Re: [xmca] Banners of Brazil [without oppositions]

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

All the context provided has help the discussion a lot, Peter. I am
uncertain about likening
the motive of current collective political action in Brazil to motives a la
AT and then as a "call to action." Probably nit picking, but there is the
tradition of linking goals and actions,
but motives and activities. Perhaps transferable, perhaps not.

There appear to be some distilling common issues/strategies/moments of
change across
many of the world's countries at present that clearly is impacting us all
as we consider the
future.
mike

On Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 9:06 AM, Peter Feigenbaum [Staff] <
pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu> wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I didn't realize what a hornet's nest I would stir up by my reference to
> Lenin. It's a long, long time since I read the quoted passage, but the gist
> of it has always stayed with me. (Sorry I misquoted the text. My memory is
> like a colander.)
>
> My reason for dredging up the Lenin quote was to point out that I believe
> a revolutionary process is underway in Brazil, a process that begins with a
> motive. Just as Vygotsky describes the production of a speech utterance as
> beginning with a motive, and each period of child development as beginning
> with a motive (which parents and educators help steer and direct), I
> believe each stage in the transformation of society also begins with a
> motive--a call to action. In the case of the Brazilian outpouring into the
> streets, I see the motive as anger with the current state of affairs. I
> believe this anger can and (hopefully) will soon grow from a particular
> focus (such as transportation fares) into a more general resistance, first
> to business as usual, and then into a fight against the most oppressive
> features of the capitalist system: economic and political injustice,
> poverty and deprivation, war, etc. It is this hatred of oppression that
> will lead the Brazilian working class and middle class to raise their
> individual and collective consciousness about the causes of their
> oppression and the means to overcoming it. (By "raising" consciousness, I
> mean expanding its contents to include knowledge of class struggle). By
> inserting the quote from Lenin, my intention was to suggest that this
> anger, and the resistance that it is already engendering, will lead to
> consciousness of, or "wisdom" about, how to conduct of a class
> struggle--which for most Brazilians is probably NOT the mental framework in
> terms of which they are currently thinking.
>
> While the hatred of oppression may fuel the revolutionary process by
> focusing people's attention on the real material causes of that oppression,
> I would also expect the process to elicit other emotions and ideas of a
> more positive bent, such as the love of humanity and the vision of a just
> and equitable society. What people oppose is one side of the equation; what
> they are fighting for is another side. As a revolutionary myself, I am both
> deeply angry at class-divided society and the misery it has caused (and is
> still causing), while I am simultaneously filled with love for humanity and
> a vision of a peaceful world for all humankind. However, it is not the
> positive, forward-looking vision that has raised my own class
> consciousness, but rather the hatred of the oppression I feel and see
> around me.
>
> Mike, I agree that it is both depressing and impossible for anger to be
> the beginning of ALL wisdom. But in terms of becoming conscious of the
> causes of one's oppression under the capitalist system--and conscious about
> how to resist it and then overcome it--I believe anger plays a defining
> role. At this dangerous (pre-adolescent) stage in human societal
> development, I can't imagine any "wisdom" that's more important.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 7:30 AM, Brett Bligh <Brett.Bligh@nottingham.ac.uk
> > wrote:
>
>> Thanks. My apologies to the original poster for veering a bit off the
>> course of the original discussion, but it may interest a few of you to know
>> that discussing the topic of "what Lenin really said" has become bizarrely
>> important in the various British anti-capitalist movements over the past
>> few years.
>>
>> There are apparently two sides to this coin.
>>
>> Firstly, some of the horizontalist and media-savvy protest groups like
>> the UK parts of the Occupy movement and "UK Uncut" (which conducts protests
>> in branches of large corporations embroiled in high-profile tax dodging
>> cases) are quite hostile to centralised decision-making that they label
>> "Leninist". I think that the Indignados in Spain and others have a similar
>> stance. Furthermore, recent attempts to produce serious left-wing forces in
>> UK politics such as the Left Unity initiative and the People's Assembly
>> (whose recent indoor planning meeting in central London attracted more than
>> 4000 people) have been marked by their overt determination not to be
>> dominated by any one particular established sect; the word "Leninist" gets
>> thrown around pejoratively in those discussions, too.
>>
>> Secondly, the existing Trotskyist left in the UK is in a state of
>> meltdown. The Socialist Workers Party, a very established force, has been
>> torn apart and demobilised by a series of recent scandals. These apparently
>> stem from the party bureaucracy operating a regime of unaccountability,
>> secrecy, cover-ups and bullying. Several members who conducted a Facebook
>> conversation about whether they might form a faction at the upcoming party
>> conference were expelled; a huge scandal has erupted because it seems that
>> a rape allegation within the party has been grossly mishandled; the
>> conference itself was a disaster and subsequent witchhunting led to a large
>> group of experienced members walking out of the organisation; etc. The main
>> point is that the SWP *defend* the form of their internal regime on the
>> basis that they are copying the example of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, for
>> them the most successful revolutionary force in history  (one example,
>> written by the SWP's de facto leader:
>> http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=12210 ).
>> Other Trostykist groups, such as Socialist Party in England and Wales
>> (formerly Militant Labour) are experiencing their own mini-crises, too, in
>> a slightly similar vein.
>>
>> Into this situation have stepped a variety of Marxist scholars who point
>> out that all of these types of groups don't seem to have a clue as to how
>> Lenin worked and the Bolsheviks actually operated. Basically, if this
>> argument is correct then what the Occupy movement are attacking, and what
>> the SWP are defending, are both to a large degree straw men. The newspaper
>> 'Weekly Worker' (quite a unique publication, well worth reading) and
>> academics like Lars Lih suggest that Lenin operated very differently from
>> popular perception.
>>
>> In effect, it seems that the regime of the Bolsheviks allowed for
>> comrades to air their differences publicly and debate at very great length.
>> Factions were numerous. Lenin particiapted enthusiatically in debates with
>> those who vehemently disagreed with him -- through publicly available
>> newspapers, very extended party conferences, etc. The point was to air
>> differences *in front of the class*. Though Lenin is retrospectively seen
>> as the central figure of the group, in fact he was repeatedly on the losing
>> end of debates. (One example: Lenin argued passionately *against* renaming
>> the party as the Bolsheviks in the first place, which was originally a
>> nickname he disliked, arguing to retain the original name of RSDLP). The
>> party's rigorously debated programme was a key mechanism for holding the
>> leadership to account. To cut short what is turning into as very lengthy
>> email, the SWP etc seem to be a parody of Leninism, while the Occupy
>> movement etc aren't learning Lenin's key lessons -- and thus seem doomed to
>> exist as exciting but short-lived *phenomena* that are unable to sustain
>> themselves and build organisational and societal momentum over long periods.
>>
>> Andy's "Interdisciplinary Theory of Activity" book, which I am about
>> half-way through reading, talks about Marx's dramaturgical metaphor, where
>> people act by "don[ning] the costumes of a hero from the past or from
>> literature and mythology" (p100). I guess I see this Lenin-related storm as
>> an interesting example whereby this is done problematically -- perhaps by
>> donning the negation of the costume(?), by trying but getting the costume
>> wrong, and then by having to go back and examine what the costume was in
>> the first place, having been led down the garden path.
>>
>> Brett
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: mike cole [lchcmike@gmail.com]
>> Sent: 29 June 2013 17:13
>> To: ablunden@mira.net
>> Cc: Brett Bligh; eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Banners of Brazil [without oppositions]
>>
>> Thanks for the context, Brett. Always helpful.
>> mike
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 29, 2013 at 5:44 AM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net<mailto:
>> ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>> Well found, Brett!
>> Andy
>>
>>
>> Brett Bligh wrote:
>> I'd agree with Andy that these kind of quotations usually turn out to be
>> bunk and that in this case this is so.
>>
>> For the record, though, I think the quotation and comment arises from a
>> *misunderstanding* of a passage in "Leftwing Communism: An Infantile
>> Disorder". Lenin is reacting to some points made by the fiery Sylvia
>> Pankhurst, who has quoted approvingly an enraged letter to a newspaper
>> alleging that the BSP and ILP, some so-called working class organisations
>> of the time, have been captured by careerists. Lenin's reaction is
>> extensive, but begins with these two paragraphs:
>>
>> --
>> In my opinion, this letter to the editor expresses excellently the temper
>> and point of view of the young Communists, or of rank-and-file workers who
>> are only just beginning to accept communism. This temper is highly
>> gratifying and valuable; we must learn to appreciate and support it for, in
>> its absence, it would be hopeless to expect the victory of the proletarian
>> revolution in Great Britain, or in any other country for that matter.
>> People who can give expression to this temper of the masses, and are able
>> to evoke such a temper (which is very often dormant, unconscious and
>> latent) among the masses, should be appreciated and given every assistance.
>> At the same time, we must tell them openly and frankly that a state of mind
>> is by itself insufficient for leadership of the masses in a great
>> revolutionary struggle, and that the cause of the revolution may well be
>> harmed by certain errors that people who are most devoted to the cause of
>> the revolution are about to commit, or are committing. Comrade Gallacher's
>> letter undoubtedly reveals the rudiments of all the mistakes that are being
>> made by the German "Left" Communists and were made by the Russian "Left"
>> Bolsheviks in 1908 and 1918.
>>
>> The writer of the letter is full of a noble and working-class hatred for
>> the bourgeois "class politicians" (a hatred understood and shared, however,
>> not only by proletarians but by all working people, by all Kleinen Leuten
>> to use the German expression). In a representative of the oppressed and
>> exploited masses, this hatred is truly the "beginning of all wisdom", the
>> basis of any socialist and communist movement and of its success. The
>> writer, however, has apparently lost sight of the fact that politics is a
>> science and an art that does not fall from the skies or come gratis, and
>> that, if it wants to overcome the bourgeoisie, the proletariat must train
>> its own proletarian "class politicians", of a kind in no way inferior to
>> bourgeois politicians.
>>
>> http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch09.htm
>>
>> --
>>
>> Hopefully even this brief extract shows that Lenin was making quite a
>> different point to the one being attributed to him.
>>
>> Brett
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>]
>> On Behalf Of mike cole
>> Sent: 29 June 2013 02:03
>> To: ablunden@mira.net<mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
>> Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Banners of Brazil [without oppositions]
>>
>> I am perfectly ready to believe that it was not lenin who said that.
>> Whoever it was Peter was urging us to consider as a key idea. I did not
>> like the idea. It has deadly consequences when isolated in that fashion.
>>
>> mike
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 5:41 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net<mailto:
>> ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Don't be quick to condemn, Mike. I searched Lenins CW at marxists.org<
>> http://marxists.org> and there is no record of Lenin having said that or
>> anything vaguely similar.
>> In my experience, at least 90% of the quotes imputed to Marx or other
>> Marxists turn out to be either outright hoaxes or urban myths.
>>
>> Andy
>>
>> mike cole wrote:
>>
>>
>> I agree with a lot of what you said, Peter. American citizenry is not,
>> yet, in such a situation. Although the outpouring of support for the woman
>> who dared to stand up for reproductive rights in Texas provided such an
>> experience for many and has engaged many beyond.
>>
>> I do not agree with Lenin, however, that anger is the root of ALL wisdom.
>> What a dim view of the human experience.
>>
>> mike
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 8:48 AM, Peter Feigenbaum [Staff] <
>> pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu<mailto:pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear Brazilian colleagues,
>>
>> I find myself in envy of your situation. The struggle to create a better
>> life for working-class and middle-class families in the US has been
>> frustrating and demoralizing these past few years. Directly and through
>> their political representatives, the capitalists have done severe damage to
>> unions and their efforts to organize workers, and the community activists
>> and union activists I'm involved with are worn out and exasperated from
>> many defeats. So the news of a mass outpouring of people onto the streets
>> of Brazil, and the possibility of truly progressive social change in your
>> country, comes as welcome and uplifting news to those of us suffering in
>> the "belly of the beast".
>>
>> For purely selfish reasons, I'm sorry that the events of the past few
>> weeks did not occur last year--when I was visiting Brazil and lecturing at
>> the University of Sao Paulo. It's been a long time since I had the
>> opportunity in my own country to participate in mass demonstrations where
>> the power and strength of the people becomes a palpable and conscious
>> experience. The shared sense that the social order could be changed by our
>> mass action is an exhilarating feeling! I remember thinking that the
>> feeling is fragile, however, because it arose spontaneously and there was
>> no understanding or plan for establishing the conditions for its
>> continuation. Thus, the experience of <people power> was always episodic
>> rather than sustained.
>> In
>> countries where socialism has already been achieved, however, such as
>> Cuba, it's a different story, of course: the people are able to
>> deliberately experience their own power simply by summoning to action their
>> mass organizations such as the Federation of Cuban Women and the Committees
>> for the Defense of the Revolution, which can mobilize 95% of the population
>> on short notice.
>>
>> The events transpiring in Brazil were not consciously planned, but
>> instead arose from an outpouring of emotion. (Lenin wrote that "anger is
>> the root of all wisdom"). It seems to me that to sustain what has begun--to
>> preserve and nurture people's sense of their own power--is going to require
>> a conscious approach from here onward. It will be necessary to identify the
>> material obstacles to realizing people's unity, and to develop concrete
>> plans for overcoming those obstacles, whether they be ideological,
>> theoretical, political, economic, technical, linguistic, etc.
>>
>> I cherish the reports of events in Brazil that have been shared on this
>> listserve. I appreciate knowing what is happening through the lenses of
>> your personal and professional perspectives.  I also appreciate the
>> difficulty you must be having trying to reconcile the emotional and the
>> rational sides of these events, particularly since the events are still in
>> their infancy. As developments allow, please keep us appraised of your
>> progress. Your achievements are heartwarming to those of us in need of such
>> news.
>>
>> In solidarity (and with best wishes), Peter
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 28, 2013 at 10:07 AM, Achilles Delari Junior <
>> achilles_delari@hotmail.com<mailto:achilles_delari@hotmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Internationally working. I believe and hope. :)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Phillip.White@ucdenver.edu<mailto:Phillip.White@ucdenver.edu>
>> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 07:53:04 -0600
>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Banners of Brazil [without oppositions]
>>
>>
>> Achilles - both you're welcome, and truly there is nothing to apologize
>>
>>
>>
>> for.  clarity of communication through the internet is daunting.  and,
>>
>>
>>
>> yes,
>>
>>
>>
>> again, here's working for greater transformations in Brazil.
>>
>>
>>
>> phillip
>>
>>
>> ______________________________**__________
>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu> [
>> xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu>] On
>>
>>
>>
>> Behalf Of Achilles Delari Junior [achilles_delari@hotmail.com<mailto:
>> achilles_delari@hotmail.com>]
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2013 2:56 PM
>> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu<mailto:xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>> Subject: RE: [xmca] Banners of Brazil [without oppositions]
>>
>> Philip, thank you very much. I sincerely believe that me and you are
>>
>>
>>
>> talking maybe not about the same things, but with a more important and
>>
>>
>>
>> deep
>>
>>
>>
>> agreement in the essential ethical values. Because this, please accept
>> my
>> apologizes because my aggressive way to talk,  and my real respect in
>> relation to your patience and solidarity inside your critical
>>
>>
>>
>> thinking... I
>>
>>
>>
>> guess after some time all we will can understand better what is going
>> on,
>> in the eye of the hurricane is not so easy. But you give us some
>>
>>
>>
>> important
>>
>>
>>
>> insights - I will reflect about all your tips. Sincerely, my best wishes
>> for you and all people that have the dignity for don't leave another
>> strange person talking alone, only because different forms of
>>
>>
>>
>> disagreement
>>
>>
>>
>> epistemological, ethical or political. This is an actual aptitude of an
>> international scholar. Thank you. I hope to see you soon. Achilles.
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
>> Interim Director of Institutional Research
>> Fordham University
>> Thebaud Hall-202
>> Bronx, NY 10458
>>
>> Phone: (718) 817-2243
>> Fax: (718) 817-3203
>> email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu<mailto:pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu>
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>>
>> --
>> ------------------------------**------------------------------**
>> ------------
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
>> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
>> http://marxists.academia.edu/**AndyBlunden<
>> http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden>
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>>
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>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
>> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
>> http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden
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>
>
>
> --
> Peter Feigenbaum, Ph.D.
> Interim Director of Institutional Research
> Fordham University
> Thebaud Hall-202
> Bronx, NY 10458
>
> Phone: (718) 817-2243
> Fax: (718) 817-3203
> email: pfeigenbaum@fordham.edu
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