Haines, Greg, thanks for your interesting development of the theme. My
original concern was with the thesis that an external change of
circumstances (and so, of "interests" --
: even that of *survival*-- can change behaviour, but it cannot bring about
: moral motivation, which is on another plane, so that an argument
: (theoretical or practical) that change on one leads automatically,
: predictably to change on the other is a "jump" which is by definition
: illegitimate or invalid.
:
: The problem is posed in the third thesis on Feuerbach : the
: *coincidence* of the *mutual* changing of circumstances and the changing
of
: minds into a rejection of the muck of ages and the becoming worthy of
: "founding society anew".
:
Ted has (as usual) a marvellous quotation,
: from the German Ideology, which to my mind shows the ambiguity of this
: crucial area of Marx's thought, the mechanistic interpretation of which
laid the
: foundations for much of 20th-century history. I'll reproduce it here
with
: Ted's context. I have inserted comments relating to the ambiguity of the
"materialist" argument, which is also found in The Holy Family -- J. D.
:
****************
:
: Carrol -- -- Agitational efforts (and even most propaganda activity) are
: aimed at involving people in mass struggle for change WITHIN capitalism,
and
: one need not even have heard of Marx to become very good at doing that.
:
: Ted -- -- I don't think this is true of the kind of revolution Marx
himself
: has in mind. Though this doesn't require that individuals be converted to
: Marxism or even be aware of Marx, it does require that they share the same
: ends and engage in a kind of praxis that will actually enable them to
: realize them.
:
: Among other things, as he understands it, the "revolutionary praxis"
: involved has to "appropriate" the means of production, i.e. it has to have
a
: particular character determined by the particular ends it's supposed to
: realize one of which is this "appropriation."
:
: Appropriation requires the developed capabilities the means objectify,
: capabilities developed to some extent by the capitalist labour process
: itself understood as a "steeling school" and then further developed to the
: degree required by the revolutionary praxis.
:
: "Thus things have now come to such a pass that the individuals must
: appropriate the existing totality of productive forces, not only to
achieve
: self-activity, but, also, [NB] *********** merely to safeguard their very
: existence. ********************* [My emphasis -- J. D. "Socialism or --
: extinction!"? "Better red than dead!"?] This appropriation is first
: determined by the object to be appropriated, the productive forces, which
: have been developed to a totality and which only exist within a universal
: intercourse. From this aspect alone, therefore, this appropriation must
have
: a universal character corresponding to the productive forces and the
: intercourse.
:
: "The appropriation of these forces is itself nothing more than the
: development of the individual capacities corresponding to the material
: instruments of production. The appropriation of a totality of instruments
of
: production is, for this very reason, the development of a totality of
: capacities in the individuals themselves.
:
: "This appropriation [of the forces of production developed in capitalism]
is
: further determined by the persons appropriating. Only the proletarians of
: the present day, who are completely shut off from all self-activity, are
in
: a position to achieve a complete and no longer restricted self-activity,
: which consists in the appropriation of a totality of productive forces and
: in the thus postulated development of a totality of capacities. All
earlier
: revolutionary appropriations were restricted; individuals, whose
: self-activity was restricted by a crude instrument of production and a
: limited intercourse, appropriated this crude instrument of production, and
: hence merely achieved a new state of limitation. Their instrument of
: production became their property, but they themselves remained subordinate
: to the division of labour and their own instrument of production. In all
: expropriations up to now, a mass of individuals remained subservient to a
: single instrument of production; in the appropriation by the proletarians,
a
: mass of instruments of production must be made subject to each individual,
: and property to all. Modern universal intercourse can be controlled by
: individuals, therefore, only when controlled by all.
:
: "This appropriation is further determined by the manner in which it must
be
: effected. It can only be effected through a union, which by the character
of
: the proletariat itself can again only be a universal one, and through a
: revolution, in which, on the one hand, the power of the earlier mode of
: production and intercourse and social organisation is overthrown, and, on
: the other hand, there develops the universal character and the energy of
the
: proletariat, without which the revolution cannot be accomplished; and in
: which, further, the proletariat rids itself of everything that still
clings
: to it from its previous position in society.
:
: "Only at this stage does self-activity coincide with material life, which
: corresponds to the development of individuals into complete individuals
and
: the casting-off of all natural limitations."
: <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01d.htm
:
: This repeats the idea of "appropriation" elaborated in the manuscript
: "Private Property and Communism" where it's distinguished from the idea of
: merely taking "possession."
: <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm>
:
: Ted
:
:
: