:... I support many of the short- and long-term goals of the communists, as you know. In any case, the fundamental problem with your essay is that you persist in denying the difference between militant communism, and the communism that has come to power in country after country either by the ballot box or by peaceful protest. Even if your criticisms of militant communism were valid (they're not, not all of them, by a long shot) they would be irrelevant to the question of democratic communism. I suppose your argument is that peaceful or democratic communism, where it exists, is a front for militant communism, a way for the Stalinists to creep into power as it were. But we can immediately see that this is false, because in general whenevr democratic communism has come into power, they have suppressed the Stalinists with far more vigor than the right ever did. For example: the Marxist Robert Mugabe's crushing of a pro-Soviet insurrection in the early '80s, for which he is still condemned by hypocrites in the Western press. The bloody Maoist uprisings in India were crushed by Jyoti Basu, a Communist, which no pre-communist administration was able to do. Today Nepal, home of one of the most powerful Communsit Parties, is fighing a war against the Maoists who are condemned by mainstream comumunists. Nicaragua, where the Marxist-leninists scorned the Sandinsitas and refused to join their coalition. Grenada, the hoem of the only Stalinist coup in the Western Hemisphere- against, you guessed it, a Communist administration. Therefore, your association of teh militant and teh democratic forms of communism cannot stand. And Lee Van Kew (sp?), an ex-communist, is and was quite popular in Singapore. I might add that Ms. Chamorro seems to have something of a following in Nicaragua, despite her lack of affiliation with the Sandanistas (who attempted to surpress her newspaper, La Prensa, as I recollect). Mr. Mandela, whose left-wing affiliations are well known, has used capitalist principles to hold the economy together (although the crime rate is another story altogether).
Probably the best statement I could make on the subject is to state that I hold Marxists in complete contempt, but am not adverse to people having good ideas that are traditionally Marxist. For example, although I have no sympathy for Nazis, I must admit that the Volkswagen is a pretty nifty idea. Likewise, the principles of blitzkrieg seem to work quite well.
Incidentally … one of the most ironic elements of Marxism is that the goals of this ideology are best met by a sufficiently developed capitalist system. Think about it.
: It is, to a Christian, the perculiar trait of the Jesuit zealot to marry "good works" and killing that perhaps is at the root of most criticisms.
I do not believe the Archbishop killed anyone. perhaps you can correct me. See above, my comments are applicable right here.
Jesuits don’t kill people. Zealous congregations kill people. Please… (As I remember, Pope Urban struck down not one heathen dog. This did not particularly endear him to the heathen dogs, strangely)
: Communists seem to see this relationship far more clearly when they comment on an earlier Catholic 'liberation' program (known as the Crusades) or a precurser to the more modern Communist system of ideological purity enforcement (known as the Inquisition).
Just as the Inquisition says nothing about Catholicism as a whole, nor does Stalinism tell us anything about communism.
That is correct. As well, so is the reverse. Yet, I am a Catholic (and you are … a liberal?)
:Neither policies, of course, bothered to obtain the approval of the Left intelligensia, which seems to be at the root of all this approbation in any case.
No, the intelligentsia has always been pretty much irrelevant.
Wishful thinking. A number of books have recently come out that dispute your claim. The period between 1930 and the recent present seems noticably noteworthy (the "Red Scare" in reverse, i.e. the intimidation of intellectuals by Communists in the U.S., until recently has been woefully neglected as a historical event).
"It is better to take one step with teh people than ten steps without them." - Thomas Sankara (DC: I seem to remember Lenin’s words on revolutions and the necessity for terror. Perhaps he too was a ‘Stalinist’ …)
: I suppose if Christ had come off the cross, sword in hand, and done some serious liberation (like the Sadduccees had been waiting so long for), the connection might be a bit clearer in my mind.
You lose me here. We had to sing hymns sometimes in high school, and my popersonal favorite whas always William Blake's 'Jerusalem", whose martial imagery is only too plain:
"I will not cease from mental fight,
'Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
"Till we have built Jerusalem
"In England's green and pleasant land."
And JC Himself said, 'I have not come to bring peace, but a sword..."
Martial imagery has been a part of Christianity form teh beginning, this is undeniable.
Jesus clearly had a conciliatory, non-violent attitude towards the Romans. The Sadduccees were very intent on a violent, bloodthirsty Messiah (sort of a David II), and were not keen on where Jesus was taking the Hebrew ‘flock’. A liberation theologian he was not, and anyone schooled in the basics of his teachings damn well knows it, sword or no (he who lives by the sword, and all that). The Crusaders knew it too - they just could care less, ther being free land and loot to be had. So also the religious zealots of early America, whose ideas of "Manifest Destiny" were hardly religious (not that the natives were particularly pious or innocent either, human nature being what it is).
:Even if he had stored some weapons for Barrabas, or something similar ... (Jennifer Casolo, though hardly virtuous, doesn't quite measure up to Ms. Magdelaine)
Who is Jennifer Casolo?
Jennifer Casolo was a hero of the Left, back in the 1980’s. She was a volunteer activist, working for Jesuits in El Salvador. A large store of weapons, including anti-tank rockets, were found buried in her backyard, and on the grounds of the Jesuit mission. Her early militant defiance of the authorities, once caught ‘red-handed’, so to speak, turned quickly to a demure childlike innocence once her sentence was handed down. As far as I know, the Left line is still similar to that towards Peltier, et. al; that is, she is a victim of reactionary lies and atrocities, and that this ‘political prisoner of conscience’ ought to be let loose.
About all that Ms. Magdelaine could be accused of was rather suggestively washing a man’s feet. So far as I know, she did not take up that ‘sword’ that Jesus spoke of; we would have to wait about 14 centuries or so for a young lady to take up that chore. Although the French may have thought otherwise, the cleaving of people in the name of a secular authority hardly qualifies as ‘the work of Jesus’.
: As it stands, however, I think the late Archbishop, like that old Russian Grand Inquisitor, or ol' Scratch (the original Red) back in the day, he seems to be preaching an unsold product. Sorry.
Really? Liberation theology, or variants thereof (Christian socialism, etcetera) were, as i recall, very popular in Nicaragua, Tanzania, Zambia, as well as in Brazil and other South American nations.
So was revolution, amongst the right sort of people. I hear that the Aryan Brotherhood is making a comeback in many prisons; the Black Muslims also seem to enjoy a similar popularity. For many others, of course, this ‘religion’ is worth fighting against, especially in regards to what is commonly interpreted as ‘liberation’ by this theological variant.
: The "Doc" (still buffooning with the expected pomposity, and all that ...)
I didn't call you a pompous buffoon, and I wish no one had.
I believe you. I have certainly gotten far too much mileage on that ‘gag’. Sorry for the inconvenience. I couldn’t resist.
"Doc" Cruel
P.S. I hope this clarifies something about the position on politics of the average American, i.e. that if your state doesn’t strive to pound its neighbors (or its citizens) into oblivion, or wish to make holy terrorist war against the ‘Great Satan’, we are pretty much oblivious to any sort of system they might choose to adopt. Really. Anything more bellicose would cut into our "Baywatch" time, in any case.
P.P.S. The college was Brown University. You should visit sometime. Trust me - you'd love it there. (Make it a point to see the Third World Center. Your philosophy and credentials would make you an instant hit.)
