Originally posted by
[email protected] 14, 2007 08:05 pm
The WUO may have been leftist, but he's not. And with the admission of chimx into the CC, a precedent was established whereby we judge members by their individual beliefs, not the beliefs of the organizations they espouse.
i think it was pretty obvious that that comment was semi-sarcastic, and moreover, wanting political activity to be an expression of anger, venting rage combined with subversive humour, which amounts to a defense of "but its fun", is an established part of the New Left communist tradition, as seen in the WUO, the Yippies, and most obviously the Angry Brigades, and so on. Given this his comment was in no way anti-leftist even if it was meant seriously, which i doubt.
And the WUO did achieve something, they and the rest of the SDS achieved the largest and most aggressive student/youth movement in the United States at a time when America was using its young people en mass to fight a genocidal war of imperialism in south east asia. By humiliating the American imperialists through high profile attacks and massive pro-communist demonstrations while simultaneously attacking military recruitment and draft stations and developing a network to support draft resistance, sapped the American will to fight. This and the massive mutiny and resistance of young conscripts in indo-china who were encouraged by the Weathermen and SDS and SNCC and Black Panthers at home, was what forced the American imperialists to give way to Vietcong war of political attrition tactics. In short they achieved their primary strategic aim, communist victory in south east asia, liberating 10s of millions of people from imperialist oppression.