[lbo-talk] Anti-C v. anti-c

[Nathan Newman]

The word "communist" is lost.  It was used in the service of mass murder and
death this century, so why try to save it?   Socialism has a much more
varied history and when I call myself a socialist, I can always add, "you
know, like the present government of Spain" or other broad examples.  It
still can shock people butit's a shock that can be used to educate on the
narrowness of language in the US.   "Communism" overwhelmingly has meant
alliance with the Soviet Union, so why make a fetishof it?

----- Original Message -----
From: "joanna" <123hop at comcast.net>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 2:47 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Anti-C v. anti-c

Tom Walker wrote:
Of course, the obvious defence against charges of anti-communism is to
claim that one is simply anti-Communist. However, to be anti-Communist
without being anti-communist requires a highly developed sensitivity to
nuance and innuendo and a scrupulous avoidance of them. That is, if one
is clumsily anti-Communist, one becomes objectively anti-communist and
often objectively anti-left. In a climate of general denunciation,
anyone who doesn't join in is implicated as a dupe, fellow-traveler, etc...
___________________________
This all reminds me of a button that my ex wanted to make up after the
Soviet Union went bust. It would have read:

"I am not now, nor have I ever been an ex-communist."

One of his funnier inventions.

Labels, labels, labels.

To some folks "communism" means dictatorship of the
proletariat/nomenclatura. To others it means evil totalitarianism. Since
we don't speak in upper or lower case, it doesn't really matter whether
we advertise ourselves as communists, Communists, anti-communists, or
Anti-Communists.

It is important to reclaim the words I want to use -- so I might say
something like "I'm a communist; I think we should share." But the truth
is that "communist" pushes such deep buttons that unless I use it as an
alternative to "Fuck you. You don't scare me" there's not much point....

So normally, if pressed, I'll confess to socialism. That tends to stop
conversation dead too. But, what does it matter any more? When all this
gets sorted out, I suspect words-as-labels will play little or no part.

Joanna

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