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Well, since it was recommended, here's my answer, here, since I'm not a member of the Yahoo group: There's an evident contradiction in the two passages quoted below. The Bolshevik organization of an "anti-imperialist camp" was predicated on the success of the first socialist revolution in history, one that in fact and not merely in concept - with all of its faults, mistakes and inconsistencies - "forced march(ed) to the expropriation of the bourgeoisie" as this revealing caricature would have it. In other words, this anti-imperialist bloc had a class predicate in the exercise of state power. ALBA does not. This is not a recommendation of "forced marches" versus some other historically appropriate path. It is a statement of fact concerning the class character of the states in question. ALBA may well be considered an "anti-imperialist camp", but as we saw with respect to Cuba and Venezuela in connection with to Ghadaffi, that's no guarantee that camp will be on the right side of a revolutionary uprising elsewhere. After, that is the whole point of an "anti-imperialist camp". Hence one suspects ALBA is only partially "anti-imperialist", vis-a-vis the U.S., which we inside "the Beast" are in solidarity with. But there are other imperialisms in "Lenin's World 2.0". -Matt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ONE -- What were the Russian Bolshevik leaders trying to form at their famous 1920 Baku conference, at which they embraced anti-colonial Muslim activists and endorsed the call for a jihad against British imperialism and their Empire, on which the Sun was indeed beginning to set? .... My definite impression is that the bulk of such criticism and childlike political impatience is rooted in the concept that the socialist revolution consists of a non-stop, forced march to the expropriation of the bourgeoisie. Such a notion, if applied today in Venezuela or other ALBA countries undergoing revolutionary change and advances, would be a plunge into disastrous civil war in which the capitalist classes and their imperialist allies hold most of the cards. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
