[lbo-talk] Liberalism (Was Re: Nietzsche)

Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
Mon Jul 9 09:48:56 PDT 2007


Chris Doss

Even
> the Russian Revolution
> included "Peace", a moral ideal, as a main slogan.
> "Justice", "Equality",
> "Liberty" , "Freedom" are always rallying cries.
> These are moral discourse.
>

Well, in the October Revo the "peace" being called for was not an abstract issue -- it was about getting Russia out of the war.

^^^^^ CB: I agree with you.

However, being concrete and not abstract doesn't make "peace" not a moral issue. The abolitionists in the U.S. raised moral arguments against slavery, and the slavery they opposed was not in the least abstract.

In the _Internationale_ is the line "Justice thunders condemnation". But the justice sought is not abstract, but concrete: ending of actually existing mass poverty.

I agree with those who say that Karl Marx was both a scientist and that he raised moral arguments against capitalism, even though he famously opposed "moralizing". Of course that's a contradiction, but I think it's a surface contradiction. I think he opposed only the conventional moralists of capitalism.



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