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A comment appearing in a "thread" often anticipates and generates a responding 
comment. Well and good. This is what I believe NORTH STAR intends, in part, to 
happen. Here, David's multiple comments seem to shade into a cross-examination 
- an adversarial form of discourse. A casual reader might even think it an 
attack against the Philadelphia Socialists. Irrespective of position, it had 
all the earmarks of morphing into a prosecution. Such exchanges are off-putting 
to independent radicals, especially those without a sectarian ideological past. 
I would suggest that they are exactly what the North Star is not intended to 
facilitate.

Notwithstanding, the above, David seems to assume that a small and neighborhood 
based organization such as the Philadelphia socialists seem to be, has the 
resources to send members/cadres into every one of the arenas he refers to. How 
can such diverse activity be possible for it? It is fair to criticize such an 
organization for such an alleged failing?

More importantly,  in the early phases of socialist movements and 
organizations, as in the early stages of unions and other working class 
organizations such community or mundane oriented activities are exactly what 
builds movements at their initial stages, where there is not an ongoing 
expression of the active class struggle. David is not Phil Murray and the 
Philadelphia Socialists are not the Steelworkers Organizing Committee. They 
can't just shift cadres around as situations break out elsewhere. No present 
left organization really can. It is hardly fair to fault them for not doing so.

David's comments set a tone that is to be abjured, not followed. Continuing in 
that pattern would be detrimental to the goal of attracting independent, often 
heretofore non-affiliated and inexperienced radicals to the North Star as a 
form for discussion and - more importantly - self-education. Off-putting 
engagements are the last thing that should be on-going in a political center 
such as the North Star appears to envision.

The point is not that the North Star indulged in "censoring" his "thread" but 
what David intended to accomplish by that form of discussion.



-----Original Message-----
From: audradavid <[email protected]>
To: Wayne M. Collins <[email protected]>
Sent: Mon, Aug 19, 2013 9:23 am
Subject: [Marxism] Censorship on Pham Binh's thenorthstar.info


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t is quite obvious to anyone who gets involved with The North Star that 





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