Rosa Lichtenstein

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  • in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124103
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    Apologies for my delay in replying, but I have had to devote my time to more pressing matters of late. I will return and pick up from where I left off in a week or so.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124097
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"It is, I believe, common ground, that it is not a complete or definitive statement, but the only one we have.  We agree it is silent on Hegel: where we disagree is on what to make of that silence: Young Mistress Lichtenstein maintains that it is exclusory, I maintain that it is simply silence.  This is the point at dispute." [Bold addedWell, you once again miss the point; here it is again:"My argument isn't, and has never been, that Marx doesn't "mention Hegel" (added on edit: or is silent about Hegel), but that there is no trace of Hegel or any of his concepts in that summary."Here is how I put this in two of my first posts in this thread (one of which was in reply to you!):"In the above passage, not one single Hegelian concept is to be found (upside down or 'the right way up') — no "contradictions", no change of 'quantity into quality', no 'negation of the negation', no 'unity and identity of opposites' no 'interconnected Totality', no 'universal change' –, and yet Marx still calls this the 'dialectic method"' and says of it that it is 'my method'." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy#comment-37562"In that summary, not one single Hegelian concept is to be found, upside down or 'the right way up', and yet Marx still calls this 'the dialectic method' (note, not part of, or one aspect of, 'the dialectic method', but 'the dialectic method'), and 'my method'. So, Marx's 'method' is a Hegel-free zone ('upside down or the right way up')." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=2#comment-37586This appears to have flown over your head.Nor is it any part of my argument that the summary Marx added is a "definitive" account of 'the dialectic method' — just that it is indeed a summary (which is what I have called it from the get-go) — and it contains no trace of Hegel or any of his ideas.So, what is your reply to my challenge that you produce, what you had said you could provide — a "definitive description of the Labour Theory of Value"? [Bold added.]Err…, this sub-GCSE summary of something that isn't even the Labour Theory of Value [LTV]:"The value of market goods is based on the amount of human effort it takes to replace them.  The source of profits is the difference between the amount of effort involved in replacing goods, and the cost of buying the type of skills involved in replacing them.  Not all of that effort can be realised in money terms.""Effort"? The LTV has nothing to do with "effort". "Labour power" (which is independent of any "effort" put into producing a commodity) is central to the LTV. "Value"? — use value or exchange value? "Replace"? Where is that in the LTV? No mention of fixed capital, or the falling rate of profit. No hint of the relative form or the equivalent form of value. Your "definitive description" is a joke.Now, either the terms you used (i.e., "effort" and "value", etc.) were meant to be synonyms of the terms/concepts Marx used, or their equivalent. But my challenge was this:"Now, I challenge you to write a "definitive description of the Labour Theory of Value" and fail to mention, for example, surplus value, abstract labour, the equivalent and the relative form of value, use value, exchange value, the falling rate of profit, variable/constant capital (or their equivalents and/or synonyms), etc., etc. Until you do, the above claim of yours can only be viewed as grandstanding." [Bold added.]Hence, we are still waiting for a "definitive description of the Labour Theory of Value" — not a sub-GCSE summary of something that isn't the LTV."So, back to Marx, he was addressing the appearance of Hegelianism within his works (or alleged Hegelianism): hence why he follows the St. Petersberg paragraph with an analysis of why he may have used Hegelian terminology, a disclaimer that his method is the opposite of Hegel's, and an acknowledgement that Hegel was 'first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner'."1) Again you present us with a bowdlerised version of Marx's comment, which distorts its meaning. We have been here several times.2) I asked this (quoting you):"I'm sorry, where does Marx add 'Hegel to someone else's summary'?"You failed to answer.3) The rest of the above quote we have been over many times (but see below). Hence, I refer you to my earlier response to it."I do not need to find another statement by Marx, nor am I looking for one, the words in the current one are enough to back up my argument.  I think the silence is non-exhaustive, I think the St. Petersburg paragraph (for example) does not discuss what the underlying laws of development are, or how they work, but it does claim 'Such an inquiry will confine itself to the confrontation and the comparison of a fact, not with ideas, but with another fact.' which is as near Hegelian as I need."It's almost as if I hadn't said this in my last reply:"2) Finally, I have added this challenge to some of my posts of late:"Of course, if you can find another summary of the 'dialectic method', written and published by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to 1873, which does what you say — i.e., shows "there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic" — let's see it."http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=7#comment-37680"And there was good reason for this challenge; here it is again:"As I have also pointed out, I begin with this statement by Marx about what his method and 'the dialectic method' amounted to, and I interpret everything else in that light — until, that is, you, or someone else, can come up with another summary of 'the dialectic method', written, published or endorsed by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to the passage published in the Postface (i.e .,1873 or after), that informs us that he accepted or agreed with Engels's view of 'the dialectic'." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=3#comment-37604"So, unless you can come up with such a passage, there is no justification for you re-inserting Hegel or his concepts into Marx's 'dialectic method'."Which is why I added these comments (partly quoted above):"Of course, if you can find another summary of the 'dialectic method', written and published by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to 1873, which does what you say — i.e., shows "there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic" — let's see it."Oh wait!"There isn't one!"Now, you can't quote a single text written by Marx, published in or after 1873, that tells us that Hegel had any input in his 'method' or in 'the dialectic method'."Whereas, there is one that supports my interpretation."Get over it."http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=7#comment-37680But, as was the case with most of your other posts, I am sure you will ignore this again, and I will have to repeat it many times before it sinks in.So be it…Finally:"but it does claim 'Such an inquiry will confine itself to the confrontation and the comparison of a fact, not with ideas, but with another fact.' which is as near Hegelian as I need."1) Is this idea unique to Hegel (which is what my challenge laid out)?2) I'd be grateful if you'd provide us with a referenced quote from Hegel to which this is "near". 


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124095
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"But that doesn't mean anything."Let me get this straight: a summary that contains no trace of Hegel or his ideas, but which Marx nevertheless calls 'the dialectic method', and which was added to the Postface to prove to the reviewer that his 'method' owed nothing to Hegel and wasn't "German-dialectical" "doesn't mean anything"?So, I was right, you are determined to ignore this summary and its significance.But, you have an answer:"I could write a definitive description of the Labour Theory of Value without once mentioning Marx, what would that prove?"That of course misses the point — my argument isn't, and has never been, that Marx doesn't "mention Hegel", but that there is no trace of Hegel or any of his concepts in that summary.Here is how I put this in two of my first posts in this thread (one of which was in reply to you!):"In the above passage, not one single Hegelian concept is to be found (upside down or 'the right way up') — no "contradictions", no change of 'quantity into quality', no 'negation of the negation', no 'unity and identity of opposites' no 'interconnected Totality', no 'universal change' –, and yet Marx still calls this the 'dialectic method"' and says of it that it is 'my method'." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy#comment-37562"In that summary, not one single Hegelian concept is to be found, upside down or 'the right way up', and yet Marx still calls this 'the dialectic method' (note, not part of, or one aspect of, 'the dialectic method', but 'the dialectic method'), and 'my method'. So, Marx's 'method' is a Hegel-free zone ('upside down or the right way up')." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=2#comment-37586Now, I challenge you to write a "definitive description of the Labour Theory of Value" and fail to mention, for example, surplus value, abstract labour, the equivalent and the relative form of value, use value, exchange value, the falling rate of profit, variable/constant capital (or their equivalents and/or synonyms), etc., etc. Until you do, the above claim of yours can only be viewed as grandstanding. YMS:"especially as he adds Hegel immediately afterwards, he adds Hegel to someone else's summary."I'm sorry, where does Marx add "Hegel to someone else's summary"?And sure, he 'mentions' Hegel several times, but we have been over these 'mentions' many times.YMS:"What we can say is Marx acknowledges he uses the dialectic, that Hegel's method is not his, that Hegel distorted the dialectic."In fact, according to that summary, which not only fails to mention Hegel, it contains not one single concept drawn from, or which is unique to, Hegel's work, we can say more: Marx's dialectic owes absolutely nothing to Hegel (except for a few items of jargon with which he merely 'coquetted', and only 'here and there' — which is hardly a ringing endorsement, is it?).YMS:"Not only have I not looked for it, I have no intention of looking for it, nor any need: since my argument does not rely upon any such fanciful document, but upon the words Marx put on the page."1) And yet you serially ignore (or downplay) the summary Marx added to the Postface, which contains not one atom drawn from Hegel's work (i.e., that is unique to his work), but which he still calls 'the dialectic method'.2) Finally, I have added this challenge to some of my posts of late:"Of course, if you can find another summary of the 'dialectic method', written and published by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to 1873, which does what you say — i.e., shows "there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic" — let's see it."http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=7#comment-37680And there was good reason for this challenge; here it is again:"As I have also pointed out, I begin with this statement by Marx about what his method and 'the dialectic method' amounted to, and I interpret everything else in that light — until, that is, you, or someone else, can come up with another summary of 'the dialectic method', written, published or endorsed by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to the passage published in the Postface (i.e .,1873 or after), that informs us that he accepted or agreed with Engels's view of 'the dialectic'." [Bold added.]http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=3#comment-37604So, unless you can come up with such a passage, there is no justification for you re-inserting Hegel or his concepts into Marx's 'dialectic method'.Which is why I added these comments (partly quoted above):"Of course, if you can find another summary of the 'dialectic method', written and published by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to 1873, which does what you say — i.e., shows "there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic" — let's see it."Oh wait!"There isn't one!"Now, you can't quote a single text written by Marx, published in or after 1873, that tells us that Hegel had any input in his 'method' or in 'the dialectic method'."Whereas, there is one that supports my interpretation."Get over it."http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=7#comment-37680


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124093
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS (and yes, I was right, I do have to make the very same points again):"Ah, but this is the key, describing someone else's description of the dialectic as such does not necessarily imply that he considered this the definitive definition (if he did, why didn't he say that: a good hermeneutic method is to consider how else a text could be structured or phrased): he says the St. Petersberg reviewer  was describing the dialectic, and then goes on to gloss how Hegel was the "the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner. " from whose work one may "discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell" but who had mystified the dialectic."But, this is the only summary of 'the dialectic method' Marx ever published and endorsed, so, unless you can find another passage, written and published by Marx, contemporaneous with or subsequent to the Postface, it stands as a definitive statement of what he called 'my method'.And, yes we could speculate, and come up with any number of wild and wonderful interpretations, but all will fall foul of that summary, and Marx's description of it as 'my method' and 'the dialectic method' if they try to reintroduce Hegel.In order to justify any such move you would have to locate that missing passage, written and published by Marx, contemporaneous with or subsequent to the Postface, that tells us Hegel was still an influence on his 'method'. Since you haven't managed to find it (I suspect you haven't even looked for it!), it isn't."But I don't ignore that paragraph, the absence of Hegel from someone else's description of the dialectic does not imply necessarily that Marx considered he needed to be absent, that Marx then introduces Hegel suggests that he felt Hegel needed to be added.  That Marx considered the dialectic existed pre-and-separate from Hegel's writings does not mean that he did not ascribe to him the position of being the first to generally and consciously describe it." [Typos corrected.]Well, you do ignore it (and its significance), since you keep forgetting what Marx called it.What was that, again?Oh yes: he called it 'the dialectic method', even though Hegel can't be found in it anywhere.See you again soon, where I have no doubt that I will have to make the very same points, yet again.Ok, as many as it takes…


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124091
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"I really cannot remember what we discussed in 2013."I posted a link earlier, but here it is again (I join in on page 4):http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/do-we-need-dialectic?page=3YMS (and so we take another spin across the flatlands of selective blindness — you should have gone to Specsavers):"The writer in St. Petersberg, generously, has misunderstood Marx, and rather than the severe realism described, Marx has actually used a dialectical method. (note the whilst)."Indeed, I pointed this out several posts ago (with all due respect, you really must at least try to pay attention!); here it is again:"M. Block — 'Les Théoriciens du Socialisme en Allemagne. Extrait du Journal des Economistes, Juillet et Août 1872' — makes the discovery that my method is analytic and says: 'Par cet ouvrage M. Marx se classe parmi les esprits analytiques les plus eminents.' German reviews, of course, shriek out at 'Hegelian sophistics.' The European Messenger of St. Petersburg in an article dealing exclusively with the method of 'Das Kapital' (May number, 1872, pp. 427-436), finds my method of inquiry severely realistic, but my method of presentation, unfortunately, German-dialectical."Marx points out that the mistake this reviewer had made was to conclude that Marx's method was "Hegelian" and "German-dialectical".So, what did Marx do to correct him? Again, from earlier:"It is at that point that Marx adds the summary of 'the dialectic method' — in the very next paragraph."That is the context of the summary: to repudiate accusations that 'the dialectic method' was in any way Hegelian. He sums up by calling it 'the dialectic method' even though it contains no Hegel at all, and because it contains no Hegel at all. He was throwing this passage back in the face of that reviewer, using his own words against him."Which is why I interpret the contentious passage (you keep returning to) in the way I have."http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/general-discussion/marx-and-philosophy?page=7#comment-37656The only question is, why do you keep ignoring this summary and its significance?"The absence of Hegel from a passage written by someone else is not a strong indicator of Marx's views of the matter, the fact that he glossed the quotation of someone else's opinions with a discussion of Hegel's rational Kernel suggests he is at least adding to that someone else's idea, that quote by another writer, that was not Marx's own opinion, that he didn't write, that originated from someone else, another person's idea, writing about Marx, not Hegel."That would have been a good point had Marx not called that summary "the dialectic method". Since he did, it isn't."That gloss, using human words, which ascribes to Hegel the privilege of being the first, not to originate the dialectic, but "first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner" albeit wrongly, in a mystified form that contains a rational kernel."Answered many, many times; move on."It's hardly a sensible method to ascribe more meaning to a paragraph simply because it comes first within a text, especially a developing argument."It is even less sensible ignoring Marx's own description of that summary as "the dialectic method", despite the fact that it contained no trace of Hegel whatsoever.See you again soon, where I have no doubt that I will have to make the very same points, yet again.Ok, as many as it takes…


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124089
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"Which is a continuation of correcting the misapprehensions of the Russian writer as to his method.  Where Marx does describe his dialectic is a subsequent paragraph."1) Marx doesn't correct this reviewer, in fact he says the following about his review:"Whilst the writer pictures what he takes to be actually my method, in this striking and [as far as concerns my own application of it] generous way, what else is he picturing but the dialectic method?" [Bold added.]So, Marx is entirely positive about it.Perhaps you know somewhere where Marx repudiated this review as an accurate expression of his "method"? If so, don't be shy, let's see it.2) Marx described this review as an expression of "the dialectic method", even though it contained absolutely no trace of Hegel, or even 'German dialectics'.So, the following is the opposite of the truth:"there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic."If there is a 'germ of truth' in Hegel's 'dialectic', why did Marx quote a summary that completely banished Hegel from 'the dialectic method', and then call it, by implication, 'my method'?But what about this?"With him it is standing on its head. It must be turned right side up again, if you would discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell."We covered this in detail back in 2013. Why are we going over it yet again?[Well, we both know the answer to that one: you have a bad case of selective blindness — you ignore a clear statement by Marx about his 'method' and 'the dialectic method', and focus on other passages that fail to tell us anything about 'the dialectic method'. That seems fair.]Once more (quoted from an earlier post of mine):"we…have a summary published and endorsed by Marx that contains no trace of Hegel whatsoever, which he nevertheless calls "the dialectic method". That salient fact alters the interpretation of anything Marx subsequently says about "the dialectic method", or even about Hegel's alleged invention of certain forms of it." [Bold added.]In view of that, it is quite clear that to put Hegel the right way up is to show how empty his head is. The rational kernel — summarised for us in the passage Marx quoted from that reviewer, which is a Hegel-free zone — contains no Hegel at all.How do we know?Well, Marx told us when he described a summary that had absolutely no Hegel in it: "the dialectic method".[We can go over this as many times as it takes until it sinks in, if you like.]Of course, if you can find another summary of the 'dialectic method', written and published by Marx contemporaneous with or subsequent to 1873, which does what you say — i.e., shows "there was a germ of truth within the Hegelian dialectic" — let's see it.Oh wait!There isn't one!Now, you can't quote a single text written by Marx, published in or after 1873, that tells us that Hegel had any input in his 'method' or in 'the dialectic method'.Whereas, there is one that supports my interpretation.Get over it.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124078
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS (and we take yet another spin across the flatlands of irrelevance):"The summary of the dialectic is within the same text, and so what we are looking at here is how to interpret the text as a whole, and this sentence is within it."Let's take Bob the baker.  Let us suppose that a long passage about putting bread on the table preceded, with no word about Bob within that long paragraph.  Let us further suppose the author includes mentions about their method of putting bread on the table, and how they do it in the completely opposite way to Bob, and then says:"'The pulverising which flour suffers in Bob’s hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to put bread on the table'."Let's suppose we find a text by the master baker that implies that Bob isn't a baker after all — and the bread is really flavoured plastic.Any more fiction for me to bat out of the park with my own fiction?[With fiction, one can invent anything one likes. Give us your best shot…]Not so with Marx's own declaration concerning what he meant by 'the dialectic method' — can't make that up — which summary you still seem to want to ignore.Odd that…


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124085
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    Moderator 1: apologies. I will not mention the topic of your warning ever again in this thread.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124087
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"In the same, short, afterword.  It's a curious thing to do, don't you think. I mean, the passage is one ext[tract?], shouldn't it be interpreted as a whole?"Indeed, it should be interpreted as part of that 'whole', and part of that 'whole' is the summary of 'the dialectic method' which contains no Hegel at all.And it is "curious" you keep ignoring it.Why did Marx add the contentious passage about which you keep preseverating? As that Postface points out, Marx was keen to distance himself from Hegel:"M. Block — 'Les Théoriciens du Socialisme en Allemagne. Extrait du Journal des Economistes, Juillet et Août 1872' — makes the discovery that my method is analytic and says: 'Par cet ouvrage M. Marx se classe parmi les esprits analytiques les plus eminents.' German reviews, of course, shriek out at 'Hegelian sophistics.' The European Messenger of St. Petersburg in an article dealing exclusively with the method of 'Das Kapital' (May number, 1872, pp. 427-436), finds my method of inquiry severely realistic, but my method of presentation, unfortunately, German-dialectical. It says:'At first sight, if the judgment is based on the external form of the presentation of the subject, Marx is the most ideal of ideal philosophers, always in the German, i.e., the bad sense of the word. But in point of fact he is infinitely more realistic than all his forerunners in the work of economic criticism. He can in no sense be called an idealist.'"I cannot answer the writer better than by aid of a few extracts from his own criticism, which may interest some of my readers to whom the Russian original is inaccessible."After a quotation from the preface to my 'Criticism of Political Economy,' Berlin, 1859, pp. IV-VII, where I discuss the materialistic basis of my method, the writer goes on…" [Bold added.]https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/p3.htmIt is at that point that Marx adds the summary of 'the dialectic method' — in the very next paragraph.That is the context of the summary: to repudiate accusations that 'the dialectic method' was in any way Hegelian. He sums up by calling it "the dialectic method" even though it contains no Hegel at all, and because it contains no Hegel at all. He was throwing this passge back in the face of that reviewer, using his own words against him.Which is why I interpret the contentious passage (you keep returning to) in the way I have.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124084
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"That would by no means prevent Bob from having been the first to put (plastic) bread on the table."Recently published work of an investigative journalist, working for the SPGB, shows that there was no Bob. He was in fact called Woodruff Durfendorfer, a mmber of the Tory Party, who invented the story in order to derail a thread at their discussion Forum. So, there was no Bob, no bread, no plastic, and no table."So, whatever Marx' dialectic, and the form it took, he did consider Hegel "the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner.", albeit mystified and in a method different from that which Marx applied.  This is what the German afterword tells us."Unfortunately, Marx scuppered this interpretation of his words by including a summary which, even though it is a Hegel-free zone, he still called 'the dialectic method'. This, of course, prevents Hegel being "the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner", since, as that summary shows, Hegel didn't present it in any form at all.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124077
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    TK:"Typical bloody Trotskyist, taking power undemocratically, and then ordering everyone aroound, it's like Kronstadt all over again!!!!!"Isn't it time for your medication?


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124072
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    mcolome1:"I think everybody around here is off topic because the original post was Marx and philosophy and it was changed to a topic that we covered several months ago, and you are repeating the same argumentation."May I suggest you take that up with the moderators?Until then, it's off-topic.


     

    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124074
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    YMS:"'The crapping in the flower bed by the cat, by no means prevents him from being ginger.'"'The destruction which running shoes suffer from the boy, by no means prevents him from being first in the race.'"'The pulverising which flour suffers in Bob’s hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to put bread on the table'."So, for those of us who dabble in English: what colour is the cat?  What position in the race did the boy finish?  Who put bread on the table first?"In each case, do you have an earlier statement by the owner of that cat, the organiser of the race, or Bob's mum, that throws into doubt your putative inferences?No.But, we do have a summary published and endorsed by Marx that contains no trace of Hegel whatsoever, which he nevertheless calls "the dialectic method". That salient fact alters the interpretation of anything Marx subsequently says about "the dialectic method", or even about Hegel's alleged invention of certain forms of it.As I have noted many times, you fail to notice this or take account of it. So, you keep posting irrelevant comments (like those above).Here is the point again, for you to ignore once more:"I have pointed out, many, many times, that I begin with Marx's own summary of "the dialectic method", which is a Hegel free zone. If he called something that contains no trace of Hegel "the dialectic method" (not "a dialectical method", or "part of, or one aspect of the dialectic method" nor yet "one man's take on the dialectic method", but "the dialectic method") and which by implication represents the rational core of 'dialectics', then it can't be the case that Hegel was "the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner." Why call a summary, the only one Marx published and endorsed in his entire life, "the dialectic method" and "my method" if it contained absolutely no input from Hegel."In that light, if you begin with Marx's own words about his method (and not someone else's subsequent recasting of it) my interpretation of this passage is correct."Nothing you have so far posted addresses these significant facts.The above testifies to the fact that you serially ignore them, as does this:"So, we are taking Marx' own words here, and he is giving Hegel credit for being first to present dialectic in " its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner." Not originating or designing it, but being the first to give the first general, conscious comprehensive analysis of it. That, presumably, must challenge your 'Hegel free zone' theses: in actuality, what he is saying is Hegel was the first to be wrong, and in being wrong deserves the credit of being corrected (there is wrong and wrong)."You see, you don't begin with that summary — you ignore Marx's own description of his method, "the dialectic method" — and you try to read into these contentious words:"The mystification which dialectic suffers in Hegel's hands, by no means prevents him from being the first to present its general form of working in a comprehensive and conscious manner."An interpretation that contradicts (fittingly one feels) Marx's own declaration that the Hegel-free summary he published represents his method — which he (not me, he) calls "the dialectic method".YMS:"Engels' reading of AD to Marx is beside the point (hence why discussing it at length is a straw man): Marx doesn't have to have read the thing in detail to be aware of the general contents (or have heard/read the whole text).  The only, and substantive point, is that a text written by his close collaborator for decades, and good friend, was published, he provided a preface, and has produced no discernable comment public of otherwise which contests the contents of that book.  Adding a preface to a book is endorsement of sorts"Already answered, twice.Move on…[But we both know you won't. So, I will just have to make the same points again, and again, and…]


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124070
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    mcolomei:"The world working class must enroll on a detox programme  from the bourgeois ideology, and they can find that detox  programme with the World Socialist Movement."I'm sorry, but that is off-topic.


    in reply to: Marx and dialectic #124069
    Rosa Lichtenstein
    Participant

    mcolome1:"The Vanguard Party concept indicates  that workers by themselves  are only able to fight for economism. Nobody needs a great mind in order to become a professional cadres, and I never read that from Lenin or from Trotsky or Stalin, even more, Lenin indicated that the vanguard party concept was only a temporary measure applicable to Russia"As Lars Lih has shown (in extensive detail), this is a caricature of Lenin's view of the vanguard party.https://www.haymarketbooks.org/search?q=Lenin-RediscoveredThe above book isn't available on-line, but this is (it's an article called "The myth of 'Lenin's Concept of the Party'", by Hal Draper), which makes similar poits:https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1990/myth/index.htmNow, this subject is off-topic, and the moderator has already warned us about this, so I will stop responding to such posts except to poiint out they are off-topic, from here on in.


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