chapotraphouse

A lot of folks here and elsewhere on the left ate it up uncritically, too. Calls for some self-crit on how we respond to these sorts of accusations in the future.

Yeah wow. I just read most of it. Just... absolutely embarrassing. That one guy who literally didn't even work at the magazine and followed Nathan into a store screaming at him is really blowing my mind. And honestly, I really am just like "why" and "how".

is there a cliff's notes for this incredibly meandering, lengthy article?

libeling a fellow traveler because i get a little psychic rush, and i get to show off my orthodox bona fides, without doing any research on the accusations, is cool and good actually.

There are some good lessons here in how not to respond to accusations:

The Current Affairs matter is not simply a fight among friends that spilled out: left institutions got involved without getting multiple sides of the story. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) branch in New Orleans ejected Robinson as a member with a statement that erroneously copied the charge of “union busting.” This was in violation of DSA procedure, because there was no hearing or opportunity to rebut the charges, only a public notification that Robinson was out. The International Workers of the World Freelance Journalist Union issued a solidarity letter condemning Robinson’s “authoritarian act” of “retaliatory firings.”

No investigation, no right to speak, and certainly no right for an organization to take action against a member.

Edit: Forgot the wildest part of that anecdote

Robinson filed an appeal, pointing out that he had not been granted due process. In a bizarre twist of events, the DSA’s National Harassment Grievance Officer [corrected to reflect proper title], Paula Brantner, wrote to him in March 2023 that not only was his expulsion to continue but that he was now accused–and found guilty of–“charges of harrassment, threats, and attacks on another member’s character.” Robinson pointed out that these charges, of which he has been found guilty, were unknown to him and that he had been given no chance to dispute them. In response, Brantner wrote, “The DSA grievance process is not a legal process, and so the same ‘due process’ guarantees” …are not part of this process” (she is paid a controversial salary of of $360,000, as a part-time consultant, to engage in such fulsome communications).

$360K to not even do basic stuff like "hey maybe we should hear from this guy like our procedures mandate," and not even do it full time.

It's also worth noting that Fetterman won against a quack TV doctor totally lacking in both charisma and signature policies. If we're thinking how reproducable his strategy is, the opponent matters.

Stalin is socialism’s worst enemy

Close with this statement but needs to figure out that it's fictional Stalin in the minds of the people that has created this problem. The solution is correcting the fiction, not reinforcing it by agreeing with the opposition to socialism that he was bad.

The fictional Stalin they created is a punching bag boogieman rigged up to constantly give easy punches against socialism.

...did you read Oppose Book Worship? Much of it is exactly Robinson’s point about how some Marxists are more obsessed with interpreting Marxist texts than with real-world engagement:

Whatever is written in a book is right — such is still the mentality of culturally backward Chinese peasants. Strangely enough, within the Communist Party there are also people who always say in a discussion, "Show me where it's written in the book."...

The method of studying the social sciences exclusively from the book is likewise extremely dangerous and may even lead one onto the road of counter-revolution. Clear proof of this is provided by the fact that whole batches of Chinese Communists who confined themselves to books in their study of the social sciences have turned into counter-revolutionaries. When we say Marxism is correct, it is certainly not because Marx was a "prophet" but because his theory has been proved correct in our practice and in our struggle.

See also "I haven't read Marx's Capital, but I have the marks of capital all over my body."