who sed?

j-harsin at nwu.edu j-harsin at nwu.edu
Sat Mar 6 20:15:37 PST 1999



>pop quiz: who wrote -
>
>"All the second volume of _The German Ideology_ (manuscript in
>Engel's hand) aims at those who lay claim to what they call 'true
>Socialism'... writers who have adopted certain French and English
>communist ideas and 'amalgamated' them to their 'philosophico-German'
>premises, by considering the French or English texts, precisely, or as
>purely theoretical writings come from 'pure thought', as they imagine
>is the case for the German philosophical systems."
>
>
>angela

Hi, Angela.

I don't know the answer, but let me ask what the point of the quiz is. In the _GI_ the "true socialism" discussion comes up as a critique of _German_ writers' misconstrual of Fr. and Engl. communist movements through a focus on a "more reasonable social order," an "absolute or 'true' socialism. That is, these German writers abstract those movements from the particular needs and historical situation of a particular class--bien sur: the working class. So is your question an intervention against idealism, abstracting theory from historical practice.

I would say that a good deal of the debate over theory and practice on this list could be harmonized in a look at Marx's first three Theses on Feurbach. He clearly is against vulgar materialism and detached theory/idealism. Rather he shows the necessary imbrication of the two: "The materialist doctrine concerning the changing of circumstances are changed by men [and women] and that it is essential to educate the eduator himself [herself]" (Thesis III). Cheers! Jayson

-- jayson perry harsin Dept. of Communication Studies Northwestern University j-harsin at nwu.edu (773)508-4062 WNUR's Southbound Train spins Insurgent Country 89.3 fm Sundays 9:00-11:00 p.m. (listen on the Net at www.wnur.org)

http://www.wnur.org/southbound/ Who are you indeed who would talk

or sing to America? Have you studied out the land,

its idioms and men [and women]?--Walt Whitman



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