The Lama and the brutal peasants

D.L. boddhisatva at mindspring.com
Mon Apr 12 20:18:51 PDT 1999


To whom...,

I'm continually amazed at the extent to which socialism, the most intellectually developed of world views, attracts people who want to divide the world (whose nuances socialism so subtly interprets) into black hats and white hats (or maybe yellow hats and red hats, in the case of Comrade Liu). Suggest to leftists that some victimized group of peasants or indios are a little behind the dialectical curve and you are labeled a war-mongering, capitalist-abetting racist. Suggest that the Dalai Lama, a man overtly and openly mired in the middle ages, should be forgiven for not fitting in to the 20th century and you are an elitist counter-revolutionary and a dupe of neo-feudal fascism. Leftists seem alternately to be furiously building illusions like antic bees or brooding with nihilistic fury at their disillusionment.

What's more, socialists, like bees whose nest has been destroyed, seem to hover around broken dreams, vainly hoping they will reassemble themselves. The Soviet Union dies and still some socialists battle on defending its viability. The red mandarins of China embrace capitalist two-fistedly and run people over with tanks for the world to see and still socialists knee-jerk to defend them. Castro will simply never be anything but an angel to many socialists despite the many warts that the most flattering portrait reveals. When Mobutu was in the process of leaving power, I was castigated for suggesting that Kabila might be something less than the great hope of the Congo.

This search for villains and heroes is understandable enough but it gets in the way of answers. I think socialists, as completely marginalized as we are, need no longer spend time defending icons. The sad truth is that we not only cannot win thie icon game, we have already lost it. The capitalist world is simply better at picking and promoting heroes and villains. They have cast our heroes as their villains and most people have bought the storyline. Their advantage is that they cannot be disillusioned. Capitalism is a world of illusion and a world that demands people accept shifting illusions.

peace



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list