Lefty Despair

[Dddddd0814 at aol.com]

Carrol wrote:
>>Self-criticism within an existing and coherent left, at least roughly 
unified around both goals and strategy, is of course essential. 
So-called "criticism" of THE LEFT (which doesn't exist) is not 
self-criticism but selfconscious withdrawal in amused superiority to all 
those folk struggling in adverse circumstances to create a left in which 
self-criticism would be possible. It is either whining that others do 
not recogize the superior wisdom and moral character of the "Critic" or 
a gesture similar to the drawing in of the skirts of the stereotypical 
Victorian Woman at the presence of a streetwalker. An ideological purity 
grounded in the conscious moral rectitude of the "Critic." 

Gordon wrote:
>>Assuming there is no way to avert the oncoming catastrophe, 
it may be a reasonable strategy. Hide out, and emerge amidst 
the ruins to proselytize among the surviving remnant. The 
purer they keep, the less tainted their reputation after the 
fall.