> Yes, there is something almost scholastic about these publications.
> Many Marxists/communists/socialists will argue for the need to advance
> theory. I wonder. It seems much more important to reintegrate ideas
> about commons, sharing, pride in work, communal responsiblity, etc. in
> our shared sensibility than anything else. I would be much happier
> with a socialist "alternative" type paper -- that talked about all of
> life -- cooking, sports, jobs, relationships, books, music, ...than
> with another grave digging expedition in the socialist annals.
Your idea of a socialist alternative paper sounds very attractive. There have been attempts at it, but I don't know of any that are currently active. One big problem with socialism in this country, I think, is that most Americans just don't think of themselves as "revolutionaries." The whole romance of mounting the barricades, storming the Winter Palace, etc., which is so appealing in other countries just leaves Americans cold. On the other hand, I think a lot of them would like a change in the system, as long as it was presented as just like regular life (cooking, sports, etc., as you say) with improvements.
Perhaps the appeal of the "Left Behind" series of books is that it presents a new world as something given to people on a platter by God. One day, all of a sudden, he just sucks up all of the good people to heaven and leaves all the nasty folks they detest to their own devices. No fuss, no muss.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________ Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. (Henry Adams, "The Education of Henry Adams")