As a brief correction, I never used the word 'aberration' myself. I
simply stated that Chris' argument couldn't hold up if you look at
the entire history of the Comintern. For an interesting view on some
of the valuable aspects of the third period, you might want to look
at Robin Kelley's Hammer and Hoe, which looks at the history of
African-Americans in the Alabama party. Kelley argues that the
popular front was a real step back for that section of the party as
that it really muted some of the anti-racism and forced the workers
to work with the middle class NAACP. (It also does an interesting job
of looking at how the rhetoric of the third period was translated
into everyday activism. robert wood
>
> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>>
>> Chris wrote:
>>
>> > I think its kind of interesting that fascists see liberalism and
>> communism
>> > as basically the same thing, communists see liberalism and fascism as
>> > basically the aame thing, and liberals see fascism and communism as
>> > basically the same thing.
>> ===========================
>> Robert Wood is correct in seeing this identification (liberalism/social
>> democracy=fascism) as a Stalinist third period aberration in the history
>> of
>> Marxism. Though these days, in the age of Bush, the way some on the left
>> loosely see "fascism" as having already arrived in America, you may be
>> on to
>> something. :)
>
> Yes. And like so many gross errors in left history, the extrerme
> correction of the error has over the long run done more damage than the
> original stupidity. Our descendants will have to decide whether in China
> The Cultural Revolution or the Correction of it did the most long-run
> damage.
>
> Carrol
>
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