This isn’t a new thought; others have said it. And better then I do here. Parties and movements of the left and modes of analysis like Marxism, if they are to retain their vitality, have to encourage critique of their premises and practices. And yet it is easier said than done. Fred Gaboury, an old friend of mine and life long communist, once accused me of being “a defender of the (Communist Party’s) faith.” And at the time he was right. I dug in rather than examine his criticism at the time on its merits. It was only later when the Soviet Union went belly up and a nasty factional fight ensued in the Communist Party that I began to take an inventory of my own and the party’s thinking and actions. I’m glad I did even though it took me in directions that I didn’t anticipate.