[PEN-L:1993] Re: Something completely different

[Louis N Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 15 Dec 1995 glevy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> I am at least pleased that you didn't give us references this time from
> the works of Josef Stalin or Enver Hoxfa.
>
> I would advise that you re-read _The Communist Manifesto_. After you
> understand that pamphlet, then you can go on to more rigorous works by
> Marx (e.g. _Capital_).
>
> Jerry
>

Louis: Jerry's reply to Shawgi is an example of the kind of discourse you
can't get away with on the Marxism list. It is dripping with professorial
condescension. All Jerry needs to do is give Shawgi a grade (B-, C+?). If
you deconstruct the message, what you come away with is the notion that
Shawgi's ideas are not "serious" because in the past, he has recommended
some writings or another by Stalin or Hoxha. Now, now, Shawgi, one
mustn't refer to literature that is not on the approved marxist classics
list. Jerry has a love-hate relationship with the Marxism list because on
one hand you have some fascinating exchanges over these exact questions
(what is a worker, what is a petty-bourgeois, etc.), but by the same
token there are people like Shawgi who are pro-Stalin and dare to offer
their opinion. More power to Shawgi, even though I've told him that
Stalin is full of shit.