On 8/7/06, michael a. lebowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
At 05:57 07/08/2006, Louis wrote:>In terms of organized social forces in Iran today, the only ones are those >that are hostile to the working class as an independent force. Ahmadinejad >and the liberal reformers or hardline clerics he has clashed with all >represent tendencies within the Iranian ruling class. I think that you are >probably confused over Ahmadinejad because you don't understand >Bonapartism. If you can steal yourself away from Foucault, you might want >to read Karl Marx's 18th Brumaire. Bonapartism is a term used a lot these days--- in relation to Venezuela, South Africa and now Iran. If it is so present, shouldn't we all try to understand it better? Alternatively, is it being used as an alternative to concrete analysis? Why do you see Iran as an example of this? NB.-- This is not an antagonistic question. michael L
<blockquote>It [bonapartism] tends to arise as a state form in a situation in which there is no clear-cut class victor, in which there is a certain contested and unstable "equilibrium." Marx locates "bonapartism" in a conjuncture in which "the bourgeois class had already lost, and the working class not yet gained the ability to govern the nation." Gramsci says something similar: "the forces in conflict balance each other in a catastrophic manner; that is to say, they balance each other in such a way that a continuation of the conflict can only terminate in their reciprocal destruction." (Gramsci, SPN, p.219). (Bua Komanisi, "South African Communist Party," Discussion Document. 2006)</blockquote> IMHO, there exists a clear-cut class victor in South Africa: the bourgeoisie. In Venezuela, there is a good chance that the Bolivarian process can continue and strengthen itself, the working class eventually emerging as a clear-cut class victor (though they are far from having done so yet). There is "a certain contested and unstable 'equilibrium'" between social forces in Iran, the equilibrium that can tip in either South Africa's or Venezuela's direction, depending on how masses in Iran will act. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
