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This piece by Leo Panitch offers some awfully convoluted reasoning to explain why what looks like a capitulation is really brilliant strategy. Perhaps Leo has had one too many years in academe, writing long and sometimes long-winded articles. No doubt I am biased, but can anything be more boring and brain-numbing than the writings of an academic political scientist. Well, maybe those of an academic economist. Too clever by half, as they say. Richard Seymour's piece on Lenin's Tomb is just a whole lot better, with straightforward arguments, clearly written. And let me add that there are plenty of Greek commentators, including pretty good economists, who would agree with Seymour's arguments. It isn't just the sectarian left saying these things. And as Marv Gandall argued, if there is no alternative, why ever do anything at all. Why have optimism of the will, why write anything, why care. Just live for yourself, today and every day. Yesterday, I read something that really floored me. So meone said, after wondering what Syriza's critics could have expected it to do in the face of such powerful adversaries: "the fucking Germans, man." Unbelievable. What is the difference between this and saying, "those fucking slaveowners, man." "those fucking Nazis, man." "that fucking Henry Ford, man." I don't have many years left, so what follows should be taken with that in mind. But if I were a Greek pensioner, trying to live and support others on a miserably low (and soon to be lower if Tsipras has his way) retirement income, I would be inclined to try to live by the words of Emiliano Zapata, "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." It is remarkable, when one gets invested in something, how easy it is to make excuses, to turn shit into honey, to make apologies for anything, to even forget what one said just the week before. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
