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Information most welcome. In Solidarity, T -----Original Message----- >From: Gary MacLennan via Marxism <[email protected]> >Sent: Aug 10, 2016 9:22 PM >To: Thomas F Barton <[email protected]> >Subject: [Marxism] A specter is haunting... > >******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** >#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. >#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. >#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. >***************************************************************** > >My trawl through Twitter last night has established that the latest on the >Corbyn campaign, is the allegation by Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader, that >Trotskyists have entered the Labour Party and are twisting the arms of the >young people to get them to support Corbyn. In response the #TrotksiteTwist >sprang up and made great fun of the allegations. This is a sample > > >@*Antonineone1* <https://twitter.com/Antonineone1> 'Well, I was lookin' >everywhere for them gol-darned Reds I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked >under my bed Couldn't find 'em' > >*Pauline Lane* @*Antonineone1* <https://twitter.com/Antonineone1> > >Pauline Lane Retweeted Heard they've all gone out dancing doing # >*TrotskyiteTwist* <https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrotskyiteTwist?src=hash> > > >On a more serious level, Bastani <https://twitter.com/novaramedia> was >clinical in his approach to demolishing Watson’s case while the *ARTIST >TAXI DRIVER* @*chunkymark* <https://twitter.com/chunkymark> went off the >deep end in almost inarticulate rage at the palpable ludicrousness of the >claims. All hugely enjoyable and come highly recommended. > > >I myself was forcibly reminded of three things. First and most obviously >the great opening of the Communist Manifesto > >A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism. All the powers of >old Europe have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Pope >and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police-spies. > >Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as communistic >by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back >the branding reproach of communism, against the more advanced opposition >parties, as well as against its reactionary adversaries? > >In a tweet I substituted ‘Trotskyism’ for Communism and you get the idea. > >The second thought that came to mind was the scene in Petersen’s film Air >Force One, where General Radek is being released and the prisoners begin to >sing the Internationale. We cut to the Pentagon where there is total dismay >and then to the Kremlin where the terrified leader is drinking. Back on >board Air Force One the sound is turned up and the President is forced to >listen to the voice of revolution. The film is of course standard Hollywood >fare, but just for a few minutes Petersen allows the specter of revolution >to come on the stage and it is a great moment. > >My third (& final!) thought was of the passage in Deutscher’s *The Prophet >Outcast* where he tells of the French Ambassador’s attempt to dissuade >Hitler from aggression because he might end up benefiting Trotsky. Hitler >it seems ended up screaming at the very prospect. Trotsky’s own response is >very interesting, he said ‘They are haunted by the specter of revolution >and they give it a man’s name’ (Deutscher, p. 515). > >All of which brings me back to Watson and his stupidities. Beneath the >silly allegations is the fear of change, the fear of losing control and in >a way that represents a fear of revolution. There are no Trotskyists and >Watson knows it. But instinctively he has grasped the truths of >ontological depth. The surface is at times no guide at all to what the Old >Mole of revolutionary change is doing underneath. > >As things were in Watson’s world they will never be again. And his >desperate efforts to preserve the, already vanished, status quo are >transparently ridiculous and pathetic, but in his nightmare there lurks the >question ‘What rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards >Bethlehem to be born?’ > > >comradely > >Gary >_________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
