Re: Communists
Kathleen Rout (rout@pilot.msu.edu)
Sat, 20 Apr 1996 22:09:24 -0400
Steve--I think the main appeal of Marxism-Leninism at the time (the mid-to
late sixties) was that it was not exploitative capitalism and seemed to
represent "The People" and was also roughly the same type of political
ideology as the "god guys" --the "not-us" in Vietnam were. As is typical,
people didn't look further to do an "on the other hand" sort of full analysis
and evaluation of Russian Communism and the way it actually was working out.
It was an either-or choice. I think it was a great deal like the kid's
decision in the film Falcon and the Snowman, in which he decides to betray
the United States to the USSR because he has complaints about human rights
abuses in the United Sates; he doesn't ask for one moment if there are abuses
in the USSR also--it doesn't matter, and that would be too complax. He's
anti-US military because his father is in it, which is another large
psychological factor, and to investigate the integrity of the opposite of
father at that point is irrelevant and counter-productive. Second thoughts
paralyze, so don't have them. The 60's was definitely not a time when it was
cool to look at the other guy's point of view beforw acting; it let to being
co-opted and talked out of your convictions.
Kathleen Rout