fantasy and political organization

Gordon Fitch gcf at panix.com
Wed Jun 6 06:47:36 PDT 2001


Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> > There's no successful politics without a good
> > fantasy, whether you're
> > talking Bolshevism or Reaganism. So calling
> > something a "fantasy"
> > isn't terribly helpful.

Alec Ramsdell:
> One thing I also had in mind with my original post is
> how fantasy acts not only to mobilize politics, but
> also to organize and sustain relations of exploitation
> and oppression. To the extent that it does, there's
> no unsuccessful politics without a good fantasy.

The logical sum: there is no politics without a good fantasy. That makes sense: in revolution, reform and reaction, one wants to bring the unreal forth from the real; in conservatism, one wants to preserve the unreal one has from the real one fears (whose fundamental principle is change and decay).

Attention to poetics is indicated.



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