Criticism, Self-Criticism, and a few other things.

[Carl Remick]

>From: Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
>
>Carl Remick wrote:
> > [clip]
> > Hmm, I thought Marxism was the "ruthless criticism of all that exists."  
>How
> > do you define "all"?
>
>"All" means the basic structure of society in this case, the
>historically determinate social relations which constitute us and which
>we need to transform/throw off. Marx was contrasting such criticism to
>the writing of recipes for the cook shops of the future -- i.e., two
>kinds of theoretical work. It does not mean merely finding people to
>blame for all our troubles. It's easy to sneer at suv-owners, academics,
>bush-voters, or mythical categories such as "baby boomers" but it hardly
>contributes to the ruthless criticism marx called for.

Sure it does.  Boomers, e.g., are no more mythical than any other historical 
age cohort; generations are profoundly shaped by their common experiences in 
facing wars, depressions, etc.  The Vietnam War and the civil rights 
struggles of the sixties sensitized many boomers to major issues of social 
justice.  But the generation's broad interest in social progress and protest 
simply mutated into a sterile, narcissistic pursuit of individual 
enlightenment or into the many appalling forms of hip capitalism, e.g., MTV. 

  All of this provides rich subject matter, IMO, for discussing how material 
forces trump good intentions.

Carl

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