<< Socialist parties and the trade unions confront all capitalist
corporations, whether they exist in a state of pure competition or as
monopolies. The notion that we "cheer" for monopolization is based on a
misreading of Lenin or the ISR of 1900. Marxists simply pay attention to
such trends as they do any movement within the capitalist system.
>>
Gosh, Lou, and you're lamenting the absence of a sense of humor on the left? In calling for one and a half cheers for Bill Gates, I was being ironic. Of course, socialists should not cheer on monopolization. But they should recognize that monopolization is an attempt to socialize the means of production within the confines of capitalism -- a doomed effort, needless to say, but one which supposedly serves to heighten the contradictions. While we shouldn't cheer on Gates, neither should we hop on the Jeffersonian/petty- bourgeois/antitrust bandwagon, which holds that small capitalism is more efficient than big capitalism.
By the way, Trotsky was far from humorless -- I'd describe his style as quietly witty. Lenin had his flashes of humor too, while Marx, of course, was devoted to the dialectical paradox -- religion as a plea for mercy in a merciless world and the like -- which, if not actually witty, was at least sharp and entertaining.
Dan Lazare.