Many of us on the left both in Canada and internationally were shocked and saddened in mid-December by the sudden death of Leo Panitch from Covid-19, contracted while in hospital during unrelated treatment. Leo was well-known not just as an insightful political economist but as one of Canada’s rare “public intellectuals” who combined his Marxist scholarship with a profound engagement with contemporary social and political issues. His views, always expressed with admirable clarity, were increasingly sought out by a new generation of political activists in North America and Europe.
By Richard Fidler I first met Leo personally in 1984. Articling with a progressive law firm in Toronto, I found that Leo was my contact for arranging the visit of Ralph Miliband as guest speaker at the annual Law Union conference. Miliband’s presentation was well received, and following the meeting Leo suggested the three of us should repair to the pub to which other conference participants had adjourned.I remember telling Miliband that I had read several of his books but that my favourite was still his first, Parliamentary Socialism, A Study in the Politics of Labour. He laughed and said “It’s mine too.” Published in 1961, it began famously with the statement: “Of political parties claiming socialism to be their aim, the [British] Labour Party has always been one of the most dogmatic — not about socialism, but about the parliamentary system.” I was in 1962 a member of the provincial council of the recently-founded Ontario New Democratic Party, and had found Miliband’s analysis of the BLP of immense help in understanding the disturbing features of the NDP that I was encountering.Leo Panitch had just recently moved to Toronto where he was to establish the most progressive political economy faculty in English Canada, at York University. 1984 marked his addition to the editorial team producing the annual Socialist Register founded by Miliband, Leo’s mentor from the days when he studied for a doctorate in England.[1]In what follows, I want to signal and critically engage with what I consider Leo’s major contributions to our understanding of the Canadian state and its place within global imperialism, as well as the conclusions he drew as they might affect the development of an alternative anticapitalist project. Taken together, both aspects reveal, in retrospect, a remarkably consistent approach in Leo’s lifelong attempt to not only interpret the world but also to help change it. https://lifeonleft.blogspot.com/2021/02/remembering-leo-panitch.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sp-canada-discussion" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sp-canada-discussion/1085403305.2949025.1612889375935.JavaMail.zimbra%40ncf.ca. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#6252): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/6252 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/80512204/21656 -=-=- 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. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
