bobW
--- Carl Remick <carlremick at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 9/22/07, andie nachgeborenen
> <andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > The Marxist left is no longer a force. Marxism,
> once a
> > name to conjure by, whether to inspire or to
> alarm, is
> > an irrelevancy. I underline that this fact does
> not
> > undermine the validity of the propositions of
> > historical materialism or of Marxian critiques of
> > capitalism as sociological
> economic-political-moral
> > theory. The theory is pretty much as true as ever.
> But
> > that's not the same as saying that Marxism is
> > something to be reckoned with politically. Nor is
> that
> > fact likely to change anytime in the foreseeable
> > future.
>
> I don't see how Marxism can remain viable as theory
> if it is spent as
> a political force. AFAIC Marx's entire point as a
> materialist is that
> thought *cannot* be separated from action. Cue the
> the 11th
> Feuerbach: "Philosophers have only interpreted the
> world in various
> ways; the point is to change it." If the aim now is
> just to wander
> around the Museum of Marxism dusting the display
> cases, we might as
> well just shut down the museum and be done with it.
> No praxis, no
> thaxis.
>
> What fascinates me is that there seems to be a
> general collapse of
> actionable Big Ideas worldwide currently. All cant
> aside, no
> *thinking* person these days honestly views religion
> as anything but
> an embarrassment to humankind. Meanwhile, Freud has
> been reduced to
> an Aflac commercial: Quack! Quack! Even hegemonic
> neoliberalism is
> recognized by its more thoughtful proponents as a
> spent force -- as
> being like Wile E. Coyote running way beyond the
> cliff's edge, doomed
> to plummet to the earth once he glances down. What
> better bellwether
> than Francis Fukuyama, who clearly now sees no
> future for his
> liberalism-regnant "end of history."
>
> The contradictions of capitalism are gathering
> momentum at an
> unprecedented rate globally -- the system's
> unalterable dynamic as a
> force for mass exploitation, alienation and
> environmental despoliation
> has never been more obvious. We're going to need
> some good ideas,
> fast, to get humankind out of its worsening
> predicament. Marxism
> still seems like a good starting point to develop
> the *practical*
> solutions that are urgently needed.
>
> Carl
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