[lbo-talk] Chris, overposting maniac, makes a final word

[Seth Ackerman]

Marvin Gandall wrote:
> Chris Doss writes:
>
>> I think the "F-word" is so loaded with ideological and emotional
>> connotations that it is extremely difficult for people to look at
>> instances of actually existing F's. For instance, any F state must be 
>> the
>> most evil state imaginable, even though I can easily rattle off a long
>> list of names of regimes far more repressive than some of the F ones --
>> like those in China, Saddam's Iraq (hell, probably today's Iraq), North
>> Korea, and loads of countries in the Middle East. Fuck, Cuba is likely
>> more repressive than Fascist Italy. (Admittedly, none of these states 
>> are
>> militarized or aggressive, except Iraq.)
> =====================================
> This is certainly an eclectic list, running the gamut from anarchists to
> admirers of Italian fascism. I've previously noted that my definition of
> "left" is restricted to those who, whatever their disagreements, have
> supported the objectives of the trade unions and other social protest
> movements against those who would destroy them. In periods like the 
> present,
> when such conflicts are muted and mostly electoral, there's not the same
> compulsion to take sides, and it's easy for those like Chris to adopt an
> "even-handed" approach. Alas, in times of crisis, when forced to choose,
> such intellectuals typically follow their impulses to the right.
>

Marvin, this is unfair. The way you frame the question is right, but 
your conclusion is all wrong. It's true - in the heat of conflict, the 
critical impulse is (must be?) muted, whereas moments when conflict is 
muted create space for critical inquiry. But you seem to think that's a 
bad thing?

Chris is saying, let's try to analyze fascism as history, with a 
dispassion that wasn't possible in 1936. Your response seems to be - no, 
let's talk about that history with all the blinding passion of 1936, as 
if what we say now could still weaken the struggle against the 
encroaching brownshirts. Is it the job of a left intellectual to fife 
and drum for 60 year old battles and never try to see things more 
clearly than was possible for those who found themselves in the thick of 
the fight?

Seth