Ganter —•— M-I: PANIC LEFT-4

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  TEXT VERSION: M-I

See also: M-TH: Fascism   (post by Louis N Proyect)

See also: M-TH: Ganter's revolutionism   (post by Louis N Proyect)

From owner-marxism-international
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 14:10:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Brian M Ganter <bmganter@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: M-I: PANIC LEFT-4

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Revolutionary Marxist Collective at U/Buffalo

PANIC LEFT-4 (footnote 1)

It is a symptom of theoretical confusion among the “left” that even a heterodox leftist—Malecki—who has distanced himself from the reformists on the list thinks the “limit text” of our practices as Revolutionary Marxist-Leninists should be a response to the question: what do we do in remedying the situation of the poor and homeless in Buffalo? This question — which is repeated by several others on the list — from Carrol Cox to Proyect — in the refrain that we are simply muddled-headed “sociology majors” who confuse the world of thinking with the world of doing is a version of the “local” politics — more appropriate for NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS crowds than people who call themselves “marxists” let alone “Marxist”—that assumes that the situation of the poor in Buffalo can be addressed outside and in isolation of the situation of the poor in Manila, in New Delhi, in Nottingham... The situation of the poor in Buffalo is not isolable from the situation of the poor in other cities of the metropole or the peripheries nor is it a “homelessness” issue or a “food” issue: it is the issue of “food," “health," “education," massive global armament, “prostitution”, etc.... in short the situation of the “poor” and the “homeless” in Buffalo cannot be addressed “locally” -- it requires a “global” solution. The only global solution is, as we made it clear in our “Red Critique," REVOLUTION.

The END of the global solution is exactly what is behind Proyect's notion of “Lenin in Context” which he invokes in one of his most recent posts as a wake-up-to-reality call for the RMC/Buffalo. “Lenin in Context” is little more than a version of this Cox/Malecki/Rose “local” politics (see Proyect's Lenin Vs. Marxism-Leninism text written in line w/ Committees of Correspondence, a text we have cited below). “Lenin in Context” in this latter text (where pages and pages are devoted to this exact question) actually amounts to a mocking and revision of democratic centralism, an abandonment of “vanguard party” as a sign of a mindless cultism, and a jettisoning of proletarian internationalism. One of the most effective dimensions of the Bolshevik Party in fact, according to Proyect in this text, was their aversion to “internationalism” and their adherence on the contrary to the Stalinist (localist) model of party building: “Another thing that the Bolsheviks and the Cuban model have in common," Proyect writes, “is that they do not define themselves by historical or [!] international questions. Lenin, like Castro, focused on issues of the class-struggle in his own country."

Maleckis's “realistic” politics ("What do you do in Buffalo ?") is a rehearsal of the this same “localism” promoted by Proyect as “Lenin in context”. Henwood as well is embracing this NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS localism. He has localized the world-historical situation to such an extent that he now urges us the RMC/Buffalo to get back to “reality” and publish a critique on pomo theory, the very critique we circulated on the “Performative Left” on this list — less than a week ago! “Local” circumstances have seemingly made this critique already “obsolete” and “ahistorical” according to Henwood's logic. We are not running for “Mayor” of Buffalo — we are working for a world revolution. If the Cox-Proyect-Henwood-Dumain axis has sold out to the “free market” crowd and come to regard REVOLUTION and global politics as “laughable," the laughter is not at REVOLUTION and the REVOLUTIONARY, it is at their corrupt cynicism.... The Cox-... axis is the axis of capitalist fascism that represents itself as a “left” simply to acquire more credibility to act as a fifth column of capital. The marker of this fascism is, as we have argued its nervous deflection of all conceptual practices by “style”. We published a short and accessible text by Zavarzadeh to provide a short outline of the characteristics of this new fascism. We repeat (since it looks like Louis Proyect and Scott McLemee especially are already afflicted by political senility and cannot hold any ideas in their head more than two seconds) this new fascism is image-savvy, witty, expert in word play and master of short declarative sentences... these are the apparatuses of fascist propaganda. This writing in a language that looks transparent and thus promises the “truth” of the world in actuality is a cultivated mode of relaying the fascist “message”. (SIDE NOTE: the Cox-Proyect-Dumain-Henwood axis should ask itself why its supporters [Malgosia Askanas] are now quoting Heidegger to dispel the theoretical difficulties and global politics of “Red Critique"). However this mode of propaganda has nothing to do with the Bolshevik emphasis of propaganda. In the Bolshevik Revolution propaganda was never limited to a reductive and bare-bone “message”. The most advanced forms of art and experimental work were encouraged: keep in mind the Bolshevik propaganda encouraged Mayakovsky.... The reductive “socialist realism” which is the basis of Louis Proyect's and Carol Cox's screaming for “readability” and “style”, is basically a Stalinist invention. Leninist tradition is one of emphasis on depth of thinking ("workers as socialist theorists") and artistic experimentation. It is a mark of bankruptcy of the left on the net that Cox and Proyect have assumed the mantle of Zhadanov and become style-police.... A. Austin — a Zhdanovian in disguise — asks: are you going to “alienate” us all? The answer is YES and YES and YES.... “Alienation” as the great Brechtian tradition of experimental writing shows — is the condition of possibility of change: unless one is alienated from oneself and the familiar has been made de-familiar there will be no change....

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FOOTNOTE: We have adopted the term “panic” ironically—to show the underlying similarities between the reformist left on the net and the very leftism that they think they are opposing — the pomo left. But the irony is lost on the very people who insist on “style”.... To the “masters” of style, the “Buffalo boys” have to explain, patiently since most are suffering from amnesia... that yes, the “panic” (as in “panic left") is IRONIC! Wake up!

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FORTHCOMING: PANIC LEFT, PT.5:
                    On Cyberfascism
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