[Marxism] Why do we criticize?

[Eli Stephens]

There's been a long discussion, mostly between Ruthless Critic and Jscotlive, around the question of criticizing anti-imperialists who might not meet with our 100% approval on some ground or other - FARC, Hamas, etc. Here's a key assertion from Ruthless in this discussion:

"Marxists *must* get out of this habit of defending some entities merely because imperialism attacks these entities. They *must* be criticized for their failings, whether they are under attack by imperialism or not. That is the only principled position for Marxists to take."

Actually it's rather interesting that in this one paragraph, Ruthless goes from saying we shouldn't *defend* some entities to saying we *must* (must!) criticize them.

So why *do* we "criticize" things? Well, we criticize our *own* imperialist governments because we want to overthrow them, and we need to rouse and/or educate those who will effectuate that overthrow. But why would we criticize an *anti-imperialist movement* in *another* country (and here I'm referring, as I believe Ruthless is, to *public* criticism, not criticism in a private, internal discussion amongst revolutionaries)? Not to belabor my lame analogy, but I think this relates directly back to my "cooties" theory (http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2007w47/msg00158.htm). It's very uncomfortable to be accused of being a "Saddam-lover" or an "apologist for Ahmadinejad" or a "supporter of Hamas or FARC terrorists" etc. People like Ruthless want to remain pure, uncontaminated by the "cooties" associated with something that people (liberals, generally) perceive as unacceptable about, e.g., FARC, Cuba, Hamas, etc. Far easier to join in the criticism (as if there isn't already enough).

What I'm saying, then, is that criticism of imperialism is about overthrowing imperialism. Criticism of anti-imperialists is, in my opinion, about one thing and one thing only - the criticizer. Allowing the criticizer to feel good about him or herself, *at the expense of the anti-imperialist movement* being criticized.


Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com


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