Rhetorical question: is ex-Marxism among Kolakowski's Main Currents of
Marxism? Seriously, I keep coming back to the spectre (pun intended) of all
the former Marxists who define what has come to stand as "other than
Marxism" in contemporary academic thought and journalistic certitude. This
particular other-than stands on precisely the ground of historical
inevitability that it insists Marxism must vacate.
It's like the reformation, I suppose. Martin Luther and his followers didn't
cook up something entirely new, nor did they go around establishing Buddhist
shrines and Hindu temples. On the one hand, there are clear continuities in
ritual and theology. On the other, there are points of doctrine that can
only be understood in terms of a deep-seated hostility, positions born of a
will to differentiate. These differentia come forward in ways that baffle
the un-schooled.
One wonders how a population presumably ignorant of a particular mode of
thought can, nevertheless, 'instinctively' detect and repudiate it. They
have been vaccinated. Remember, one doesn't get vaccinated with an antibody
but with a modified strain of the organism.
Extra credit:
What do "capital" and "vaccination" have in common?
(hint: Kola-_ _ _-ski)
Tom Walker
Sandwichman and Deconsultant
Bowen Island, BC
