Theory Rocks!: Traditional vs. Organic

Alan Keyes

Angela Davis

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).

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).

Theory Rocks!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Traditional vs. Organic

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Obama: A Traditional or Organic Intellectual?

Grappling with Gramsci

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Oh No He Didn't: Endless, Evolving and Perplexing Lenin Quotables

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