[lbo-talk] Mitchel's interview with two Platypus organizers

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Apr 2 09:45:05 PDT 2010


On Apr 2, 2010, at 12:05 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:


> http://platypus1917.org/2008/11/01/friedrich-hayek-and-the-legacy-of-milton-friedman-neo-liberalism-and-the-question-of-freedom/
>
> <http://platypus1917.org/2008/11/01/friedrich-hayek-and-the-legacy-of-milton-friedman-neo-liberalism-and-the-question-of-freedom/
> >and
> their use of "activism" is obviously lifted directly from you (it's
> on their
> reading list). There is another piece that examines Klein and
> Harvey's
> 1930s / Fordist nostalgia:
> http://platypus1917.org/2009/05/15/resurrecting-the-30s/ . Chris
> critiques
> Ramsey Clark as being right-wing at early on in the show too, also the
> ANSWER brand of "anti-imperialism" (he could have been a bit
> stronger here).
> Ian's interview with Leo Panitch is worth checking out if you have the
> time:
> http://platypus1917.org/2010/03/02/is-marx-back-an-interview-with-leo-panitch/

I have this recurring problem with Platypus, not that I've made an extensive study of their work - after a few thousand words, I still don't get what their point is. Everyone else is confused and/or nostalgic - but what should left politics consist of today? Liberation? From what, by whom, to what end? Yeah, sure, there was a lot of bourgeois politics in the New Deal - but it was a lot more contradictory than just something that the ruling class appropriated. If the bourgeoisie was so happy with FDR, why did they spend so much time trying to undo it?

Doug



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