class consciousness

Richard Gibson rgibson at pipeline.com
Sat May 9 21:08:33 PDT 1998


As far as I know, Wilhelm Reich (followed by Ollman) did aa nice a job as anyone on the path in and out of irrationality--towards self-actualizing class consciousness.

At 11:50 PM 5/9/98 -0400, you wrote:
> To: Jim Heartfield
>
>
> I inadvertently deleted your response
>to a post of mine. You started the above
>thread with it, I believe.
> I thought to add to my mention of
>the problem for class unity that racism
> is that the racism of white workers is,
>from our perspective, irrational. It is
>against their class self-interest. Irrationality
>is rife, I know. But what I am getting at is an
>example of why I propose we consider
>Engels wellknown philosophical aphorism
> "Being determines consciousness" as
>modified. Being determines consciousness
>discontinuously. I'm sure if it is a valid
>refinement, Engels was aware of it.But the idea
>is that direct appeal to the working class
>self-interests (not just to not be racist, but
>on a whole range of issues) of workers, (a
>classic party rationale and test for propaganda and for
>feeling on solid materialist grounds), is in a
>discontinuous phase. There is a time lag
>a consciousness warp. Rational, economic
>material self-interest, practical reason are temporarily
>out of order for some workers.
> Perhaps there is a hidden rationality.
> I cannot answer this problem. But I wonder,
>in all of the philosophy on your website of
> "kinship" links among "fancy" Marxists and
>fellow travellers, is there a method for
>breaking through the irrationality, since
> the fancies are always insisting being
>does not onesidedly and vulgarly
>determine consciousness. This is the
>best role I can think of for the post-modernists
>structuralists, Frankfurterists, semioticians
>etc.
>
> Charles
>
>
Rich Gibson Director of International Social Studies Wayne State University College of Education Detroit MI 48202

http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/index.html http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/meap.html

Life travels upward in spirals.

Those who take pains to search the shadows

of the past below us, then, can better judge the

tiny arc up which they climb,

more surely guess the dim

curves of the future above them.



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