[PEN-L:8] Re: taboo2: of wolves and waves and sour grapes

[Gregory Schwartz <grishas@xxxxxxxx>]

He said it would be the *objective*, not an inevitability. The crisis
was/is
approaching, not the revolution, and with it (as he judged by events of
his day) "the
movement of the international working-class". It is/was up to the working
class to continue the struggle and its ability to do so was/is
circumscribed by its ability to develop strong (hegemonic, if you will)
institutions (cultural as well as political) of the working class. To a
great extent, the working class has failed to do so.

In solidarity,

Greg.

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998, Tom Walker wrote:

> "The final abolition of capitalist relations of production will be the
> central objective of the mass revolutionary movement of the international
> working-class that is now approaching."
>
>[snip]
>
> Perhaps. But not necessarily. It's important to distinguish between the end
> of capitalist development, the collapse of capitalism and the revolutionary
> overthrow of capitalism. There is a strong temptation to infer the collapse
> and overthrow of capitalism from the termination of capitalist development.
> After all, a static (or permanently stagnating) capitalism seems like a
> contradiction in terms.
>
>[snip]
>
> In retrospect, Late Capitalism was prophetic in having announced, in
> 1970-72, the "critical turning point in post-war economic development." It
> was also off the mark in foreseeing a continuing upsurge of insurrectionary
> activity. It may be said that Mandel miscalculated the *drama* of the
> turning point. Perhaps the source of this miscalculation is best summed up
> in five words at the end of Mandel's chapter on 'Long Waves in Capitalism':
> "-- the ebb after the flow." Those five words suggest to me the precise
> moment in which the *metaphor* of the long wave suddenly became over-extended.