Re: Pessimism of the Intellect, and the Optimism of the Will

[m-14970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Rodwell)]

Joern says:

>Stalin may be the greatest voluntarist - but also the exact opposite:
>the greatest mechanic determinist. Stalinism is not a consistent body
>of theory.
>
>The theory behind popular-frontism is that as long as capitalism has
>not developed sufficiently, socialism can not be put on the agenda.
>This is directly stolen from Kautsky - and an example of ultra-
>determinism.

I thought the dialectic was 'baked into' this thread, Joern, with fatalism
and voluntarism as inseparable ingredients. The two aspects of
'objectivism' are two faces of the same coin. Sometimes one face is up --
putschist voluntarism in the third period -- sometimes the other --
fatalism/determinism in the popular front. The underlying attitude is that
of capitulation before insuperable objective conditions and contempt for
the 'inadequacy' of the forces ranged against them -- hence all the
badmouthing of rank-and-file members (of unions, parties, the working class
in general) by bureaucrats and 'observers' sharing the same scepticism in
regard to Marx's analysis of the historical dynamic of class society under
the capitalist mode of production.


>The truth is that stalinist theory is consistent with only one thing:
>The *class interests* of the ruling bureaucracy.

*The bureaucracy isn't a class!* If it was, it wouldn't desperately be
trying to transform itself into one!

Cheers,

Hugh




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