Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Jan 25, 2010, at 12:09 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> > Observation 1: That's true -- in fact one of the more discouraging
> > phrases is "Let's do something." But that's a moment in a continuity.
> > People have to _learn_ to think, and (in left/resistance politics)
> > most
> > will only learn the excitement of thinking as part of a process. And
> > here Luxemburg is crucial: unless this activity is informed by a
> > (SIMPLE) final goal, that thnking won't take place.
>
> I wouldn't go that far - people can learn to think by reading and
> analyzing and conversing too - but I agree that for political thought,
> being part of an organization/movement/process is very fruitful.
>
> > Observation 3: Let's consider that lawyer who objected to the
> > paralysis
> > of analysis. I don't know (or remember whether you described) the
> > context: What brought you together in that room in the first place.
>
> A conference on economic development in New York City. He was going on
> about the virtues of small business, and I filed my usual dissent.
O.K. That context is a free-for-all. General discussion -- and precisely about what to do.
Here's a different kind of context, illustrated by a stupid remark I made in the wrong context two months ago.
BNCPJ has a 30 minute anti-war demo (along a busy street at 5:30pm) on the firs Thursday of every month. In November quite a few students showed up. One of them had a sign reading "No Undeclared War." As the demo was breaking up, I just couldn't resist the sudden impulse to comment, "You mean it's alright to kill people as long as war has been declared." In abstract theory, of course, I was right. But these demos are pretty meaningless except to get new people involved. What the fuck difference di his particular reason for being there matter. There will be plenty of time if someone does get involved to sort out what exactly we are against and why! That's the poin of having a fairly vague central slogan: it provides a "big tent" for people to get involved. My remark was the equivalent to a firsst-grade teacher kicking a kin because she didn't knwo how to read already.
Carrol