CB: I take it you think that the history of socialist countries has been
> nothing but crimes, more crimes, demogogy and paranoia ?
>
Heaven's no! Between you seeing no fault in the Communist leadership in fSU and Comintern, and people far to my right (real neo-cons and fascists), I bend the stick, in public fora really hard to try to get discussion going. Too many have read and thought nada on all this. The CPUSA broke the spirits and hopoes of thousands and thousands of good hearted comrades with their disingenousness. Ask Marge Frantz, Dorothy Healey, Bettina Aptheker, the late Bill Sennett. I have.
> CB: I take it you think that the history of socialist countries has been
> nothing but crimes, more crimes, demogogy and paranoia ?
Yes, I am bit idealistic, even @ 41. I'd still leave behind, "The Revolution Betrayed, " by Trotsky in Prague, like I did in summer of '79, if there was still "Really Existing Socialism."
CB: What do you think of Marx himself, his positions ?
Marx, for all his irascability (sound familiar?) put socialism and communism on a rigorous, dare I say scientific, basis, esp. compared to to the dreams of the utopian socialists like Fourier. Still, the best critique of capitalism and imperialism going, http://www.monthlyreview.org/imperialism.htm Without revolutionary theory there is no revolutionary mvmnt. Some dude named V.I. said that, http://www.versobooks.com/books/klm/l-titles/lenin_rev_gates.shtml Edited by that dude Zizek, who wrtote these, http://inthesetimes.com/members/profile_view_ind.php?id=70
-- Michael Pugliese