[lbo-talk] Avoiding Bad Taste

Luke Weiger lweiger at umich.edu
Fri Oct 8 16:33:58 PDT 2004


----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Dawson" <MDawson at pdx.edu>


> OK, you're just willfully ignorant and refuse to accept evidence. The
memo
> says Allende's program would work, if it were given half a chance.

The memo says Allende would be viewed as legitimate and would be capable of staying in power for some unspecified amount of time. That's not the same as claiming that Allende's program would "work, if it given half a chance."


> What the hell do you think Allende was proposing to do for ordinary
Chileans?

Institute socialism.


> If Nixon and Kissinger didn't fear that outcome, why would they mention it
as a
> problem?

Because instituting socialism would've been disastrous in the short term for their cronies in the copper industry etc., and because they feared that Allende's government would aid Latin American revolutionaries.


> If they knew Allende would wreck people's lives, why not help him out or
just ignore him?

The Soviet Union wrecked the lives of many, but it didn't exactly die a quick death. It also arguably helped the cause of 3rd world revolutionaries. (Who knows--maybe there wouldn't have been any socialist 3rd world revolutionaries if the Soviet Union had never existed.)

-- Luke



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