The intellectual origins of America-Bashing

[Mike Weaver]

>Most of the "socialist" revolutionary governments of last century turned,
>often quite quickly, into "fascist" dictatorships: Kim Il Jong, Milosevic,
>the Ceaucescus, Saddam, Pol Pot, Castro, the Gang of Four, Hoxha, Stalin.
>It's a pretty appalling track record.
>
>best

I did suggest earlier in the VL reading that we refrained from using the 
next to useless definition 'fascist' and exerted the mental effort 
necessary to say what we meant. The above underlines my point. The 
statement gives a better idea of Rob's political ideology and ignorance 
than anything else.
The only quality that is shared by the above list is that they are viewed 
by the West as leaders of brutal, authoritarian, non democratic systems.

Pol Pot is the only one on the list who qualifies as a fascist under 
standard definitions. The transformation of the Khymer Rouge  from 
communist/nationalist to fascist/nationalist happened in the climate of a 
massively destructive campaign of bombing by the US. Comes under the 
category of new forms of order generated by conditions far from 
equilibrium. Their reign of terror was finally halted by the intervention 
of communist Vietnam who were then condemned (and embargoed?) by the West 
until they withdrew.

Saddam was never any kind of socialist and was responsible for the 
slaughter of the Iraqi communists.

I am happy to defend Castro and the ongoing achievements of the Cuban 
Revolution and find his inclusion in this list the finest indicator of 
Rob's immersion in right wing river. Their inclusion by the US on the list 
of terrorist states is a travesty, given Cuba's track record in supplying 
no strings humanitarian support to other third world nations including, 
with much loss of life, their military contribution to the defeat of 
apartheid in South Africa (while US capitalists, among others, continued to 
make millions in profits from dealings with the regime).
The Cold War is not over - ...in one corner of Gaul a small village remains 
defiant...

The best way to tackle their deficiency in matters of free speech is for 
the US to normalise relations so extreme criticism of the government 
becomes an internal issue and not weapons for the enemy, (and the issue is 
'free speech' not 'human rights' in toto - the Cuban system guarantees far 
more of those to 100% of its population than any other country in the world).

The unqualifed description 'fascist' is not adequate for  the others on the 
list, and each of them in their own way, if the history of their 
development is examined, illustrates how all political movements and 
moments have many threads in their make up and the socialist thread is only 
one and not always dominant in the explanation of how each of these named 
ascended to and maintained their grip on power. National chauvinism, 
Machiavelliean power playing, various flavours of authoritarianism, all can 
play a greater part than socialist ideology.
Which brings us back to P...p...p...p