The Sparts: No Stalinists

To the Editors of the Crimson:

"The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims," wrote Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto of 1848. Yet once again, Michael T. Anderson '83, a self-proclaimed Marxist, attacks the Spartacist League for being too open with then politics, and for upsetting "the delicate balance" which keeps his radical-chic image intact.

In his May 6 letter, Anderson criticizes the Spartacists for being Stalinist--a gross lie--and then becomes an apologist for the real Stalinists, the Communist Party USA. In fact, it is Anderson's own popular-front politics ("Just tell them what they want to hear") that are Stalinist, not to mention dangerous for all the struggles of the oppressed. If he didn't seem so paranoid that the Spartacist League "has got to be some right-wing front," perhaps he would be interested in discussing more important political differences.

At Harvard, students have very few alternatives and opportunities if they are sincerely interested in the struggles of the oppressed. Some of us, including the Spartacists, have chosen not to wear every radical-sounding button on our chest as if it was the answer to the world's problems.

Once, Anderson even approached me about joining a "radical rock & roll club" he was planning. Meanwhile, the Democratic Socialists of America tell us that "a modern train system by the year 2000" will be the first step towards socialism. That's a long time to wait in cheese lines, guys, On the other hand, Spartacist politics are based upon the objective interests of the working class, an analytical understanding of current events, and a Trotskyist program for social change. Their good advice is the same advice that Lenin gave to young communists in his day: "Learn!" Tom Cowperthwaite '85