sniper

3y

I don’t, but I am very critical of the “orthodox” stuff

I prefer more of the left-communist stuff, even though there are diverse strains of thought contained within that

autonomism/communization particularly have a lot of appeal to me, since I think they have given a deeper materialist Marxist a***ysis of our current post-industrial world rather than simply engaging with dogmatic ghosts from a different world, where Keynesianism still had relevancy and the post-colonial moment hadn’t ended

It shows that there is a way to engage with Marx without being held back.

I like to be somewhat ecclectic and incorporate these a***yses into my own thinking, I don’t consider myself a “Marxist” because I don’t follow the teachings of any one person.

Scratchin Mamba

3y

Arent you an "ideological nihilist" now or whatever lol

Womanpuncher69

3y

lmaooo that insurrection nihilist anarchist thing that was going on twitter was cringier than socdems using the uni debate club as socdem agitation

at least i’m finally of political twitter and just use it for schizos

also how are the student politics in netherlands in canada it seems to be cursed and stuck in the neoliberal framework maybe i’m hanging out with too much bougie people

SEGA GOON

3y

What does the rest of the Communism Thread members think

Scratchin Mamba

3y

Student politics here is not that bad that it's all neoliberal for sure

A lot of student groups are vaguely anti-capitalist and you'll have orgs with anarchistists and marxists, but a lot of these people just lost and confused ngl

Got some people calling themselves marxist and social democrats at the same time but not communist

A lot of these people are silver spoon cacs too, not that there's no non-cac working class ppl who would be down to join but their time is either fully dedicated to trying to make ends meet/advancing their career to escape poverty or some actions which involve getting into trouble with police scare them off too much. Especially in Rotterdam which has a police department that's notoriously racist and quick to smack you w their lil pig sticks for nothing

WRU

3y

I hate discord bc it’s just another app I have to keep opened. And I just don’t like discord in general

But if something goes down site-wise it’s good to know there’s a backup

Scratchin Mamba

3y

What you guys think about Althusser's stance on a break between and late Marx? @cloud_rap @PhilipMorris

Womanpuncher69

3y

won’t lie the intellectuals in canada make me resonate with Pol Pot

sniper

3y

I don’t, but I am very critical of the “orthodox” stuff

I prefer more of the left-communist stuff, even though there are diverse strains of thought contained within that

autonomism/communization particularly have a lot of appeal to me, since I think they have given a deeper materialist Marxist a***ysis of our current post-industrial world rather than simply engaging with dogmatic ghosts from a different world, where Keynesianism still had relevancy and the post-colonial moment hadn’t ended

It shows that there is a way to engage with Marx without being held back.

I like to be somewhat ecclectic and incorporate these a***yses into my own thinking, I don’t consider myself a “Marxist” because I don’t follow the teachings of any one person.

Womanpuncher69

3y

lmaooo that insurrection nihilist anarchist thing that was going on twitter was cringier than socdems using the uni debate club as socdem agitation

at least i’m finally of political twitter and just use it for schizos

also how are the student politics in netherlands in canada it seems to be cursed and stuck in the neoliberal framework maybe i’m hanging out with too much bougie people

Sir Real

3y

You see that new JMP book that just came out? Looks fire

Womanpuncher69

3y

yeah i listen to the podcast he did on em haven’t read it yet

Womanpuncher69

3y

won’t lie the intellectuals in canada make me resonate with Pol Pot

Sir Real

3y

what’s that Reading Capital Politically book about? Looks kinda interesting

SEGA GOON

3y

A lot of the "young Marx" works were discovered decades after his death, like in the 1920s, 1930s. So for example Lenin and his generation never really got to read them. I doubt Stalin or Mao had any knowledge of that either.

The works of the "young Marx" became popular in Western academia starting in the 1950s. Since the "old Marx" was associated with oriental despotism, reclaiming Marxism through the "young Marx" became en vogue. Those who latched onto "young Marx" were groups such as the "humanist Marxists", "cultural Marxists", ultraleftists and so on.

Althusser's work can be regarded as a reaction to this tendency. He actually capitulates to the idea of the KAKademics - that there is a young Marx and an old Marx - but then he claims that, other than what the KAKademics say, it is the old Marx who is more valuable.

Basically the academic version of a dude on Twitter believing all the gulag 100 gorillion dead stuff, but then saying "Good!".

There is honestly no break between young Marx and old Marx. It was just a steady evolution. Marx started as Redditor /r/atheism edgelord in university, basically, and a Shakespeare and Hegel stan. This was more understandable given the chokehold the church still had on semi-feudal Germany. He soon understood that focusing solely on religion was stupid, since the church was merely a symptom of society's ills, but not its cause.

He became a journalist and began to study economics and politics more to further hone his craft. Despite having a certain sense of pity and affection for the common people, Marx was not a communist yet and actually found communists a bit strange at first. He lived in Brussels and Paris and became more familiar with the socialists there (not all of whom were what would we call communists). Soon he became acquainted with another young Hegelian, Friedrich Engels.

Engels had intimate knowledge of capitalism through his father's factory in Manchester. England was the birthplace of capitalism. Germany, despite being one of the most advanced economies of its time, was still semi-feudal. Capitalism was still in its early days. Engels encountered the plight of the newly emerging class, the proletariat. He even experienced the rise of the Chartists, which was the first organized working class movement in history. It was through Engels' first-hand account of the classes in England that Marx drifted towards communism. It was specifically Engels who introduced Marx to communist ideas. The deal was sealed when Engels brought along Marx to him in England.

Marx already had the sense that the emerging society is alienating people from their existence. The young Marx tried to describe this alienation in different ways, through critique of religion, through literary criticism, through prose...he still wrestled with the idea-heaven world that academics built and the harsh contrast of daily life of the common people. It was Engels showing him the reality of the worker's plight, far away from the academic and activist sphere, where Marx finally let go off any idealist remnants and took on a more practical, materialist view.

Was this a sudden "epistemological break"? No. Alienation is still a core topic of Das Kapital, even if it doesn't get mentioned by name. It doesn't have to be. Alienation from our own self is such a hard and vague concept to describe, but we all feel it. Kapital was merely an attempt at explaining alienation by examining its roots. The ideas of alienation live on more explicitly through the concepts of commodity fetishism or reification (Verdinglichung, or: commodifcation).

I would argue that there was no break, but:
1. a very logical evolution by being exposed to the reality of the world rather than academia.

2. The failed 1848 revolution (in which Engels fought and Marx offered support) exposed the shortcomings of liberalism, since liberalism could never overcome the ills of private property (property can only become private by excluding others from it).

3. Capitalism outgrew feudalism, so it became impossible to ignore the proletariat and the dynamics that come with it.

4. Alienation is too hard to describe, that's something for which you need art, music, novels. And even if you describe it, how do you explain its roots? And even if you explain its roots, how do you solve it? The answer goes back to the study of political economy, since this is what decides our daily survival and how we spend most of our time awake.

Althusser goes further that even old Marx never shed himself of his idealism entirely and claims this is why the first 100 pages of Das Kapital are so hard to read (on commodities and value). That's a topic for another post

sniper

3y

It's an autonomist Marxist reading of Capital and its political implications.

Womanpuncher69

3y

who’s win in a fight Stalin Red Army or Adorno army of youtube essayists

kiddash3r

3y

this thread is insane man, food is so expensive we are nearing the end