I had never heard of Cyril Smith before today. What's his claim to fame? I know he was British, but did he lead any party, or work in any revolution?
Louis G On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 11:29 AM, DomzaNet <[email protected]> wrote: > *Philosophy and Religion, Part 7b* > > <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_D4UK2kWf5ik/TF7M5wEpkcI/AAAAAAAAChg/9H0gh9GRZs0/s1600/No+Right+Turn.gif> > > *How Stalin buried Marx*** > > Cyril Smith is very effective in dealing with the dead phrase with a zombie > existence, “dialectical materialism”, never used by Marx, invented by > Kautsky and Plekhanov, and turned into a catch-phrase by Stalin. The third > linked item is Chapter 2, “How the Marxists Buried Marx” (linked below), > from Cyril Smith’s “Marx at the Millennium”, published in 1998. On the third > page of that chapter, Smith wrote: > > *“… it is appropriate to begin with one of the most widely circulated > philosophical statements of the twentieth century. It starts like this: * > > “Dialectical materialism is the outlook of the Marxist-Leninist party. It > is called dialectical materialism because its approach to the phenomena of > nature, its method of apprehending them is dialectical, while its > interpretation of the phenomena of nature, its conception of these > phenomena, its theory, is materialistic. > > “Historical materialism is the extension of the principles of dialectical > materialism to the study of social life, an application of the principles of > dialectical materialism to the phenomena of the life of society, to the > study of society and of its history.” > > *“This stuff appeared in 1939. In my view, its method, standpoint, > dogmatic style and conclusions are all utterly opposed to everything that > Marx stood for.” * > > The author was J. V. Stalin. A little later Smith writes (and he could have > been writing about “Dialego”): > > *“Let us bring ourselves to look briefly at the way the Stalinist > catechism of 1939 hitched up a highly mechanised materialism with something > called ‘dialectics’. On the one hand, ‘Nature, being, the material world, is > primary, and mind, thought, is secondary.’ What does this word ‘primary’ > mean? Does it mean ‘first in time’ or ‘first in importance’? Or does it mean > that matter ‘causes’ changes in ‘mind’? Nobody can tell, and precisely this > ambiguity conferred mysterious power.”* > > Smith shows how even Lenin had been fooled by the catch-phrase: > > *“In the preface to his 1908 book Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, Lenin > declared: ‘Marx and Engels scores of times termed their philosophical views > dialectical materialism.’ He was so sure about this, that he felt no need to > give any references. * > > *“In fact, there is not one! Marx never employed the phrase in any of his > writings. The term ‘dialectical materialism’ was introduced in 1891 by > Plekhanov, in an article in Kautsky’s Neue Zeit. He thought wrongly, I > believe, that he was merely adapting it from Engels’s usage in Anti-Duhring > and Ludwig Feuerbach.”* > > Cyril Smith did a good job. His work can help those who would wish to > liberate themselves from the dead hands of Plekhanov, Kautsky and Stalin. > > Cyril Smith also does not spare Trotsky, with whom he otherwise appears to > have had some sympathy. The most serious deficiency he finds in Trotsky, > however, is not any of Trotsky’s sins of omission or dissembling, but > Trotsky’s lack of philosophy, and his failure to get any of his followers to > make up his own deficiency. While Lenin made great progress in philosophy, > Trotsky failed altogether, writes Smith. > > What Smith is saying is that in the last analysis, it was the inability to > overcome the Philistine, Stalin, through full command of philosophy, which > led to the degradation of the Russian Revolution and its eventual reversal. > Philosophy is the keystone. Without it, the other stones are bound to fall. > Smith says of the Trotskyists: > > *“But they never had the theoretical resources to penetrate to its > philosophical core. The best they could do was to show that Stalinist > policies and distortions were contrary to the decisions of Lenin’s party and > the teachings of ‘Marxism’.”* > > The Trotskyists were trapped within the same hall of mirrors that they had > helped Stalin to construct. > > The practical work of philosophy is, crucially, to weed out or clip off the > words, dead of meaning, that encumber and trip us in our work; or otherwise, > if possible, to restore their freshness. Some of those words in our present > time might be: “hegemony”, “accumulation”, and “elements of socialism”. > > The other linked item is about “Marxism”, whether there ever was such a > thing, and if so, whether Marx was a “Marxist”. The full Cyril Smith archive > on MIA *can be found > here<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/smith-cyril/index.htm> > *. > > *Click on this link**:* > *How The Marxists Buried Marx, 1998, > Smith<http://communist-university.googlegroups.com/web/1807b%2C+How+The+Marxists+Buried+Marx%2C+1998%2C+Smith.doc?gda=N30tvHEAAAB4MbH-vDwpNagN2sDR9UlosMpIGZKuDS1q-qI6zK9SH2IwwYvOylet9YscamCQHAyqhAkXFKkLjWCbtRjHAXsic_fENPf6dd7ZCKKjprXt_rL-whAmofRYytzuyMGH-q6-Z5AS> > * (13629 words) > *Karl Marx and the Origins of ‘Marxism’, 1998, > Smith<http://communist-university.googlegroups.com/web/1807c%2C+The+Origins+of+%E2%80%98Marxism%E2%80%99%2C+1998%2C+Smith.doc?gda=nvidvn0AAAB4MbH-vDwpNagN2sDR9UlosMpIGZKuDS1q-qI6zK9SH7YZKkMnndXvKXl_TzmsdptgETDO_JwhgAbw83ztv6brOzW_wEN85upH_qo4yPiTrueNXj_Sic1pEFI-> > * (4670 words) > > *Further (optional) reading**:* > *Hegel, Economics, and Marx's Capital, 1999, Cyril > Smith<http://communist-university.googlegroups.com/web/1807a%2C+Hegel%2C+Economics%2C+and+Marx%27s+Capital%2C+1999%2C+Cyril+Smith.doc?gda=Sfbuz4UAAAB4MbH-vDwpNagN2sDR9UlosMpIGZKuDS1q-qI6zK9SH3IVmY9XmvprN31RV0dWrhfGKHtbORuY-3J7p5sHiTwrlczX9tEhHclBb93BhLIoLdKMqVB2> > * (7803 words) > *The Communist Manifesto after 150 years, 1998, > Smith<http://communist-university.googlegroups.com/web/1807%2C+The+Communist+Manifesto+after+150+years%2C+1998%2C+Smith.doc?gda=JQSEBXsAAAB4MbH-vDwpNagN2sDR9UlosMpIGZKuDS1q-qI6zK9SH4kLesxy1NqS6XWw0xfRjSRmN-9CCrh6fWqkv0u3GvuZDp6SmZvrfQF33wJLaqqAhqNwi1PMHFsiLF0TlK> > * (8285 words) > > > ------------------------------ > > > *Previous main Communist University posts:* > *Channel [members]* > *Course Archive* > *Weeks* > *Last Posted* > *SADTU Pol Ed <http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/> [436]*** > *Development, Rural and > Urban<http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/p/development.html> > * > *3/10* > *5 August > 2010<http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/2010/08/design-is-politics.html> > * > *CU Africa <http://cuafrica.blogspot.com/> [230]*** > *Marx’s Capital, Volumes 1, 2 & > 3<http://cuafrica.blogspot.com/p/capital-volume-1.html> > * > *8/33* > *3 August 2010 <http://cuafrica.blogspot.com/2010/08/surplus-value.html>* > *CU <http://domza.blogspot.com/> [2837]*** > *Philosophy and > Religion<http://domza.blogspot.com/p/philosophy-and-religion.html> > * > *7/10* > *6 August > 2010<http://domza.blogspot.com/2010/08/capital-not-doctrine-but-critique.html> > * > > *Courses completed in 2010 to date:* > *SADTU Pol Ed <http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/>*** > *Lenin’s The State & > Revolution<http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/p/state-revolution.html> > * > *6* > *June - July* > > *National Democratic Revolution<http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/p/ndr.html> > * > *12* > *March - June* > > *Basics <http://sadtu-pol-ed.blogspot.com/p/basics.html>* > *10* > *January - March* > *SADTU Pol Schools <http://sadtu-eight.blogspot.com/>* > *3-Day School <http://sadtu-eight.blogspot.com/p/basics.html>* > *3 days* > *2-4 June* > *CU <http://domza.blogspot.com/>*** > *No Woman, No > Revolution<http://domza.blogspot.com/p/no-woman-no-revolution.html> > * > *10* > *March - June* > > *Basics <http://domza.blogspot.com/p/basics.html>* > *10* > *January – March* > > *Click here <http://www.marxists.org/> to visit Marxists Internet > Archive<http://www.marxists.org/> > * > > > > -- > Posted By DomzaNet to Communist > University<http://domza.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-stalin-buried-marx.html>on > 8/08/2010 05:29:00 PM > > -- > You are subscribed. 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