Genovese group

[James Farmelant]

Genovese should have been referred to as an ex-Marxist.  Since the
collapse of the Soviet Union he has swung to the far right--embracing a
form of conservatism that celebrates the antebellum South. His current
views seem rather reminiscent of the Southern Agrarians of the
1930s (i.e. Allen Tate and His friends).  Interestingly enough there are
some anticipations of his current political positions in
his earlier Marxist writing.  In his analysis of slavery he was inclined
to
treat it as a non-capitalist mode of production and he made use of
Gramsci
in a way as to argue that in the antebellum South there existed a value
consensus between slaves and their masters for instance.  In other
words when Genovese was a Marxist his thinking had conservative
elements which is why some conservatives like George Will for instance
were unabashed admirers of his writings on slavery despite his
professed Marxism.

			Jim Farmelant
On Sun, 31 May 1998 08:36:14 -0700 michael perelman
<michael at ecst.csuchico.edu> writes:
>
>
>James Devine wrote:Did the LA Times refer to him as a Marxist?
>
>>  Eugene D. Genovese, a Prominent Marxist Historian and Civil War
>>  Scholar, Is President of the Historical Society, a Professional
>>   Organization of Historians
>>
>> copyright L.A. Times (published May 31, 1998)
>>
>> Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu &
>> http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html
>
>
>
>--
>Michael Perelman
>Economics Department
>California State University
>Chico, CA 95929
>
>Tel. 530-898-5321
>E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
>
>
>

_____________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]