>I think AM was abandoned rather than died of natural causes. Too many of
the leading participants gave up on socialism or any kind of advocacy for
it. This was, I think, for broad sociological reasons, the failure of a
left movement to emnerge after the collapse of communism, the feeling of
futility at banging your head against the wall, the sense that from a
political practical point of view, red flags and hammers and sickles are
impediments and not assets, etc. The idea of talking about Marxist
questions with rigor and clarity, using any tools that are available from
philosophical analysis and mainstream social science, which is the heart of
AM, that is as viable as it ever was.
>
>--jks
One other key element of the demise of AM is the market socialism they
often upheld. When the Gorbachev experiment failed, when the CCP went off
the deep end welcoming in Nike, etc., when Yugoslavia imploded, it made it
more difficult to talk about the benefits of including market mechanisms in
a socialist society. If AM is finished, so is market socialism.
Louis Proyect
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