Re: [Marxism] Permanent Revolution

["Darrel Furlotte" <darrel.furlotte@xxxxxxxxx>]

From: "sartesian" <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> Marxism is way bit more than theory.  We can say it is the concrete
> examination of capital's immanent contradiction between the unlimited
> expansion of the means of production and the restricted possibilities
> for maintaining sufficient profitability of such expanded means which
> only exist as overaccumulated  capital itself.
>
> I know such phrasing is anathema to Carrol and many who might wish Marx
> were less precise in the focus and locus  of his work.  But his ironic
> comment to the contrary notwithstanding,  Marx is, first, last,
> foremost, and always,  a Marxist.

Your first paragraph, above, is exactly the kind of expression that led Marx
to declare that he was not a Marxist. Look at your statement again; it is
best described as Hegelian, rather than marxian.

> Yep, it really is about capital, about the conflict between the means
> and relations of production, about the extraction and expropriation of
> surplus value-- and given that "univeralizing" dynamic within the
> capital, within the contradictions of capital,  it's just baloney to
> think that there areNOT  commonalities, shared traits, common DNA, even
> general theories of all revolutionary struggles under and against
> capital.

Marx thought it was really about struggle -- class struggle.  But even then,
he remained concerned about understanding real human beings, who are not
"defined" in their social actions simply by economic class. Marx was not an
economic determinist. And again, Marx was looking for (and finding)
commonalities; but it wasn't about the "contadictions of capital". Marx, the
political animal, the social revolutionary, the communist, was accutely
aware of the many capitals at work and the many "classes" engaged in the
"struggle".

Carrol's point (an excellent one for those communists engaged in the actual
class struggles) is that the historical abstractions you tend to give us are
not very useful.  We need concrete information and analysis of the people
and forces actually in motion. Emphasis on in motion, on many levels.

Darrel Furlotte




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