From: um, well | Registered: Feb 2003
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jeff house
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 518
posted 30 May 2007 03:11 PM
It's been a while since Paul Berman was progressive.
For me, the Sandinista Revolution is a kind of litmus test. I was in Nicaragua six times, and know that there was a lot of possibility there.
Berman hated it from the first moment. He predicted Stalinism. While sometimes Stalinism does result from a revolutionary situation, it doesn't HAVE to.
posted 30 May 2007 04:53 PM
Berman started as an anarchist, but his often-justifiable suspicion of state power degenerated into a hatred of any alternative to conventional, corrupted bourgeois democracy. The fact that he was not only critical of the Sandinistas but openly pro-Contra demonstrates this.
Have no illusions that Berman retains any progressive or humane instincts. He joined the other sidea and was well-compensated for doing so.
[ 30 May 2007: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]
From: A seedy truckstop on the Information Superhighway | Registered: Feb 2005
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