From: cmgermer@UFPR.BR
Date: Mon Jan 01 2007 - 16:34:57 EST
Dogan, Thank you for your reply. I must say that I liked your short paper about Keynes very much (and also the paper about the meaning of justice in the struggle for socialism) and I fully agree with your assessment of Keynesianism and with the need, for Marxists, to develop a strong critic of it. The theoretical class struggle is as essential as the practical political struggle. About Keynes' theory, it has also to remember that it was taken by reformist Marxists and socialists in Europe who abandoned the revolutionary struggle and chose the way of minority participation in bourgeois governments after WW I, as a justification for their position. In addition to that, Keynes' theory seemed to offer them a 'program of reforms', which they desperately needed, since the revolutionary socialist movement did not provide them with one and they had been unable to elaborate it. The last two sentences of your paragraph below are particularly iluminating in this respect: Doch nach der >>> Oktoberrevolution half all das nicht mehr. Da musste eine >>> konservative Theorie mit einem linken 'Anschein' erfunden werden. >>> In der Wirtschaftstheorie entspricht der Keynesianismus diesem >>> Bedürfnis. Claus Germer. > > > It is also necessary to take into account the circumstances of the class > struggle at the international level. Doing so, it is possible to argue > that the alliance you suggest was not directed against finance capital > but > against the (revolutionary) socialist movement worldwide, at a time when > the USSR had defeated nazism and the communists in the countries occupied > by the Nazi army had been among the main forces that fought the invadors. > Communism all over the world and the Communist parties in many Western > European countries increased very significantly their political > influence. > Thus, it was highly necessary for the capitalist class to coopt their > workers. > > > Claus, > > I find your remarks above extreemly interesting. This is exacly the point > that explains the success of Keynesianism. This is also the point I was > trying > to make in the passage below. > > >>> >>> Der Keynesianismus, der ein englisches Produkt ist, ist auch in >>> diese Tradition einzuordnen und sein Verhältnis zum Marxismus ist >>> im Lichte dieser Entwicklung zu sehen. Seinerzeit musste schon der >>> zynische liberale John Stuart Mill, der zuerst die in England >>> geboren Idee des Sozialismus, zum Fremdkörper erklärte, musste >>> unter dem Druck der Straße, ohne seinen eklektisch liberalen Geist >>> aufzugeben, an Marxismus Zugeständnisse machen. Doch nach der >>> Oktoberrevolution half all das nicht mehr. Da musste eine >>> konservative Theorie mit einem linken 'Anschein' erfunden werden. >>> In der Wirtschaftstheorie entspricht der Keynesianismus diesem >>> Bedürfnis. > > Cheers > Dogan > > > >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jan 31 2007 - 00:00:05 EST