Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Revolution and the Role of New Ideas
That's fine, but I see little prospect for these new ideas gaining any influence in the USA, which has the power to take down the rest of the world with it. Once the Obama illusion is shattered, what's left? Will there be an opening to the left? I don't see it. At 02:19 AM 1/8/2009, waistli...@aol.com wrote: Revolution and the Role of New Ideas The history of revolution shows that fundamental change in society does not occur without the introduction of new ideas. What we have in our favor today, over any other historical period, is that the conditions are favorable for abolishing private property forever. Millions are being propelled into motion against the capitalist system, but revolutionary transformation cannot take place unless there is an understanding of the root of the problem and the solution. Poverty and oppression, or even the energy of a global movement against todayâs horrendous conditions â only create the opportunity for change. They have never on their own created revolution. Only a vision of whatâs possible can do that. Thatâs what we mean when we talk about introducing new ideas. Whatâs new today is that a society that nourishes the material, intellectual, spiritual and cultural needs of all its people is possible. The role of revolutionaries is to help align the peopleâs thinking with the possibilities of today. How revolution comes about Once the objective conditions for revolution are in place, the intellectual development of the people is key to revolution. By objective, we mean those processes that exist independent of thought the qualitative changes in the means of produuction that disrupt the economic and social order. In this era automation and globalization have created an explosion of destitute people who are living in urban slums. Revolution comes about as a result of conscious revolutionaries utilizing the objective changes to develop the subjective side of the revolution. By subjective, we mean the ideological expressions in peoplesâ minds about the objective processes their beliefs, hopes, annd visions, their religious and spiritual life. This ideological process that is, what people think and beliieve is currently dominated by the ruling class. Revoolutionaries focus their activity here. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Revolution and the Role of New Ideas
The main opposition to the emancipation of the slaves was from the working class. Emancipation could have come about fairly easily, but the workers didn't want it. They felt that four million blacks were going to be dumped on the labor market and they would lose their jobs, or at least it was going to lead to a lowering of their wages. They were told it was better to keep slavery and the workers would accept whatever wages the capitalists wanted to give them. So the problem that the abolitionist and emancipation groups within Lincoln's cabinet faced was how do you change the ideas of the American worker on this. There was a spontaneous motion on the part of the workers to defend their jobs even to the extent of preserving slavery, and on the other hand, there was this militant defense of the Union. How do you show them that one was absolutely entangled with the other you couldn't have Union without destroying slavery, and you couldn't destroy slavery without maintaining the Union. This is what politics of that moment was all about. So you need to grab the actual existing social motion and figure out the factors that will allow you to turn this thing, to change the minds of people. What took place between the 1863 Draft Riots and a year or two later when literally hundreds of thousand of workers enlisted into the Union, singing As He died to make men holy, we now die to set men free? What happened during those years? They moved from attacking the government for suggesting emancipation to being ready to die to end slavery. What happened? It was the skillful activity of the abolitionists right, left and center, all of them put together that slowly changed peoples' minds as conditions changed. So the objective and the subjective were united the changing conditions provided the foundation for a change in the minds of the people. This is what we're talking about when we talk about politics. _http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v18ed6art4.html_ (http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v18ed6art4.html) The above is not to suggest that Obama is a modern Lincoln. The point was the social movement. To a degree - a large degree I think, an opening for the left depends on us. Unless reaction and political oppression denies us opportunity. American communists, as a general rule of our history, have steadfast opposed defending the bottom of the social ladder, although they scream they are misunderstood when this is point out. Until we can champion the cause of the real proletarian masses, the poorest workers, American communism will remain a middle class movement in fact, no matter how much we quote Marx. We have our hands full. And have to fight with our own working class. WL In a message dated 1/8/2009 1:04:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, _rdum...@autodidactproject.org_ (mailto:rdum...@autodidactproject.org) writes: That's fine, but I see little prospect for these new ideas gaining any influence in the USA, which has the power to take down the rest of the world with it. Once the Obama illusion is shattered, what's left? Will there be an opening to the left? I don't see it. This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) **New year...new news. Be the first to know what is making headlines. (http://news.aol.com?ncid=emlcntusnews0002) ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Revolution and the Role of New Ideas
Revolution and the Role of New Ideas The history of revolution shows that fundamental change in society does not occur without the introduction of new ideas. What we have in our favor today, over any other historical period, is that the conditions are favorable for abolishing private property forever. Millions are being propelled into motion against the capitalist system, but revolutionary transformation cannot take place unless there is an understanding of the root of the problem and the solution. Poverty and oppression, or even the energy of a global movement against today’s horrendous conditions – only create the opportunity for change. They have never on their own created revolution. Only a vision of what’s possible can do that. That’s what we mean when we talk about introducing new ideas. What’s new today is that a society that nourishes the material, intellectual, spiritual and cultural needs of all its people is possible. The role of revolutionaries is to help align the people’s thinking with the possibilities of today. How revolution comes about Once the objective conditions for revolution are in place, the intellectual development of the people is key to revolution. By objective, we mean those processes that exist independent of thought – the qualitative changes in the means of production that disrupt the economic and social order. In this era automation and globalization have created an explosion of destitute people who are living in urban slums. Revolution comes about as a result of conscious revolutionaries utilizing the objective changes to develop the subjective side of the revolution. By subjective, we mean the ideological expressions in peoples’ minds about the objective processes – their beliefs, hopes, and visions, their religious and spiritual life. This ideological process – that is, what people think and believe – is currently dominated by the ruling class. Revolutionaries focus their activity here. full: _http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v16ed5art4.html_ (http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v16ed5art4.html) This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from _http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm_ (http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm) **New year...new news. Be the first to know what is making headlines. (http://www.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntaolcom0026) ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
