[lbo-talk] Piece I wrote on Venezuela and other things

[Joanna]

Thanks for posting this. (Hal Draper is one of my favorite socialist 
writers; his stuff on Palestine, "Zionism, Israel, and the Arabs," is 
one of the best things I've read on the subject.)

A few notes: I don't know why it's necessary to get down on utopian 
socialism or the notion of "heaven on earth." So far as utopian 
socialism is concerned, it's just a developmental step in the 
consciousness of the possible. We must be able to present a vision of 
the future that is viscerally and emotionally more attractive than that 
provided by corporate propaganda (advertising, etc.)  As for creating 
"heaven on earth"; if you have been raised Christian, this is a fairly 
radical proposition. Blake thought so:

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem /
//I//n England's green and pleasant land/.

Joanna