Archive for the ‘Bill Martin’ Category
Posted by kasama on June 2, 2012
“Shouldn’t there be room in our understanding of sexuality for not letting go of the question, ‘Why can’t the myriad forms of sexuality simply be a source of joy?’ Yes, we go on from there to complicate things with questions of power and gender relations, etc., but why not allow ourselves the possibility (to say something slightly more complicated and less naive) that there is a “different economy” possible and at work in sexuality that ought to be a beautiful thing and sometimes even is a beautiful thing.”
“Neither a Bataillean, “economy of the gift” (or hippie free love, etc.) nor a “what business is it of yours?” view of sexuality takes us far enough, but consider that the RCP did have for a very long time as part of its program the idea that the “new” state should exercise control over sexuality, or at least certain “phenomena” within the larger field of sexuality.”
“Critique of Boneheaded Reason is what I have devoted myself to for some years in working with Marxism, which isn’t to say that I haven’t been thoroughly boneheaded myself in various ways over the years….”
“Quite often I think of the character Fish…from the Ally McBeal show. He would say something offensive or abusive to someone, and then immediately say ‘Bygones!’…Not to be utilitarian about this, but being sincerely sorry could have made a difference to how things went forward (instead of things with the RCP not going forward), rather than this ugly ‘Bygones!’ perspective.”
“The RCP’s history can be seen in some ways as repeatedly ‘getting something going,’ and then seemingly shattering it all on a whim. There was perhaps some element of “fuck ‘em” in this – where “em” includes virtually everyone – sections of the people, other radicals and sections of their own organization…”
Introduction
The following essay is an addition to Kasama’s Red Closet series — excavating and summing up some awful anti-gay within the previous communist movement..
Bill Martin is known for many things – his philosophy and music of course, but also his courageous trip into fascist Peru, as part of an international emergency delegation, to publicly defend the life of captured Maoist leader Abimael Guzman.
Bill Martin also played a prominent role in the public communist engagements over questions of sexuality. He and Bob Avakian conducted in a extended political and philosophical dialogue — which was then published as a book, Marxism and the Call of the Future: Conversations on Ethics, History, and Politics (2005).
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Posted in >> analysis of news, AIDS, Bill Martin, Bob Avakian, gay, homophobia, homosexuality, Kasama, lesbian, Maoism, New Com. Movement, Raymond Lotta, Stalin and Stalinism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by John Steele on November 4, 2011
The eruption of occupations from Tunisia to Oakland put difficult and inspiring questions on the table. Kasama’s sister site, Khukuri, has been digging into these issues from the perspective of communist theory.
Who is “the 1 %” — who rules the world and how? What is current the structure of global capital? See essays concerning a transnational capitalist class (TNC) — truly the global 1% (or less) – by Leslie Sklair, by William Robinson, Jerry Harris, and by William K. Carroll, as well as in the recent piece on global corporate networks.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Alain Badiou, Bill Martin, capitalism, communism, Don Hamerquist, financial crisis, J. Ramsey, John Steele, Marxist theory, Occupy Wall Street, occupywallstreet, philosophy, revolution, theory | 1 Comment »
Posted by kasama on August 16, 2011
by Mike Ely
I have many thoughts on each of John-John’s questions — and (i suspect) a rather different starting point.
This is a discussion about both the past and the future. What do we need or want from the past? How creatively do we prepare for the future? How much of the theory we need will emerge from our own coming practice?
I’m a partisan of appropriating what was revolutionary in the past — I think it is precious and that there is no way of facing the future without it. I am skeptical of the idea that our theory should come mainly from our own practice (since that is usually an approach that goes over to routinized and unimaginative activism). Yes our ideas and organizations will be tested (and transformed) in coming fires — and we need to prepare now energetically and expect then to be transformed again and yet again.
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Posted in Bill Martin, Black Panthers, communism, Cultural Revolution, Kasama, Maoism, Marxist theory, Mike Ely, New Com. Movement, philosophy, RCPUSA, Stalin and Stalinism, theory, Young Lords Party | 3 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 22, 2011
We have been discussing the prediction of one U.S. TV evangelist that the rapture would happen on May 21 (based on a complex numerological analysis.) The following was initially posted as a comment on that previous thread — but this seems worth its own discussion.
(For those unfamiliar with the Dispensationalist Christian concept of “the Rapture” check out wikipedia for background.)
by Bill Martin
Perhaps the rapture did occur yesterday, just no one qualified for being “caught up in the air”–including the very people who were promoting the idea.
This is completely possible under the “scheme of salvation” that the god of many “Christians” profess: that no one really qualifies.
Occasionally I do challenge one of these “Christians” on this point, that even under a more generous reading their god’s hell is going to be populated by many billions of souls–and what kind of scheme of redemption is that?
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Posted in atheism, Bill Martin | 13 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on August 21, 2010
“I do not believe that the most essential thing, in order for Marxism to become an emancipatory theoretical structure, is that it be reoriented around ‘the ethical moment’ as its basis. I believe that an ethics is founded upon the revolutionary project, rather than founding it, as Martin argues.”
In his book Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation, Bill Martin argues that the communist revolution needs to take ethics as a necessary foundation of politics.
The following is Part 2 of a three part series from Khukuri that examines Bill’s thesis. Part 1 is here.
Marxism, Politics, and Evil:
A Critical Engagement with “Ethical Marxism”
Part 1
by John Steele
II
In some sense Ethical Marxism is a long meditation on the crying need for liberation from the brutalities and morass of today’s world, but also the need to surpass Marxism-as-it-has-been. Indeed, Martin’s point is that these needs are crucially interrelated and that fulfillment of the former depends upon accomplishment of the latter. I think this is true and important – in fact I could not agree more. But when we come to the question of how we are to surpass the now-dead Marxism of our fathers, we have some differences. Most basically, I do not believe that the most essential thing, in order for Marxism to become an emancipatory theoretical structure, is that it be reoriented around “the ethical moment” as its basis.
I believe that an ethics is founded upon the revolutionary project, rather than founding it, as Martin argues. Rather than morality being the core or foundation of a truly revolutionary politics, as Martin argues, I believe that the political is more basic, and that ethics finds its foundation within larger human projects, including that of an emancipatory politics. Obviously this is a basic point, and thrashing it out (or at least indicating a direction of argument) is one basic aim of the remainder of this paper.
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Posted in >> communist politics, Bill Martin, communism, John Steele, Maoism, Marxist theory, philosophy | 1 Comment »
Posted by Mike E on August 19, 2010
Is Marxism, or revolutionary politics generally, sufficient for human emancipation?
In his book Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation, Bill Martin argues that the communist revolution needs to take ethics as a necessary foundation of politics.
The following is Part 1 of a three part series from Khukuri that examines Bill’s thesis. Part 2 is here.
Marxism, Politics, and Evil:
A Critical Engagement with “Ethical Marxism”
Part 1
by John Steele
In this essay I’ll be attempting to come to grips with Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation, a major effort by Bill Martin to map out the sort of theory he believes to be necessary in the 21st century for revolution and human liberation. I’ll first try to lay out Martin’s principal claims and lines of thought, followed by some questions and critique.
This is a large book which brings a number of themes, subjects and questions into play. I will only be dealing with the essential line of argument and thought, concerning Marxism, politics and ethics. Specifically, I will not be able to enter into some concrete questions which Martin casts as ethical and to which he devotes a large proportion of space in the book: imperialism, animals and the human consumption of meat, and the question of place. These are major parts of the book, not only in bulk but conceptually too, as attempts to both configure political questions ethically (imperialism) and to situate ethical questions (meat-eating) within a Marxist context. But although this study does examine some of the forms of argument which emerge in these areas, I have not been able to consider the substance of these questions, as they are framed in Ethical Marxism.
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Posted in Bill Martin, communism, John Steele, Karl Marx, Maoism, Marxist theory | 5 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 10, 2010
Leon Trotsky (left), Joseph Stalin (right)
By Bill Martin
Interesting, I suppose, that we quickly get away from discussing what Lenin wrote and instead into Stalin/Trotsky and the like.
Here, at least along one line of analysis, is the connection. Lenin led a revolution. In this “Unexplored Mountain” essay, Lenin is stressing the need for visionary leadership, which entails not falling back on conventional thinking, especially when the process that is unfolding is entirely new and unprecedented.
Trotsky also played a role in leading the Bolshevik Revolution, and it is shameful that this role has been erased from the standard histories of the Revolution promulgated by Stalinists and Maoists. Even the erstwhile Maoists who have recently discovered truth stumble over this point (they choke, really), and we (who want to continue the revolutionary legacy of Maoism and develop it qualitatively) should draw some lessons from this.
My own view, for what it is worth, is that Trotsky’s Marxist theorizing, while interesting and creative, does not help us understand or make a revolution against imperialism; the legacy of Trotskyism is, in the main, to deny key elements of Lenin’s understanding of imperialism, and to return us to “classical Marxism.” Furthermore, for all kinds of reasons, Trotsky was never going to be the leader of the CPSU. However, none of this means that we shouldn’t study Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution and other work [some of which is just as "Stalinist" as anything Stalin wrote], or that we should not recognize the very important role that Trotsky played in the Bolshevik Revolution.
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Posted in Bill Martin, Communist Party, Mao Zedong, mass line, Soviet history, Stalin and Stalinism, Trotskyism | 75 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on April 28, 2010
The following is an excerpt from Bill Martin’s “Into the Wild: Badiou, Actually-Existing Maoism, and the “Vital Mix” of Yesterday and Tomorrow.” This is a work on how we should approach the radical reconception of revolutionary theory, and about the role played by critical reexamination of past experiences. We will be publishing a number of excerpt over the next few weeks.
The essay was originally published on Khukuri. The essay can be downloaded as a pamphlet, or read three segments 1, 2, and 3.
Except 2: Willing to Reground
If you’re not sometimes confused in this crazy world, then you’ve probably abdicated on being human, and certainly on being an intellectual. And who isn’t sometimes confused?
Fundamentalists and dogmatists and people sealed up inside a small, locked-up universe are the ones who are never confused. Charges of “agnosticism” and “relativism” do not do justice to the fact that sometimes we have to bracket what we know (or supposedly know or think we know) in order to be open to something new.
Revolutionaries have to be willing to go into the wilderness, and this is, I think, the main point at stake in Lenin’s having taken up Hegel’s Logic in 1916. One reading of this is that Lenin felt the need to reground his sense of how the dialectic works in Marx, especially in Capital. This is how Lenin’s “return to Hegel” is understood in the Marxist-Humanist trend of Raya Dunayevskaya, as represented for example in the excellent book by Kevin Anderson, Lenin, Hegel, and Western Marxism.
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Posted in >> Kasama Project, Bill Martin, Maoism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on April 27, 2010
The following is an excerpt from Bill Martin’s “Into the Wild: Badiou, Actually-Existing Maoism, and the “Vital Mix” of Yesterday and Tomorrow.” This is a work on how we should approach the radical reconception of revolutionary theory, and about the role played by critical reexamination of past experiences. We will be publishing a number of excerpt over the next few weeks.
The essay was originally published on Khukuri. The essay can be downloaded as a pamphlet, or read three segments 1, 2, and 3.
Except 1: The Debriefment of Maoism
From the introduction:
There are some who do not see this project of “debriefment” as a particularly important task, especially some who supposedly moved beyond this stage of things long ago. Perhaps this question doesn’t “divide into two,” exactly, but there are at least two important aspects to it.
The aspect which I would take as principal, or that I try to take as principle (though I probably fail in this respect here and there), is taking it as baseline that Maoism generates a “problematic” (as Althusser called it) from which we communists need to advance. That means building on the positive experiences, and understanding and criticizing the problems, and asking what it means to go forward from a certain place or a certain trajectory. This also means considering the contributions of Maoism after Mao. The problem is instead one of creating a framework where the really important contributions can be carried forward.
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Posted in >> Kasama Project, Bill Martin, Maoism | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on October 25, 2009
Meeting of revolutionary farmers in the forest, India
This report first appeared in Monthly Review
The Impending Indian Government Offensive against the Adivasi Inhabited Hilly Regions:
Statement of Concern and Protest by Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky and Others
On Monday, October 12th, it was reported that Manmohan Singh — despite the request of air chief marshal P. V. Naik to permit IAF personnel in helicopters to attack inhabitants of the hilly regions — had announced that the armed forces would not be deployed against the domestic left-wing opponents of the regime. On October 8th the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had authorised the home ministry-driven coordinated offensive that will see, along with state police deployment, some 75,000 central security personnel — who are trained alongside the army — and IAF choppers that will “assist in movement of forces.” We shall soon see what the Prime Minister’s reservation means in practice.
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Posted in Bill Martin, CPI(Maoist), India, Maoism, Naxalite, peoples war, revolution | 17 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on September 24, 2009
There are many reasons to attend the Rethinking Marxism 7th International Conference — to be held at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst).
For just a quick sense of the action, check out the Conference program — which includes presentations on dozens of important topics spread over four days. We can’t possibly summarize or do it justice here.
Kasama will be attending the conference and participating in some of the panels. We are hoping to be able to hold a social gathering too — to meet and discuss — and perhaps chance to discuss our Kasama Project with those interested.
If you are planning to attend, please be in touch with us
email: kasamasite (at) yahoo.com
Four panels worth mentioning now:
Maoism, Badiou, and the Renewal of the Communist Project (F12 – 803)
Saturday morning (10:30-12)
Mike Ely (Kasama Project) Maoist Conjuncture and Badiou’s Event
John Stevenson (Columbia College of Chicago) Maoist ’Voluntarism’ and Badiou’s Onto-political Thinking
Bill Martin (DePaul University of Chicago) Badiou and Post-Maoism
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Posted in >> communist politics, >> Kasama Project, Bill Martin, Karl Marx, Kasama, Maoism, Marxist theory, methodology, Mike Ely, philosophy, theory | 30 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on August 18, 2009
Come together
We posted a few songs from Woodstock, in honor of the 40th anniversary. And it provoked a series of thoughts — especially some provocative comments kicked off by Stan. Here is one theme from that commentary.
Mike Ely:
Mao used to say, “Reversing correct verdicts goes against the will of the people”…Let me mention some things that we could appreciate about the 60s experience:
- Revolutionary rumblings didn’t take the form of “class against class” in the U.S. — and never will.
- There were incredibly unexpected features to the upsurge — culturally and politically.There was contagion and lots of unique particularity. This was something real, not on paper — and it crackled with novelty and shock.
- Conscious Marxists (often influenced by an older 40s generation) were often unable to even deal with the real features of the upsurge (including such phenomena as the drug culture or the emergence of gay liberation or where the shifting epicenters of revolt were situated).
- Sexuality, music and “culture” generally had a much bigger role in the development of challenges to the system than many “politicos” anticipated or appreciated.
- The preparatory role of subcultures (like beatniks or the world of the southern Blues), and then the eruption of a generational “youth culture” was crucial (and help break through the hegemony of ideas in a forceful way that has never been completely reversed.
- The connection between Black liberation and everything else of value was very close… a call and response of defiance and alienation conjured up from the very bottom of U.S. society.
- The international interconnections were fluid and complex — not simply a matter of “solidarity of xxx to yyy” — but a real criss-crossing and morphing of ideas and forms.
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Posted in Bill Martin, civil rights, cointelpro, Mike Ely, Miles Ahead, music, Stanley Rogouski, subculture | Tagged: woodstock | 24 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on April 18, 2009
The following interview with Bill Martin was conducted for the journal of contemporary culture, Reconstruction 8.1, over email from Dec. 2007 through Feb. 2008. It took place before Bill’s break with the RCP.
“The role of the engaged intellectual (whatever model one wants to pursue), and for that matter of the protestor and the activist has been increasingly neutralized, in ways that most of these folks have not taken much account of – quite possibly in most cases for the reason that the whole thing is incredibly frustrating.”
“What is the opposite of bullshit?”
Possibilities of intellectual engagement, since Sartre:
An interview with Bill Martin / by J. G. Ramsey
<1> J. Ramsey: What do you see as the role and responsibilities of left public intellectuals today?
<2> Bill Martin: First, let’s try to understand the question and the fields that need to be defined. The things we have attempted to do before, as engaged intellectuals, are to speak out where and when that is possible, to express solidarity, to sign our names when that seems as if it would be helpful, to give money when we can and because those of us with university positions are relatively privileged, and perhaps at times to place ourselves in harm’s way, because this is sometimes the right thing to do and because some of us might have a certain status in society that might make other people notice the cause we are supporting and that might make us less vulnerable to attacks that people who do not have this status might not be able to endure. I would say two things about all of the foregoing. First, it seems that we do not have a lot of choice but to continue doing these sorts of things. Second, all the same, I think these sorts of things have less and less meaning and force as we go ever more deeply into this time of postmodern imperialism. The role of the engaged intellectual (whatever model one wants to pursue), and for that matter of the protestor and the activist has been increasingly neutralized, in ways that most of these folks have not taken much account of – quite possibly in most cases for the reason that the whole thing is incredibly frustrating.
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Posted in Bill Martin, communism, J. Ramsey, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Maoism, philosophy, Slavoj Žižek, theory | 1 Comment »
Posted by Mike E on April 8, 2009
Posted in Alain Badiou, Bill Martin, communism, J.B. Connors, John Steele, Kasama, Nando Sims, Nepal, revolution, UCP Nepal (Maoist), Ulises Subida | 4 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on April 7, 2009
This post finishes a new series of Kasama essays by five writers — touching on interrelated themes: The London Conference on Communism, the theories of Alain Badiou, the reclaiming of communism, the revolution in Nepal, and the polemical engagement with exhausted forms of dogmatic Marxism. We urge our readers to set aside the time for them.
Dear Professor Badiou:
About the RCP Assault on Alain Badiou, Philosophy & (Ultimately) Communism Itself
By Bill Martin
Before we say more about this RCP polemic (“Why Alain Badiou is a Rousseauist… And Why We Should Not Be“) the first thing that needs to be said is that its guiding principle is:
“Who needs this shit? Bob Avakian has the New Synthesis, and that’s the end of the matter. Either get on board with that or you’re going down the wrong road.”
The second harsh thing that needs to be said is this polemic is an act of stupidity and irresponsibility against communism itself.
It is also an act of stupidity and irresponsibility against philosophy, theory, and critical thought. And we need to understand better how an act such as this, in being such an act against philosophy, etc., is an act against communism.
None of this, absolutely none of this, has anything to do with whether the polemic (or Bob Avakian) is right and Badiou is wrong on any particular point.
Neither should we get caught up too much in taking the polemic as setting any kind of agenda for the discussion of Badiou’s work and the ways that this work might help us in reconception and regroupment. There are plenty of good commentaries on Badiou’s work out there that do not deign to only, finally, notice the work of this outstanding philosopher and “post-Maoist” of our time when it comes time to knock him down, and with no appreciation whatsoever for the openings that he has created.
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Posted in Alain Badiou, Bill Martin, communism, Maoism, RCPUSA | 110 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on January 1, 2009
On the navigation bar above, you may have noticed the “PAMPHLETS” button. Well, that page now contains the beginning of a Kasama Literature Table.
We will be regularly publishing Kasama “documents for discussion” — contributions and provocations in pamphlet and leaflet form. This obviously makes it easier to read our more substantive pieces, and also makes it possible to circulate them at events and conferences (in hard copy formats). Thanks to those whose design and work made these pamphlets possible.
Coming soon:
- Writings of Pavel Andreyev on Avakian’s “Away with All Gods!” and other works.
- A pamphlet of Mike Ely’s “Communist Work in the Coalfields”
- And more…. make your suggestions of what we should pamphletize next on Kasama Threads (and suggest what other writings we should include on our literature tables)
* * * * * *
by Bill Martin
The main orientation of many of my posts will be to continue what I’m going to call “a debriefment of Maoism,” with the aim of generating some terms for the next phase. Here and there I hope to show how Alain Badiou helps us move beyond a revolutionary sequence that has become “saturated,” to use his terminology. Ultimately I hope to combine all the posts into a little book, something that would constitute a kind of “workbook” of “post-Maoism.”
I am interested in “getting there from here,” where “here” is the Maoist current in communism. But this is not only a complicated question (as I hope to demonstrate in these posts, including the present one), it may even be that there are pathways that certain currents of Maoism have taken that are effectively precluded from getting “there” (that is, revolution). It may even be that we simply have to accept a fundamental disconnect between “here” and “there,” that seems to be one upshot of Badiou’s theory of truth-events.
* * * * * *
by Eddy Laing
“And how does the bourgeoisie get over these crises? On the one hand by enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces; on the other, by the conquest of new markets, and by the more thorough exploitation of the old ones. That is to say, by paving the way for more extensive and more destructive crises, and by diminishing the means whereby crises are prevented.”
(Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party)
Among its other qualities, capitalist production is governed by an incessant chase to realize exchange-value. The circuit of capital is only concluded by selling the commodity, whatever it is, and converting the surplus-labor concretized in it into money (whch can then be re-activated in the next circuit).
While every commodity must meet a social use-value in order for it to find a buyer, there is no over-all conceptualization of the extent of the social need that any set of commodities might fulfill. There are quite typically many more commodities produced than can be circulated (at a profit) by capitalist markets. This applies to bushels of corn as well as clothing as well as sport utility vehicles.
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Posted in 9 Letters, Bill Martin, Mike Ely | 1 Comment »
Posted by Mike E on November 22, 2008
Elements of Exhaustion
We are starting a new series by Bill (his third on Kasama). Rubber and Glue will appear in five parts over the next few days.
Elements of Exhaustion, or, Rubber and Glue (Kasama Post #3)
Part I: Recoiling Into a Dead End
by Bill Martin
“It may even be that there are pathways that certain currents of Maoism have taken that are effectively precluded from getting “there” (that is, revolution). It may even be that we simply have to accept a fundamental disconnect between ‘here’ and ‘there,’ that seems to be one upshot of Badiou’s theory of truth-events…”
“….it is difficult for many of us who came in one way or another through Maoism to now engage in regroupment and reconception with people who came through other Marxist or otherwise radical trends (even other trends of Maoism, but obviously I especially have in mind the various Trotskyist trends). I do think there is something to the fact that, for a long time, among trends within Marxism, only the RCP and Bob Avakian were really willing to put the possibility and necessity of revolution out there and to try in various ways to pursue revolution. That has to count for something, but what exactly in our attempt to forge a new paradigm? It might not be a matter of Trotskyism itself having something to contribute (on the other hand, why rule this out per se?…), but why not some people who came through that experience and who themselves were looking for ways to radically change the world?”
” There is one thing I do know, however, and I don’t hesitate to say it is a basic article of faith: no form of economism is revolutionary, no matter how militant its expression.”
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Posted in Alain Badiou, Bill Martin, Bob Avakian, communism, Mao Zedong, Maoism, Marxist theory, RCPUSA, revolution, theory | Tagged: Callinicos, Sartre, trotskyism | 5 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 22, 2008
This is “Kasama Post #2″ by Bill Martin. In September Kasama published Bill’s Going forward from here (Kasama Post #1), describing his break with the RCP. The essay generated great interest and lively commentary. Now, Bill offers his responses to that discussion.
Because of its length and richness, we will be dividing Bill’s “Kasama Post #2″ into five parts — and are publishing one part a day. The titles of each part and all subheads were inserted by Kasama.
The following is Part 5 — the final segment of this series.
* * * * *
“There are many good ideas that came from Bob Avakian and from the RCP, but often these are undeveloped and, ironically, not taken seriously enough. This idea of ‘the end of a stage, the beginning of a new stage’ is perhaps one such idea.”
“If we really need a new synthesis—I agree that we do—then surely this will also mean a rethinking of the idea of the party, or of organization, as well—and I could develop a number of themes related to this. Wasn’t there a different conception of organization in every previous synthesis?”
“…an argument could be made that the fact that the RCP really does not need the work of any extra-party critical intellectuals (and I would say especially in the field of philosophy, and it doesn’t need anything from the whole history of philosophy) is itself indicative of the exhaustion of this party’s project.”
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Posted in Bill Martin, communism, philosophy, theory | 20 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 18, 2008
Demonstration on NYC's East side (Photo: NLN)
This is “Kasama Post #2″ by Bill Martin. In September Kasama published Bill’s Going forward from here (Kasama Post #1), describing his break with the RCP. The essay generated great interest and lively commentary. Now, Bill offers his responses to that discussion.
Because of its length and richness, we will be dividing Bill’s “Kasama Post #2″ into five parts — and are publishing one part a day. subheads were inserted by Kasama.
* * * *
“AWAG! is a ‘good book’ in a world where there are “discussions on epistemology” and even an ‘epistemological break’ with no sense that some others might have worked on the problem—it is a world without Wittgenstein or Russell or Carnap or Quine or Davidson or Husserl or Heidegger, and on and on, and without Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, etc., the rest of the bourgeois crap from which we can learn nothing, especially when there are truly great books on religion or epistemology being, um, ‘written.’”
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Posted in Bill Martin, communism, Marxist theory, philosophy | 6 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on October 17, 2008
This is “Kasama Post #2″ by Bill Martin. In September Kasama published Bill’s Going forward from here (Kasama Post #1), describing his break with the RCP. The essay generated great interest and lively commentary. Now, Bill offers his responses to that discussion.
Because of its length and richness, we will be dividing Bill’s “Kasama Post #2″ into five parts. This is the third part. Subheads and the titles of the various parts were inserted by Kasama.
* * * * *
“It may be the case that there is a social base for “Christian fascism,” as conceived by various political and “moral” leaders (for “traditional values,” etc.) and that they have a good deal of power… but in that case wouldn’t we want to try to see how this works with the idea that, in the end, it is the dictatorship of the imperialist class that calls the shots? Clearly there are significant differences between the “classical fascists” of the first half of the twentieth century (and beyond in the case of Spain and Portugal), the way that fascist currents have been working in the United States since the Bush regime was installed. We need to understand these things — or try to understand, and this is one of my issues with Bob Avakians’s work…”
“It does appear to me that the Nepal revolutionaries are on completely new terrain, and that they will have to create their own new synthesis and not fall back on formulas… Undoubtedly there can be, at least at times, a thin line between going forth boldly and audaciously, and just trying to bullshit everyone, including oneself, and this is probably even more a danger on the terrain of theory and especially in attempting to theorize developments in distant lands.”
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Posted in Bill Martin, communism, philosophy, theory | 3 Comments »
