[lbo-talk] Check your privilege: Rise of the Post-New Left political vocabulary

[Carrol Cox]

Some history could be written on the question Robert raises. "Chauvinism"
was not infrequently used for a while in the '60s, and many groups spent
some time arguing over whether it was an acceptable term. The history would
have to come from documents, not direct memory. When I try to remember some
of these debates I can't confidently differentiate what I believed then from
what I came to believe since then. Some groups in the '60s did, I think,
insist on using the phrase "male chauvinism"; that phrase covered up or
avoided what (I just discovered yesterday) is still a problem. I was reading
an account of a recent  meeting in Chicago among with people from a number
of different socialist groups as well as independent radicals attending. I
quote one sentence from that report: " The facilitator was a woman, and two
of the presenters were women. However, during their presentation, side
conversations in the back of the room escalated." That's a complaint that
was made thunderously (often to deaf ears) in the '60s. I think "chauvinism"
would interfere with efforts to stop that 'practice.' Perhaps shag has a
comment.

So I can't really answer your question, but I suspect "chauvinism" does and
_did_ have an individualist slant. 

All terms that refer to "attitudes" can be used for unprincipled attacks in
internal debate. 

Carrol

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of robert wood
Sent: Tuesday, February 04, 2014 7:17 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Check your privilege: Rise of the Post-New Left
political vocabulary

Carrol, I'd be curious where you see the difference between the language of
privilege and the concept of chauvinism that was a significant framework for
the CP in the 1930's.  I have some ideas, but I'm curious about your take on
the question.  Thanks, Robert Wood

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Michael Smith <mjs at smithbowen.net> wrote:


> >
> > On Feb 4, 2014, at 5:35 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> >
> >> This is babbling nonsense. "Check your privilege" is simple bullshit.
> Or it
> >> could be a deliberate attempt to sabotage political discussion.
>
> I'm strongly with Carrol on this one. 'Privilege' is the stinkiest red 
> herring ever dragged across the trail.
>
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
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