[lbo-talk] Re: wotsit madder

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Mon Mar 8 09:39:04 PST 2004


Carrol Cox wrote:


>I quite seriously don't see why anyone should want to persuade or compel
>anyone that X results in self-estrangement. The concept remains
>important only as a private scribble of Marx's as he was working out his
>understanding of capitalism and the struggle against it.
>
>Reporter: What is?
>
>KM: Struggle.

Struggle without agents. "Self-estrangement" is one of those psychosocial concepts that annoy you so, and example of how social conditions make people feel and think, and how their feelings and thoughts lead them to act. The other day you were arguing against trying to classify people as members of the working class or not; apparently the working class exists but not members of the working class. There's no need to try to persuade others; somehow the like-minded will gather properly together and the revolution will just happen. You world sounds like one of automatons without motives or aspirations - kind of like you version of psychology, which is just a reflection of neurochemical reactions. It doesn't matter who's in the White House either - shit will just happen, we're all just pawns of historical forces, forces that aren't created by human actors, just by History.

You love this Q&A from Marx, but you're not at all interested in why people should be down with the struggle. Makes me want just to kick back and have a good time; life's hard enough as it is.

Doug



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