much of a Marxist or
>  an ivory-tower type if one leaves the list because of its "grittiness"
>  and "informality."  I do not think that Dana Thorpe and MIM are just
>  examples of "informality."  They are the worst examples, but a lot of
>  junk clogged up my mailbox.

	Mine too -- but I'm still on it (gee... I suppose that _this_
message qualifies as `junk' in some circles).


And once
>  a good discussion did get going, it would tend to degenerate very
>  quickly--sometimes through name-calling, but mostly because some
>  people on the list were so unserious as to fixate on a tangent in other
>  people's discussions and divert the whole thing.

	So what?  That's what happens when you've got a lot of people
coming from a lot of different angles...  I'll reiterate that there is a
tendency for academics to ignore what is _valuable_ about this List,
simply because it's not a cosy little perfessors' korner...  Patience is
required, and yet we have the below:


> It took Marx nearly 25 years to write _Capital_.  It's a great expression
>  of his serious concern with ideas and his patience in *developing* thought
>  in a painstaking, methodical way.  The Marxism list was not very
>  conducive to that.

	Your referring to the List in the past-tense sends me the message
that _your_ needs are all that matter here.  The List will exist with, or
without, your involvement...


  Marx was by no means retreating or becoming an ivory-
> tower "academic" because he sat in the library and thought and read and
>  wrote--he certainly did not do it *instead* of political work, but as
> part of his political work, and to suggest that everyone who left the
>  Marxism list did so because they're retreating from politics is ludicrous
>  (although in some instances it's undoubtedly true).  Had Marx thought
>   of spending his time on things like the Marxism list, would there have
>  been _Capital_?  Would there have been an International?  Or would the
>  whole thing have gone up in flames ;-)?

	You flatter yourself, in comparing yourself and others to Marx.
That was a different time, but I'm sure Marx would've only quit the List
temporarily, if he was overwhelmed with work and still among the Living...




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