[lbo-talk] Iran Poll

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Wed Oct 24 14:15:02 PDT 2007


On Wed, 2007-10-24 at 16:20 -0400, Alex Hogan wrote:


> by the standards of what we view as leftist:
> committment to solidarity, equality, liberty,
> internationalism, rights of minorities etc.,

This raises (for me) an interesting question: what's Left about these "standards"? Aren't these things that any mere liberal would sign off on?

Which brings us to the question -- what constitutes a Left outlook, as distinct from mere liberalism? Or from a specifically Marxist outlook?

Here amongst the mighty scholars and penetrating intellects of lbo-talk, I'm hesitant to venture a definition. I'm a little more confident saying what it's *not*. Being a Leftie, or a fortiori a Marxist, is about something more, or at least other, than subscribing to a list of Enlightenment -isms and -ities.

... Isn't it? Help me out here.



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