******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
It might seem strange that in a time when internal debates within Marxism are largely centered around revolutionary versus electoral strategy that a whole other long-downplayed component of Marxism has begun to enter the mainstream discussion: the abolition of the family. In 1848, Marx himself noted that the proposition of family abolition was particularly scandalous, remarking that “even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists.” Perhaps because of the scandalous nature of the topic, Marxists have largely downplayed this aspect of the communist project, with criticism of the family mostly being taken up within the field of feminist theory.
And yet, in 2019, the question of family abolition re-emerged, with both the left and the right taking up a condemnation of this part of the communist program. In many ways, this re-emergence is due to Sophie Lewis’s 2019 book Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family. This text managed to earn partial condemnation from the left social democrats at Jacobin as well as an intense amount of right-wing ire due to Tucker Carlson’s decision to discuss the piece on his show. Suddenly, the idea of abolishing the family is being taken up in mainstream publications such as Vice, The Atlantic, and Fox News. A debate that communists have long pushed to the sideline is now unfolding outside the scope of our own publications and organizations, and the question we are faced with is how we as communists will respond to and intervene in this debate.
full: https://cosmonaut.blog/2020/03/11/the-family-is-dead-long-live-the-family/
_________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
