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Marxism:Critique,Science, Praxishizkia yosie polimpung

yosieprodigy@gmail.com

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Critique contra criticism(on Contrib ut io n to the C rit iq ue o fHe g e l s Philo so p hy o f Rig ht , 1843)

Young Hegelians: kritik transendensi

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature[...] It is the opium of the people. (244)

Feuerbach, Bruno Bauer, Max Stirner

Critique of religion as the the opium of thepeople, as merely criticism

Criticism: Critique of religion (or ideology) asopiate, becomes the opiate itself.

C ritique of opium, becomes the opium ofcritique.

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Contd Further critique of Young Hegelians in Ge rman

Id e o lo g y (1976 [1846])

Ludwig von Feuerbach: raw materialism void ofpolitical economy Bruno Bauer: mystification of critique; illusion of the

unity of thought and reality Max Stirner: illusion of self-autonomy; naive

anarchy Moses Hess & Karl Grun: abstract humanism void of

material basis We must go beyond romanticization, culturalization

(social construction), personalization, moralization.

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Contd

Remember Walter Benjamins Left-WingMelancholy (1931)

Casting blame

Self-victimismrather than victor. (Injury, asfor Wendy Brown, became the requirementfor criticism)

Self-claim of power

Self-glorification v ia neg a t iva

(cf. Wendy Brown, Resisting LeftMelancholy, 1999)

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Towards a Marxian critique "The struggle against religion is therefore indirectly

the struggle against tha t wo rldwhose spirituala romais religion."

"To call on them to give up their illusions about

their condition is to call on them to give up acondition that requires illusions.

Thus the criticism of heaven turns into the criticismof earth, the c rit ic ism o f relig io ninto the c rit ic ism o fla wand the c rit ic ism o f the o lo g yinto the c ritic ismo f p o lit ic s.

Marx brings forth the importance ofmaterialist

critique of political economy which conditions theidologico-religious edifice. That is, the social relations of productionto be

defined as re la t io ns o f ow ne rship (of m ea ns o fp roduc t i on )and thus c la ss re la tion s

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[Supp.] Schema of labor origin

of commodity (simplified)

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Scientific Marxism The imperative of inquiry into the nature of the soc ial

relations of productions The question of objectivity Not of free value, but that of a state outside of human

correlatesthought, language, aspiration, judgement. A kind of internal logic which governs the smooth-

functioning of things.

The question of materiality Of manifestation or impartation or crystalization (Marx) or

sublimation (Zizek) of social relations of production

Marxian Science:

Science to discover the objec tive law ordering thematerial world Cf. Althusserian epistemological break (and NOT

rupture) Centrality of method: dialec tical-materialist, historical-

materialist.

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Marxian Praxis Occurs in dialec tical sense

Without revolutionary theory there can be no

revolutionary practice. [Lenin, as quoted byAlthusser]

Revolutionary theory can effectively address onlyquestions that are raised in the course of practicalstruggles, and in turn this theorizing can bearticulated only through its creativeimplementation on the practical field. [Michael

Hardt, intensifying Althusser] The o ry is a fie ld o f re vo lutio na ry p ra xis!(otherwise,

only intellectual masturbations)

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Dialectics

Specificity Singularity Historicality

Universality

Specificity

.... Spec ific: material, objective, concrete

Singular: essence, meaning

Historical: Spatio-TemporalContext/Variant

Universal: the causa-prima; metaphysics

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Notes on metaphysics ofcommodity

A commodity appears at first sight anextremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis

brings out that it is a very strange thing,abounding in metaphysical subtleties andtheo log ic a l n ic e t ies. So far as it is a use-value,there is nothing mysterious about it, [...] But assoon as it emerges as a commodity, itchanges into a thing which transcends

sensuousness(Karl Marx, Ca p ita l, Vol. 1, trans. B. Fowkes (NY: PenguinBooks, 1976), p. 163; my emphasis)

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Marx and the contemporary

Deploy Diamat & Histomat method to

capture the spec ificity of contemporarycapitalism

Locate the current crisis of capitalism inthe logic of capital accumulation itself

Centrality of concrete field research in

struggle

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Suggestion for next discussion

Process of valorization and exchange

Capitalist regime of accumulation (fromprimitive, to capitalist, to flexible, tofinancial)

Evolution and/or variation of capitalistmode of production over time