From J. Moore's Recommended Books section at his website>
THE LEFT: A READING GUIDE
X. Looking to the Future with an Optimism of the Intellect and a Tenacity of
the Will
Edward J. McCaughan, Reinventing Revolution: The Renovation of Left
Discourse in Cuba and Mexico (Boulder: Westview Press, 1997). Based on
interviews with a large number of Leftist intellectuals in these two
countries which have had nationalist and anti-imperialist revolutions,
argues that alongside existing orthodox socialist and liberal currents a
third "rennovative" Leftist perspective is emerging, although differently in
each case, in the aftermath of the changes in the former Soviet bloc and
despite the ideological popularity of neoliberalism. While continuing to
uphold traditional socialist values about social justice and equality and
the relevance of more nationalistic policies, this perspective takes issues
with both Leninist and liberal conceptions of politics in favor of more
direct forms of democracy and a greater autonomy of civil society from the
state. This current is said to have its basis in the many activist
intellectuals who came out of the New Left generation of 1968.
Antonio Negri, The Politics of Subversion: A Manifesto for the Twenty-First
Century (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989).
Nick Witheford, "Autonomist Marxism and the Information Society," Capital &
Class (Spring 1994): 85-125.
- Original Message -
From: "Louis Proyect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 11:01 AM
Subject: [PEN-L:13877] Feedback from Jay Moore on Hardt-Negri
> I thank Louis for his critique of "Empire". I'm glad that he actually made
> it through -- which I couldn't do because I was so digusted with it both
by
> the more general issues Louis hits on and by its near-total divorce from
an
> examination of the facts on the ground. (Negri may have an excuse since
> he's been in prison but what about Hardt?) This is supposed to be the "Das
> Kapital" for the 21st century? Hah! Compare Marx's richly detailed
> description taken from the British Blue Books of the disastrous effects of
> industrial capitalism's rise on the working people in both core and
> periphery. There's nothing like that whatsoever in "Empire". It operates
> exclusively (except for a paltry few anecdotes) in abstraction.
>
> One thing, however, I would say to Louis and others who may be trying to
> get a fix on where these cats are coming from is that the linchpin for the
> whole theoretical edifice is Negri's keen interest in Marx's "Grundrisse".
> He wrote a long exigesis of it some years ago when he was associating in
> France with Althusser's school -- sort of his response to their exigesis
of
> "Capital". Much more so than the few short (but much-quoted) articles by
> Marx about the alleged civilizing effects of British colonialism in India,
> the "Grundrisse" (written roughly around the same time period) is chock
> full of sections that are conducive to that approach (although somewhat
> more dialectical in Marx's original hands). If you want to pull out the
rug
> from under all of this stuff, that's where you have to go, I think. Good
> luck. I'm not!
>
> best, jay
>
> www.neravt.com/left/
>
>
> Louis Proyect
> Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/
>
