>>At 02:59 PM 4/27/2005, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>One wonders what grad Prof Cox would have given this essay...
>
><http://www.wsws.org/arts/1995/nov1995/conroy.shtml>
>-----
>
>this isn't apples and oranges; it's apples and lug nuts. I think you
>two are seriously talking past one another.
>
>I'm curious, cause this essay says that the Stalinist dropped the
>prole writer bent and shunted this guy aside. Apparently, it wasn't
>even sustained -- certainly not enough to raise it to the level of a
>"tendency among the left". (I have a buncha q's about art that I
>hope someone can answer, too. they're appended)
>
>So what is the point? (not to mention that it deosn't even address
>what woj was talking about.)
The point is the idealization of the actually existing working class on the left, which Prof Cox thought unquantifiable or something, is actually something with a rich and controversial history. The essay specifically mentions American & Russian examples, and its pervasiveness in both Communist and populist ideologies, and its great potential appeal today. The author takes strong exception to this, and I mostly agree with the piece.
If that's talking past, it's not me who's missing the target.
Doug