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
**********************************
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....
__________
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!
**************************************
FORTHCOMING: PANIC LEFT, PT.5:
On Cyberfascism
**************************************
from list
marxism-international@lists.village.virginia.edu