Saturday, October 09, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
pierce-artwork.blogspot.com
A view of the top, from a perspective at the bottom
Search
About me
One Big Union
pierce-artwork.blogspot.com
Blog Archive
-
▼
2010
(317)
-
▼
October
(26)
- Rally to restore conformity
- Canopy
- Tricks and treats
- When the rulers are more "progressive" than the ruled
- A tiger by the tail
- A path between houses
- Direct action gets the goods
- Love thy neighbor
- Company towns
- Hearts and minds of the working class
- Coping with anti-anxiety
- Good news
- The modern idea
- Sprinkling away the warehouse fire
- Normal, Inc.
- The problems of ordinary people
- The commitments
- What are anarchist politics?
- 30 Rock
- More about dictatorships
- More on the white working class
- Dictatorships
- The poverty of partisans
- Rank and file rebellion
- The liberal elite
- Capital Vol. 2
-
▼
October
(26)
7 comments:
Marx, as redacted by Engels? Yes, absolutely. The Engelism - esp. the tyranny in an ideology that is Dialectical Materialism - that Lenin developed into democratic centralism?
Yes.
I've always found your take on Engels interesting. I don't know much about him myself.
Given the nature of their relationship, I'm skeptical that Engels would be so far from Marx as to totally transform his meanings.
But I don't anything about that subject specifically. What I've read by him seemed sound.
As briefly as possible, JRB:
Marx leaves things open. He's ambiguous. Even in the segment entitled "Wages, Prices and Profit" - which is a fairly clear explanation of his theory of price - Marx spends the majority of the speech/text demonstrating that prior certainties are anything but.
Marx's thrust is towards the human, on the human scale - despite the vastness of the territory he surveyed. He sees this whole edifice of economic inquiry as a means of liberating persons, as persons. His argument, of course, has some of the baggage of the age, especially the Cartesian scientism.
But he's nothing like Engels, who demands certainty of the future, and finds it the most ancient, traditional and corrosive of muses - mysticism.
Which is not to suggest that their analytical tools were wildly divergent, or that they didn't collaborate or share goals.
But, Marx is comfortable with uncertainty. Like Darwin, who could tell in clear language where his inquiry failed, and where the gaps who could see in his own argument existed.
Engels, not so much. Engels turns Marx into the profit of a fixed, scientific future. The alteration is a matter of tone, and belief.
Marx analyzes. Engels - and his subsequent apostles - prophecies.
Respect,
Jack
Heh. Funny typo - substituting "profit" for "prophet." Too many layers of meaning there, eh?
Yes -- that was a nice touch.
Thanks for the breakdown. Very interesting.
i'd also like to give thanks
killer breakdown
Thanks for the linkage.
Great stuff Jack!
Post a Comment