[Marxism] "going through the experience" of Obama disillusionment

[Dbachmozart at aol.com]

David Thorstad writes - 
 
To talk--as some have--about leftists 
needing to "go through the Obama  experience" with the (benighted) masses 
strikes me as self-delusional in the  extreme.
 
 
reply -
 
Didn't Lenin and Trotsky constantly advocate the absolute necessity of  
"being with the people" and going through their experience of disillusionment,  as 
opposed to purist isolation until these masses magically "wake up" to the  
correctness of our program and beat down the doors to join us? As opposed  to 
reformists, L and T never called on Marxist activists to silently  acquiesce to 
these illusions ("tailism"), which Thorstad here deceitfully  implies.
 
No one on this list thinks of Obama as a savior for anyone but the US  ruling 
class. But like it or not, tens of millions of Americans, especially  Black 
Americans don't currently agree with us. Do we just shout louder at them  that 
"Obama is a sellout!", or do we approach them with a respectful attitude  of 
"based on his past statements, voting record and who his financial  supporters 
and advisers are, we respectfully disagree with your enthusiasm, but  are open 
to being proven wrong. Meanwhile, we should work together for getting  out of 
Iraq and Afghanistan and hands off Iran, Pakistan and Venezuela". This  way, 
we've registered our viewpoint in a principled manner yet hopefully still  
have their ear and respect so that, if and when our analysis is confirmed by  
Obama himself, our credibility is magnified.
 
Thorstad leaves out the last part of my comment - "In other words, we  have 
to go through the experience with them of becoming disillusioned, while all the 
while, without the slightest hint of condescension or  arrogance, presenting 
our analysis until Obama himself (and his faction of the  ruling class) helps 
them to see the validity of our  viewpoint."
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