Re: [OPE-L] robert owen -invitation

From: Dogan Goecmen (Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM)
Date: Tue Oct 31 2006 - 04:54:09 EST


 
Dear Paul,
 
last ten years I have been coming and going to Scotland and went to see New  
Lanark twice. Once I took approximately 20 Students there and another time 
with  some friends to referesh their past socilist minds. I am quite often in  
Edinburgh. It would be nice to meet you there  next time.
 
Socilist greetings,
Dogan.
 
In einer eMail vom 31.10.2006 10:48:02 Westeuropäische Normalzeit schreibt  
clyder@GN.APC.ORG:

If any  list members are visiting Scotland they could do worse
than to come and see  New Lanark which is beautifully preserved and
has several museums devoted  to the life and legacy of Robert Owen.

I would be glad to show you  round if you come.

Paul

Quoting Dogan Goecmen  <Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM>:

>
> Thank you very much for  pointing that out to me. But may I ask for some  
more
>
>  detail on the rerefence? Thank you.
>
> Dogan
>
> In  einer eMail vom 31.10.2006 09:37:38 Westeuropäische Normalzeit  
schreibt
> clyder@GN.APC.ORG:
>
> Visiting  New Lanark  was a great inspiration to me in the late
> 1980s, encouraging me   to work with Allin on our book Towards a New
> Socialism,
> which  contains  strong owenite themes.
>
> Quoting Dogan  Goecmen  <Dogangoecmen@AOL.COM>:
>
> >
> >  Robert Owen (1771 – 1858)  was a contemporary of  G.W.F.  Hegel. 
He
> saw
> Karl
> >
> > Marx   launching the Communist Manifesto in 1848 in London. Owen’s
>  name is
> >  well
> > known among  academics, but  he is hardly researched. His  work is subject
> to
> >  discussions  merely in socialist circles.  However, further research  
would
> > show how
> > relevant  his  work is. He  is rich in ideas about how to solve modern
> social
> >  problems  and  how to overcome environmental crises by  reorganising
> production
> >
> > and   consumption.
> > Owen was a  self-taught and self-made man.  He  received only a primary
> >  education in Newtown   (County Powys) in Wales and an apprenticeship  in
> > London.  But he
> > developed a good grasp of  the  sophisticated  questions of social, moral
> and
> > political  philosophy,  and  political economy. He was influenced mainly  
by
> > 18th
> >  century French  philosophers,  particularly by P.H.T. d’Holbach. 
But
>  the
> >  primary source of his  knowledge was the conditions of the  working  
class
> in
> > Britain.
> > Therefore, all his   intellectual  and political activities, theoretical 
and
> >  practical  knowledge were devoted to  improving the conditions of  the
> working
> >
> > class.
> > Owen wanted  to change the world and  open up a  new epoch in the history 
 of
> > humanity. His main thesis  was that throughout   history humanity had been
> > acted
> > upon  by  circumstance. But it was time now that  human beings acted upon
>  their
> >
> > circumstances. All his experiments and  works   contain in their titles 
the
> > expression  ‘new’. His experiment in  New Lanark in 
Scotland
>  (1800-1825),
> > though in
> > many  senses   revolutionary, was still an experiment to show how the  
profit
>
>  of
> >
> > the owners of   the means of production could be  improved by improving 
the
> >  conditions of the  working class. The  only experiment which might  be
> > classified as
> > socialist was New  Harmony  between 1825 and 1829 in Indiana in the USA. 
In
> all
>  >
> >  his experiments he paid  particular attention to  the education of
> children
> > and in his educational   experiments he combined theory  and practice. 
After
> >  the
> > failure of his experiment  in  Indiana he was  involved in publishing
> > periodicals. He introduced the  term  ‘socialist’ in 
social and
>
> political
> >  philosophy.
> > Since  Friedrich Engels’ distinction  between utopian and  
scientific
> >  socialism, Owen is  seen as a utopian socialist. But he was not a  
utopian
>
>  in
> > the sense
> > that he was naïve and hoping to  change the world  by  experimenting 
with
> > small-scale  socialist settlements. With  his experiments he  wanted to
>  > stimulate the
> > imagination,  to show practically that  production can be  organised on 
the
> >  principle of  meeting peoples’ needs and that a new society can  
  be
> > established
> > throughout the world on the principle  of  internationalism. He was  aware
> of
> >  the
> > fact that this  would require huge effort. If he was a  utopian,  then, it
> was
> >  in
> > the  sense that he thought that this effort could be made by    
capitalists,
> who
> >
> > were interested merely in  improving their  profit, and by  statesmen who
> were
>  >
> > interested primarily  in enlarging their powers and  empires.  But having
> > seized
> >  power, even  Lenin suggested that one must return now to Owen  to learn
> how  to
> >
> > build a socialist society or in Owen’s  words a New  Moral  World.
> > Dogan  Gocmen
>  >
> >
>
>
>
>
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