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On 11/15/15 4:56 PM, Lüko Willms wrote:
*ary democracy,
*No, that is wrong. Engels even took great pains to explain to the
German movement that the concrete democratic rights are indispensable,
first and foremost the freedom of the presse, the freedom of assembly
and the freedom of association, while parliamentary elections, even
common and secret and equal elections are mostly a trap. I think that I
mentioned not long ago this article, a veiled polemic against the
Lassaleans in the article "The Prussian Military Question and the German
Workers' Party", in english in the MIA at
<https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1865/02/12.htm
No, this is totally wrong. Marx and Engels took part in the
revolutionary movements of 1848 where there was little evidence of a
socialist transformation. In fact many people understood the Arab Spring
as having a lot in common with 1848:
http://socialistreview.org.uk/368/arab-1848
In 1848 popular revolutions swept across Europe. The lessons from these
events can help us to understand the revolutions in the Middle East today.
The sheer scale of the Arab revolutions has sent commentators searching
through the historical record to find parallels to help make sense of
events and guess where they might lead. Repeatedly they turn to the
revolutions that swept Europe in 1848. It's not hard to see why.
Like 2011 in the Middle East, in early 1848 revolution appeared to move
triumphantly from one capital city to the next. A revolt in Sicily was
the signal for an uprising in Paris. Within three days the king had fled
and a republic was declared. The flame of revolt then leapt to Berlin,
Vienna, Budapest and Milan. Even the Pope was forced to flee as
revolutionaries overwhelmed his Swiss Guard and declared Rome a
republic. In total, almost 50 uprisings took place in the first four
months of 1848.
The second parallel with 2011 is that the revolutions in 1848 began as
democratic revolts against authoritarian regimes, aiming to establish
political freedoms, elected parliaments and so on.
(clip)
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