My impression is that attitudes of sectarianism, dogmatism, and verticalism occur in all parts of the multidimensional political space. Ayn Rand's "libertarian" followers and Doug Henwood's old group the (Yale University) Party of the Right were involved in these, to name two examples. (Self-styled "anti-Leninists" can be just as sectarian, dogmatic and bureaucratic as the self-styled "Leninists," as I discovered in my encounter with the followers of the late Max Schactman, who are probably now getting jobs in the Bush administration.)
Even the power elite -- which you'd think wouldn't need to be sectarian or dogmatic because they are at the top of the verticalist hierachy -- fall for this stuff. Of course, just because "everyone does it" doesn't make it right. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine > -----Original Message----- > From: Alan Cibils [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 2:16 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [PEN-L:22798] Re: Marxism as Science and Religion > > > > Having had the misfortune of growing up in a fundamentalist > evangelical > household (parents belonged to different sects, however), and having > observed from the outside the behaviour of the way too many > marxist-flavored left grouplets here in Argentina, Justin's > remarks about > Marxism and religion make a whole lot of sense. Too bad left > grouplets > (with the exception of Luis Zamora of Autodeterminacion y > Libertad) have > not realized that we are no longer in the 1970s. > > A few general comparisons: > > 1) Sectarianism: christian groups are sectarian (hence the > term sect); they > tend to believe their interpretation of scripture (i.e. their > dogma) is the > only (or most) correct one. All others will rot in hell, or > will have a > harder time getting to heaven. The same is true of the > marxist grouplets, > to the point where they are unable to unite forces against > neoliberalism, > capitalism, or anything else. Here (Argentina) there is a > United Left party > and about 15 other known marxist varietals. The only leader > to emerge from > the marxist left to have been able to move beyond religion > while still > being revolutionary is Luis Zamora. > > 2) Dogmatism: christians are dogmatic, they cling to received dogma > regardless of how many logical holes it may contain. Faith > fills in the > gap. The same can be said of militants of the marxist > varietal parties. If > you dissent you are demoted, if you dissent strongly, you > start your own > party/sect. > > 3) Verticalism: christians are verticalist, there is a > "line" which is > pushed down trhough the hierarchy. There is little space for serious > theoretical discussion at the base. Rather all discussion is > contained > within the line or dogma. Ditto for marxist grouplets. > > Sure, one can find the odd exception, but from what I have > seen, these > observations generally hold. > > Personally, I think it is too bad that the left (with the exception > mentioned) has been unable to engage in serious analysis and > retool itself. > In general, people's rejection here of political parties > ("que se vayan > todos" ---they should all leave---, which is the rallying cry > of street > protests today) includes all of the left grouplets (even though they > haven't yet woken up to this). Their verticalism, sectarianism, and > dogmatism are as much a part of the politics being rejected > today as are > clientelism and corruption. > > Alan > > > _________________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com >
