My observations do not come from any preternatural "mind-reading" ability. I've had an earful, on and off the listservs to which many ex-LBO-talk Marxists have retired. The double standard that Marta mentioned, which triggered me to make my initial remarks that led to this thread, has been obvious to many of them. That's just one of the hints, and many folks took the hints -- others just got busy or bored.
I forgot to add (A" + B") another category of Marxists and historical materialists to those of (A + B) Marxists and historical materialists who are still here and (A' + B') Marxists and historical materialists who have vanished from LBO-talk: Marxists and historical materialists who have never subscribed to LBO-talk but check out my posts (and other remaining Marxists' posts) in the archive and write to me (and them) offlist occasionally. I've had an earful from many of them also.
At 12:54 PM +1100 2/10/03, Catherine Driscoll wrote:
>The cool kids, obviously, which is why some are acceptable if not in, but the
>rest aren't even worth naming.
Why would anyone whom I didn't name want to be in the "Marxist Camp" (as opposed to the "historical materialist," i.e. "Marxism-as-just-a-school-of-philosophy" camp)? It's not as though there were a coveted door prize -- if anything, only a lot of pretty heavy-duty historical baggage (Stalinism, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, etc., etc.) for which others want to hold all Marxists personally responsible if they can and which I doubt you would like to see hoisted on yourself. Nonetheless, maybe, it is indeed that there is something in the "Marxist Camp" that you would like to possess because you think you lack it or that at least you think there is. There is surely a Lacanian/Zizekian angle here. :-> The way some LBO-talkers discuss all things Marxist (sometimes even all things historical materialist), with flames and all, however, they obviously want to give us a wide berth, and I have and will honor their wish, by consigning their posts to the trash file.
BTW, a couple of left-wingers who used to post to LBO-talk whom I forgot to mention: Ken Hanly (retired to PEN-l) and Tim Shorrock (an expert on Korea). I hope Tim will return here to enlighten us all, as things are getting tense in and over Korea. -- Yoshie
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