> Marv wrote:
>
>> > <http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1951/mm/ch03.htm>http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1951/mm/ch03.htm
>>
>> Faith-based Marxism: A contemporary disorder.
>
> Marv, in the last month or two you've consistently and admirably shown that you know the history and dynamics of opposition movements worldwide better than 9 out of 10 people in the room. I've learned a lot from your recent posts. But you're losing me here. What's wrong with bringing heaven down to earth?
Nothing, in the non-literal sense we understand it, and obviously I much respect the heroic efforts of the multitudes who've struggled and sacrificed through the ages to bring about an earthly paradise. My remark was aimed at those on the left who try to alleviate their own underlying despair, and what they mistakenly presume to be the despair of others like myself, by drawing on "comforting words" from Adorno, Rosa L. and the other Marxist prophets and sacred texts in lieu of more sober and objective historical and materialist analysis. It may be that I can't appreciate the idealist subtleties of the Frankfurt school, but AN's enthusiasm for Adorno's "poetic" invocation of the healing power of "redemption" and "messianic light" seems typical of that unfortunate tendency. Probably I should have just let it pass without comment. Thanks otherwise for your kind words.