Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: > > > Stan quoted Joaquin: > > <blockquote>My friend goes on to say: > > "Building a socialist movement for the 21st Century means starting > from the premise, and very palpable reality, that the socialist > movement of the second half of 20th Century, viewed as a whole, > largely DID NOT WORK. And it especially did not work in the places > where Marxist theory says it was SUPPOSED to work, in the advanced > capitalist countries with a fully-developed working class that is the > big majority of the population."</blockquote> > > It is about time to think about why Marxism "did not work in the > places where Marxist theory says it was SUPPOSED to work."
Marx himself seems to have held this _opinion_ about the probabilities of revolution. I do not think, however, that one can derive from fundamental marxist theory that it "was SUPPOSED to work" in this way. I think that one can derive from marxist theory the _necessity_ of revolution but NOT the possibility or desirability of revolution. Both of the latter depend on innumerable contingencies, and whether revolution was possible or desirable can only be determined after the fact, looking backwards. But uncertainty about the possibility or desirability of revolution are not grounds to cease revolutonary work, since no other activity can make sense of capitalist reality. Carrol
