Sacha Ismail’s response to my article on Menshevism confirms my belief that even in the very best Trotskyist organizations, members remain ill-informed about the very foundations of their politics.
That’s a harsh thing to say, but there are several passages of Sacha’s polemic that reveal a rather slight grasp of historical facts. For example, Sacha claims that the Bolsheviks were right to base their hopes on a world revolution breaking out which would rescue them from their isolation. “There were revolutions across Europe in 1917
I’m glad the Iraqis think things will work out for them.
However, Bush is running for President of the United States, not Iraq. All this stuff about helping Iraqis is besides the point. Since when do Republicans go in for foreign aid?
The problem with the Kerry campaign is that they’re too politically correct to really make this an issue. They’ve taken an occasional swipe at Bush over this, but fundamentally, they’re too “decent” to push the sort of xenophobic buttons that a Jesse Helms or Pat Buchanan would.