tobacco and political money

[Carrol Cox]

This debate over the role of tobacco in u.s. politics would be (perhaps
is mostly) harmless fun, with not much riding on it, except that a lot
of bad would-be marxist politics (from many varieties of maoism through
the most abject reformism) ground their politics in the myth of serious
splits within the u.s. ruling class, and such arguments as these may be
used to argue for such positions. A communist group I belonged to in the
late 80s began its slippage into oblivion with such a search, supporting
Dinkins in New York and even beginning to argue that Mayor Daley
represented the "progressive bourgeoisie" (whatever such a beast would
be). The last I knew of some of  its remnants they were supporting
Clinton in '92 because they were "tired of being on the losing side"!!!

I do not apply the label "abject" to "reformism," unless the reformist
in question claims to be a marxist.

Carrol