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"It is the duty of socialists and progressive people around the world not to be fooled by imperialist propaganda and to defend the achievements of the Chinese Revolution—regardless of disagreements with the CPC leadership. It would be the greatest crime to stand aside as over 1 billion Chinese workers and peasants were once again thrown to the mercy of unfettered imperialist exploitation—the inevitable outcome, under the current political circumstances, of the overthrow of the Chinese government." Thanks to the failure to overthrow the Chinese government, over 1 billion Chinese workers and peasants were NOT once again thrown to the mercy of unfettered imperialist exploitation in 1989. That's because socialists and progressive people around the world were successfully fooled by imperialist propaganda as channeled by PSL and kindred groups into believing that the Chinese government was comprised of "communists" who would defend the achievements of the Chinese Revolution. Wow, I think I qualify as an editor of PSLweb! That way we can all play our pre-assigned parts, robed in the appropriate garb, in the stage-managed theory of history. Restorers of capitalist exploitation can dress up as communists, reactionaries as progressives, exploiters as liberators, imperialist ideologues as anti-imperialist revolutionaries, and all can have a grand time fooling themselves by imagining they are fooling others. The only requirement is to repeat the original "Hungarian error" over and over again ad infinitum, for this is ALL that distinguishes PSL, WWP and kindred groups from the rest of the revolutionary socialist left - yes I am that generous in political characterization! -Matt On 1/16/12 12:55 PM, Eli Stephens wrote: > Really? Is not everything in that paragraph a perfectly reasonable statement > or question? Is it not all relevant? Indeed, the paragraph doesn't go far > enough, because it doesn't call into question the totally unsubstantiated > daily claims by someone in London claiming to know precisely how many people > were killed in Syria the day before, although rarely specifying precisely > (as with the questions of the preceding paragraph) the circumstances of the > deaths (even while periodically claiming the deaths of Syrian military, so > SOMEONE is shooting at the Syrian military, and it would be rather > remarkable if none of them were being killed, only "innocent civilians"), > and while essentially never being challenged in the corporate > imperialist-serving media, who dutifully repeat the claims without requiring > the slightest evidence. This reminds me. The Nic Robertson CNN interview that MRZine linked to compared Syria's treatment of protestors with Tiananmen Square. Here's his favorite party's take on Tiananmen Square just to remind you where Eli is coming from ideologically: http://www2.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12203&news_iv_ctrl=1261 It has been nearly 20 years since the Chinese government suppressed a mass student demonstration in Tiananmen Square, Beijing?s main plaza, in 1989. The image of that event is still used to this day as evidence of the sinister character of the Chinese government. In spite of the massive propaganda campaign against the Chinese government in the aftermath of the Tiananmen demonstrations, the facts of the events are generally recognized today to be in accord with the Chinese government?s description. More importantly, the political character of that demonstration was clearly aimed at the overthrow of the Communist Party of China?and its replacement not by a more progressive government of the working class and peasants?but by a U.S.-oriented clique of relatively privileged students and bureaucrats who hoped to restore capitalism in China. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
