Carrol I hope you are not getting me wrong on this, but my mode of expression seems to lead to misundertsnadings.
The problem as I see it is with Marxism as recieved Historical Materialism, which has become politically dead. It is not new theories that are needed but a new look at old ones. We have skipped and glossed over so much that Marxism has departed from its foundations and these need to be re-eaxmined and understood properly for what they are.
Individually we all feel we have a good grasp of theory, but that is not the problem, it is establishing a means by which we can communicate effectively that has become a major barrier not easily overcome.
Newly invented theory leaves me cold, it comes from the fragmented nature of Marxism as it has now developed. New perspectives on old theories may result in some incremental improvement but it is just these small improvements where I expect fairly direct political conclusions to flow.
The other things is that there is has been a significant shift in the social order over the last thrity years and this has progressively got recievied Marxism out-of-kilter with political and social reality. The end product is a movement which does not connect with the working class on a meaningful scale and the pathetic mess we now find ourselves in politically - that derives from real changes we have failed to understand and as we have stuck to what is familiar we have lost contact with the class where these changes are experienced immediately and without the benefit of theory as daily experience.
In short, we have a lot of catching up to do.
New ideas and theory, hardly, but a new apprieciation of our intellectual heritage well yes.
Greg Schofield wrote:
>
> --- Message Received ---
> From: Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu>
> MIles:
> > In such a circumstances it becomes practical to begin asking some very
> > abstract questions.
> >
>
> "Such as? This is a serious question, not a snotty retort."
>
> Thanks Miles I will take this in the spirit that it is raised.
A powerful feature of capitalism is its tendency to generate continual and radical change without any change whatever occurring in fundamental social relations. And this generates an immense lust for "new ideas," a lust which is inevitably frustrated because really new ideas emerge only with fundamental changes in social relations. (The phrase "Newtonian Science" is not really too ill-fitting a label for the science of Einstein, Planck, Crick, etc.: tremendous change within the same dynamic.) A comicbook episode from around 60+ years ago sticks in my memory. It involved a human torch -- and the bad guys at that time were still ordinary crooks, not creatures from science fiction. This particular set of crooks had an inspiration and they trapped the Flame (or whatever he was called) in a heavy glass or fire resistant plastic cylinder, cutting off his oxygen and shutting down his flame. Then they bungled the final steps and he escaped. Did they recognize that they had worked out the right fundamental method? No. They went back to the drawing board, developed "new ideas" and were soon quelled. The assumption of these crooks runs deep in bourgeois thought and feeling. If something doesn't work, the designers have failed and must go back to the drawing boards. The world is new. No "old idea" is worthwhile. We must start all over again from scratch. Defeats can't possibly come because capital was (is yet) too strong. They can only come about because everything we did was wrong. Really?
In general I agree with the Thompson-Williams-Wood dismissal of the "base-superstructure" metaphor. But there is a powerful resemblance between this endless superficial revolution of daily life under capitalism and the endless search of bourgeois thinkers for new ideas.
Carrol
Greg Schofield Perth Australia g_schofield at dingoblue.net.au _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
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