Charlie wrote that no one calls themselves a Stalinist: "There is no Stalinism . . . Those demonized as Stalinist are simply people in, or said to be in, the communist movement."
I have a good friend and Comrade who describes herself precisely that way (and she's all for a bit of purging - we don't see eye to eye on everything, including that. To accept Charlie's claim is to suggest that if you are a communist you will be following Stalin, you will be "in the movement"; if you are a Trot therefore, you are, by definition, outside the movement. That seems to me to be precisely the attitude that perpetuates not only a Trot fear of ice picks but also an inability to move beyond the debates of the 20th century. That is unhelpful and suggests an unwillingness to look closely at what caused a system that controlled a huge part of the world to collapse without opposition, even though in retrospect some people who lived in 'real existing socialism' know the baby was thrown out with the bathwater. Charlie is right though in this respect - while Stalinists and Maoists have built significant movements, especially in the 3rd World, the Trots have generally failed to build anything and have often misunderstood popular movements. They have often, and continue to do so, responded to any situation with stale clichés about transitional demands etc. Now there is nothing wrong with a 'transitional demand' per se, but the sterile calls would put anyone off. The most interesting movement I have ever been in was a non-sectarian 'party' that formed from a merger of a group of independent Marxists influenced by Trotsky (some had pasts in Trot Parties) and an existing Maoist (I think they called themselves Maoish) party. It split and collapsed but not along Trotsky/Stalin lines. The strength of this list under Louis is that it avoided that fight but not in a way that suppressed good debate about issues. That is what any new movement will need to achieve. Comradely, John > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#34171): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/34171 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/110224367/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
