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My only quibble -- the "last gasp" of the left wing of the NEW DEAL coalition was the Wallace campaign of 1948 --- and under the leadership of Clark Clifford, the Truman re-election campaign successfully red-baited Wallace and his supporters --- Interestingly enough, the total marginalization and destruction of what we in the late sixties called the "old left" was so complete that the liberals could successfully turn on McCarthy --- leaving enough breathing room for dissenters so that when the 1960s rolled around there was some SPACE into which grew the new left ---- which did make some serious changes in US policies ---- end of the Indochina wars, etc. > > To my mind, "Trumpism" always struck me as a fevered attempt to create a > kind of zombie McCarthyism. People tend to remember that scoundrel time as > one of ideological anti-Communism, aimed first at the USSR and its presumed > allies, including the "home grown" subversives. But the organized Left > were never large enough to be posing a serious threat. It did tremendous > damage to what remained of the radicalization of the 1930s and 40s, but it > began in Truman's effort to marginalize the diehard New Dealers and, later, > by McCarthy and other opportunists to bully their way into a stronger > position in the governing structure. All of this involved conjuring an > "international Communist conspiracy." > > For believers, that conspiracy centered on fears of "the deep State," the > unelected, appointed Federal bureaucrats attempting to feminize America, > destroy national virtue with its international influences, impose > restrictions on business, put chemicals into the water, etc. To defend an > idea of freedom that embraced their own right to be free from any > altenrative ideas of arguments, they ritually victimized individuals > exercising their right to speak freely or organize or just be different. > > It was as anti-science and as anti-rational as anything the Trumpwads have > conjured. > > And--in the complete absence of the organized Left in that repressive > context--the right-wingers enjoyed a monopoly in focusing class > resentments. > > Cheers, > Mark L. > > > _________________________________________________________ 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
