Thanks, Frank.
As you say, the enemy of the cold war era was dismantled in the eighties. IIRC,
Gorbatchev rose to power and started the glasnost exactly 20 years ago. That's
why I would call it an anachronism.
One science philosopher (his name escapes me at the moment) claim that
scientific paradigmas do not shift because a better theory comes along, but
because the proponents of the old theory die out. :-)
If that is transferrable to this discussion it's probably too early to call it
an anachronism yet. It's just that it feels that way. :-)
Cheers,
Jostein
Quoting frank theriault <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>
> Okay, I know I shouldn't, but I'll wade in on this discussion (I've
> been resisting so far...).
>
> What one has to remember, is that the Red Scare in the 50's and 60's
> was a fear of Russia and it's satellite states ("The Soviet Block",
> the "Iron Curtain", whatever you want to call it). I guess one could
> throw the People's Republic of China in there, but realistically, they
> weren't a threat.
>
> Soviet Russia called itself Communist. It called itself Marxist and
> Marxist-Leninist. It was none of those things. There was a Marxist
> or Communist revolution there in 1917, but it didn't take long before
> it stalled. I don't remember much about Marxism, but I seem to recall
> that it's only workable if it's a world-wide phenomenon. Once Lenin
> died and Trotsky was ousted by Stalin, the counter-revolution was
> complete. With Trotsky out of the picture, Stalin turned inward, and
> decided to build Russia's economy rather than export the revolution.
> Russia was a centralist state-capitalist dictatorship. It remained so
> until dismantled in the late 1980's.
>
> The cold war had little to do with political ideologies, it had to do
> with military domination and spheres of influence and keeping the
> military-industrial machine in high-gear after WWII. What better way
> than to continue with an arms race? The US also knew that the Russian
> economy wasn't nearly as strong as it seemed, and that by engaging in
> an arms race it would bankrupt Russia.
>
> But, after years and years of equating Marxism and Communism with the
> Russian system, and after years of being told it was evil, many in the
> West have come to loathe the words, without really knowing much about
> the political philosophy.
>
> Old habits die hard. I disagree with Paul WRT to the Red Scare being
> over in the US. We've seen some of it here in this discussion.
> Words like Marxist and Socialist and even Liberal are currently used
> as epithets in the current political climate on the US.
>
> Anyway, I'm not espousing any views here (or trying not to), but
> rather provide a brief history lesson WRT Jostein's question. Hope I
> haven't trampled on anyone's feathers.
>
> cheers,
> frank
>
> --
> "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
>
>
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