sure, you can have an honorary degree from me. On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 08:45:36PM -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > In a message dated 11/20/02 5:11:02 PM Pacific Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > What is this strange fascination with Stalin? > > -- > > Michael Perelman > > Economics Department > > California State University > > Chico, CA 95929 > > > > Tel. 530-898-5321 > > E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > To a not small degree it is I that periodically challenge those who raise the > issue of the Stalin period. My reasoning is not to bore the readers but to > examine the economic framework under which Soviet socialism operated and its > law of value or the value form. > > Then the is the matter of the codification of materialist dialectics and how > this conception of process was articulated by a previous generation of > Marxist in power. It is true that I am fascinated with the Stalin period but > have never had a desire to study his personal life. > > Part of my personal intellectual growth was in connection with large scale > industrial production during that era of American history when the auto > industry was still the classical arena of technological advance. On the level > of theory, my framework of Marxism expresses having lived a 30 year period of > a massive change in the organic composition of capital - the increasing use > of advancing robotics as a machine operator, assembler and union rep. > > The frustration was witnessing this change and not being able to unravel its > internal logic for the better part of twenty years. This led to studying some > writings on tools development and usage within Soviet society and intensive > and extensive evolution of machinery. It was exceptionally fascinating. The > impulse to revolutionize industrial production under capital is driven by > competition in the marketplace and this revolutionizing takes place very > different under Soviet socialism. > > I always understood that robotics replaced human being and had read the > better part of Stalin's 13 volumes at an early age. Most of his writings have > to do with industrialization of the country as opposed to political struggle, > but most folks don't know that. > > This question of the Soviet Union and Stalin has occupied a portion of my > daily thinking for 31 years. Not just the internal party struggle, which was > ultra complex. It is quite easy to understand a physical reaction resulting > from a physical attack. This same "action" and "reaction" becomes much more > complex in the social arena when a particular political policy or act may not > have any direct result until many years later. > > Now it is true that I am a Stalin man in the same way that a person might be > a Thomas Jefferson kind of democrat, which does not mean they support > implementing slavery. The point is that I began to grasp what was being > described by the Marxist in power once I made a leap outside of all the > ideological categories. > > The Marxist in the Soviet Union were not communist in the sense of the logic > of economic development. They were ideological communist based on reading > books and a political desire. Actually, the previous generation of Marxist in > America were not communist or even revolutionary except in the purely > ideological sense. One can only be revolutionary when conditions have ripened > for revolution. Historically, the previous generations could only be > industrial reformers because of the time framework and evolutionary > development in the material power of the productive forces. Joining a > political group or espousing a particular doctrine does not make > revolutionaries. Fighting the good fight does not make one revolutionary or > progressive today either, and this includes me first and foremost. > > Sir, the fascination is the unfolding of the value form and defining what is > meant by the revolution in the material power of the productive forces. > Forget Stalin and call it the Stalin - stallin, Period of time. The "stall" > is the recognition that "something is rotten in Rome," and the leap is not > possible based on electromechanical means of production. > > Hey, the American peoples are very far advanced from the "stallin period" of > time. > > The communist class has arisen but ideology confuses matters. Here is an > example. Comrade Stalin said the American workers could best gauge the > advance of Soviet society. > > Check this out for a minute: I am not "the American worker" but rather a > black worker that is in a "revolutionary position" and all such other crap. > > The "stallin (Stalin) period is fascinating because if you check it out it's > like the catch 22 proposition. > > Mr. Michael Perelman, my commitment is to be interesting and thought > provoking. And to remain several steps ahead of the ideologues. > > Can I get an honorary degree in self study for unraveling the value form? I > want this for me and hard thinking.
-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
