Re: Marxist Fianancial Advice

[sartesian <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

1. We are not talking about personal favors, good deeds, doing friends a
solid, or picking up a bar tab.  We are talking about capitalist
accummulation.   That's not an exactly subtle distinction.

Let me know how you feel when you invest your retirement savings in
Venezuelean bonds, and a revolutionary government decides to auto-cancel its
debt.

2. In the meantime, much is being presented about  "sovereignty" and
"self-determination," and "national liberation."   Some view the formulas of
the past as sufficient and final.   Some even go so far as to say that it
doesn't matter that the "national resistance" of the Iraqis has "nothing to
do with socialism,"  and present that as a Marxist position.

I think it is critical to apply a little Marxist analysis internally, to the
positions developed a hundred or so years ago about national liberation and
sovereignty, and understand how even the Marxists were not coincident with
their own history, relying on a "fallback" position of "rights" rather than
a class analysis of the actual determinants of struggles for national
liberation.

In a nutshell, the resistance in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with
national liberation and self-determination, but is triggered by capital's
need for destruction-- and as such the resistance has everything to do with
socialism-- and to be successful must put forward that thing that
distinguishes revolutionists from all others-- a revolutionary program.

The struggle for "national liberation" did not arise in the past 150 years
separate and apart from critical moments in the conflict between the means
and relations of production, and consequently the notion of "oppressed
peoples" is put forward at the moment as "people" is archaic, is
transforming itself into class.

This does not mean that we do not defend resistance struggles because
organizations involved are not communist.  It does mean that we do identify
the driving forces, provide a concrete analysis, and not subjugate a
"radical" Marxists analysis to blanket terms, umbrellas of national
liberation which obscure the class differentiation, and struggle, at the
heart of the resistance.

So, for those like myself, interested in disturbing the environment.

  http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Davies" <dsquared@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Marxist Fianancial Advice


> s. artesian wrote:
>
> >Then comes the advice about doing the right thing in the international
debt
> markets and
> >taking positions (long?  short?) in Venezuelan debt.  That's a real thing
> of beauty by the
> >way.
>
> That was me (btw, I don't believe I've ever claimed to be a Marxist,
though
> I reserve the right to do so in future if I want to)
>
> I'm a bit tied up with family matters at the moment, but will return to
the
> lists on this one early doors next week.  If you wish to prepare your
> arguments, be aware that my general theme is going to be that when you
agree
> to lend someone money you are doing them a good turn, not a bad turn.  And
> that having lent someone money, it is not /per se/ evil to hope that you
> will get it back.  A friend cadged thirty quid off me to buy drinks in a
> nightclub on Friday night, however, so by some standards I am already
> presumably morally compromised.
>
> cheers and good-humoured beers
>
> dd