----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
> I'm still waiting for you, Lou, or Carrol, or anyone else to define
> Leninism with some precision. I see a lot of lowest common
> denominator stuff, but not much more. I think it's really just a
> symbol you want to claim as a sign of toughness and coldness. A
> brand, in other words.
Jeez, Doug, think what you like :-( If you want 'precision' in defining adherence to an ideology in practice, you ain't gonna get it. What's Christianity, *precisely*? Adherence to the Nicene Creed? What's liberalism? "Leftism"? This is the Left Business Observer list, so what precisely does it mean to be "Left"? What's Darwinism? What is it to be an economist? Precisely?
If you think there has to be some magic secret formula that "Leninists" all recite, or dharma transmission from Lenin, etc., or else you'll think it's a meaningless symbol or brand, well, you'll just have to believe that.
lp