Re: Relevance

[LeoCasey@xxxxxxx]

There is a relationship of these debates over modes of production, South
Africa, etc. to politics, but it is a highly mediated relationship.

Take, for example, the suggestion that Trotsky's formulation of "uneven and
combined development" is the best way to conceive of South African
development. I think it is fair to say that this is a formulation closely
related to Trotsky's notion of permanent revolution, and therefore, to the
ways in which Trotskyists have practiced [or, some would say, malpracticed]
politics. It would take a while to unpack all of this, and I don't pretend to
have the time or energy to do so now, but it certainly could be done.

I would say now that I think Gramsci's critique of the notion of permanent
revolution and Trotskyist politics more generally was on the mark, with the
corollary that I do not think that "uneven and combined development" is a
very useful formulation. There is a connection here, I would argue, between
the problematic nature of a great deal of Trotskyist theory and practice, on
the one hand, and the great difficulty Trotskyists have had in attracting
people of color in the North [you could count the numbers of prominent
African-American Trotskyists, for example, on one hand; when you get past C.
L. R. James, and in many ways, he is the exception that proves the rule, who
is there?] and in building any significant presence in national liberation
and anti-colonial struggles.

Leo Casey
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)

Power concedes nothing without a demand.
It never has, and it never will.
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.

-- Frederick Douglass --