Re: revised edition

Kohler's recent "revised, toned down edition" of his earlier post no longer
includes the overt, word-for-word equation of the Marxist resistance to the
Nazis with the Nazis themselves. But the essence of the post is
that (in Kohler's words):

--------------------
the 1920s ("Weimar Republic"), Kurt Sontheimer, found something very
> >interesting -- namely, the left-right spectrum of political ideologies is
> >not a straight line but has the shape of a horseshoe or even a circle. He
> >found that when you move from centrist positions to the left and then to
> the
> >far-left and when you move from a centrist position to the right and then
> to
> >the far-right you reach virtually the same point, just like moving along
a
> >horseshoe or along a circle either left or right will eventually get you
to
> >approximately the same ideological location.
------------------------

This still asserts that the "right" in Germany in the 1920's hasd
"approximately the same ideological location" as the "far left."

This is still ridiculous. Denounce the violence of the Left if you choose
and let us debate if it is/was appropriate or misplaced or worse.

But saying that the right wing ideology of racial superiority---that the
words in Mein Kampf which called for extermination of the Jews among
others---  is "ideologically the same" as the program of the German
communists during the 1920's is just plain nonsense


------Alan Spector


P.S.  In fact, many of the liberal socialists worked together with the
Centrist regime to round up and imprison tens of thousands of communists and
left socialists, paving the way for the Nazis to assume power without
militant oppostion.  (The Nazis then rounded up many Centrists as well,
while other Centrists found ways to accomodate themselves to the Nazis.)

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----- Original Message -----
From: g kohler <gkohler@accglobal.net>
To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 1999 10:29 PM
Subject: Fw: revised edition


> I am submitting a revised, toned down edition of my earlier post. GK
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: g kohler <gkohler@accglobal.net>
> To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> Date: November 25, 1999 11:19 AM
> Subject: spectrum of ideologies
>
>
> >A political scientist who studied the ideological spectrum in the Germany
> of
> >the 1920s ("Weimar Republic"), Kurt Sontheimer, found something very
> >interesting -- namely, the left-right spectrum of political ideologies is
> >not a straight line but has the shape of a horseshoe or even a circle. He
> >found that when you move from centrist positions to the left and then to
> the
> >far-left and when you move from a centrist position to the right and then
> to
> >the far-right you reach virtually the same point, just like moving along
a
> >horseshoe or along a circle either left or right will eventually get you
to
> >approximately the same ideological location.
> >The ideological positions of the far right and the far left were both in
> >favour of high degrees of violence and dictatorship.
>    It seems to me that violence, especially post-revolutionary violence,
is
> >the mistake of 20th century socialism.
>
> Here I would like to put in a plank for an excellent leftist network run
by
> Moore and Slakov, which is called "democratic renaissance". It is
> anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist and could, in my opinion, serve as a
> model for a worldwide activist network/party in terms of its awareness,
its
> spirit and the methods
> contemplated.
>
> >Gert Kohler
> >Oakville, Canada
> >
> >
>