Re: Angel of History (was Re: Geras vs Laclau)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> I agree that Marxism has collapsed as an organizing principle, and
> is not likely to come back. But the questions raised here are not
> about the principles around which _we_ should organize, but about
> those arouns which _society_ is organized, that is, around the truth
> of historical materialism. It is a total non sequiter to say, when
> someone propounds, e.g., a class analysis of South Africa, or
> whatever, "But Marxism is not an effective rallying cry anymore."
> The question is rather whether the class analysis is _true_. --jks

Marxism as a revolutionary political project is dead now in rich
nations, but I'd rather see it brought back to life, with a
forward-looking, not backward-looking, perspective.  While I, too,
believe that class analysis is true & useful in itself, endless
debates on truth without a view to a socialist future are a bit
scholastic, you know.  What distinguishes us politically from Leo?
Well, we don't support the Democratic Party, & we protest imperialist
ventures be they done by Dems or Repubs.  And?

I'm sympathetic to what Michael Keaney said on the political ecology thread.

At 11:13 AM +0300 6/20/01, Keaney Michael wrote:
> It's not as if single-issue movements start in a vacuum. But it is
> incumbent upon the Left to engage with these and realise their
> progressive potential, lest they are led down cul-de-sacs like
> nationalism, racism, or Third Way modernisation.

At 12:53 PM +0300 6/19/01, Keaney Michael wrote:
> The global anticapitalist movement is a promising development.
> However, as Jim O'C. has repeatedly written in CNS, it encompasses a
> whole spectrum of political views, and requires some sort of
> theoretically-grounded leadership. That does not necessitate some
> kind of top-down "democratic" centralist party organisation, but it
> does require engaging with the movement and bringing to bear the
> insights of a tradition that is responsible for the most robust
> challenge to the prevailing political-economic system in history

Yoshie