Richard Fidler alerted me to this post by John I Imani [in the thread Marxism and Opera]:
Comrades, This isn't strictly about opera but my chancing upon the citations below, regarding the orchestra and conductor, led to the fissure between myself and Marx (and by that with Leninism of all sorts) and I appended anarcho- to my self description which became ‘anarcho-Marxist’ : “ On the one hand, all labour in which many individuals co-operate necessarily requires a commanding will to co- ordinate and unify the process, and functions which apply not to partial operations but to the total activity of the workshop, much as that of an orchestra conductor. This is a productive job, which must be performed in every combined mode of production.” Karl Marx. “Capital”. Vol 3. Chap XXIII. p 383. International Publishers. New York. 1967. www.marxists.org\archive\marx\works\1894-c3\ch23.htm ( http://www.marxists.org\archive\marx\works\1894-c3\ch23.htm ). This is actually a re-phrasing of the same idea as put forth in Vol 1 Chap XIII. Pp 330-1: “All combined labour on a large scale requires, more or less, a directing authority, in order to secure the harmonious working of the individual activities, and to perform the general functions that have their origin in the action of the combined organism, as distinguished from the action of its separate organs. A single violin player is his own conductor; an orchestra requires a separate one.” ( http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch13.htm ) http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch13.htm I drew upon the same quotes in the 'Overture' of my Contradictions of 'Real Socialism': the Conductor and the Conducted {Monthly Review Press, 2012] and added there the points made by Elias Canetti that the conductor is the embodiment of power but views himself as necessary--- ie, 'that his business is to serve music and to interpret it faithfully'. Without me, he thinks, there would be chaos. That concept of the relation between conductor and the conducted provides insight, I believe, into the phenomena of "real socialism' and helps to understand the nature of the working class produced in that relation, a working class unable to combat the restoration of capitalism. Rather than suggesting the appropriateness of a self-description as 'anarcho-Marxist', it calls for grasping the centrality of Marx's understanding of 'revolutionary practice' as the simultaneous changing of circumstances and self-change and thus a focus upon the necessity of protagonism [in worker management, communal councils, communes and the like] in order to move 'Toward a Society of Associated Conductors' , the title of Chapter 7. in solidarity/michael -- --------------------- Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 Home: Phone 604-689-9510 Cell: 604-789-4803 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#3518): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/3518 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78259752/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
