"Stalinophobia" guess who wrote that? Shactman in the early 50's in polemic vs. Tony Cliff Trots.
John, when someone on the Left (or Right, for that matter, though a Texas ex-Trotskyist on the Right tells me that Rightist intellectuals are far less vicious to wax Coxian, I keep on telling this fellow he is mistaken) gets their left cred, continually challenged, they get defensive and are prone to obsessively re-relate their left history, "I was arrested over El Salvador, burned a US flag once, has photos he took of a hippie waving a NLF flag from the steps of the US Capitol in '71 at one of the huge MOBE's against the war, was radicalized by the photos of My Lai in Life mag. in 70, yada, yada."
Hopefully, when you approach middle age, your rancor will dissipate...or not...look at us old lefties!
-- Michael Pugliese