[lbo-talk] Marx without quotation marks

[c b]

Let me make an appeal to Foucauldians who, as by the thread title,
value Foucault's basis in Marxist ideas.  Note that there _is_ a
tendency to forget that Foucault bases himself in Marxism.  Take this
thread as an illustration. The Foucauldian project ends up
obliterating or at least hiding the basic Marxist insight that prisons
are the main institution of the state's special repressive apparatus
which allows the bourgeoisie to repress the working class and,
maintain the capitalist private property relation of production. If
one comes to think of this "Marx with quotation marks" proposition as
dull, outdated dogma, then Foucault's effort to find more
"interesting" details of the institution has ended up subverting
rather than enhancing the Marxist insight. The fundamental Marxist
understanding of prisons is not outdated ! It is 100% true today.
That prisons might have further complex impact on mass consciousness
does not contradict this basic truth.  But if investigation of these
complexities causes the researcher to lose sight of the fundamental
purpose of prisons from the perspective of the ruling class' relation
to the ruled class, it undermines the radical intellectuals' role in
raising mass consciousness toward overthrowing the system.

Chollie