Nothing to do with that. One can attack de Blasio for being a Democrat, a liberal, a conventional bourgeois politician, a political opportunist, etc. All that is fair game. But attacking him for having been a radical leftist? For having been an active supporter of the Nicaraguan revolution? And then bragging about contributing to these attacks? WTF!
All analogies are flawed, but imagine a different scenario. Suppose there's still considerable social hostility against gay people in a given community. Suppose that a gay man, let's call him L, manages the Gay Listserv, makes his ideas public on The Unrepentant Gay blog, and calls all gay people to get out of the closet now. Say L once met B in a gay bar or gay party, but then B stopped showing up in these events. L suspects strongly that B went back in the closet out of sheer personal opportunism, to advance his personal career, and become an anti-gay politician. Now B is running for public office with a chance he'll seek to exploit the position for personal gain and turn against gays. L is insulted. He knows -- he just knows -- that nothing good for gays can ever result from gay men running for office, etc. So, what does L do? Attack B for running for office? Attack B for seeking personal gain in politics? Attack anti-gay politics? Attack the system? No! L spreads personal gossip about B. L makes it public that he once met B as a gay to force him out of the closet! How is that not a disgusting act of snitchery? On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > On 9/23/13 12:43 PM, Marv Gandall wrote: > > The more liberal the Democrat, like de Blasio, the greater the need to > expose him. > > So I should have been advocating a vote for Obama in 2008 like you and > Julio? No thanks. > > > It is somewhat reminiscent of the German CP's stance that the > > social democrats or "social fascists" were the more effective evil > > than the Nazis and that the former had to be smashed in order for the > > working class to effectively wage war on the latter. > > No, it is more reminiscent of this: > > "The Republican and Democratic parties, or, to be more exact, the > Republican-Democratic party, represent the capitalist class in the class > struggle. They are the political wings of the capitalist system and such > differences as arise between them relate to spoils and not to principles." > > --Eugene V. Debs, > http://www.marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1904/sp_wkingclss.htm > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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