[lbo-talk] Platypus: what we are, what we do, and why

[Chris Doss]

I might be wrong, but I have the impression that the revolutionary monotreme* means that decolonialization did not "pull mankind into socialism" or something like that, which is true, and if pulling mankind into socialism is your criterion for success then it was a failure, and if you think that economic relations are the basic phenomena of world history then it was indeed an epiphenomenon, since those relations are still around. However, if you look at things from the viewpoint of sovereignity and/or living standards in those decolonized areas, things usually look different. (If I were a cynic, and I am, I would point out that looking at events in Country X as important only insofar as they relate to the Grand Goal will likely not endear you to people in Country X. One of my evermultiplying number of roommates is from Hanoi, and though we haven't talked about politics much I'm pretty sure that this would not appeal to him at all. Throwing off the

 French Yoke, as he calls it, was the main goal of people in the VC like his father, not changing the universe.)

*I don't mean this as a jibe; I just find the image of Lenin as a giant platypus to be sublimely hilarious.

----- Original Message ----

Wow.  "Revolutionary" (in quotes) and no "emancipatory results whatsoever."

Seriously, I applaud your ambitious effort to sort out the totality of
the experience of the left in world history.  Just beware of
overstating your conclusions before you truly (critically) digest such
a vast amount of factual material.
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