Below is a forwarded message that is perhaps of interest to those in pen-l land. This is a statement of purpose to a new journal, *Transformation: Marxist Work in Theory, Economics, Politics and Culture* which has just been made available. Contact Donald Morton at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for more information. > These are not friendly times for starting a new Marxist journal, and > yet these are exactly the times in which a new Marxist journal is > urgently needed to provide transformative knowledges for social > change. TRANSFORMATION: MARXIST BOUNDARY WORK IN > THEORY, ECONOMICS, POLITICS AND CULTURE is a response to > the crisis of revolutionary theory and praxis. The (post)modern > "left" has abandoned the project of revolution in favor of bourgeois > democracy, marginalized problems of labor, class and exploitation, > and elided the centrality of "need." More to the point, "left" theory > has deserted economic and labor issues at a time of increasing > class differences between North and South, the poor and the rich > the world over, a time when the workers of the world are > increasingly subjected to exploitation by ever more innovative > technologies and subtle forms of management to keep the rate of > profit high for transnational cartels. > > TRANSFORMATION is a biquarterly of historical materialist > analyses of international modern and (post)modern economic, > political and cultural practices, their history and consequences. > The goal of TRANSFORMATION is to produce effective knowledges > for understanding the world in order to change it. > > There are, of course, many journals publishing texts on the > contemporary situation from neo-marxist, postmarxist, social > democratic, feminist, postcolonialist, anti-racist lesbigay, and > ecological perspectives. The underlying assumption of most "left" > readi ngs of the world is that capitalism itself has changed from a > society of "production" to a culture of "consumption," that "labor" > has been displaced by "knowledge," and that we have entered a > moment in history which is post-class, post-production, post- > theory, post-ideology and post-dialectical in short a "post-al" > phase. The post-al, has, in effect, put an end to politics based on > "need," "class struggle," use-value," "collectivity" and the fight > against "exploitation," and, in its place, has instituted a politics > based on "desire," "difference," "conversation," "consensus," and > "coalition." In post-al left journals social analysis is shifted from > the political economy of material practices to cultural politics and > poetics, and from the laws of motion of capital to the problematics > of representation and (deconstructed) "identity politics." > Materiality in the post-al left is not the materiality of class struggle, > the mode of production and "need"--the structure of contradictions > and antagonisms in history. Rather, it is the "matterism" of the > "body," "language" and "desire." > > In opposition to this post-al cultural matterism and its ludic > politics" of difference, TRANSFORMATION deploys classical > Marxist theory to provide boundary explanations of contemporary > capitalism-without-borders and the world order it has legitimated. > By boundary work, we mean producing historical materialist > analyses that directly engage the most advanced modes of > bourgeois knowledges and supersede them. It places classical > Marxist theory in new terrains and brings it to bear on the > understanding of the emerging contradictions in post-al societies-- > from labor relations to sexuality; from markets to the cyberspaces > of virtual reality, from health-care to "crime" and "family values," > from post-al forms of racism to hypercolonialism.and "welfare".... > > TRANSFORMATION is a dynamic biquarterly committed to > constantly bringing classical Marxist theories into zones in which > they have not often been situated before. At the moment, some > classical Marxist writers, in their encounter with new post-al > discourses, seem to think that they have offered a helpful critique > when, for instance, they denounce bourgeois theory and science > for their opaque, elitist language and mystifying "jargon," or when > they substitute moral outrage for an explanatory critique of the > ethics of "difference," simply dismissing it as narcissistic and > decadent. TRANSFORMATION will go beyond such commonsense > criticism and, in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Luxemburg, > Trotsky and other classical Marxist theorists, will not turn away > from the "new" and the "post-al." It will confront and historicize > them in order to develop class consciousness for transformative > praxis. > > TRANSFORMATION is a vanguard journal opposing both nostalgia > and utopia and insisting on developing rigorous materialist > boundary understandings of post-al social totality--the boundary > analyses, in short, that are necessary for a sustained intervention > by revolutionary praxis in ending private ownership of the means of > production and establishing international socialism. The agent of > this historical change is not the singular individual--who > spontaneously rebels aganist the regime of wage labor and capital > through the sheer experience of the intensity of exploitation--but is > instead the individual as part of a collectivity of workers: what > Lenin calls workers as "socialist theorists" whose revolutionary > praxis is founded upon a coherent historical materialist theory of > the social relations of production and international division of > labor. > > We are, of course, aware that the specific political conditions of the > post-al moment put our goal--to make Transformation the site of > active classical Marxist knowleges--beyond our immediate reach. > Classical Marxism has been so violently and systematically > excluded from the scene of social struggle and analysis that it will > take some time for Transformation to become a place for living > revolutionary Marxism.. But Transformation will enegetically work > towads this goal by activating classical Marxist knowledges among > already practising Marxists and, perhaps more importantly, younger > Marxists, both of whom are forced into silence because their work > is marked in the bourgeois knowlege industry as, among other > things, "dogmatic" and thus dismissed. > > To change these closed and unequal conditions, Transformation > will provide a place for the articulation of lost and suppressed > revolutionary knowledges and praxis. Thus we will publish only > those texts that advance classical Marxist theory (or significantly > move in this direction). We believe that under unequal conditions-- > conditions that allow anti-Marxist texts a free reign but impose all > sorts of constraints and restrictions on Marxist writings--to provide > "equal" space for the texts of right-wing writers or practioners of > the generic left, in the name of an open debate and discussion, is > not an open debate but rather a travesty of free inquiry. The > dominant bourgeois knowledge industry has, throughout the 20th > century, successfully forced radical thinkers and workers into > compromise, either by seducing them with the false prospect of an > "open debate" or by accusing them of being undemocratic and > authoritarian if they do not give equal space to their opponents > (who use that space to suppress them). In a society that has been > anything but open to revolutionary knowledges and practices, > such arguments are aimed simply at further restricting and > appropriating the limited space available for radical praxis. The > entire knowledge industry, under the regime of wage-labor and > capital, is freely available to the opponents of Marxism. Witness the > way Derrida's Specters of Marx --to take a recent case--is not only a > "best seller" but excerpted in the bourgeois new left reviews. To > give space to Derrida and other post-al left writers, in the name of > open debate, is to fall for the liberal myths of equal and free debate > when that formal openness is severely restricted by the unequal > economic and material resources available to the two sides of the > debate. To give room, then, in the pages of Transformation, to the > opponents of classical Marxism is to further expand the space > already abundantly available to them in all sites of culture--from the > ludic academy and post-al left jouranls to right-wing publishing > houses and communications, radio and television cartels. One of > the projects of Transformation is to demystify the deceptive liberal > theology of ecumenicism and coalition and to open up a space for > emancipatory praxis and knowledges. Since Transformation is in > contestation with the entire bourgeois knowledge industry, the > space of this debate should be understood globally and not locally: > those who wish to criticize our praxis can easily do so in the pages > of practically all publications of the left and right. > Eric Nilsson Department of Economics California State University San Bernardino, CA 92407 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
