Fidel & Cuba

[Henry Musikar]

This whole topic brings to mind GR's Gauchos and the Who's "We Don't 
Get Fooled Again," i.e. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!" 
Hey! Crank it UP!

On 11 Apr 97 at 16:24, Paul Mackin wrote:

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> From: 	Greg Montalbano[SMTP:Greg.Montalbano at ucop.edu]
> All this discussion of noble revolutionaries & fascist, entrenched dictators
> brings to mind an interesting bit of CONVENTIONAL WISDOM, as represented in
> literature, movies, and the minds of the Great Unwashed (of which I am a
> charter member & past chapter president):  the fact that the noblest, most
> righteous revolutionaries, no matter how pure their motives, will, upon the
> achievement of their goal, sooner or later BECOME the evil power they displaced.
> >>>>>>>>>>>This sounds like the Iron Law of Oligarchy, enunciated by the German sociologist Robert Michels (1876-1936). He meant the alleged inevitable tendency of political parties and trade unions > 
> These two forces are generally represented in TRP's novels as WE (the
> grunts, the feebs, the counterforce) and THEY (near-absolute power, in all
> it's forms, striving constantly to maintain & enlarge itself).  What I find
> interesting is that I cannot, for the life of me, think of any examples of
> characters in any of his novels who have CHANGED STATE from counterforce to
> power-establishment (mildly evocative of the medieval society, where if
> you're born a peasant, you stay a peasant;  if you're born royalty, you
> remain royalty).
> Pynchon's characters DO go through changes (animate to inanimate comes to
> mind);  but can anybody give me an example of a character who ascends to
> power through "revolutionary" means & is or is not corrupted?
> >>>>>Can't think of an example of either. Under the Iron Law the latter CAN'T happen, while the former outcome is too commonplace to write about. The goodness of revolution is in the struggle. Feel t> 
> Oh dry up Paul.
> 
> 			P.
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AsB4,
Henry Musikar

Keep cool, but care. -- TRP
Moderation in moderation. -- Husky Mariner