A Future for Marxism? (Was: Wishful thinking) by Justin Schwartz 12 February 2002 04:30 UTC
The argument is historical, and is available to anyone who has eyes in his head. In the era of 2nd International, Marxism was a powerful force among Western European workers. It bounced back, some, after WWII. Today in Western Europe, the PCI is gone, the PFC is a decaying rump, the KPD is many generations dead (and the PDS is a left- S-D formation largely confined to the East). Marxism never caught on in America or Canada, but it was a minor force to be reckoned with up through the start of the First Cold War. The 57 varieties of Trotskyism and Maoism never went anywhere. In the ex-Bloc countries, the Russian Revolution is in ruins, the ex-CPs are at best centrist (and the CPRF is an ugly red-brown Stalinofascist deformity); in the third world, Marxism in is in full rereat. China is "officially" Marxist but in fact pragmatically procapitalist and ruled by an authoritarian elite committed only to power. Vietnam is following China. N. Korea is a wierd backwater. Only Cuba retains a trace of traditional Marxist elan. Marxist-identified revolutionary movements are no longer vaguards by collections of narcothugs like the remnants of the Shining Path and FARC. There are no mass self-identified Marxist working class movements anywhere, Nor do any show any signs of emerging. ^^^^^^^^ CB: Assume all of the above for the sake of argument, why won't future generations, subject to the basic processes of capitalism, not exposed to the anti-communist militarism and propaganda of the current generation become enthusiastic again about socialism as the solution to the problems of capitalism ? And won't Marx's writing and that of many other Marxists fit their reality and be likely attractive to them ? The second thing is that one way that Marxism will never revive is that if we in the smaller number of current Marxists accept what you say , and do not try to pass it on to the future generations. So, your position could become a self-fulfilling prophecy as could our enthusiasm for Marxism become contrariwise important in keeping its theory alive for the next group of practitioners. ^^^^^^^^ Justin:Au contraire. I have expressly disavowed that here and elsewhere. I don't believe in historical inevitability. I have plainly said that it is possible, just extremely unlikely, that the situation may reverse. ^^^^^^^ CB: What is your specific reasoning that it is extremely unlikely that the situation may reverse ? So many other liberation ideologies in history have had longer histories with ebbs and flows, why are you sure that Marxism cannot survive a period of relative failure when so many others have ? ^^^^^^
