Now I thought he was being too kind to the PSL which is a Stalinist degeneration of a Stalinist degeneration from the WWP which degenerated from the SWP/USA.
There slide started way before WW2 and were wrong on most counts after the war. The Sam Marcy slide started in 1948 supporting the imperialist Henry Wallace for president and like the Becker Boys whose ego got in the way with a many good people in WWP, had to leave the SWP . Actually these so called left groups deserve to be called more conservatives and not revolutionary for many reasons, they have failed to learn lessons from the many world upheavals and developments ushered in even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and they have not settled accounts from their past with their wrong analysis of the development of Europe after the war, supporting the Russian invasions when they led the Warsaw pact troops into Hungary in 1956 or Czechoslovakia in 1968, the crushing of the movement and protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 while the protesters were singing the Internationale ( they still think China is socialist), supporting sub imperialists such as Libya and Syria, supporting the most reactionary elements of Islam in Iran and Palestine, in confusing the national question, self determination and anti imperialism in its name while supporting the most brutal, un human, repressive and murderous regimes. I mean the list is endless and could go on for days. Now I have met many good comrades who belong to those organizations in my life and I won't mention them so I don't tarnish them with what I am saying. But I have been a victim of the Becker Boys Star Chamber antics before and did not find out about it till after the fact, so I may be biased but I learned and did not give up the struggle. But many like our Stanfield Smith, have a hard time telling the difference between real socialism and leftist militants and opportunist's and opportunistic demagogue's...like the Becker Boys in this case. Rojo rojito Cort On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 6:37 PM, stansfield smith <[email protected]>wrote: > ** > > > Having seen some of Pham Binh's replies to postings, he strikes me as > one of these pretty lightweight guys who sometimes thinks being a smartass > passes for political depth. Maybe it is thus needless to say that he is in > the orbit ISO, that is, a group that is very hostile to real > revolutions, only supportive of color revolutions, so long as the color is > not red. > If Human Rights Watch were to set up a "Marxist" group, they couldn't > have done a better job. > > *From:* Cort Greene <[email protected]> > *To:* Venezuela_Today <[email protected]>; csny < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Tuesday, April 9, 2013 5:46 PM > *Subject:* [Venezuela_Today] Eclectics or Dialectics? Unpacking PSLs > Defense of Racist, Collaborationist Tyrannies > ** > **** > > > > http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=8293** > > Eclectics or Dialectics? Unpacking PSLs Defense of Racist, > Collaborationist Tyrannies > by PHAM BINH on APRIL 8, 2013 > * [image: promo]Socialists and War: Two Opposing Trends* published by > Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is as thin politically as it > page-wise. Clocking in at 46 pages, most of the book consists of freely > available published material: a > reprint<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/justifying-imperialist-interventionint.html> > from > PSLs newspaper, a *Dissident Voice* > interview<http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/08/libya-and-the-western-left-2/>with > Brian Becker who is the national director of PSLs front group ANSWER > Coalition, and a historical document, the Basel > Manifesto<http://www.marxists.org/history/international/social-democracy/1912/basel-manifesto.htm>. > The only original work is Beckers essay, Socialists and War: Two Opposing > Trends, which claims that socialist debates over imperialist intervention > into the Arab Spring are the modern analog to the > split<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/jan/x02.htm> within > the socialist movement over World War One with myself as > Plekhanov<http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/p/l.htm#plekhanov> and > PSL as who else? the Bolsheviks. (Whether Becker gets to play Lenin and > Mazda Majidi Trotsky or vice versa in their 1914-1917 reenactment is > unclear.) > The book is a reminder that seven dollars doesnt buy much of anything > these days. > Majidis article, When Justifying Imperialist Intervention Goes > Wrong<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/justifying-imperialist-interventionint.html> > is a Revleft <http://www.revleft.com/>-style response to my essay, Libya > and Syria: When Anti-Imperialism Goes > Wrong<http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=1097>. > Majidis strawmen speak for themselves and need not be enumerated here. > However, his underlying method is of interest. He begins by asserting that, > All demonstrations and opposition movements [are] not progressive. > Undoubtedly this is true, and Majidi cites the Nazis and the Tea Party as > examples. So far, so good. He then adds what he calls color revolutions > to this list: > > Most color revolutions occurred in the former Soviet Republics, such as > Georgias Rose Revolution, Ukraines Orange Revolution and Kyrgyzstans > Tulip Revolution. But there have also been (successful or attempted) color > revolutions in other countries, such as Lebanons Cedar Revolution in 2005 > and Irans Green Revolution in 2009. > > What is a color revolution according to Majidi? > > Color revolutions usually include the formation of coherent and unified > pro-imperialist political forces, which draw upon public discontent with > economic distress, corruption and political coercion. They involve several > operations, including the creation of division and disunity in the military > and an intense propaganda campaign. Elements who participate in such > street protests are often a small part of the population and do not > represent the sentiments of the majority of the people, much less the > interests of the working class. In fact, many participants in the protests > may not support the agenda of the right-wing leadership and its imperialist > sponsors. Still, the imperialist propaganda campaign utilizes the protests, > however large or small, to promote regime change and the ascension of a > client state. The imperialists are not fools to do so; this is precisely > what such democratic movements produce absent an alternative > working-class and anti-imperialist opposition. > > This is a description of associated features, not a rigorous definition. > Many of these features were present in the Egyptian revolution. The > coherent and unified pro-imperialist political force known as the Muslim > Brotherhood rode to power drawing upon public discontent with economic > distress, corruption and political coercion. Their regime enjoys a much > larger and firmer popular base than Mubaraks decrepit dictatorship and in > that narrow sense U.S. imperialism was strengthened rather than weakened by > the January 25, 2011 revolution. > Does PSL consider the Egyptian case to be a color revolution? Of course > not<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/egypt-a-continuous-process.html>. > Thus, the only consistency to PSLs method is its inconsistency. > Eclecticism is inevitable because PSL continually substitutes description > for definition. > The next step in Majidis counter-argument is to ask, What is the > political character of the Syrian and Libyan rebels? Earlier in the > article, he poses questions of fundamental importance for approaching this > issue: > > In his entire article, Binh conveniently assumes the very thing that > needs to be proventhat the Libyan rebels and the Syrian opposition are > revolutionary. This false premise, once accepted, leads to all sorts of > false conclusions. What is the political character of the NTC-led rebels in > Libya? What qualified them as revolutionaries? How does Binh determine that > the Syrian opposition is revolutionary and the government > counter-revolutionary? When analyzing an opposition movement anywhere in > the world, this is the first question that needs to be asked. > > Wrong. > The first question that needs to be asked in assessing an opposition > movement is: what is it a movement *in opposition to*? What is the class > character of the regime it is coming into conflict with and why? Imagine > trying to analyze the political character Occupy Wall Street without > knowing the first thing about Wall Street! Majidi makes this exact mistake > by assessing the Libyan edition of the Arab Spring without *first* examining > the Ghadafi regime in any detail. Doing this would make defending the > regime from the protest movement as PSL does impossible because the regime > was guilty of the very things Majidi claims define the rebellion as > reactionary and right-wing: racism, collaboration with imperialism, and > pro-neoliberalism. > [image: hanging4.7. 77] > April 4, 1977, Bengazi. PSLs progressive regime lynched students > (without trial) every year on April 4 to commemorate the anniversary of a > 1976 student > uprising<http://www.thenorthstar.info/%22http://www.shabablibya.org/news/libyans-remember-april-7th-as-a-day-of-rage-and-grief> > . > *Racism:* Much like the Polish, > Ukranian<http://www.philology.kiev.ua/new/node/4>, > and other national minorities of Tsarist Russia, Libyas Amazigh were > forbidden from learning, speaking, or celebrating their language and > culture by Ghadafis regime. Those that dared > risked<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/11/after-centuries-of-oppression-a-libyan-minority-sees-hope-in-qaddafis-fall/249099/> > arrest > and persecution. > Becker claims Gaddafi had a lot of support from black Libyans who > considered [his] Africa-centric foreign policy to be positive (33). Does > Becker believe Black Libyans supported Ghadafi when he made a racist > deal<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/libya-and-the-arab-revolt-in.html> > with > Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to keep Italy > free<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2063399,00.html> of > Black immigrants, > saying<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8170956/Gaddafi-demands-4-billion-from-EU-or-Europe-will-turn-black.html>, > We should stop this illegal immigration. If we dont, Europe will become > Black, it will be overcome by people with different religions? > *Collaboration with Imperialism:* *Socialists and War: Two Opposing Trends > * says not a word about how Ghadafis regime tortured people on behalf of > the > CIA<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199246/CIA-delivered-Gaddafi-Libyan-rebels-torture-waterboarding-widespread-agency-admit.html> > and > its British counterpart, MI6 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14750998>. Nor > does it mention Ghadafis mass > expulsion<http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/05/world/libya-s-leader-urges-other-arab-countries-to-expel-palestinians.html> > of > thousands of Palestinian refugees in 1995 and his call on other Arab states > to follow suit. > *Neoliberalism:* Majidi never discusses the Ghadafi regimes embrace of > neoliberalism, so comrade Beckers > words<http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/08/libya-and-the-western-left-2/> on > page 27 may come as a shock: > > Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Gaddafis government saw the > handwriting on the wall and sought its own accommodation with the West. It > adopted a set of neoliberal policies and invited major western oil > companies to do business again, once sanctions had been lifted by Britain > and the United States. > > So for PSL, it is acceptable for a racist, tyrannical regime to > collaborate with U.S. imperialism and institute neoliberal policies but > unacceptable for a revolt against this same regime to have racist, > collaborationist, and neoliberal elements or characteristics. What is good > for the goose is absolutely impermissible for the gander. When Ghadafi made > deals with British Petroleum and other western oil companies, PSL said this > was understandable and > justified<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/libya-and-the-arab-revolt-in.html>; > when the post-Ghadafi government honored those same deals, PSL labeled it a > pawn of imperialism. > This is doublethink masquerading as Marxist analysis. > Still, the question remains: was it correct to assume (as I did) that the > Libyan edition of the Arab Spring was revolutionary and not reactionary, > progressive and not regressive? If so, how do we make sense of PSLs > charges of racism, collaborationism, and neoliberalism on the part of the > Libyan opposition? > The answer to the first question goes to the very heart of what the Arab > Spring is a series ofbourgeois-democratic > revolutions<http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=5759>. > Unlike socialist revolutions and national liberation movements, democratic > revolutions are not necessarily anti-imperialist; the pro-imperialist > post-revolutionary governments in Egypt and Tunisia prove this. While the > socialist revolution is principally a struggle by and for the proletariat > (in conjunction with other classes and oppressed groups to be sure) against > the bourgeoisie as a whole, modern democratic revolutions pit oppositional > sections of the bourgeoisie against ruling sections of the bourgeoisie. PSL > points to the defection of neoliberal figures like Mahmoud Jibril from > Ghadafis regime to the side of the rebellion as proof that it was > reactionary while remaining oblivious to analogous neoliberal figures like > Mohammad Morsi and Amr Moussa in the Egyptian revolution and Hamadi > Jebali<http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/02/the-imf-and-tunisia/> in > the Tunisian revolution. PSL does not label these latter revolutions > right-wing, reactionary, or colored. > Again, PSLs consistent inconsistency is blindly obvious. > Having exposed PSLs inability to grasp that bourgeois and neoliberal > forces inevitably play a prominent role in modern democratic revolutions, > what of their charges that the Libyan opposition was racist against Blacks > and collaborated with imperialism? Does this not invalidate the claim that > the Libyan opposition was democratic in character? > Historically speaking, democratic revolutions were not anti-racist nor > even consistently democratic, the American revolution in which white > slaveholders and racists played a dominant role being a prime example. The > fact that bourgeois-democratic rights were not accorded to Blacks in 1776 > and that Americas post-revolutionary government ruthlessly exterminated > the continents indigenous peoples does not change the revolutions > democratic character. Libyas democratic revolution in 2011 is no different > in this respect. > [image: LR1] > [image: LR2] > [image: LR3] > [image: Salem Al-Shoushan] > *Libyas Black Revolutionary Democrats* > The problem for PSL and all those like Richard > Seymour<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/libya-spectacular-revolution-disgraced-racism> > who > saw Libyas revolutionary democrats as little more than an anti-Black > lynch > mob<http://blackagendareport.com/content/obama-hosts-international-debut-libya%E2%80%99s-racist-and-thoroughly-non-revolutionary-regime> > is > that they either deliberately ignored or were blissfully unaware of the > significant number of Black Libyans fighting Ghadafis forces. This would > have been impossible if anti-Black racism was the rule rather than the > exception<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/12/1015087/-Racism-in-Libya> > among > the rebels. Southern rebel brigades made up of the Tuareg and Tebo > peoples<http://www.temehu.com/Libyan-People.htm> were > almost all Black. > Libyas rebels had more Black commanding officers than the Union did > during the Civil War *and*they commanded non-Black and mixed race units. > *Right: Rebel commander Wanis Abu-Khmada berates a group of rebels in > the first days of the revolution for their lack of discipline.* > *Right: Rebel commander Abdul-Wahab Qayed. After the revolution, he was > put in command of Libyas border protection forces.* > > Thus, PSLs > depiction<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/natos-rebels-are-lynching.html> > of > Libyan rebels as Klansmen is counterfactual slander. > As for the charge of collaborating or allying with imperialism, > undoubtedly this is true. The problem for PSL is that democratic > revolutions unlike socialist revolutions are not anti-imperialist by > definition, and there is no socialist equivalent of the 10 Commandments > that forbids such collaboration on a temporary or limited basis. Majidi > concedes this, writing: > > It is possible for one imperialist country, or a grouping of imperialist > countries, to temporarily aid independence movements in the oppressed world > in order to weaken the hold of their imperialist rivals in a different > country. > > By the same token, it is possible for one imperialist country, or a > grouping of imperialist countries, to temporarily aid democratic > revolutions in rival states just as monarchist France aided Americas > democratic revolution against British colonialism. Only a > fool<http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=1263> would > conclude that independence movements and democratic revolutions in the > oppressed world are reactionary because they receive temporary or limited > aid from a reactionary power. > At the root of PSLs litany of errors is their utter failure to understand > democratic revolutions as Lenin and Marx > did<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1905/tactics/>. > This failure leads them to invent a > distinction<http://www.scribd.com/doc/133382854/Class-Analysis-of-Upsurge-in-Arab-World> > between > the good Arab Spring (against pro-U.S. dictatorships) and the bad Arab > Spring (against anti-U.S. dictatorships) instead of realizing that the Arab > Spring is an internationalist struggle against *all*dictatorships. Every > country affected by the Arab Spring saw a fight between bourgeois > anti-democratic states on the one hand and bourgeois-democratic mass > movements on the other; every one of these struggles and movements had and > has progressive, democratic <http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=8118> political > content compared to the tyrannical governments they struggled to reform or > remove. > Supporting one freedom struggle and not another is an exercise in the kind > of selective hypocrisy characteristic of > liberalism<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_03.htm>, > as is the inability to recognize the > difference<http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=1948> between > revolution and counter-revolution; PSL does both while claiming to be a > Marxist organization. > PSLs attempt to pass off eclecticism as Marxism is even more apparent in > its internal documents. Richard Beckers A Class Analysis of the > Revolutionary Upsurge in the Arab > World<http://www.scribd.com/doc/133382854/Class-Analysis-of-Upsurge-in-Arab-World> > is a 6-page chronological summary that is as broad as it is superficial. It > reads more like a Wikipedia entry than a thoroughgoing study of Libyas > development since 1969 when a bourgeois nationalist military coup ended the > monarchy and inaugurated Ghadafis 42-year tyranny from the standpoint of > historical materialism. Beckers 277 words analyzing (read: describing) > Libya contain no discussion of how Ghadafi imported right-less migrant > labor to staff the oil industry, creating an unemployed *lumpenproletariat > * among native Libyans, no discussion of the countrys changing class and > state > structures<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21520844.2012.666646#preview>, > and no recognition of Ghadafis impoverishment of the standing army in > favor of irregular armies of snitches, spies, and enforcers dressed up as > revolutionary > committees<http://www.thenorthstar.info/www.shabablibya.org/news/libyans-remember-april-7th-as-a-day-of-rage-and-grief>. > The national oppression of the Amazigh is invisible to Becker, mirroring > Ghadafis racist insistence<http://allafrica.com/stories/201103200010.html> > that > the Amazigh people and culture simply did not exist. > Having failed to properly examine the context and the regime that gave > rise to protests in Libya, Majidi moves on to sketch an alternate history > of the revolution that conforms all too perfectly with his description of > color revolutions. He uses the fact that the Libyan revolt could not beat > the regime militarily in spring of 2011 as proof that it was not popular, > not progressive, nor a genuine revolution; perhaps he has never heard of > the Paris Commune of > 1871<http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm> > that > was also unable to triumph militarily, or perhaps he believes the Commune > to be the very first color revolution (orchestrated by German and British > imperialists, no doubt). Whatever the case may be, the fact remains that > Libya was the first instance in the Arab Spring where a capitalist state > used lethal force against peaceful protests on a mass scale the Egyptian > and Tunisian revolutions were fortunately never tested by this kind of > wanton bloodshed. Ghadafi was the bloody vanguard of the Arab Springs > counter-revolution, and his violent escalation prompted the democratic > opposition led by the National Transition Council to > seek<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/world/africa/02libya.html?_r=0> > military > aid from imperialist powers that previously they rejected as > unwanted<http://www.thenorthstar.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/foreign-300x204.jpg> > and > unnecessary. > If anyone is to blame for NATOs intervention in Libya, it is Ghadafi. He > chose to shoot unarmed protesters *en masse, *handing NATO the political > capital it needed to step into what began as a peaceful struggle. > Majidi goes on to argue that because the NTC did not have the support of > the entire population, it was a fake, reactionary, unpopular color > revolution, as if there has *ever* been a revolution in world history > that was an exercise in unanimity! As evidence of popular support for > Ghadafi, he points to a single<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts_qHfVQw2k> > state-sponsored > rally of hundreds of thousands held in Tripoli in the midst of the massive > NATO bombing (never mind the fact that NATO attacked only a > handful<http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_2011_07/20110702_110702-oup-update.pdf> > of > targets in Tripolis vicinity that day). What he omits is that Ghadafi was > an unelected autocrat with an entire state apparatus (including a secret > police) at his disposal to coerce people to show up, and, most damningly, > that there has been *not one* pro-Ghadafi rally in all of Libya in the > almost two years since the regimes demise. If Ghadafis support emanated > organically from the grassroots and not from the networks of patronage > created by his regimes oil money, this would not be the case. > Regardless of what position one took on the character of the Libyan > opposition back in 2011, what is indisputable today in 2013 is that > Ghadafis repressive bourgeois state machine > wassmashed<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch03.htm> > and razed <http://www.economist.com/node/21526958> to the ground by the > self-armed population organized in militias, that there is no secret police > to terrorize the masses, that > strikes<http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/11/14/sidra-terminal-strike-threatens-400000-bd-exports/> > , > protests<http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/11/02/Armed-men-occupy-Libyan-Parliament/UPI-93461351866044/> > , > demonstrations<http://www.juancole.com/2012/09/free-libya-crowds-in-benghazi-rally-against-militias-drive-al-qaeda-out-of-city.html>, > and sit-ins are now regular occurrences, that freedom of the > press<http://feb17.info/media/video-libyas-first-english-radio-show-launches/> > and > expression<http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/14/libya-law-restricting-speech-ruled-unconstitutional> > exist, > that victims of racist oppression like the Amazigh have made > advances<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21019020>, > that unlike Kosovo NATO has no bases there, and that free and fair > elections for a legislature were held to inaugurate a democratic > republic<http://www.juancole.com/2012/08/parliament-takes-over-in-modern-libyas-first-peaceful-transfer-of-power.html>. > All of this is a great leap forward, a tremendous democratic gain for > Libyas oppressed and exploited that vindicates those who understood the > Libyan opposition to be progressive, revolutionary, and democratic in > character and serves as an irrefutable rebuke to those like PSL who > slandered the opposition as > monarchist(!)<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/libya-and-the-arab-revolt-in.html> > , > racist<http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/natos-rebels-are-lynching.html>, > unpopular, and reactionary. > Even stranger than PSLs defense of racist, collaborationist tyrannies in > Libya and Syria from the Arab Springs democratic revolutions is their > assertion that todays imperialism and the tasks it poses for socialists > remain almost totally > unchanged<http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/08/libya-and-the-western-left-2/> > from > Lenins time. In the face of wars like Libya and Mali where Iraq-style > colonization is not the name of the game, PSL can evidently only repeat > 100-year-old formulas about > anti-colonial<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/> wars > and revolutionary > defeatism<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/jul/26.htm> > . > [image: PSL]<http://www.thenorthstar.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PSL.png> > Standing with independent bourgeois nationalist governments as they > slaughter their own peoples by the tens of thousands because said > governments have conflicts of interest with imperialist powers is > altogether different from standing with national liberation movements like > the Vietnamese NLF who battled the > slaughter<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBDKzcjMHEs> wrought > by French and American occupiers. The first is criminal stupidity, the > second is anti-imperialism. > Two opposing trends indeed. > **** > **** > > > -- *A means can be justified only by its end. But the end in its turn needs to be justified. (Also quoted as "The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.") Leon Trotsky Their Morals and Ours (1938)* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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