Re: [Marxism] If Marxism is a Science...

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Why rejoin social democracy? Modern social democracy is based on rejection
> of everything Marxism (and our tradition) stands for - class struggle,
> workers' democracy, the struggle for socialism,etc. - and has literally
> disappeared up the arse of neoliberal acceptance of capitalism as a
> permanent and inevitable, indeed desirable fact.
>
> I think that for me as a Marxist this is perhaps the most insulting
> suggestion that has been made in this whole discussion!
>
> Einde O'Callaghan

Yes, that is an inappropriate invitation. Social democracy is characterized
today by support for US imperialism's war on terror, while the ISO and the
SWP are on the front lines opposing it.

I didn't have an Internet connection for most of the day (had to upgrade
the firmware in my Linksys wireless router), but I just want to make a
brief observation. Capitalism is marked by a relentless drive to
rationalize and cut costs, while serious scholars of the USSR like Alec
Nove have noted exactly that failure in the system. As the joke goes, there
is no unemployment in the USSR, yet nobody works. The only way to enforce
labor discipline when workers are so alienated is by introducing a labor
market and the whip of unemployment. In my flame wars with Murphy on apst,
I kept insisting on this point but he kept insisting back that
unemployment--as we know it in the USA--was a serious problem. He could not
back this up with data, so I am not sure what great discoveries are to be
found in his prize-winning book.


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