[Marxism] [French] Les calculs sordides et meurtriers deTel-Aviv

[S. Artesian]

I wish I could say we are in agreement, but I do not think we are in 
agreement.  They, national aspirations and class aspirations, do not merge--  
the national aspirations are the "initial"  "unevenly developed" expression 
of the class struggle, the struggle over the emancipation of labor that is 
at the root of the conflict.

Those national aspirations have to be transformed, give way to,  class 
consciousness.  That cannot be accomplished by Marxists being "better 
nationalists" than the nationalists, but only by being better Marxists--  
developing "quickening" the specific class struggle against the general 
capitalism, and its local variant.

The Cuban struggle never presented itself simply as a struggle for national 
independence, but was always informed, determined by its social 
egalitarianism, its struggle against economic exploitation.  Once in power, 
the only way for the movement to maintain that power was to expropriate the 
property of the bourgeoisie, in both its "international" (Standard Oil, 
Hershey) and "national" (Bacardi) forms.

I think the interpretation you give the Trotsky quote is not at all what 
Trotsky had in mind.  IMO, he is arguing just the reverse of your point--his 
argument is that this notion of a nationalism somehow overcoming class 
divisions, independent of specific class content, somehow inherently 
'revolutionary," obscures the real dynamics.

Right, the fundamentals are not different in Palestine-- and look what the 
fundamentals of the national aspirations, the years of uncritical, or mildly 
critical support, of the PLO have yielded-- nothing that can stay the hand 
of the Israelis.

Posing, positioning, the struggle as a national one, as the result of 
national aspirations, rather than one of labor and property represents 
retreat and regression.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lüko Willms" <lueko.willms at t-online.de>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] [French] Les calculs sordides et meurtriers 
deTel-Aviv