Whatever these mysterious swimming proscriptions may be, whether they are or are not a metter of elite concern in Iran is a matter tangential at best to the state of affairs in Germany during Kaiser Wilhelm.
--- On Mon, 6/22/09, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] freedom to swim
> To: "lbo-talk" <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 2:46 PM
> Re: all those who think that the
> freedom to swim is somehow an elitist concern when it comes
> to Iran, Lou Proyect cites this excellent passage from
> Lenin's "What Is To Be Done?":
>
> <http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/a-velvet-revolution-in-iran/>
>
> Why is there not a single political event in Germany that
> does not add to the authority and prestige of the
> Social-Democracy? Because Social-Democracy is always found
> to be in advance of all the others in furnishing the most
> revolutionary appraisal of every given event and in
> championing every protest against tyranny…It intervenes in
> every sphere and in every question of social and political
> life; in the matter of Wilhelm’s refusal to endorse a
> bourgeois progressive as city mayor (our Economists have not
> managed to educate the Germans to the understanding that
> such an act is, in fact, a compromise with liberalism!); in
> the matter of the law against ‘obscene’ publications and
> pictures; in the matter of governmental influence on the
> election of professors, etc., etc. Everywhere the
> Social-Democrats are found in the forefront, rousing
> political discontent among all classes, rousing the
> sluggards, stimulating the laggards, and providing a wealth
> of material for the development of the political
> consciousness and the political activity of the
> proletariat.___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>