On 10/29/06, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yoshie:
>Well, there is no evidence that people in Brazil or Iran would prefer
>a Louis Proyect or a Doug Henwood to Lula or Ahmadinejad. That's the
>reality.
Odd that a Marxist would be so into popularity contests.
Politics is essentially about winning over other people to your
political vision and program of action. That's so whether it's
electoral politics, social movement organizing, or armed struggle. If
few agree with you, you can't put your political vision and program of
action in practice. This point tends to get forgotten in America,
probably because leftists are so few and so ill organized.
>The Paris Commune exemplifies only the Paris Commune, it seems to me.
>It's one of a kind, and it didn't last.
Have you read "State and Revolution"? It is online at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm.
I also recommend Karl Marx's "The Civil War in France", which can be
read at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm.
The world today can't be understood by reading "State and Revolution"
or "The Civil War in France." You read those texts mainly to
understand early 20th-century Russia or late 19th-century France.
>When a country has a large informal sector and the informal sector
>produces most political activists on the Left, what kind of political
>and economic program might make sense?
I advocate socialism everywhere.
Well, suppose folks are not exactly buying socialim right now in New
York City. Then what?
>I'm thinking of Amin's writings on the multi-polar world order.
This doesn't exactly inspire me to do further research on google. My
wife's dissertation required her to read a ton of poli-sci books that
refer to "multi-polar world orders". I think they should give her a
PhD just for having the patience to wade through this kind of blather.
Checking US hegemony is an important task, no matter what you think.
>There is always a filter. I'm subscribed to more lists than I can
>count, and I have no time to read all of them. Maybe I catch just one
>percent of postings.
Oh, by the way, thanks for ignoring my invitation to resub to
Marxmail.
I'd have stayed on it if you hadn't unsubscribed me to begin with. :->
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
