Trotsky reconsidered

[mikebailey at speakeasy.net]

I think a lot of your neo-cons are ex-Trotskyites too. I associate Trotsky with the idea of actually being glad when the government does something horrible (like invade Iraq) because that will show people how bad it is and hasten its downfall. So maybe that's why they did it??? Maybe they are deep cover and not ex-Trotskyites at all...(now there's a journal article topic for Paranoid Systems of History)
re: Larouche, he's been around long enough and been part of enough weird things to make me think he's deep cover CIA or something (-;
I respect his vigor, his longevity, and his writing. Going to the horse's mouth, his actual writing (if one disregards the bombast and self-promotion) is quite interesting. Examples http://www.schillerinstitute.org/economy/phys_econ/physical_econ_main.html and http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_91-96/931_subject_god-2.html -- oowee, this is as much fun as reading Wilhelm Reich, with an added dimension of lorry-loads of classical references (if you're into that sort of thing) -- I was also trying to find the link for one of his articles where he explicates a Socratic dialogue with a Sophist, but can't find it atm -- excellent schtuff, tho...
I remain skeptical about both his side of the various negative stories and about the "establishment press" version of him as both clownish and dangerous. Of course, the establishment press never misinterprets anything or anybody...and authors of various exposes of him certainly have no axes to grind and are completely unbiased...
interesting FOIA gleaning - a letter from Kissinger to (then FBI director) William Webster in 1982, which mentions Larouche:
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/graphics/text/dearbill.gif don't you love it: "It was good to see you at the Grove..."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gp [mailto:wescac at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 02:12 PM
> To: mikebailey at speakeasy.net
> Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: Re: Trotsky reconsidered
> 
> Larouche is the only guy on that list I know enough about to call a madman.
> 
> On 10/11/06, mikebailey at speakeasy.net <mikebailey at speakeasy.net> wrote:
> > Trotsky still fails my litmus test of non-violence, as to being somebody I'd
> > support wholeheartedly.
> >
> > However, he does seem to have left an impressive legacy in the form of
> > writers, activists, and investigators.
> >
> > Sidney Hook started as a Trotskyite. (ended up getting a medal of freedom
> > or something from the gipper, but along the way wrote some memorable words
> > about Marx and other topics)
> >
> > Lyndon Larouche started as a Trotskyite, and from the Larouche ranks come
> > the investigators who wrote the unauthorized bio of GHW Bush, available free
> > on the web - note that Webster and Tarpley say pretty outrageous things in
> > there, but have never been sued for them
> >
> > AJ Muste was a Trotskyite, who (rather humorously, I tend to think) left the
> > movement after meeting with Trotsky in Sweden. That was only one leg of a
> > European vacation for him and his wife, though: on the Paris leg he visited
> > Chartres and had an epiphany that brought him back to Christianity and made
> > of him a lifelong peace activist (founder of Fellowship of Reconciliation)
> >
> > And then the controversial historian Lenni Brenner apparently is a
> > Trotskyite.
> >
> > As far as I know, none of them emulated Trotsky in terms of building a
> > revolutionary Army and motivating them by threatening to harm their families
> > - but apparently instead were inspired by him to think critically and write
> > incisively.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 

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