I think Joseph Green has replied effectively to comments and questions about his articles on Trotsky and Ethiopia. I would add two things: (1) Louis Proyect’s “So what?” regarding Selassie’s expansionism and oppression of national minorities in Ethiopia is a red flag to activists of today who are demanding a review of the so-called heroes of history. Proyect’s attitude, “so what” if Cromwell massacred the Irish, is not acceptable. LP compares it to Mustafa Kemal’s “suppression” of Armenians and Kurds, which he accepts because according to him Kemal was “historically progressive.” There was nothing progressive about the Armenian Holocaust. Nor was there anything progressive about the slaughter of native peoples in America, which LP tosses off with a “so what.” Activists of today are demanding a review of bourgeois heroes like Lincoln and Washington, smashing statues and demanding a recasting of others, to better reflect these heroes’ actual position in history. It’s an insult to them to say “so what?” (2) I’m disappointed that commentators on JG’s articles don’t talk about their relevance to recent political events and organizations of today. JG’s articles discuss the relevance of Trotsky’s views to the views of Trotskyist organizations today like WWP of the U.S. and SWP of Britain. Working class activists trying to build opposition to the Iraq war in 2003-04 were faced with an embarrassing problem, that some of the largest left groups organizing opposition to Bush’s war actually supported Saddam Hussein. This helped divide and cripple the movement. The same issue has come up again and again in recent years, as prominent left groups have openly supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic in Iran, Bashir Assad in Syria, etc. This is not just an accident or a mistake but a continuous line crippling the left opposition to imperialism in the U.S., Britain and elsewhere. JG’s articles try to tie this line to a common ancestry, Trotsky on Ethiopia. Was this wrong? Commentators, if they’re going to critique JG’s articles, should comment on their contemporary political relevance and explain their own stand regarding “national heroes” like Saddam Hussein, Bashir Assad, the Taliban and the Khomenei-ites of Iran.
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