Bill Howard wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mark Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: crl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 11:01 PM > Subject: [CrashList] Bond, Harvey, Jones [reprise, from Marxism-list 12-May-1998 ] > > >Social justice under capitalism is a chimera. Advising people to pursue it >is >simply > a way of avoiding the truth > > Theres more than a grain of truth in > this but lets remember in legal struggles > and legislation in regard to heath and > safety that the barriers are constantly > be pushed and pulled to and fro - we > throw our hands up in horror of paper-work > at our peril. > > For example - the recent legislation allowing > police access to firearms. > > And the legal struggle of 'the Birmingham 6' > > Nit-pickingly, > > Bill. Mark's original proposition is neither correct nor incorrect but incoherent. As Marx argues near the end of _Wages, Price and Profit_, a working class that does not struggle to maintain and advance its conditions under capitalism "*degraded to one level mass of broken wretches past salvation*. . . .By cowardly giving way in their everyday conflict with capital, they would [my emphasis] certainly disqualify themselves from the initiating of any larger movement." So when Mark argues that "Social justice under capitalism is a chimera" he is wholly correct. But when he goes on to argue that "Advising people to pursue it is simply a way of avoiding the truth" he simply gives up the battle to overthrow capitalism. Whatever political goal one pursues, reformist or revolutionary, legal or illegal, peaceful or violent, one cannot fight the battle without raising an army. And without exception all anti-capitalist armies come into being in the process of the struggle for social justice (however much a chimera) within capitalism." To accept Mark's argument as conclusive is to replace struggle with aimless ranting at evil. I suggest a literary parallel to Mark's approach would be the magnificent speeches in Shakespeare's history plays of the wives and mothers of the dead or Lear's "I'll do such things as ...." No you won't, not without a working class army raised and hardened in the struggle for social justice and workers' rights. And the facts so finely articulated on this list will become _a_ central concern of such an army, but _never_ become _the_ organizing principle. Carrol _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
