>It seems to me that it is important
> for us to
> acknowledge that quite often leftists in the West
> and peoples outside
> the West don't think politically alike. Many
> Russians, to this day,
> think Stalin is a greater leader than Lenin or
> Gorbachev and they
> apparently prefer Peter I and Alexander II to Stalin
> (cf.
>
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2005/2005-January/000801.html>),
> to take
> just one example.
I think the point you are making is correct when applied to western leftists projecting their hopes and ambitions onto other people in the world.
But I get the impression sometimes, from you and Chris Doss especially (political Islam in your case, Putin in his), that there is also something of the opposite approach, that whatever the people of the world instinctively support should be supported automatically by western leftists, particularly if what they support potentially stands in the way of the U.S. state or American capital.
I think it would be a caricature to summarize your position in this way, but both of you certainly give this impression.
Critique of ideology is very important to the Marxian critique in general. I don't think people in Palestine or Russia are in a privileged position where social relationships are transparent, whereas it is only the American and West European masses who are ideologically blinded. If many Russians have a positive attitude towards Stalin's legacy, or if many Palestinians harbor anti-semitic sentiments, then of course that is worth understanding, but not supporting or justifying.
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com