>Now notice, I am attacking Nathan here -- but I am attacking in on the
>basis of the arguments he has expressed. I am not attacking the
>arguments on the basis of alleged bad motives on Nathan's part. On the
>other hand, when he squeaks about purism, he is first of all attacking
>the motives or characters of those who hold contrary ideas, without out
>giving any argument at all in respect to their ideas.
nonsense. he's attacking a particular approach to thinking about how to proceed. this has nothing to do with your character, but how you theorize how capitalism works and how it will be undermined.
purism is what marx attacked here:
[W]e wish to influence our contemporaries...The problem is how best to achieve this. In this context there are two incontestable facts. Both religion and politics are matters of the first importance in contemporary Germany. Our task must be to latch onto these as they are and not to oppose them with any ready-made system such as the _Voyage en Icarie_. [...]
Nothing prevents us...from taking sides in politics, i.e. from entering into real struggles and identifying ourselves with them. This does not mean that we shall confront the world with new doctrinaire principles and proclaim: Here is the truth, on your knees before it...We shall not say: Abandon your struggles, they are mere folly; let us provide you with the true campaign-slogans. Instead we shall show the world why it is struggling.... [...] Our programme must be: the reform of consciousness not through dogmas but by analyzing mystical consciousness obscure to itself, whether it appear in religious or political form. It will then become plain that the world has long since dreamed of something of which it needs only to become conscious for it to possess it in reality. It will then become plain that our task is not to draw a sharp mental line between past and future but to complete the thought of the past. Lastly, it will become plain that mankind will not begin any new work, but will consciously bring about the completion of its old work."
from Letters from the Franco-German Yearbooks--a reply to Ruge's claims about the futility of engaging in actually existing political struggles.
kelley