On Mon, 10 Jan 2000 09:58:01 -0500 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
writes:
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>In a communist society, if human beings ever achieve it, historical
>>materialism is not likely to be an indispensable tool, and thus it
>can
>>imagine its own future irrelevance and hopes to achieve it (and that
>is why
>>Marx & Engels refrained from speaking in detail about what communism
>will
>>be like, except in a negative manner, "limited for the most part to
>what
>>will disappear").
>
>Wow, this sounds almost religious - a Paradise on earth, a
>transcendence of history and materialism, but something about which
>we fallen mortals can neither think nor speak. But without any god
>involved, except maybe the revolutionary working class.
Historical materialism as formulated by Marx & Engels seems to be largely a theory of history which is applicable to societies which evolve more or less blindly on the basis of economic and political forces. A communist society as envisioned by Marx & Engels would evolve on the basis of conscious planning so I am not altogether sure what the relevance of historical materialism would be under such circumstances.
Jim F.
>
>As for the argument that linking Christianity with revolution is
>Eurocentric - isn't Marxism itself of European origin? And hasn't
>Christianity had a massive influence in Latin America, Africa, and
>even parts of Asia?
>
>Doug
>
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