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Date:         Sun, 6 Sep 1992 23:19:59 METDST
From:         George Welling <welling@LET.RUG.NL>
Subject:      Re: ideological inquisitions
              6,

>
>
> On Sat, 5 Sep 1992 22:05:12 METDST George Welling <welling@LET.RUG.NL>
> said:
>
> > The whole conference had a few "buzz-words": multi-media, OCR, connections
> > with Eastern Europe.
> > I have no serious objections to contacts with and aid for the eastern-
> > european countries in this sphere. I just wonder if it would not
> > be apropriate that some people who were willing to rewrite history for
> > the old regime should openly discuss why they did it and if they still
> > hold the same views.
>
> This smacks of ideological inquisitions and purges.
> An exchange in the most recent _Journal of American History_
> focused on a reviewer who criticized an historical figure
> for having given legal advice to members of the CPUSA
> during the McCarthy Purges of the early 1950s.
> Now we should prejudge people for "rewriting" history
> -- while some historians in the liberal capitalist
> West are doing their own rewriting?
> I am not keen on the imposition of "political
> correctness"; nor do I believe that we should demand
> of scholars that they should change their interpretations
> because the correct line has changed.
>
> Denis Paz
> dgpaz@clemson.bitnet
>

I can see your point. But I am not asking them to rewrite anything: I just
want to know if they held opinions under pressure and might like to make clear
that they did write things just because of that pressure. If they want to hold
on to everything they have written, that's fine with me. A piece of history
written in the Leninist tradition is only a means to carry on the struggle.
Quotes from Lenin were almost obligitory in introductions to historical works.
Just like the jesuits forced us in school to put A.M.D.G. on every paper we
wrote. It didn't mean a thing to us. I guess to some historians the Lenin etc.
quotes did not mean a thing: I just would like to know. I am not really sure
if I would like to support institutions that are led by hard-line Stalinists,
if I had the choice.
It is - IMHO - quite something different to pay lip-service to a system that
openly uses the rewriting of history as one of the weapons in the propaganda
war, under pressure or from free choice.
Then of course there is a good point made by Geurt Collenteur, who said that
there are other places (Africa, Asia etc.)that could use the help a bit more.

But I do agree, that these are difficult and delicate matters: it is hard for
me to make up my mind about it. I do not want purges, I want clarity.
--
                =
             ___|_____               George M. Welling
            /        __|____           phone : +31 50 63 54 74
       _|__         /      /             fax : +31 50 63 49 00
      /    /_______/______/                History and Computing  HCI
     /____/    | ______|__                 depart. ALFA-INFORMATICA
 _______|______|_\  o o o |              University of Groningen
      \  o o o o o o o o  |            welling@let.rug.nl
        \                 /
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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