[lbo-talk] happy 191st

Ted Winslow egwinslow at rogers.com
Fri May 8 10:33:01 PDT 2009


James Heartfield wrote:


> But Ted goes too far when he writes:
>
> 'The "educative" stages are, however, only contingent to some degree.
> Precisely because they are "educative" there are "internal relations"
> between them. Thus the stages preceding the penutimate stage are
> "necessary" to its creation and functioning because these presuppose
> the requisite degree of "integral development".'
>
> Each historical epoch has its own laws and rationale. The Dark Ages
> were not just a staging post on the way to the Renaissance - that
> would be to confuse the telescoping historical epic for the actual
> course of history. Feudalism's *collapse* happened to release those
> elements that went on to make up capitalism, but that was not pre-
> ordained. Nor for that matter is communism preordained, either. Marx
> is imagining the strong points of the industrial system with its
> negative aspects removed. Whether the rest of society (or at least
> that working class majority that has an interest) comes to share his
> assessment is down to them (and us, in so far as it is a matter of
> persuasion).

The whole point was to disconnect the idea of "necessity" involved from the idea that communism is "preordained".

The "necessity" in this case is that involved in any successful "educative" process. If you haven't learned how - developed the "virtuosity", the "powers", required - to play bepop jazz, you won't be able to play it.

If I understand you correctly, you reject the idea of "universality" endorsed by Marx in the passages I quoted.

This "universality" is "social" in the sense that the "powers" required to actualize it are developed within "social relations" understood as "educative" in the particular sense I'm attributing to Marx.

It's in this sense that "needs" and "pleasures" are "relative" to society. By giving this a "relativist" sense, you make it inconsistent with Marx's definition of "wealth" as "the universality of individual needs, capacities, pleasures, productive forces etc." and with his treatment of the historical process as an "educative" process developmental of the "capacities", the "powers", actualization of this "universality" requires.

It's for this reason that Marx identifies "the true realm of freedom" with "the development of human powers as an end in itself".

Ted



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