To 'It's Me D',
you don't understand. it's not red-baiting.
as Duncan Cameron has said today in a rabble article, a Marxist critique is needed. But this will not be heard unless Marxists, socialists, and others promoting the content are clear that those who called themselves Marxists, socialists and communists in the past (like Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin, and others who continued to support and use methods of obscene oppression), exhibited behaviour which should be denounced.
Look at the big picture. Imagine if the socialists in this country, if the IS, say, even Chavez, all the other good organizers, came up with a statement that clearly denounced the bad behaviour of 20th century totalitarians who called themselves Marxists, socialists, and communists. That denounced the Holodomor and the abuses of the secret police. That denounced the deportation of peoples, and all the rest. This would go a long way in clearing the air so that perhaps the views of contemporary Marxists, socialists, and communists could actually get a hearing.
I think it does have an impact on the question of the thread title, which is why i brought it up here.
And, to be perfectly honest, it's getting tiresome reading the left continue to bewail a failure to capture more support, when they've got this log sitting in their own eye. Any casual reader of this website can see it. Yet there are no clear statements to the contrary on the socialist sites promoted- Why doesn't the Socialist Bullet/ Project put up a clear statement regarding the Holodomor or other 'soviet' abuses on its site? i looked before, couldn't find anything. Same with the IS site.
I just don't get it. it is such a basic human rights issue and could make a tremendous difference to the way socialism is interpreted, not just in this country, but globally.