Jim Devine wrote: > > FWIW, Petras sounds like he feels betrayed by Obama. I don't think I > ever had any illusions in the first place, so I can't feel betrayed. > > (BTW, one of the many things I don't like about the Trotskyist > tradition is the "revolution betrayed" trope, seemingly with a big > admixture of personal animosity toward the "betrayer.")
I agree with both parts of this. I have read very few of the posts "criticizing" OR "defending" Obama on any list because it seems to me that they are irrelevant to figuring out our tasks -- they would relevant only in terms of some sense of betrayal. And it seems to me that the overemphasis on central leadership (which is implicit in the "revolution betrayed" hypothesis is the hardest illusion for ex-Trotskyists to abandon. (It shows up, for example, in their inability to let go of the empty label, "Stalinists.") Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
