Joseph Green simplifies what I wrote to the point of distortion. It is never a simple thing to build a revolutionary movement aimed at overthrowing capitalism. Especially in this era, all the lessons of the successful (at least for a time) Russian Revolution and the crushed such attempts or partial attempts are forgotten. That is partly due to the influence of Stalinism, which still lingers on, including among those who oppose that force and even might call themselves Trotskyists.
Take the issue of the Local Coordinating Committees (LCC's): I did not write that they were soviets, but they had the potential to develop in that direction. The extended description from the Harper's magazine article shows this. Of course, it's a long step from a potential to actually filling that potential. It is the same with an international class appeal. Green claims that I'm saying "if only a proper socialist banner had been raised..." etc. etc. Again, this is a complete distortion of what I wrote. The fact is that who raises such a banner, how it is raised, how it is developed is extremely complex. It gets to the issue of how a revolutionary force can develop, and writing here in the US I would not presume to answer such a question. But to ignore these general questions is equally mistaken. As for Louis Proyect's comments, he writes: "I've written over 300 articles on Syria since March 2011 and I've never come across anything in my research about defecting Syrian officers exercising this kind of control over the ranks." I'm very glad he has written so many articles, but who does he think commanded those troops who rebelled? Who does he think led them? The fact is that as Leila al Shami agreed (in a personal communication with me), there was no systematic attempt to integrate the rebelling troops into the LCC's, meaning into the revolution itself. Failing that, it would have been inevitable that the officers who came over would have maintained control over their troops. Again, to emphasize: None of this is a matter of simply raising a revolutionary banner and all problems are solved. But I cannot see how the position of Green and Proyect does not end us up with the view that the entire revolution was doomed from the start. The same, then, must be said of every failed similar attempt, from Chile to Iran, and all stops both in between and since. John Reimann -- *“Science and socialism go hand-in-hand.” *Felicity Dowling Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#3903): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/3903 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78477155/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
