Re: [Marxism] The two souls of socialism (was: RE: John Holloway-Alex Callinicos debate)

["acpollack2@xxxxxxxx" <acpollack2@xxxxxxxx>]

This is a very important essay, and I hope Joaquín will make sure it
is widely published in print and on the web.

I'm glad to see that finally the Holloway-Callinicos debate is being
addressed here in terms of the central point of contention: whether or
not to take state power. But I am even more glad that someone has
finally submitted the "socialism from below" theory to a rigorous
analysis.

It boggles the mind that Draper could write an entire essay on the
concept without any attempt to address the material realities facing 
20th-Century revolutions, and the subjective reactions to those
realities by various parties and individuals, which Joaquín addresses;
no discussion by Draper of the problems faced by any of the workers'
states, no mention of prior theoretical attempts to assess that. Not
one mention of anything Lenin or Trotsky or Castro or anyone
else said about the problems of the transition period.

Finally I'll add that this fetishization of the concept of "from
below" spills over into approaches to labor work. In Cannon's articles
on the Stalinist misuse of the slogan "for rank-and-file leadership":
http://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/1932/clarandf.htm
he discusses how it ignores the dialectical interaction of multiple
layers of the union hierarchy. The current-day fetishization of the
rank-and-file, inspired by "socialism-from-below," can do the same,
and ignore the need for flanking tactics, seeking official
endorsements, etc.

But all that's an aside; excellent job, Joaquín!


-- Joaquín Bustelo <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It is really quite striking how much of Callinicos's theoretical arsenal is 
derived from what is a transparently idealist, not Marxist analysis.




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