Fronting for Stalinists

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

At 5:25 PM -0500 3/10/03, JBrown72073 at cs.com wrote:
>ChuckO:
>>You are talking about ancient history. Red-baiting is mostly dead 
>>these days. The capitalists and authorities can't raise the spectre 
>>of the communist menace because there are two generations who would 
>>have no clue.
>
>Well, that's been the CPUSA's position also, but I think they're out 
>to lunch.  Our local Labor Party was called the 'Labor Communist 
>Party' in the paper during a campaign for universal health care.  A 
>County Commissioner called us the Socialist Party (Debs lives!) in 
>an open meeting during the same campaign and I've had unionists 
>afraid to affiliate for fear they'll be associated with 'reds.'  The 
>recently-defeated Oregon Single Payer bill was derided, I think in 
>the WSJ, as "Leninist."  On top of that, anarchists in town charge 
>the NOW chapter with being "Leninist" basically, I think, cause 
>we've got a president, VP, treasurer, and disagree with them on 
>various things.

That's how red-baiting dumbs down US political discourse -- rational 
discussion of any worthwhile reform becomes very difficult, and any 
public advocacy of any form of non-capitalist society becomes 
practically futile.  Once words like Marxist, Leninist, Stalinist, 
Socialist, Communist, etc. basically become merely ways to signify 
that whoever or whatever is so labelled is "beyond the pail," no 
explanation necessary, all who are on the left side of the political 
spectrum find themselves on the defensive, often having to say, "No, 
I'm not that," "No, this is not that," "No, Marxism doesn't mean 
that," etc.
-- 
Yoshie

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