* * From: Jim Devine
*
I agree with Lou on one thing, I guess. ("I guess," because I can't
say what Lou's opinions are on everything.) The DP -- when it does good
things -- does so when there is pressure on it _from the outside_ from some
movement, like the labor movement, the anti-war movement, the civil rights
movement, the women's movement, the environmental movement, etc.
^^^^
CB: I think this is the CP position on the DP. Only developing mass
movements independent of the DP will make it do the "correct"
thing...SOMETIMES, not always. Look at what the DP did to the CPUSA in the
late 40's early 50's. The CPUSA probably understands the badness and
betrayals of the DP more than any other group on the left. The entire
National Board of the CPUSA was put in prison while Truman was president.
Has Solidarity ever been put in prison by Democrats ?
^^^^^
Those who identify the DP as a force for good -- as the CPUSA article did
-- are fooling themselves.
^^^^^
CB: I'm looking for where the article identified the DP as a "force for
good".
^^^^^^
The DP is a "dependent
variable, not an independent one," to paraphrase KM.
The GOP -- when it does good things -- also does so when there is
pressure on it from the outside. As I've said before in different
ways, Nixon puts the current crop of DP politicians to shame. Not
because he was a Good Guy, but because there were popular movements at the
time which pressured him.
^^^^
CB: I think I probably first heard this type of analysis from the CPUSA. For
example, the CP always analyzed FDR's move to the left from when he
campaigned to when he was in office,as based on the mass movements of the
30's pressuring him. As an example, the CPUSA always emphasized that it
would take mass pressure on Reagan to make disarmament agreements with the
SU. There is no analysis by the CP indicating that the DP hacks are sources
of reforms. I'd say what you enunciate above on the necessity of mass
pressure is probable a position that originates with the CP, as most left
positions today did, when one studies them historically.
^^^^^^
(in Austin, TX.)
