The left: still dying (was Re: European Unions)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>  > That's because in an anti-intellectual attack, "academic" &
>>  "intellectual" are ideological conflated & used interchangeably.
>>  That is why DP can get away with attacking Engels (of all
>>  leftists!!!) as an instance of "academic Marxism," though Engels was
>>  not an academic.
>>
>>  Yoshie
>
>Zounds! Someone actually attacked Freddie E. ("of all leftists!!!")?! Oh,
>that was me.
>
>Actually, Yosh, I didn't attack Engels (whom I've come to admire in Francis
>Wheen's bio of Marx, a very readable text, I might add); I criticized the
>use of his prose to help modern workers understand the capitalist web in
>which they are enmeshed. Clear translation, "Engels for Dummies" if you
>will, seems to me a better bet -- assuming that Engels is the best person to
>make the case these days.
>
>DP
>
>>  Let's take Doug Henwood, for instance, who is a petty producer, not a
>>  wage worker at a university.  You & DP claim to have read his _Wall
>>  Street_ & admired its clarity, etc.  Have you guys looked into his
>>  bibliography & thought about who wrote articles & books he draws
>>  upon, sometimes to support his arguments, sometimes to harvest
>>  empirical data, other times to criticize arguments in them?
>>
>>  Yoshie
>
>I've only read bits of "Wall Street" (sorry Doug), but I've read reams of
>the LBO newsletter. That's the Doug I've come to know.
>
>Academic sources are fine; higher education is not a waste of time for some
>people (though living in a campus town and overhearing some of the students
>speak -- "Like, he is soooo poli-sci, and I'm like, 'Whoa, don't go there!
>Too much info!' " -- I often wonder). My point has been that it is not the
>world, it is not the end-all, be-all of intellectual growth and reflective
>and analytical thought. And when it comes to dealing with "the people"
>(those who barely got out of high school, for instance), academic jargon and
>secret handshakes are of no real use. Among the initiated and all-knowing,
>however, I'm sure it's a fine way to pass the time.
>
>DP

I think you actually underestimate the intellectual capacity of 
ordinary literate individuals.  Engels, as you know, often did the 
work of popularizing Marx's ideas, but you think his words, too, must 
be further simplified & recommend "Engels for Dummies."  Fine.  Try 
it, and see if you can write what Engels wrote in fewer, clearer, & 
simpler words than his.

Anyone who has problems with Engels' carefully limited vocabulary in 
his popularizing pamphlets is sure to have *even more problems* with 
Doug's vocabulary (which includes such words as "liquidity 
preference," "structural endogeneity," etc.), not to mention his many 
quotations ranging from Marx, Keynes, Schumpeter, etc; our 
contemporary neoclassical, Keynesian, & post-Keynesian economists; to 
pomo-academo-Marxist whipping boys like Andrew Ross & Antonio Negri!

Now, illiteracy aside (which presents a large problem in many poor 
nations), if some ordinary literate individuals cannot understand 
Engels, it is not because they are "dummies."  It is because they are 
lacking in the time, energy, & willingness necessary to make efforts 
to understand -- and such efforts must of necessity include asking 
questions & seeking answers.  In other words, it is the fault of 
*neither the writer nor the readers*.

If not as many people read Marx, Engels, Henwood, & other writers on 
the left as they should, that is due to the absence of mass political 
movements whose members clamor for revolutionary theory & 
indispensable empirical studies.  As you may recall, when the New 
Left, second-wave feminism, gay liberation, black power, etc. were 
born & grew, many activists in the movements (& even non-activists 
beyond them) made intellectual efforts, re-discovered forgotten 
radical writers, & struggled with their ideas (reevaluating some, 
criticizing some, modifying some, ditching some).  The same will 
happen again if & when mass movements on the Left emerge & grow.

Meanwhile, we do what we can.  Write as clearly as possible, without 
sacrificing precision of indispensable technical terms.

Yoshie