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<DIV>On 1 Mar 2002 10:07:10 +0200 "Tahir Wood" <<A
href="mailto:twood@uwc.ac.za">twood@uwc.ac.za</A>> writes:<BR>> <BR>>
<BR></DIV>
<DIV>> Tahir: We agreed about this, but I insisted that there will still be
<BR>> a communist movement - that's the part that you don't like. Actually
<BR>> I would be thrilled if the two main parts of the movement, namely
<BR>> marxist and anarchist, could find their ways back together
again.<BR>> <BR>>Justin: and has (so fars we can tell) permanently
lost the ability inspire <BR>> its intended constiturency, the working class.
That does not mean <BR>> that a <BR>> substantial part of the substantive
propositions of historical <BR>> materialism <BR>> are false; I think they
are in the main true,a nd explain,a momng <BR>> other <BR>> things, the
collapse of the USSR.<BR>> <BR>> Tahir: Yes, I wouldn't mind if someone
initiated a thread that takes <BR>> up your very last point above. It's far
from unimportant (or <BR>> settled).<BR>> <BR></DIV>
<DIV>I suppse that if we are going to discuss how historical materialism</DIV>
<DIV>can be applied to understanding the collapse of the former USSR,</DIV>
<DIV>a good jumping off point might be the new edition of G.A. Cohen's</DIV>
<DIV>1978 book *Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence* which includes a
new<BR>introduction in which he reflects upon analytical Marxism, as well as
some<BR>additional new chapters which he attempts to develop a revised
historical<BR>materialism. He still maintains that his 1978 book presented a
faithful<BR>presentation of Marx's materialist conception of history (with the
aid of<BR>tools borrowed from 20th century analytic philosophy) but in the
additional<BR>chapters he attempts to come to terms with his more recent
misgivings<BR>concerning historical materialism by presenting a revised version
of the<BR>theory which he calls a "restricted historical materialism." In
addition to<BR>this he also has a chapter on the collapse of the Soviet Union
considered<BR>from the standpoint of historical materialism, which I once posted
to</DIV>
<DIV>Proyect's Marxmail List at </DIV>
<DIV>(<A
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg22051.html">http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@lists.panix.com/msg22051.html</A>)</DIV>
<DIV>_____________<BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV>> <BR>> Dr Tahir Wood<BR>> Director: Academic Planning
Unit<BR>> University of the Western Cape<BR>> Phone (021) 959 3385<BR>>
Fax (021) 959 3170<BR>> e-mail: <A
href="mailto:twood@uwc.ac.za">twood@uwc.ac.za</A> <BR>> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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