[Marxism] To Contemporary Analysis of Marxism

[lara crete <laracrete@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

It reached me from Belgrade, where the author, the former basketball  
star of Yugoslavia and now  is well-known in Serbia,   the  most  
audacious   defender  of Socialist past of the country, still  
introduce himself as  the " Yugoslavian writer, without adding the   
definition of  "former".
If it's not too long , it would be great if  it can be post   here, in  
the Marx mail list.  I find it It is very warm and very personal.
Lara Crete

Ljubodrag SimonoviÄ
Belgrade, Serbia
E-mail: comrade@xxxxxxxxxxx


        Is Marxâs Criticism of Capitalism Outdated?


                  A contemporary analysis of Marxâs works poses the  
following question: does the development of capitalism open a  
possibility for the development of Marxist thought, or does it more  
and more radically question it?
                  The development of capitalism as a destructive order  
sheds new light on Marxâs criticism of capitalism, questioning its  
foundation and relevance today. Starting from Marxâs principal  
methodological postulate, according to which the âanatomy of man is  
the key to understanding the anatomy of a monkeyâ, it seems  
justifiable to develop a criticism of capitalism which would take into  
account monopolistic capitalism in its final âconsumerâ stage of  
development, in which the contradictions of capitalism as a  
destructive order dramatically threatening the survival of humanity  
have been developed to the full. It is only in light of the  
contemporary criticism of capitalism that Marxâs main postulates  
acquire a concrete historical relevance and political significance.  
Without that, they are reduced to an abstract humanistic rhetoric  
which drags the critical and changing mind further away from the basic  
existential issues.
                  Bearing in mind that capitalism has brought humanity  
to the verge of the abyss, the question is whether Marx, with his  
criticism of capitalism based on Hegelâs dialectic of history, did a  
disservice to mankind? The biggest flaw in Marxâs theory is, at the  
same time, its biggest asset: the convincing argument that springs  
from its social, historical and visionary foundations. It âcoversâ  
the totality of manâs life, as a social and historical being, and  
offers a possibility of finding answers to almost all questions posed  
by modern man. However, it does not contain the most important thing:  
an analysis of the development of capitalism as a destructive order,  
and in that context, a possible future for humanity. Marxâs thought  
moved the criticism of capitalism from the existential (Fourier) to  
the essential sphere, and thus contributed to the mutilation of the  
criticism of capitalism, as well as to the crippling of the class  
(self)consciousness of workers and, consequently, to the crippling of  
their political struggle against capitalism. In his criticism of  
capitalism Marx âoverlookedâ the most important moment: the  
struggle for manâs freedom is at the same time the struggle for the  
survival of mankind.
                 The true nature of Marxâs criticism of capitalism  
can be seen in the thought of those who blindly followed him. Up to  
this day the capitalist destruction of life and man as a biological  
and human being has not become the âsubjectâ of a serious  
discussion by Marxist theorists. Even the most radical Marxist critics  
of capitalism overlook the truth that capitalism is essentially a  
destructive order. If Marx in his own time âcould not seeâ the  
destructive tendencies in the development of capitalism, why have his  
followers not perceived this â especially when it became obvious that  
capitalism, particularly in its âconsumerâ phase, became a  
totalitarian destructive order? The answer is simple: they have not  
developed a criticism of capitalism starting from the tendencies of  
its development ; they have instead concerned themselves with the  
interpretation of Marxâs criticism of capitalism.
                  At this point we can pose a hypothetical question:  
had the struggle for manâs emancipation in the XIX and XX centuries  
proceeded with the awareness that capitalism destroys nature and man  
as a biological and human being, would mankind today be on the verge  
of  the abyss?
                 One of the central ideas of the âManifesto of the  
Communist Partyâ questioned by modern capitalism is that capitalism  
is a ârevolutionaryâ order and, accordingly, the bourgeosie is a  
ârevolutionaryâ class. According to Marx, the basic historical  
âtaskâ of the bourgeosie is to enable mankind to gain control over  
natural laws and thus enable manâs emancipation from his dependance  
on nature and inhuman labour â in order to develop his authentic  
human qualities as a universal creative and libertarian being. The  
ârevolutionary roleâ of the bourgeosie is to create the conditions  
for a âleap from the realm of necessity to the realm of  
freedomâ (Engels). This is the main reason why Marx attached  
paramount importance to the development of productive forces. As far  
as the working class is concerned, its main historical task, according  
to Marx, is to liberate mankind from oppression and to create a  
society in which people will be able to develop their universal  
creative potentials â as emancipated natural and social beings.
                  The fact that capitalism has become a totalitarian  
destructive order, while capitalist development of productive forces  
has turned into a systematic destruction of both nature and man, poses  
a fateful question: can the working class, which acquires its  
historical authenticity from its relation to the bourgeosie, fulfill  
its historical task if the bourgeosie has not fulfilled its own  
historical task, that is, if the bourgeosie has turned from a  
ârevolutionaryâ into a destructive class? This question is all the  
more justified in view of the fact that capitalism increasingly  
threatens the biological survival of the European (and other) nations  
and, thus, the biological survival of the working class of the most  
developed European capitalist countries which is the carrier of the  
emancipatory heritage of civil society and thus the most mature part  
of the international workers movement. In this context, one more  
question can be asked: can a Gastarbeiter population become an  
authentic revolutionary force capable of creating a new world? This  
question applies also to national-liberation movements in undeveloped  
capitalist countries in the world. Can the struggle for national  
freedom turn into the struggle for a new world, if the working class  
in those countries has not reached an appropriate emancipatory and  
visionary consciousness, which can be attained only in the struggle  
against the capitalist order and the bourgeoisie as its carrier? A  
possible answer lies in the question: can the very consciousness of  
the destructive nature of capitalism serve as a generator of such a  
political practice by the world proletariat, regardless of its  
concrete historical heritage, that could lead to the destruction of  
capitalism?
                 The crisis of todayâs world is at the same time the  
crisis of the proletariat as the revolutionary agent. In its  
âconsumer phaseâ, capitalism, through the development of a  
âconsumer standardâ, has managed to reduce workers to the  
instruments for resolving the crisis of over-production, and, thus, to  
its collaborators in the destruction of the world. Starting from the  
present position of the working class, the ideologues of capitalism  
seek to âredefineâ the nature of the working class in contemporary  
capitalism by depriving it of its libertarian class self- 
consciousness. The conformist behaviour of a large part of the working  
class in the developed capitalist societies is not the consequence of  
the âdisappearance of the working classâ, but rather the  
consequence of the integration of workers into capitalism as a working- 
consuming âmassâ, and of the bourgeoisie's systematic subversion  
and suppression of working class organization, class self- 
consciousness and class struggle. The conforming behaviour of workers  
is, in fact, the consequence of the class domination of the  
bourgeoisie, and not a process which proceeds by itself, with a  
fatalistic character. That we are not dealing here with the final  
integration of workers into the capitalist order, but with a temporary  
situation, can be seen from the fact that capitalists seek to keep the  
workers under the ideological Âbell jar of capitalism, and, at the  
same time, seek to do away with socialist (communist) thought which  
calls for struggle against capitalism and offers a possibility of  
creating a humane world. The capitalist propaganda machinery strives  
to hide the most important thing: capitalists' fear of workers as a  
potentially revolutionary agent was, and still is, the most important  
feature of  the capitalist political practice.
                 The collapse of âconsumer societyâ leads to mass  
unemployment and reduced purchasing power of the working class. There  
is an urgent need to stabilise capitalism at a lower production- 
consumer level; however, with further scientific and technological  
advances the âwhite collarsâ will be predominant. Working  
âmassesâ from traditional production branches are no longer the  
means for accelerating the reproduction of capital, but an economic  
burden and increasing political threat for the ruling order. Instead  
of integrating workers into capitalism by means of a consumer way of  
life, the strategic goal of the ruling class is the destruction of  
âsupernumeraryâ citizens. With the deepening capitalist economic  
crisis, the workers are more and more becoming the mortal foe of  
capitalism and the ruling order will use all available means  
(criminalization of society, drugs, alcohol, AIDS, contaminated food,  
deprivation of medications and health services, etc.) to eliminate the  
âsurplusâ and ensure survival. For capitalists, workers are a  
necessary evil. Elimination of the âsurplusâ is for the ruling  
order an economic, ecological and political question. It is the basis  
of modern fascism, the contours of which are becoming more and more  
visible in the USA. It is the realisation of the concept of the  
âgolden billionâ, which with the collapse of âconsumer societyâ  
will not affect only nations at the âoutskirts of capitalismâ, but  
a wide range of working class in the most developed capitalist states.  
The increasingly jeopardised existence of humanity creates conditions  
for extreme radicalization of the social-Darwinistic concept according  
to which only âthe strongest surviveâ, with science and technology  
becoming the exclusive means for ensuring the dominant position of  
capitalists and the creation of such artificial living conditions as  
will protect them from manacing climate changes. It is in this context  
that we should interpret the endevours of shadow rulers from the West  
to use science and technology in the creation of a ânew manâ, who  
will be able, with his artificially created âgenetic propertiesâ  
and available military technique, to exterminate the âredundantâ  
and establish a global domination. âTerminatorsâ, âRambosâ,  
âPredatorsâ and similar Hollywood freaks, glorifying the  
destructive power of the capitalistically misused technology, in the  
best possible way show the psychological profile of modern capitalist  
zealots. The power over people and nature becomes the power of  
destruction.
                  The worsening economic crisis jeopardizes life based  
on the âconsumer standardâ and thus the most important mechanism  
for integration of workers into capitalism. The disintegration of  
âconsumer societyâ will awaken millions of people from their  
consumer dream, who will then start thinking about the future and  
begin to fight for survival. By becoming a totalitarian order of  
destruction, capitalism increasingly focuses people's attention on the  
basic existential, and in that context, the basic essential issues.  
Capitalism has removed all ideological veils and demystified the  
truth. Man no longer needs science or philosophy to be able to  
understand that capitalism destroys life on the planet. Essential  
relativism is replaced by existential obviousness. It is an  
unquestionable starting point which inevitably conditions the  
development of the critical mind and man's behaviour. The increasingly  
dramatic climate changes, polluted air, water and food, biological  
destruction of peoples, loneliness that has become epidemic â all  
this directly affects man as a biological and human being. This is  
what modern tragedy rests on: man experiences the world's annihilation  
as his own annihiliation.
                The life clock of humanity is ticking away. The ever  
more intensive process of destructive capitalist reproduction  
dramatically shortens the time period in which humanity can stop the  
destruction of life on this planet. Time began to run backwards â  
from the zero ecological milestone which, if overstepped, is  
humanityâs doom. The ticking has started. Man can only fight for  
survival. He must believe that humanity can survive, which means that  
capitalism can be abolished and a new world created. Man must not and  
cannot be pessimistic. He must not allow everyday life and the ruling  
propaganda machinery to bring him to such a psychical state that he  
gives up on everything and surrenders to nothingness â heading  
towards death. Faith in the future has become not only the basic  
essential, but also the basic existential imperative. That is why  
loneliness is the worst illness brought about by capitalism. A lonely  
man, lost in a destructive capitalist nothingness, experiences the  
destruction of life and humanity as the final liberation from all the  
torments and obligations of being human, which means being responsible  
for the survival of the world. The most horrible fate that can befall  
a man is to lose his human warmth, meaning his need for another human  
being. Only a man who has not lost this basic human quality, his need  
for other human beings, can strive for a more humane world. When a man  
loses warmth, he becomes a living dead.
                The amount of evil inflicted on people by capitalism  
is outrageous.... The amount of humanityâs suffering is  
outrageous.... And a new, humane world is at hand. All that is needed  
is to organise and fight.


                                                                   
x         x         x

Translated from Serbian by Vesna TodoroviÄ
English translation supervisor, Mick Collins
Paris, E-mail: cirqueminime@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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