Re: Lenin & Gramsci contra Weber (was Re: Weber against Marx)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nestor says:

>En relación a Lenin & Gramsci contra Weber (was Re: Weber again,
>el 8 Dec 00, a las 18:55, Yoshie Furuhashi dijo:
>
>>  Marxist thought today, it seems to me,
>>  needs to be reinvigorated by an emphasis on _politics_, i.e.
>>  alertness to the _active_ side of human beings as _history-makers_,
>
>Er... where did I read this before? Wasn't it somewhere in a bunch of theses
>written down more than a century ago by a Karl Marx?

Right, but notes of despair have & will manifest themselves in
various guises.  Sectarianism, opportunism, moralism, post-modernism,
Green consumerism, etc.

For instance, one of the reasons many leftists -- even Marxists --
called for or failed to present clear opposition to NATO expansion &
deployment was rooted in an implicit conviction that the masses are &
will remain passive.  When one gives up on self-activity of the
masses, one tends to look to the idea of justice, human rights, etc.,
enforced by NGOs, the United Nations, and so forth.

In this day & age, fewer leftists than before seem to feel that the
masses are in fact -- not just in theory -- _history-makers_.  So, I
think it bears reminders once in a while.

Yoshie