[lbo-talk] Conversation with Derrida

[Chuck Grimes]

Arguably, then, Vietnam wasn't irrational in terms of US imperial
interests, and in fact could only be understood with reference to these,
which is how radicals like myself viewed the war. On the other hand,
there were also many horrified liberals in the antiwar movement who
regarded Vietnam as a somehow "irrational" betrayal of the traditional
American ideals.. 

Marv Gandall

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I confess, I started off liberal in 61-3, and started getting a whole
lot more radical heading into what I would now call Marxist territory as
times ground on. Back then it was hard to get along with the overt
Communists, except they did provide entrance into the deep hypocrisy of
the US liberal establishment, via HUAC etc. They had another problem
too, and that was their take on the arts. They hadn't moved on from the
type of criticism they showed over whether or not Henry Roth was a true
prol writer. We were okay when it came to the Mexican muralists, but
things got sticky again when we had to tackle Malraux v. Trotsky.

Everybody forgets the older left generation had some pretty lame ideas
about the arts and their role in society. Try Chinese opera during the
Mao period. Is that really where Brecht was supposed to end? Both sides
have gotten a lot better since.

``there are hints here of the wider issues raised in this thread.'' I'd
hoped we could get there, but it doesn't look good.

CG