I may be a Marxist, but I have zero interest in the transformation problem & don't find the concept of reification particularly helpful (I don't think I've ever posted on either in numerous posts on many left-wing lists), so in this regard perhaps we don't have "common culture." :)
At 3:52 PM -0400 6/19/00, Chuck0 wrote:
>As I pointed out on another list, Irene belong to an organization
>which is a typical authoritarian socialist group, thinking that all of
>this radicalism should be channeled into building a party.
As an outsider to both, I find the Young Communist League more democratic & less authoritarian than A16-style cliques, but let that slide for a moment, since we are not going to agree on this one. The fact of the matter is that I have never belonged to any socialist group or party, in Japan or America, since I can't find any I want to join; and I am not currently building any socialist party. My remarks in the initial post and the reply to Nathan basically come from my own direct experience of A16 & participant observation of the influence of the A16 style of running meetings in Columbus, Ohio. I just can't afford to participate in endless long meetings. I have work to do and want to have social life aside from meetings & political actions, neither of which is a Marxist -- let alone "democratic centralist" -- demand; and I believe many people of color agree with me, be they Marxist, religious, nationalist, or whatever. I find that the A16 style of meetings is very white (in culture, as well as color of participants).
Yoshie