From: Mike Ballard <swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Reform & revolution, socialism & communism
Tahir wrote:
So I'm not an enthusiast of 'revolution', at least not in the Jacobin understanding of it. For the very same reasons, I opt not to use the word 'socialism' in an uncritically approving way. Socialism for marxists has always been a kind of transitionary concept. But if the various socialisms that we have known did not constitute any sort of transition to communism - far from it - then what is the point? Marx himself wrestled with the dilemma of transition and did not provide answers for us. For example, in the Critique of the Gotha Programme he even comes out in favour of labour vouchers and the slogan about, 'from each according to his ability to each according to his need'. **********************
I would disagree that one cannot find the answers for transtion in Marx. Even his suggestion of labour vouchers in the "Critique of the Gotha Programme" is an indication that the wages system should be abolished in a transition from the DOP to higher levels of socialism/communism. What's been missing from most of the official communist/socialist dialogue has been the critique of the wages system and how the wages system itself contributes to the reproduction of bourgeois consciouness.
Wages are the price workers get for their productive skills in a comm -------------- next part -------------- All Email originating from UWC is covered by disclaimer http://www.uwc.ac.za/portal/public/portal_services/disclaimer.htm