Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This is a blog for a community of students in Sociology 101A: "Sociological Theory," in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, Fall, 2008.
Welcome!
This is the informal blog spot for errant questions, random ramblings, and clever musings. For the rest of the semester, we'll use this blog to clarify the work(s) of Lenin, Gramsci and Fanon. Feel free to endlessly post, and don't forget: Theory Rocks!
Will Obama bring the U.S. closer to socialism?
Obama: A Traditional or Organic Intellectual?
Grappling with Gramsci
"The mode of being of the new intellectual can no longer consist in eloquence, which is an exterior and momentary mover of feelings and passions, but in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organizer, 'permanent persuader' and not just a simple orator (but superior at the same time to the abstract mathematical spirit) ..." (Prison Notebooks, 10).
"The relationship between the intellectuals and the world of production is not as direct as it is with the fundamental social groups but is, in varying degrees, 'mediated' by the whole fabric of society and by the complex of superstructures, of which the intellectual are, precisely, the 'functionaries'" (Prison Notebooks 12).
"The superstructure of civil society are like the trench-systems of modern warfare. In war it would sometimes happen that a fierce artillery attack seemed to have destroyed the outer perimeter; and at the moment of their advance and attack the assailants would find themselves confronted by a line of defense which was still effective" (Prison Notebooks 235).
"The massive structures of modern democracies, both as State organizations, and as complexes of associations in civil society, constitute for the art of politics as it were the 'trenches' and the permanent fortifications of the front in the war of position ..." (Prison Notebooks 243).
"... [I]t is obvious that all the essential questions of sociology are nothing other than the questions of political science" (Prison Notebooks 244).
"As long as the class-State exists the regulated society cannot exist, other than metaphorically---i.e. only in the sense that the class-State too is a regulated society" (Prison Notebooks 257).
What did you think of the Rosa Luxemburg film?
Oh No He Didn't: Endless, Evolving and Perplexing Lenin Quotables
"We are in favour of a democratic republic as the best form of state for the proletariat under capitalism" (The State and Revolution, 323).
"Simultaneously with an immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time become democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the money-bags, the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists. We must suppress them in order to free humanity from wage slavery, their resistance must be crushed by force; it is clear that there is no freedom and no democracy where there is suppression and where there is violence" (The State and Revolution, 373).
"The expression 'the state withers away' is very well chosen, for it indicates both the gradual and the spontaneous nature of the process. Only habit can, and undoubtedly will, have such an effect ..." (The State and Revolution, 374).
What did you think of Salt of the Earth?
Who got it right?
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(58)
-
▼
November
(42)
- A Different Wretched of the Earth!
- Fanon in Context
- Frantz Fanon
- The Thousand Threads and Obama's Economic Advisors
- Theory Barocks Assignment
- Rosa Luxemburg
- The revolutionary visions of Rosa Luxemberg
- Rosa Luxemburg's Fight for Revolution
- Will Obama bring the U.S. closer to socialism?
- Is Obama connected to the state with a thosuand th...
- Lenin on Obama
- Lenin's view of Obama
- Theory BAROCKS!!!
- Lenin and Obama
- Lenin: "Obama and his capitalist tendencies"
- Lenin and Obama,
- Thousand Threads Remain
- Baracks Assignment
- Theory Barocks
- The "Revolutionary" Question
- Lenin says...
- Lenin on Obama
- Lenin on Obama's Victory
- Obama and Lenin
- What would Lenin say about Obama's Victory....
- Lenin vs Obama
- Revolutionary Transitions: Luxemburg and Lenin
- Luxemburg & Lenin
- Lenin believes that Obama’s.....
- what would lenin say
- Obama and Lenin
- Traditional vs. Organic
- Traditional vs. Organic
- Thousand Threads Connected to Congress Too?
- Gramsci on Luxemburg
- Sounds like a Gramsci Studybreak!
- Jeopardy Question: Class in Itself
- Luxemburg meets Burawoy
- Vida de Gramsci
- yay for today's debate!!!
- 1981 PATCO Strike
- Kropotkin's Letter to Lenin
-
▼
November
(42)
1 comment:
Rosa Luxemburg was a prominent leader of the German Social Democratic Party, a dominant socialist party in Germany in the late nineteenth century. She was a commanding figure in the party during its phase of extreme growth and during the time in which their party was gaining ground in the German parliament. Luxemburg started to clash with a large portion of the party when within the party a strong non-revolutionary leadership started to form. She was an outspoken opponent of this structure, which encouraged small incremental changes from capitalism to get to socialism. She unfortunately was outnumbered by party officials and her idea of a revolution to achieve socialism was considered far left and idealistic.
Luxemburg’s disagreement with the German Social Democratic Party, and her main opponent Eduard Bernstein, echoes Lenin’s theory of the inevitable destruction of capitalism. Lenin’s theory offers a multi-step approach to the destruction of capitalism. It shares similar aspects to both the revolutionary ideas of Luxemburg and the incremental approach of Bernstein. Lenin’s theory of the inevitable destruction of capitalism is based on an initial revolution by the proletariat that destroys capitalism. The resulting society is one that is ruled by a new created governing body; the dictatorship of the proletariat. The dictatorship is created only when capitalism is destroyed and will never result, as Lenin contests, “merely in an expansion of democracy.” (373) The dictatorship of the proletariat will teach individuals of society the new ways in which to function that will be in their best interests. It will also “reduce the roll of state officials to that of simply carrying out instructions.” (345) This movement towards communism is how Luxemburg envisioned the jump from capitalism to communism.
Bernstein’s idea of the path from communism can be seen in the second part of Lenin’s theory. This part of the theory involves the incremental changes. It is the dictatorship of the proletariat that will have to teach people by example how communism will look in society. Lenin says that “the necessity of observing the simple, fundamental rules of the community will very soon become a habit.” (384) The social changes that occur in society as a result of the transition from capitalism to socialism will also enable society to successfully transition from socialism to communism. This is a more incremental change because individuals need to understand a new way to allocate resources and distribution techniques that were foreign to them under capitalism.
Though Lenin and Luxemburg agree on many aspects of the transition to communism, there are key differences in their arguments that must be noted. They disagreed on how a revolutionary organization was formed. Lenin argued that the dictatorship of the proletariat be formed, the revolutionary organization, before the revolution occurs. It is through the dictatorship of the proletariat that the “possibility is realised inevitably.” (360) Luxemburg believes that the revolutionary organization will occur naturally during the process. She believes that it will emerge naturally after the destruction of the capitalist state as where Lenin believes that it is required to help with the destruction of the capitalist state.
Post a Comment