I’m starting to get seriously annoyed at Socialism in an Age of Waiting: I keep waiting for them to start saying something, anything, that I can moderately disagree with. But no, it’s all either serious disagreement (for example, that a Marxist state is both unavoidable and desirable*) or no disagreement at all. They’re sound on the UN, sound on the antiwar movement, sound on Jim Treacher, fer crying out loud (needs to be on the blogroll, that one, if only for this post)… I can see why Michael Totten’s half-wondering whether these guys are part of the VRWC after all.
All of this was necessary to give some context to my guarded agreement that Ann Clwyd’s talents are wasted in her present position, although I am not convinced that Foreign Secretary is the natural next step for her. I don’t agree with all of her beliefs, either – but her and Indict’s work is going to be very useful in Saddam’s war crimes trial, and such largely unsung toil should be given its proper due.
Moe
*Which would be normally perfect for my purposes, except that they themselves explicitly think that the Revolution is going to be a whiles away, and that in the meantime:
In this context all that Marxists can realistically hope to do is to carry on with the work they are already doing – some of which, at least, is effective and beneficial – within trade unions, pressure groups and other institutions, always maintaining their intellectual and organisational independence, pointing out the revolutionary potential inherent in this or that development – where it actually exists – but, above all, not deceiving themselves into dreaming that they are doing anything more, for a long while to come, than collaborating in securing reforms within capitalism. Anything more grandiose than that invites laughter and contempt from non-Marxists, and rightly so.
Great. Communists with a clue. That’s no fun whatsoever.
Commies now endorse the notion of the slippery slope. Why that’s no revolution at all. They’re being co-opted. Once that get that big trade union money they’ll have no appetite nurturing the tree of freedom. They will begin to hunt, bowl and skip traveller meetings in favor of watching the hockey playoffs. Alas, capitalism wins by default. The shame in this is not capitalism’s triumph, but that it doesn’t improve with competition.