Re: discussing neo-liberalism & utopia

[Massimo De Angelis <M.DeAngelis@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Date:          Thu, 04 Apr 1996 10:11:28 +1000
> From:          sjwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Steve Wright)
> Subject:       discussing neo-liberalism & utopia
> To:            aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc:            zap@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Reply-to:      aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Steve, your translation of the conclusion of my piece in vis-a-vis
almost sounds better  than
 in Italian. So, if you don't mind, I am going to extract this piece
and attach it to the translation I am slowly preparing. To reply to
your queries:

" With all its dependence upon subjectivity and creativity,
> modern capitalism can only promote a political culture characterised by the
> asence of *radical* imagination, by the absence of an alternative vision of
> existence - not in the distant future, but here and now, where the present
> material and subjective bases could render it conceivable, if not
> actualisable [yes, I'm sure that's a neologism].

Yes, it is in a sense, Actualisable is opposed to realisable.
Whatever is realizable presuposses a pre-conceived plan which must be
realised (by  subordinating to the plan all the people who
don't like it). Whatever is actualisable is already existing in a
virtual way, where virtuality is a dimension of reality.  I have learned
this distinction  from Hartd's discussion of Deleuse's deiscussion of
Bergson, and I have discussed a bit more a length in vis-a vis #2 in
my artcile on unemployment.   I think we need to elaborate on these
concepts, as we face the traditional understanding of socialism and
communism as a system to be **realised***, where the concept of realization
is indeed problematic because it presupposes a pre-conceived plan. I
see the actualisation of , say, communism, as a process rather than a
plan.

>
Utopia therefore not as *the* alternative model, not as a party
> program or a plan in search of subjects to subordinate. Utopia instead as
> an open and inclusive horizon of thought, antagonistic practice and
> communication. If theoretical and political recomposition must occur as a
> heterogeneity of antagonistic thematics and therefore subjects - labour,
> production, reproduction, race, gender, health, environment, education etc.
> - it must therefore occur in terms of a discourse which to those who manage
> the Great Leviathan must necessarily seem 'utopian' - that is, as a
> discourse centred around real human subjects, their needs and aspirations
> uncoupled from the priority of social relations which take the form of
> despotic objects."
>
> Any reactions? I think the notion in the last sentence of 'a heterogeneity
> of antagonistic thematics and therefore subjects' is not meant to suggest
> that these are inherently antagonistic *to each other*, but can become
> antagonistic to capital - is that right, Massimo? After all, the phrase
> "antagonistic movement" is often used in Italy these days as a broad label
> to encompass a range of revolutionary politics.

Yes Steve, you are perfectly right. Allow me to add
something from a sentence in Marx's 1844 manuscript,
when he refers to the "communal being", that is "the human
being" in  communism. I quote by hearth
"the communal beings are  the ones for whom "the other" becomes a
need for them". (Please note, this means something different than say
that we need the  "other" ).   I think this sentence captures the entire
problematic of a new society. The question that Marx does not ask
is of course HOW does this "communal subject" come about, how do
we recognize the "others"  from whom we have been divided by capital's
strategies, as a need for us. I think the way this occures is the process of
struggles of different sections of the working class. So the process
of circulation of struggles among different sections not only
disrupts capital, but also at the same time, creates the "communal
being " as defined above.


> BTW, Massimo tells me he's translating the article into English.

Yes, but slowly.

Massimo


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