[Marxism] Review of Lebowitz's 'The Path for Human Development'

["Ivan D. Drury" <ivanddrury@xxxxxxxx>]

*21st Century on the Move - Reflections on 'The Path for Human Development'*

By Ivan Drury. 

Within an otherwise bleak reality of capitalist crisis, Mike Lebowitz has 
provided us with an eloquent restatement of the case for socialism â The Path 
for Human Development: Capitalism or Socialism? This short text is now 
circulating widely in Venezuela, in Spanish, as a pocket-sized pamphlet, has 
been published in Monthly Review, and is about to be published in Canada in 
pamphlet format by Socialist Project.

This is not the first text Lebowitz has published on the need to argue, fight 
for, and build socialism. The Path was written on the foundation of 
Lebowitzâs 2004 book Build It Now! Both works were written with the 
Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela in mind. This is no accident. Lebowitz, a 
professor from Canada, has been living in Venezuela for years and has been an 
active participant in the Bolivarian revolution. The imprint of that 
revolutionary process is strongly stamped on this
short work.

The Path argues that:

    1. Full development of creative human potential is the goal of life for 
human beings.
    2. This full development is impossible under capitalism.
    3. Socialism â protagonist democracy in the economy and all aspects of 
social life â is the path to human development.


*Path breaking: a return to a socialist offensive*

In the minds of many workers and anti-capitalist activists, the positive 
attributes of the socialist goal are obscured by the monsters of 20th century 
bureaucratic states. The general points raised by The Path stand as corrections 
to this legacy of Stalinist horrors. Such states that claimed the mantle of 
communism have nothing in common with Lebowitzâs âdevelopment of human 
potential.â

The Path states, âOur goal cannot be a society in which some people are able 
to develop their capacities and others are not: we are interdependent, we are 
all
members of a human family. The full development of all human potential is our 
goal.â This recalls the manuscripts of the young Marx, where he sketches the 
blocks capitalism puts up against the free development of the creative, 
âsensuousâ life of people. Lebowitz returns this theme in asking, âWhat 
do we all
want?â and answers âTo be all that we can be.â

From decades of defense and retreat, in which socialism has been defined by 
excuse or apology for Stalinist crimes, The Path forges, yes, a path. It is a 
return to the offensive â defining the ideological terrain of 21st Century 
Socialism. 

[cont'd through below links]

Socialist Voice: http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=379#more-379

Against Exceptionalism: http://ivandrury.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/ml/

Also; the Lebowitz article "The Path for Human Development: Capitalism or 
Socialism?" can be found through Monthly Review: 
http://monthlyreview.org/090223lebowitz.php

and as a printable pamphlet from Socialist Project: 
http://www.socialistproject.ca/upload/lebowitz.pdf


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