On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:50:51 -0400 Ralph Dumain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I haven't followed events in Russia for some time, but I was > intrigued to > see a face-off between Stephen F. Cohen and Garry Kasparov on the > little > weasel Charlie Rose's show tonight.
Stpehn Cohen, in case you wanted to know is married to Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation. He has written several books on the the Soviet Union and Russia, but I think his best known book is his *Buhkarin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938*. In fact it is no secret that Cohen is a great admirer of Bukharin and I think one reason why he was on such good terms with Gorbachev is that he saw Gorbachev as attempting to implement Bukharinist-type ideas with his glasnost and perestroika. He also assisted Bukharin's widow in her efforts at rehabilitating her husband's name during the Soviet era. > What's really interesting is > what's > not said about the basis of democracy as what is. I don't know much > of > Cohen's current line. He says Kasparov is politically naive, and se > also > seems to have some regard for Gorbachev, unlike Kasparov. The > discuss the > history of corruption in post-Soviet Russia and America's role in > Russia. They do seem to agree on much, but they have some different > things > to say. Neither believes the common judgment that Russia is not > ready for > democracy. Both blames the elites rather than the masses for the > failure > of the system. I think it was Kasparov who said The problem is that > > 'democracy' is seen as a scam for American self-interest, while > Cohen says > 'democracy' is secondary to economic security and has become a > synonym for > the current Russian disaster. Kasparov disagrees that Gorby was > even > minimally interested in democracy. > > There seemed to be, from my perspective, an implicit censorship > about what > the real issues were underlying these superstructural debates. But > Cohen > let the truth slip out a couple of times. He played along with > Rose's > bullshit game until he stated that there had been a sense in which > the > nation's resources were held to belong to everyone, and then they > were > illegally privatized into the hands of the corrupt individuals who > own them > now. His second allusion to class relations was his final claim, > that > democracies only work in practice when there is a vigorous labor > movement, > and that Russia needs free trade unions. Note how different this > discourse > is from the general framing of the discussion! There's little said > but > much implied, and that is, as always, the class relations of > society. > > Kasparov seems much more concerned with free and fair democratic > participation through the Russian territory. It's hard to tell > exactly > what his game is, but he does have a lot to say about the nuts and > bolts of > the corrupt system, including Putin's prime goal of keeping oil > prices up. > > > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
