[lbo-talk] A Note on an old slogan

[Mike Ballard]

Remember, it's France in '68 from which this graffiti erupts.  The French CP, the unions and of course the SP and the rest of the official left are ever being realistic and demanding reforms and never demanding say, the abolition of wage labour. The practice of liberalism recreates capitalism.  The idea among Situationsts and Enrages was to turn this 'realism' on its head and demand a classless communist society be lived now, in the moment, not as something way off, 800 years in the future.  

Hi-ho,
Mike B)

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I have only run across one explanation of that: of demanding the impossible and demanding it right now. I got it from a Mario Savio interview. He said that the generation who articulated the messages of the 60's had grown up with the possibility of nuclear annihilation as something that could happen at any moment. And that as a result, there was the feeling that there was only ten minutes left to live, so that if there was going to be change, it would have to happen now.

This made a lot of sense to me.

Joanna

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>

I have never seen (though they must exist) any analyses of the French '68
slogan, "Be practical, Demand the Impossible."

It's probably regarded by most as mere flippancy. But in fact, it _is_
practical_: A left movement that does not demand the impossible will (a)
never discover what is in fact possible and (b) probably won't get anything
at all.

Anyone who thinks they can determine what is and what isn't possible should
do leftists a favor and go fishing.

Carrol

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