Correction Re: [lbo-talk] Illinois as model for Democratic agenda

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Mon Feb 13 18:13:34 PST 2006


Hah! Yelling opportunist or ultra-left gives less scope to errors of wording!

Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>
> I think one should drop the terms "opportunist" and "ultra-leftist"
> because their impact tends to be moralistic. Instead, discuss the
> judgment which grounds either. (Note: It would be plain metaphysics to
> claim that any given position was right on the dot center! Each person
> at any given moment is either one or the other to some degree.)
>
> Overestimation of the strength of the capitalist class and/or
> **overestimation** of the strength of the working class leads to "left"
> errors.

This should be "underestimation of the strength of the working class"

It is this characteristic of ultra-left analysis that lends credit to the mere bad-mouthing of the label "purist": that is, the stronger ideologically or culturally the capitalist class is, the more difficult it is to maintain a consistent anti-capitalist course, the more tempting it is to isolate the party or individual from "corrupting influences." On the other hand, an underestimation of capitalist strength turns leftists into suckers to capitalist bait.

But the emphasis should be kept on the correctness or incorrectness of the analysis of forces, not on the souls of those in the debate.

Carrol



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