Attempts to describe socialism are implicit claims to possess a crystal ball. We are struggling for human freedom from capitalist relations; if (which is a bit doubtful) we succeed, those enjoying that freedom will have to work out in their practice what socialism will be. Nothing anyone says or thinks now can constrain their freedom. I would agree with Marx's call for elimination of the watges system (which is just another name for capitalism), but beyond that arguments over what socialism is or should be are merely chatter in the bleachers.
And usually such chatter is confined to those who are not, at present, doing a damn thing, even joining a local group opposing war or fracking. The one real theoretical breakthrough of the Bolsheviks was that rule that caused the split. I want to generalize it. If you don't belong to some local group, participating in its thinking and action, you don't really have a lot to say. Carrol > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:pen-l- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Carrol Cox > Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 3:17 PM > To: 'Progressive Economics' > Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Explaining Socialism To A Republican > > Why would one want to? > > I've never tried to explain Marx or Marxism to anyone who was not already > engaged in some kind of anti-capitalist or potentially anti-capitalist struggle. > No one who is not already, at some implicit level, can understand such > explanations. This goes back to my understanding of Marx's Theses on > Feuerbach. Theory makes sense only to those who have discovered the need > for theory in their own practice. And from a revolutionary standpoint, nearly > 200 years of experience has demonstrated that most of those who make a > revolution are not self-conscious revolutionaries until after the fact. And this > applies to many of the leaders as well as mass participants in the struggle. > > Arguing socialism turns people away from the necessity of struggle _now_. > > Carrol > > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
