On Thursday, 31 March 2016, Hinrich Kuhls <k...@qhls.de> wrote: > Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Berlin: > > 5 May 2018 - The 200th Birthday of Karl Marx. > Critique of Political Economy, Critique of Our Society, > Self-critique of the Left > > Call for Papers: > On the unfinished Book III. The Process of Capitalist Production as a > Whole. > > (Abstracts may be submitted in English or German) > > full pdf (engl.): > > http://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/ausschreibungen/call_marx_en.pdf > web: http://www.rosalux.de/news/42187 > > 'In accordance with Marx’s whole attitude, his book on Capital is not a > Bible > containing final and unalterable truths, but rather an inexhaustible > source of > stimulation for further study, further scientific investigations and > further > struggles for truth’ (Luxemburg 1918, p. 371). So reads one of the first > sentences of Rosa Luxemburg’s contribution to Franz Mehring’s Karl Marx: > The > Story of His Life, published in 1918 (1935 in English) to mark the > occasion of > Marx’s 100th birthday. That we now return to Luxemburg on the eve of his > 200th > birthday is due to our interest in volumes II and III of Capital, rendered > readable by Engels, but nevertheless remaining fragmentary, as a ‘stimulus > to > thought, to criticism and self-criticism, and this is the essence of the > lessons > which Marx gave the working class’ (Luxemburg 1918, p. 379). > > Luxemburg invited her readers to join, via Marx, in a process of learning > and > discovery. Above all, her aim was to encourage workers to think > independently > and base their actions on the principle of solidarity. She sought to endow > the > working class of her time with the ability to reflect critically upon their > conditions of life and on relations of power and domination, and to > struggle > relentlessly for a society of the free and equal. > > Antonio Gramsci was one of her followers. In the 10th of his Prison > Notebooks in > particular, he raises questions about Engels’ treatment of the sources, > about > the content of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and > its > interpretations, and about the precise understanding of critical economy. > As the > teacher Luxemburg, her student Gramsci has been interested in developing > educational materials to teach people about the reproduction of relations > of > dominance in order to better criticise them in actual practice. Such books > ought > to address the interconnection between the volumes of Capital while also > reflecting prior works and other classic texts, new developments, problems, > experiences and insights (Gramsci 1932-1935, par.32-38. par.41VI-VII). > > Luxemburg’s and Gramsci’s treatment of Marx’s legacy and the emancipatory > and > solidarity-oriented struggles of the anti-capitalist movements have > remained > rather marginal within these: They have often been opposed, met with > incomprehension or even with rejection, usually motivated by arrogance and > fear. > This explains, on the one hand, why the dominant ways of reception of the > Marxian doctrine have produced superficial versions of Marxism, omitting > any > analysis and critique of more complex relations of power and domination. > This is > particularly true with regard to gender relations, hierarchies based on > place of > birth as well as ethnic and cultural background, power structures in > inter-regional and international relations, and metabolic relations with > the > natural world. Taken together, these omissions constitute one of the > essential > reasons for the weakness of the left today. > > We seek to take on this weakness in a pro-active manner, in order to > regain the > offensive by developing a more comprehensive ‘critique of political > economy’ and > thus of social relations of domination and power. We are, therefore, > confronted > with the challenge of contributing to the analysis of the overall process > of > capital accumulation, the reproduction of the dominance of the capitalist > mode > of production, which entails five interrelated tasks: > > # to critically analyse the mode in which socially unequal humans produce, > distribute, circulate and utilise means of life, of production and of > luxury; > > # in so doing to examine and to reveal the social, ecological and global > effects > of capital accumulation; > > # to criticise the ideologies and so-called sciences which explain away the > capitalist mode of production as a historical form of domination; > > # to formulate, publish and discuss research findings; > > # to contribute to enabling individuals as a mass to oppose, to > structurally > weaken and ultimately overcome social conditions which debase, enslave, > forsake > and atomise them (with reference to Marx 1844, p.182). > > Moreover, this requires exploring the development of contradictions within > social relations and thereby the necessary preconditions of such relations, > self-critically reflecting upon one’s own experience, one’s own thought, > one’s > own reasoning and action – that is to say, adopting the working method of > the > author of Capital, his ‘literary executor’ Friedrich Engels, Rosa > Luxemburg, > Antonio Gramsci and their comrades. > > Our focus on the third volume of Capital stems from the aforementioned > challenge, as well as from five considerations related to its text, to the > ‘gaps’ in Marx’s original work, to the problems remaining in Engels’s > editorial > changes, and to more recent developments: > > 1. It is precisely the book’s incompleteness that proves particularly > inspiring > for an engagement with the Marxian ‘critique of political economy’, his > research > method and his method of presentation. The work being conducted within the > framework of MEGA provides attractive research material in this regard. > > 2. ‘The overall process of capitalist production’, the dynamics ‘on the > surface, > on the official stage of society’ (Luxemburg 1918, p. 377 ) multiply the > compulsions, problems and phenomena which make it so difficult for wage > workers > to conceive alternatives to heteronomy and exploitation and see these > alternatives as viable, to desire them, to fight for them. > > 3. During Marx’s work on Capital, socialisation in a capitalist form has > advanced to the extent that a new quality of capital – finance capital – > and a > new capitalist form of socialisation, or rather, a modified mode of > socialisation has emerged. What calls for further inquiry and research, > then, > are the changes in societal relations which generate new conditions for > conflicts between the exploited and oppressed and their exploiters and > oppressors. > > 4. In the analysis of social change, Social Democratic theoreticians – in > Germany these have included Eduard Bernstein, Karl Renner and Fritz Tarnow > – > conducted a revision of the theoretical base for Arbeiterpolitik (‘worker > politics’), ultimately resulting in revisionism, which was later continued > by > the representatives of capitalist breakdown theory Henryk Grossmann and > Fritz > Sternberg. At the same time, theoretical insights concerning finance > capital > produced by Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Kautsky and Rudolf > Hilferding > were either not taken up at all, or only selectively and in a fragmented > manner. > Murder and terror, war and revolution, capitulation and opportunism, > unspeakably > brutal fascism and blood-drenched Stalinism all have brought about the > elimination and destruction of an important possibility human life and > creativity, also with regard to critical theory, and have produced > long-lasting > destructive impacts. The consequences include tragic defeats of > emancipatory > movements and the dramatic failure of the first socialist experiments. > > 5. The analysis of the formation of class relations and class interests > from the > perspective of the comprehensive reproduction of capital requires a) > analysing > the history, the factors and the dimensions of its structural > power-political > inferiority; b) revealing and discussing one’s own contribution to the > current > situation, not least through reflecting upon certain scenarios and > historical > breaking points; c) developing scenarios of social development for the > coming 10 > to 15 years, and while so doing to demonstrate possibilities for changing > both > oneself as well as the balance of social forces; d) developing and > implementing > political conclusions for one’s own political strategy. > > The tasks at hand include an engagement with history, particularly with > one’s > own history, a critique of political economy as an historical science, and > a > self-transformation of the left towards the humanisation and ecologisation > of > society as transformatory process. > > Our call for papers is directed at individuals and groups of researchers > who > share our approach and seek to enter into an exchange relating to the > challenges > contained in the third volume of Capital as described here: > > # on the evolution of the work, on the method of research and > representation; > > # on the history of productive forces, as well as on economic, > intellectual and > political history, which may help (further) explain the work itself on the > one > hand, and its historical treatment on the other, while specifically > contributing > to a contemporary critique of political economy; > > # on political-economic analyses of the development of capital relations – > key > terms here are finance capital and financialisation – of metabolic > interaction > with the natural world, of gender relations, of the hierarchies within > internationalised and globalised processes of socialisation in their > various > forms and dimensions; > > # on the specific analysis, based on political economy, of changes within > social > structures, lifestyles and modes of life within society since the early > 20th > century; > > # on the insights pertaining to the struggle for a socialist transformation > contained within the critique of political economy – and for the > self-transformation of its protagonists. > > Fully in the spirit of Rosa Luxemburg herself, this exchange should serve > as a > ‘stimulus to thought, to criticism and self-criticism’ and to establish new > working contacts and common projects. Our planned publication of an > anthology > will be a positive side-effect which we intend to make available for > political > education. > > We ask for the submission of abstracts of no more than 1,000 words by 15 > June > 2016. Abstracts may be submitted in English or German. Abstracts should > state > the specific subject matter, the particular content-related question or > research > question, as well as the intended mode of answering this question. We will > select a number of abstracts by 30. June 2016 and invite authors to produce > longer elaborations. The final texts are to be submitted no later than 1 > January > 2017. > > Please direct any further questions, as well as abstracts, to the e-mail > address > of Judith Dellheim dellh...@rosalux.de > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','dellh...@rosalux.de');> >
-- Paddy Hackett http://paddy-hackett.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
