Re: [OPE] Important review of Kautskyism Past and Present

David,
thank you very much for drwaing our attention to that timely publication.
I will comment on the book later. There are in particular two typ of reformism that undermines workin class movement: Bersteinism and Kautskianism. It is empirism that signifies the former and teleology qualifies the latter. Both types of thinking are present in philosophy since ever. At first glance it seems as if both Bersteinian and Kautskian thinking would contradict each other as the former rejects to define any political goal that goes beyond daily reform projects and the latter relies on a historical teleology, that is, on a projected as if state of history, and draws from that some normative criteria and applies that to the present. The formare has been criticised fundamentaly by Rosa Luxemburg and Latter by Lenin. Rosa showed against Berstein that working class has to have in its political straggles both daily reform project and lang term aims. These two aims are dialectically unified and support each other. D.Göçmen
Without the long term aims working class would lose itself in bourgeos parliamentarism as it was the case with the past reformist parties and as it is the case with the contemporary reformist parties such as European leftists. Lenin's critique of Kautskian non-sense of "ultura imperialism" is above all about Kautsky's teleological thinking. What do Lenin do in "Imperialism"? Instead reliying on a projected state of history that might com (or not) he analyses imperialism with its economic and political tendencies and shows the way out of imperialism barbarism. Both Rosa and Lenin were great dialecticians. Dialectics is the scietific method of working class. Both Rosa and Lenin are still valid. They still speak to us as our contemporaries and refresh our minds. Well, one has to want to have fresh mind. The ecletic that is suggested by our contemporary reformists is old and and already decaying.

Dogan

http://dogangocmen.wordpress.com/
http://www.dogangocmen.blogspot.com/

-----Original Message-----
From: david@danyaf.plus.com
To: ope@lists.csuchico.edu
Sent: Sat, Aug 7, 2010 8:27 pm
Subject: [OPE] Important review of Kautskyism Past and Present

The latest edition of FRFI has a review of an important new online book by

Alec Abbott - Kautskyism past and present. The review is in FRFI 216 - The

limits to opportunism - and is by Peter Howell. It can be found at:

http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/reviews/1873-the-limits-to-opportunism--frfi-216-augsep-2010.html

If you have difficulty opening this go to the FRFI website at

www.revolutionarycommunist.org - FRFI latest edition on left-hand side.

The book is a rigorous critique of writers such as Panitch and Gindin,

Negri, Perry Anderson, Brenner, Callinicos and Harvey. It also shows the

significance of Kautsky's different theories of ultra-imperialism and

examines the views of the above writers in that context. The book is the

first volume available so far of a three volume work. It can be found at:

www.rosclar.webspace.virginmedia.com

Please pass this information on to others who might also be interested.

David Yaffe

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Received on Sat Aug 7 18:06:09 2010