>>> Rob Schaap <rws at comserver.canberra.edu.au> 12/22/99 11:32AM >>>
G'day Charles,
>CB: With great respect for the heroic fighters in Spain, I must say the
>war was >lost. Sadly, winning or losing is the test of effective fighting
>in war.
Aye, but then it can be hard to win a war when you've the misfortune to have an 'ally' who thinks its status as sole champion of the world's left, and concomitantly the perpetuation of a hierarchy capable of supporting such a notion, is more important than a local victory for democratic socialists.
You'd have to be effective indeed to prevail over the other side while your own is fingering your till, wiping out your commandoes, and withdrawing military aid.
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CB: Without conceding your overall analysis or assessment here, or that Communists weren't in the trenches in Spain as much as anarchists, typical slander from anti-Sovieteers to attribute the loss in Spain to the Soviet and Communist "treachery"rather than to the fascists.
(((((((((((( This is a potentially interesting conversation about optimal modes of organisation, and to invoke historical reversals completely out of historical context is something with which Leninists flay me all the time. So they should be extra careful themselves, eh?
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Charles: Nothing completely out of historical context in my statement. I just replied to a previous post. Leninist don't have anything to be EXTRA careful about because of what you think and misrepresent. Leninists need only be normally careful.
CB