Grumpy lefties, myself included

Michael Pugliese debsian at pacbell.net
Mon Dec 6 19:25:10 PST 1999


Thank you, Chip. This morning, checking the e-mail before going to work, I read an e-mail from Ken Lawrence, whose activist creds are beyond reproach, attack my chatty, admittedly gossippy at times, posts to lbo and Lou Proyect's Marxism list. My weak attempts at humor,at the expense of icons like Stokeley Carmichael (quoting the infamous position of women in SNCC is...) and the question of espionage and Old Left disingenousness re:Rosenberg's and Hiss, (hey, Ron Radosh, is a jerk, but really, do you believe Julius was "innocent"?...) I guess, make one into an accessory to pulling the switch to fry Julius and Ethel (well that exaggerates Ken's missive to Lou's list on me, and I won't bore anyone with the details) but w/o coffee and breakfast, my mind was a bit on the defensive when I read your post. Overall Ken finds I lack the gravitas to evaluate the left's history and am incapable of helping , in any way, to draw lessons from the past.

When I fired off my reply to your quip on Telos I was thinking," Jeez, two people I respect, saying silly things." One would think that since I try to use humor, that I could recognize it in others, as in your post. Perhaps the humor is a way I have to defuse conflict- flame wars are seldom productive, though the do have a certain allure as I'm sure all of us could agree, hell between some of the comrades at the Marxism list thinking I'm a Democratic party apologist and an anti-communist for criticizing Sandero Luminoso, and my best friend from college days, an ex-Trotskyist, now a lawyer, with red diapers, thinking I'm an anarchist for my reactions to Seattle WTO protest tactics and methods, well lately I've felt a bit disoriented.

Anyway, for a change of pace or as Monty Python used to say, "And Now For Something Completely Different..." I'll make my next post to lbo my favorite rock albums of '99, a few with political subtexts, most just joyful noise, that as the MC5 said, "Kick Out The Jams." Fellow lbo'ers, think about your favs of '99, since no one, even left intellectuals, is too old to rock!

Michael Pugliese

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