Leninism in 2003 (was: Re: Revolutionary Defeatism

loupaulsen at attbi.com loupaulsen at attbi.com
Wed Mar 26 13:17:53 PST 2003


I wrote:
> >Well, I'll throw out a few points about what it means to me. This is not a
> >comprehensive picture and I am concentrating on the points which would
> >distinguish me as a Leninist from a self-described 'radical', 'democratic
> >socialist', 'non-Leninist Marxist', etc.

Doug went down the list and said several times that "this point doesn't distinguish you from so and so (himself, Chuck0, 'Kumbayah-singing crunchies' (what's a crunchie??), etc.)". I know. I think the whole suite of points put together is distinctive, though. But I don't want to overstate the differences between Leninists and other people. Generally I am looking for commonalities, not divisions. Some people may be Leninists without knowing it, too :-)


> >We intend to be, to capitalism, what physicians are to
> >disease.
>
> Not to quibble over metaphors, but aren't you looking to kill the
> thing, not cure it?

When a disease is cured, it is no longer a disease. You don't end up with healthy streptococci. The word 'cure' has strange usage; you cure disease, and you also cure the patient.


> >(g) On the organizational side, it means a belief in the proposition that
> >people who are agreed on what they want to do, and generally on the science
> >and engineering of how to do it, and discuss the matter openly and honestly
> >among themselves, can get a great deal accomplished (including what they get
> >done by persuading other people of the correctness of their ideas), and that
> >it is a good thing to have a party that is organized on that kind of basis.
>
> Maybe it's because I've never been a member of a Leninist party, but
> this doesn't comport with what I've heard. I've heard that
> anticipatory conformity with the leadership's line is more often the
> practice, and that humiliating rituals and expulsion are often the
> price of failure to conform.
>
> Doug

Sorry, I can only go by my own experience here...

lp



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list