HAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A MARXIST TODAY? (my abstracts for the MARX-CONFERENCE May 5/6th PEKING UNIVERSITY)
Generally we can say that the main positions developed by Marx have been proved by history and are still valid: his analyses of the structure of capitalism and its immanent crises; his characterization of the bourgeois state which cannot be taken over and that the the working class has to create its own state; the necessity of revolutions and not only reforms; etc.
But of course it is not sufficiant just to „cite“Marx to understand the world today.
I want to pick up just 3 topics:
– When Marx wrote „Kapital“ he used the method of ascending from the abstract to the concrete. He started with the contradictions of the commodity and wanted to end with the worldmarket. As we know he could NOT finish his work. So when we want to understand the world economy today- dominated by some imperialist countries- we have to make a concrete historical analysis of the concrete sitation (using the method of Marx).
– In „Kapital“ and „Kritik des Gothaer Programs“ we can find very interesting analyses of the destruction of nature through capitalism. But it would be an overestimation to argue that Marx had a „complete ecological theory“. Today the ecological question is of extreme relevance- there is no planet B. Again marxists have to study the actual situation and not use Marx as a pillow.
– The position of Marx in the question of liberetion of the proletariat was very clear: the proletariat must liberate itself and has to rule directly. As history has shown and shows us this was/ is not the case: stalinism has expropriated the working class and also today in the socialist countries the party is ruling „for“ the proletariat.
So in my opinion a -revolutionary- marxist today has to be undogmatic, open for new developmnets (for example“ ecosocialism“) and (self)critical.
Hermann Dworczak
No comments yet.