Ajit:
>
>I have not read Plato. But Descartes definitely does not have any
>teleological theory of history.
Plato? Highly recommended. Especially "Apology", the dialog about Socrates'
death sentence. Recent scholarship argues that he had it coming to him, but
I'll reserve judgment on that. Aristotle is very good also. The deal with
Descartes is that he is the father of modern rational philosophy. The
Enlightenment would not be possible without Descartes. (Of course, we
Marxists would argue that the Englightenment would not be possible without
the mercantile revolution. Lots of good literature on this as well.)
>Gandhi did not form any party nor was member of any political party. To
>implicate Gandhi with "nasty communal fights with Muslims" is sheer
>nonsense. Where you get your informations from?
His disciples Nehru and Indira Gandhi certainly did. If we can blame Marx
for Stalin, why not blame Gandhi for the Congress Party's repression and
brutality. The point is that this is a poor method for understanding politics.
>
>This only proves my point. There is a clear teleological stages theory of
>history here. Crimes of capitalism, in this case colonialism, is pardoned
>because it was essential preparation for socialism. I think later on, e.g.
>in CAPITAL, he is no longer tied to such theory of history.
>
Pardoned? This ascribes a moralistic quality to Marx and Engel's writings
that does not apply. Engels wrote about the cruelty and exploitation of the
factory system in "Origins of the Working Class in England." He did not
"pardon" this system. He did just the opposite. He wrote a powerful
denuciation of the system. By the same token, he understood (only
partially) that this system was an inevitable product of the accumulation
of capital. He developed a more scientific understanding as his partnership
with Marx matured. Socialists do not "pardon" the emergence of capitalist
property relations, nor do we put them on a pedestal. We take note of them
and look for opportunities to transform them. This is ABC.
Louis Proyect
