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September 24, 2004Top * Gucci Marxists Dear Darius, The question you put in your letter to Maryam Namazie about her article "No can do" tempted me to give an answer. Unlike the Old Europe, whose Socialism grew organically from within the deeply deprived and destitute ranks of the society, Iranian Socialism and its various shades e.g. Communism, Marxist/Leninism, Maoism, and Trotskyism, were all implants. Our communist leaders were almost invariably foreign educated and came from the privileged parts of their societies. Indeed due to this very alienation from their own society, they didn't realise that their foreign import was inherently incompatible with the culture of the community to which it was being sold. And this is why Communism never established a deeply rooted foundation among the truly toiling masses of Iran, meaning the peasants. Its staunch supporters were often from the upper-middle class or their offspring of which Ms Namazie and her comrades in WCPI are typical tokens. In the past, this type of so-called socialists were referred to as Salon Communists or Champaign Marxists but nowadays they are commonly called the Gucci Marxists, a reference to their expensive taste in shopping and appetite for comfort and luxury. Gucci Marxists have a carefully manicured existence. They have usually gone through a daddy-sponsored private schooling and later continued to degree levels in Western universities. They all pretend to be erudite. While they enjoy all the privileges of a comfortable, often expensive, Capitalist living, they despise it at heart - a symptom of their rebellious teenage life particularly against their rich and remote parents. Gucci Marxists are quick to remind you that their Marxism is the only true-to-the-spirit interpretation of the Marxist philosophy. If you ask them why they have adopted, as their place of abode, a Capitalistic and even Imperialistic country such as the US or the UK, they proudly point at their master's lifestyle, Karl Marx, who spent many unhappy years in Britain (and eventually died there) while being financed by his textile tycoon tovarishi, Friedrich Engels. But unlike their guru, Gucci Marxists are very fussy as to where
they take their holidays. One such follower of the creed, whom I
know from a safe distance, spends his skiing holidays in the Swiss
resort of Gstaad, rubbing shoulders with Julie Andrews, Roger
Moore and John Travolta, while for summer vacations his choice is a modest
(10-bedroom) family villa in the French Riviera! |
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