From:    Carrol Cox 
To:      marxism-international
Subject: Re: M-I: For a culture of scientific discussion (Ben replies  to Proyect)
Date:    Wednesday, April 08, 1998 4:05 PM

[Note: this would be my third post were it not that the second was posted
twice.]

I have argued that Ben was wrong because conditions did not exist now for
the type of debate he proposed. I think Lou (P) left himself unnecessarily
open to Lou (G)'s rejoinder here because the conditions *no longer* exist
for the *particular* cooperations he offers as an example.

I participated actively in the 1988 Jackson campaign (I in fact ran, and
lost, as a Jackson delegate in the Democratic primary of that year). I
believe that was a wholly correct choice, and I am *still* "reaping the
benefits" of it locally in the existence of local political relationships
I would not otherwise have (and which helped, for example, in the building
of an Anti-Gulf War coalition locally).

I would not, again, allow my name to be associated with political activity
linked to Jesse Jackson. It would be a *barrier* rather than an aid in
"open[ing] doors to reformist forces ...that have social power." Jesse
Jackson is no longer a (non-/anti-revolutionary) reformist; he has
actively joined the forces of reaction, and to "dialogue" with him is to
break not forge necessary relationships with masses of (potentially 
or actually) progressive though "reformist" people. Each time I re-read
Ben's arguments, they become more distasteful to me, and only one of their
destructive results is that of making such positions as Lou P falls into
here, defending a particular *anti-progressive*, *anti-reformist*
political agent, Jesse Jackson.

Jesse Jackson, and those he is linked to, certainly have "social power,"
but so does the CIA. There was *once* reason to ally oneself with Jackson.
There is *still* reason to ally oneself with *many* "reformers." There is
almost every reason *not* to ally oneself with Jackson.

I think the same arguments apply to Gloria Steinem. Her 1996 appearance at
the Democratic National Convention and her recent op-ed piece in the New
York Times were utterly shameless. They were not the acts of a "mere
reformist," they were the acts of a dedicated enemy of any significant
reform. That she is not a revolutionary is irrelevant. That she is a scab
and a proud one is relevant.


I make this propositions fairly bluntly here. I am beginning a detailed
study of eight consecutive issues of the *Nation* (March 2 through April
20) for the purpose of developing a perspective on the battles of
differentiation (crudely put, differentiation between progressive
reformists and reactionaries and scabs masquerading as progressive
reformists) that do (unlike those proposed by Ben) need to be fought
*now*, under contemporary conditions of the left in the United States. I
hope to post that study in installments on this list. My hope is that they
will succeed in underlining my basic acceptance of Lou P's principles, my
repudiation of the particular examples he offers in this post, and
provisional criteria by means of which we can make the necessary
differentiations.

Carrol

> 
> 
> Louis Proyect:
> 
> >The reason it is useful to dialogue and keep open doors to
> >reformist forces is that they have social power. Millions of people look to
> >Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem and Bernie Sanders...
> 
> 
> Jesse Jackson ran an extortion ring out of the Chicago headquarters of the
> Democrat Party, wringing tens of millions of dollars out of
> "conscience-stricken" American multinationals.  He then parlayed this
> ignoble scam into a white wife, six Mercedes, a Senate seat, and all-white
> private schools for his children.  Gloria Steinhem, in her *Ms* magazine,
> published some of the most anti-Marxist articles of the 1980s. Bernie
> Sanders voted for the crime bill, and criticized "Stalinist" Cuba for human
> rights violations.  I mean, what do these people want? 
> 
> Applause?
> 
> 
> Louis Godena
> 
> 
> 
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