Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 10:19:19 -0500
Subject: Re: Politics


What's to be done ?  By whom ?  For whom ?  To what end ?. . .
"mis"quoting Lenin in this way again points to what is pissing me off. .
. I say "mis"quote because while the sentence is the same the address
here, the call that appears through you, is definetely not. . . it is
part of an incommesurable regime of phrases. . . but enough, I need to
say this differently because I am starting to use this kind of
vocabulary that sickens me. . .Lenin"s question is irreducibly,
incomparably, determinantely, gravely, heavyly concrete. . .it is a
question about what particular course of action need be taken to achieve
particular results in a particular historical conjuncture, a particular
situation. . . It is irreducibly a question of POLITICS, a question of
concrete possible outcomes, costs and benefits, forces and
counterforces, of expidiencies and necessities. . . What you ask here
does not even amount to a parody of it. . . it is sheer empty
abstraction. . . pure formalism intended at most to have a certain but
very vague rhetorical effect, to stimulate some affect, any affect on
the addressee. . it is hence a question of some ridiculous theoretical
concept such as the POLITICAL (very different from politics) or
something like that. . . What do you want to do in terms of what and at
what cost. . . anybody that operates within the sphere of any kind of
power or force understands almost intuitively that this question only
makes sense or amounts to more than mental masturbation when asked in
the way that Lenin does. . . the way you ask it here is really
meaningless. . . I'll tellyou what I will do right now. . . I am going
to the corner deli to buy a Coke. . .is that what you meant ?