[lbo-talk] Hayekians and other supporters of the market are enemies of the human race

Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
Thu Jan 13 10:07:00 PST 2005


Doug Henwood:


>CB: More precisely right here you are merely redbaiting me.

I'm more sympathetic to the USSR than a lot of other American leftists, but really Charles, this isn't fair. Stalin(ism) is not the same as Marxism or socialism or the left broadly defined. One can be an anti-Stalinist and a red. Nothing pleases a real anti-communist more than treating Stalinism and socialism as synonyms.

^^^^ CB: Fair enough, but it _is_ fair and accurate to characterize what Justin said as redbaiting me. Talking to someone else, he said "Charles will call this anti-Sovietism." I wasn't even in the conversation. It's quite fair to call that redbaiting me.

No matter. I'm fairly good at dealing with redbaiting.

I mean fair is fair , isn't it :>) ?

Doug: That's not fair either. Real Stalinism happened in one country over about 10-15 years (that means that the USSR from the mid-1950s onward wasn't Stalinist). Capitalism has happened all over the world for about seven centuries. You're not excusing the crimes of capital by admitting that Stalin & Co. killed many many people and did a lot to discredit socialism, both great crimes.

^^^^^ CB: You are right. I agree real Stalinism happened in one country, etc. I am not excusing the crimes of capital, nor denying the crimes of Stalin and Co. , nor denying that Stalinism did a lot to discredit socialism. That all seems fair enough.

What you say here means what Justin said was unfair, not what I said. Perhaps you've stayed too long at the fair :>)



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