10.27.11
The Russian Revolution and the liquidation of majority left
http://darwiniana.com/2011/10/27/zizeks-pompous-stalinist-pontification-on-the-ows-movement/
I am sorry to be so hard on Zizek. But the damage possible from the old left needs to be considered. The OWS people, who aren’t thinking in terms of revolutions where someone like Zizek is, might consider the real history of the Russian Revolution, the kind of social transformation Zizek would welcome apparently: all the idealistic Social Revolutionaries (socialists), what to say of the plain vanilla democrats of the first phase, were liquidated. OK? People well to the left of the OWS group all ended up dead, in the tens of thousands. People like Zizek, educated in leftist ideology that can’t even tell its own history, have no real mental image of what the Leninism they applaud really involved. Or what happened at a moment of revolution. Those who preach Leninism now seem to forget the way it attacked socialists as rightists, ending in bloodbath of leftists of all strains. And that was before the Stalinist phase which was arguably simply socially psychotic.
So the OWS people obviously need to consider what they are up to. Actually, this is all nonsense, probably: we are looking at something quite different: the American strain of liberal/left/labor activism to punch a way through the capitalist morass. The Russian Revolution is a phantom at this point, and I doubt if it is relevant. Famous last words. But the liquedation of groups like the OWS en masse was a day’s work for the Leninist/Stalinist left. The White weren’t too nice either, clearly.
This is not a placid rejection of revolution. But those who have failed before, and who refuse to review their failure should face the reality that they have no understanding.
Joseph said,
October 28, 2011 at 5:53 am
http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Tragedy-Russian-Revolution-1891-1924/dp/014024364X/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319799146&sr=8-1-spell
is one useful history
Darwiniana » Zizekian rehash to Kantian ethical socialism said,
October 28, 2011 at 12:23 pm
[...] http://darwiniana.com/2011/10/27/the-russian-revolution-and-the-liquedation-of-majority-left/ This strong attack on Zizek was meant seriously, but it is also true that I sympathize with the classic Marxist strain. However, IT WON’T WORK anymore to peddle straight Marxist. The Arab Spring made obvious that Leninist violence has to give way to the Gandhian legacy, at least to start. Whatever the case, the real legacy of Marx is almost impossible to discuss because it has been wiseacred to the point of nullity by its propagandists. Face it, a huge number of people, the type that once made the left robust, simply cock their pistols at the mention of Marx. Period. I think the OWS groups are moving in another direction, but this is really the same old direction, nothing ever changes, except that fresh bread goes stale: thus Marxist theory, stale to the point of moulding, greenish yuck. They need, not a neo-Marxist ideology, but a history of socialism as a virtual workable project to the left of their probable basic orientation in the context of conventional (labor) politics. This virtual left project should simply ditch Marx, putting him behind the back, to be picked up by the other hand. The whole tradition should be broken down and recast. Its Leninist failures can and must be disowned, what to say of Stalinist latencies. [...]
Darwiniana » Repost: Kantian ethical socialism said,
October 29, 2011 at 11:59 am
[...] http://darwiniana.com/2011/10/27/the-russian-revolution-and-the-liquedation-of-majority-left/ This strong attack on Zizek was meant seriously, but it is also true that I sympathize with the classic Marxist strain. However, IT WON’T WORK anymore to peddle straight Marxism. The Arab Spring made obvious that Leninist violence has to give way to the Gandhian legacy, at least to start. Whatever the case, the real legacy of Marx is almost impossible to discuss because it has been wiseacred to the point of nullity by its propagandists. Face it, a huge number of people, the type that once made the left robust, simply cock their pistols at the mention of Marx. Period. I think the OWS groups are moving in another direction, but this is really the same old direction, nothing ever changes, except that fresh bread goes stale: thus Marxist theory, stale to the point of moulding, greenish yuck. They need, not a neo-Marxist ideology, but a history of socialism as a virtual workable project to the left of their probable basic orientation in the context of conventional (labor) politics. This virtual left project should simply ditch Marx, putting him behind the back, to be picked up by the other hand. The whole tradition should be broken down and recast. Its Leninist failures can and must be disowned, what to say of Stalinist latencies. The Marxist legacy should be recycled around the whole problematic of the modern transition, and start with the Reformation, up to the French/American/democratic revolutions. German Classical Philosophy instead of Hegel, and much else, including a new and better stance toward or replacement for atheist humanism. [...]