On Tue, 22 Jan 2002 04:28:40 +0000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> G'day all,
>
> I'd written,
>
> > Or shall we wrap the old list up and slip her quietly into the
> > dustbin?
>
> Well, I think the eloquent silence with which this was greeted can't
> be
> ignored. If no-one on the list nominates for the position of list
> moderator within the week, I shall have to let Hans know Thaxis is
> sans
> moderator and, very possibly, sans raison d'etre.
That raises the issue lie this once thriving list has seemed to have
slipped into senescence and may well be ready to die a natural
death. Long time subscribers may recall that this list is a continuation
of the old Marxism-2 list which was founded by Lisa Rogers in reaction
to the takeover of the original Spoon Collective's Marxism List by
Maoists in 1995. About a year later, the Spoon Collective decided
to break up its Marxism space into several lists including a
Marxism-International List, Marxism-Thaxis, and a Marxism-and-
Sciences List, as well as a Marxism-General List, a Marxism-
Feminism List and I think a Marxism-News List as well. This
situation lasted until 1998 when the Spoon Collective decided
that it no longer wished to host any of the Marxism lists and
they were spun off to their respective moderators, who generally
sought and obtained hosting privelages elsewhere.
The fates of these various lists has been quite diverse. One
of the then most active lists was the Marxism-International List
which was turned over to Louis Godena (who was probably
the most articulate and erudite of the Maoists that had originally
"invaded" the old Marxism List back in 1995). For quite a while
that list retained its original vitality, until Godena and his
co-moderator Adolfo Olaechea began to purge it of various
ideological opponents. As a result many of its most active
and interesting participants, if not purged, left on their
own accord. As a result two new lists were formed,
Louis Proyect's Marxmail List, and Doug Henwood's
LBO-Talk List both of which continue to thrive to this
day. In the mean time other list were formed as well.
Jerry Levy who used to be quite active on Thaxis created
his own specialized list that is devoted mainly to rather
abstruse discussions of value theory. There is also
the Progressive Economists List, which retains a
certain vitality.
So what happened to this list? This one too used
to be quite lively, and for a long time it seemed to
carry on more or less in the original spirit of the
Marxism-2 list but in more recent times, it has
become evident that list traffic has gone way down,
and the list simply seems rather lifeless now.
Why? I suspect the reason is simply that so many
of the people who used to participate here are now
most active on the other lists that I have mentioned.
Levy used to be quite active here. I can't remember
when the last time he ever posted here. And
the same is true for most of the other former regulars
here. Would different moderators have made a difference?
Possibly, Proyect for whatever else one might say about
him has been quite aggressive about promoting his
list with the result that it has several hundred subscribers.
The same can be said about Henwood's LBO-Talk,
which also had the advantage of being associated
with Henwood's well-known (in leftist circles) newsletter
Left Business Observer. And there is also the sad
example of Marxism-International which continues with
no discernable purpose since the only people who
post on it now a days is Godena and Olaechea, and
then only at very infrequent intervals. On the other
hand it may be that there was little that any moderator
or group of moderator could have done about this
situation. Back when Thaxis was founded there were
only a bare handful of Marxist or left-oriented lists
in cyberspace, now there are literally dozens if not
hundreds of such lists. This is of course a good thing,
since it suggests that there has been indeed a revival
of interest in Marxism (after having been declared dead
and buried in 1991). At the same time this makes it
harder for any one list to thrive since there is now so
many competing lists to which people can now choose
to participate in.
Jim F.
>
> All the best to all,
> Rob.
>
>
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