Tag: historical materialism

Historical materialism, a disaster for the left…//Debriefing Gurdjieffianity: Struggles Of the Black Magicians

The legacy of historical materialism has been disastrous for the left: amputating connections with the complexity of real culture for a barren and scientifically baseless ‘theory’ propaganda, and finally decreeing the illusory nature of all ‘spiritual’ subjects in toto. Spiritual subjects can certainly prove illusory, but so can ‘material’ ideologies. The reactionary counterrevolutionary anti-modernists saw their opportunity and in that field we see the occult fascists at work from the late nineteenth century and the calamity they have already performed as they rev up for another round. Many are puzzled by the alt-right, fascist creep, and political zombiehood, etc… As with Marxists they have declared the problem doesn’t exist.

The curious case of Gurdjieff shows the way this constellation is seizing high ground and while he is innocent til proven guilty and in part an observer or near fellow traveler of the phenomenon in question and he stands just on the fringe of those we have never met who manufactured fascists. Such people aren’t dumb enough to be fascists in raw form, but exploit such dummies for their action of social demolition of freedom, democracy, and a secular world.

The left needs a total remake and a more viable social philosophy than the Marxist ostrich world.

Marxists have made themselves oblivious to the down predator/prey gulch.

 The New Age mirage versus the antiquity of Indic yogas.

All these New Age formations are in an addled state but at the same time this is a good example of the way that historical materialism can never be the basis of a future culture because it cannot evaluate the real legacies of civilization. The history of the yogas is as old as civilization and has been a recurrent tradition in all times and ages. The current confusions spring from a proximate tradition in classical to modern times, but that tradition like traditional religions is already a train wreck. The world needs some really good help on this one, because homo sapiens have few to no resources that can address the complex of human consciousness. But the modern versions of yoga are dilapidated cults and fated to die out or become sterile like the TM movement, or the hatha yoga cult.
Some of the texts here record constellations from 5000 BCE (later texts, of course) showing the evolutionary scale of the whole set of traditions.

Source: Was Ramana Maharsi a fascist? puking up (neo-) Advaita gibberish…the Vedic fraud as to the history of the yogas… – The Gurdjieff Con – 1848+: The End(s) of History

The Red Forty-eight Group: creating a new popular/populist postmarxist platform

The Last Revolution_Postcapitalist_Futures_ver21ax

Our idea of the Red Forty-eight group is to make a superset of the whole left as it emerged in the 1848 period. We take the early modern and the birth of socialism/democracy as the starting point instead of the Marxist monopoly of the whole field.
We propose a new approach to world history in a new kind of model that is ultra-simple, ‘not another theory’.
We link democracy/socialism as a failsafed term to preempt ‘socialism in a void’ that leads to Stalinism.
We propose a socialist economy that can actually work, based not on state capitalism, but on a Commons. This system will have socialist markets, democratic/legal rights, planning, a Commons, and a robust set of ecological and economic rights. The model requires expropriation in the large of capital, but can be achieved in theory as a reformist initiative.
Attempts to convert humanity to historical materialism are simply dead in the water.
This new left must disown the Marxist legacy but can use some of its resources.
The theme of emphasis on the working class passes seamlessly into this model, but without the mystifications of the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat, etc… Marxists here seem to send the suggestion that socialism is for the working class only. So what of everyone else? Most of the public is completely paranoid confronting the Marxist botch

But a true socialism must define the place of all prior classes in the context of the Universal class.

This kind of system could be highly popular as the world system slides into chaos…

Source: marxmail@groups.io | Ten Years After Occupy, We Have a Left That Matters…??? – 1848+: The End(s) of History

The eonic model and world history: no other model exists that can match its combination of evolutionary dynamics and free agency…Historical materialism is dated now…

We have critiqued ‘historical materialism’ repeatedly here, from the left and suggested a new approach that could serve the left better than the dated legacy of Marxism. This article starts with an attack on postmodernism and its rejection of historical laws, etc…But the issue of history is not so simple and the lack of a science does not entail the lack of analysis. The issue is falsely posed: we can reject a ‘science’ of history without rejecting a larger analysis of its essential nature.
The eonic model is a new breakthrough that distinguishes ‘system action’ and free agency and shows how the two interact as we place the issue of civilization in the context of post-Darwinian evolution.
This model uncovers the unsuspected dynamic behind world history and its connections: the category is an evolutionary model and a two-level micro/macro distinction.. No other model can match the blend of historical determination and the action of free agents inside it.

This model can easily adapt to new versions of liberalism, socialism, and what we call neo-communism. The interaction of a system and a free agent is the key to this approach and occurs in ordinary life in dozens of examples: the most obvious being the ‘system action’ of an automobile and the ‘free agency’ of the driver.

The left including Marxists would do well to recast their whole subject and start over ASAP as time runs out for the left: an old-style revolution in marxist terms isn’t going to happen: what is needed is a platform with a more generalized model of history and crucially a reminder that now ‘laws of history’ are going produce postcapitalism: men/women as free agents must construct and realize a new model of society.

The International Marxist Tendency proudly presents the Winter 2021 issue of the In Defence of Marxism theoretical journal! This latest edition is themed around the topic of historical materialism. We publish below the editorial by Alan Woods.

Source: In defence of historical materialism: new magazine out now!

To Marxmail

Thanks for this reply and also to Hari Kumar for his kind response. I am sorry for the confusion over the issues cited and the cc messages to group members. The question of cultism can be set aside save to note that the debates over 9/11 and evolution won’t go away. The question of historical materialism requires some commentary. I have been following this list for a long time without being able to contribute, but recently I saw an opening and have taken that up controversially. as it seems. I have written a short book The Last Revolution at high speed to move into this opening. Continue reading “To Marxmail” →

We Need a Socialist Vision for Space Exploration

A socialist vision for space is a great idea but the problem is that the narrow vision of marxism would likely take over and degrade the idea to the level of Marx’s reductionist scientism, historical materialism, and purely economic categories. No idea of human will, soul, values and facts, or morality could enter (in fact Marxists are aware of the problems and don’t really believe in their own take, but the problem would surface).
The so-called left has no real vision for society beyond the sterile marxist capture of the idea.
But the basic point that capitalism in space is potentially pernicious is a good one, but post-marxists and other leftists need to reinvent the idea, without sentimental pseudo-leftism, but not in the crypto-Stalinist vein of the current left dominated by now archaic notions.

The billionaire space race has perverted what space exploration should really be about: serving society and advancing humanity.

Source: We Need a Socialist Vision for Space Exploration