Fixing on LM

[valis <valis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On the assumption that some other list members were as totally ignorant
of Living Marxism's existence as I was before John Heartfield's drop-in
and the ensuing squabble, I did a little searching and found LM's
current mission statement, hoping that its implications would prime
the pump of useful analysis.
                                                                   valis



                         The Point Is To Change It

                   A MANIFESTO FOR A WORLD FIT FOR PEOPLE
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                                 Manifesto

   We live in a world where excuses masquerade as knowledge and wisdom.
   It has become fashionable to inflate the slightest diffculty into a
   problem of cosmological dimensions. Routine problems are represented
   as portents of extinction. This obsession with risks and perils has
   served to justify restraint, austerity and low expectations. Terms
   like 'sustainable' and 'self-limiting' have come to symbolise a
   society which has accepted survival as an end in itself.

   It is ironic that capitalism, which has traditionally been associated
   with materialism and the promise of unlimited wealth creation, now
   finds refuge in the humble rhetoric of sustainable development. The
   lowering of expectations not just in the economy, but in every area of
   life reflects how insecure capitalists now feel about their own
   mission.

   Unfortunately, in the absence of any alternative, the lack of
   capitalist self-belief has been generalised as a failure of nerve
   throughout society as whole. At every level of society there is fear
   of change. Such fears are expressed through the contemporary obsession
   with personal health and safety and with preserving the environment.
   These concerns often appear as a critique of greed and excess - hence
   the popularity of dumping on the 'greedy eighties'. However such
   criticism of greed all too often turns out to be an attack on any
   human ambition for improvement.

   As Marxists we could go on about poverty, exploitation, and the lack
   of opportunities open to most people. We could talk about the system
   of imperialist domination which continues to run the world. There is
   little doubt that a system narrowly based on profit-creation conflicts
   with the interests of humanity as a whole. However, there is little
   point in rehearsing these arguments today. We face some new and
   far-reaching problems, the most important of which is humanity's lack
   of belief in itself - in its potential to solve the problems of
   society and in its unbounded power of creativity.

   To create a world fit for people we need to mobilise all those who are
   not prepared to accept today's culture of limits. To that end we need
   to wage a struggle of ideas against the conservative intellectual
   climate which influences the entire political spectrum. A hundred
   years ago, it was the forces of religion which sought to hold back
   humanity's progress. Today, the old religion has been discredited.
   Instead we have new philosophies that denounce 'man's arrogance'.
   Others question the role of science and knowledge and accuse humanity
   of going too far. Fashionable gurus advise that we should consume less
   and restrain our passions.

   Our reply to all of the pleas for caution and restraint is that until
   now humanity has only learned to crawl. We still live in a world that
   is not fit for people. Our problem is not that we are too ambitious,
   but that we continually hesitate about experimenting with new
   solutions. We need a revolution in outlook, so that we can continue to
   advance and give new scope to human creativity.

   What we face is not just a battle of ideas. Those who counsel
   restraint and moderation do not merely rely on words. The entire
   political system has been converted into an authoritarian mould where
   dissent is punished as surely as the heresies of the past. The state
   intervenes in areas of life hitherto left untouched.

   Alongside the battle of ideas, we will need to fight against all of
   the new rules and codes which are designed to regulate and constrain
   individual action. The enforcement of the culture of limits by the
   state demands a response that draws on the political and intellectual
   resources of all those who remain committed to the project of human
   progress.
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