Tony Cliff dies

[Johannes Schneider]

Russell Grinker wrote (quoting Chris Bambery):
>
>
> >Tony Cliff, 1917-2000
> >
> >Don't Mourn, Organise!
(snipped...)
> >'After German unification he grasped that Germany was the key link in the
> >European capitalist chain & singlehandedly decided that things could not
> >continue with a moribund organisation in that country. He convinced a
> >handful of young comrades to build a new, youth based organisation. They
> >joke that Cliff engaged in 'telephone terrorism', ringing each day. It
> >seemed he knew what each German comrade had had for breakfast.
> >'There can't be such a thing as a memorial for Cliff but today's
Linksruck
> >with over 1000 members stands as a tribute to him. It was one of his
> >greatest achievements.

I doubt Tony Cliff has deserved an orbituary like that. The German word for
something like this is 'peinlich' (something between embarassing and
painful). The number of 1000 Linksruck members is highly inflated, at best
its their periphery. Generally most of them dont stay long in the orbit of
the organization, mostly dropping out of politics soon.

Real Linksruck members (in a Leninist sense) are just a few dozens in
Germany. So compared to the old IS organization in Germany (SAG) it did not
really grow. Just because a lot of (Stalininst) organizations colapsed,
Linksruck got some visibility. But beyond there own circle no one takes them
seriously, they are seen more as a radical youth group than anything like a
party. Their intelectual influence is null.

Sorry to be harsh, but the followers of Tony Cliff are doing the worst
service to the work of this important Marxist.

Johannes