Publishing Left Journals ?

["Jurriaan Bendien" <J.Bendien@xxxxxxxxxx>]

George wrote:

"there has never been a unity of theory and praxis except in Lukacs's mind."

This cannot be true. How then do you account e.g. for Marx's insight that
"theory becomes a material force when it grips the masses" ? Okay, maybe
there is no perfect unity of theory and practice, but it is still possible
to "walk the talk" or "live one's idea" - somebody like Lenin certainly did.
Personally I find it extraordinarily difficult, because of my uneven
development in that regard, but it's possible.

To repeat, there is a difference between practice and praxis - practice is
unreflected activity, activity which is not really self-aware to any great
extent. Of course these categories are relative ones, there are many
gradations and transitions possible - theory and practice may diverge and
re-unite, one's thinking is necessarily distorted in some ways, and so on.

If anything is hampering leftwing activity, it is the lack of good theory,
good analysis, in my opinion, which results people in being reactive to the
ongoing news rather than proactively anticipating developments (although
there is plenty good insight on Marxmail !). Of course, this has a lot to do
with postmodernist culture, the regression into religious thinking, the
harrassment one faces in trying to develop new ideas, divisions between the
theorists and the practitioners, the sheer complexity of the world situation
and so on. But I'm sure that will change too as political conflict
intensifies worldwide, and old doctrines are shaken up. That is what Marx
was really saying: adequate theory develops in step with the ascent of
political battles. The test of practice destroys old theories and sharpens
up new ones.

But nevertheless sometimes the best insight comes from those who are not "in
the fray", who are outside the political arena and who are unburdened with
the necessity to think about immediate practicalities, and therefore better
placed to see the bigger picture, the overall meaning of events. That is to
say, sometimes too much "practice" is not a help but a hindrance. Sometimes
one may be far better off withdrawing from the hustle and bustle of
everything happening, in order to take stock of things and go back to the
foundations of the whole endeavour.

Seasons greetings, y'all.

J.


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