I can't tell whether Tickin's "turning point" is a "crisis" or a "cycle". Is he saying that the ruling class can no longer rule in the old way ( Half of Lenin's definition of a revolutionary situation; the other half being the ruled class can no longer go on either ); that the system must change in response to this "turning point " ?
( We better listen to Ticktin. He predicted the fall of the Soviet Union) Charles ^^^^^^^ Q: You have described the current situation as a “turning point”. Can you explain what you mean? A: The question at the moment is not really whether there is a downturn. It is clear that is the case. The question is whether there is a depression - and I think there is. If you read the Financial Times you will see that this has become common ground amongst the right. It ought to be common ground on the left as well. The right is citing the fact that the government has had to intervene. For the last 20 years the mantra has been that the market will solve everything through self-regulation and the government does not intervene. That whole argument has collapsed and clearly policy will have to change. We must examine why this is so. What is happening now is not the same as the recurring post-war cycle. One must make a distinction between a cycle and a crisis. The left has been wrong to refer to every downturn in this way. A crisis can only be that of the system, in which the ruling class cannot rule in the old way and is actually threatened by the working class - that is the meaning of it. At the moment there is no actual threat from the working class, but the potential is certainly there. Traditionally when Marxists have talked about a crisis of capitalism that has not necessarily been connected with a movement from the working class, has it? People have used it in that way - wrongly - although I do not think that was true for Marx, Lenin or Trotsky. How can any system be in crisis unless it is under threat? The term has been used so loosely by the left, it has been unclear what it has actually meant. full: http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/715/financialturmoil.html _______________________________________________ This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
