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OFFICIAL CALL FOR CONVENTION to
work out Perspectives for 2002-2003 June 1, 2002 To all members of News and Letters Committees and
Marxist-Humanists internationally: Dear Friends, The perilous nature of today's objective situation is disclosed by the imminent threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan, at the very moment that George W. Bush has proclaimed that his new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia has "put the last vestiges of the Cold War behind us." The danger of Bush's policies is not only seen from the way the arms treaty leaves the U.S. and Russia with over 2,000 nuclear warheads apiece, enough to destroy the world many times over. Nor is the danger seen only from the way the treaty fails to provide for the dismantling of nuclear weapons, allowing them to be stored for potential future use. It is that Bush's unilateral decision six months ago to scuttle the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and commit the U.S. to developing a new generation of high-tech nuclear weapons for use against states like Iraq, Iran, and North Korea has already made the unthinkable thinkable for a host of states, India and Pakistan included. While the Bush administration has decried the development of "weapons of mass destruction" in places like Iraq and Iran, it has done nothing at all to restrict India and Pakistan from developing the most destructive mass weapon of all, nuclear missiles. Bush instead used his visit with Putin to call Russian aid to Iran "the world's foremost weapons-proliferation problem," as if the likelihood of tens of millions dying from a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan were a secondary matter! I. What predominates over everything today is the
counter-revolutionary power of U.S. imperialism. Since forcing the Taliban from
power in Afghanistan the U.S. has secured military bases and troop depots in
over a dozen countries in the region, from Pakistan to Uzbekistan and from
Tajikistan to Georgia. Meanwhile, U.S. military forces are in the Philippines
and Bush is readying new arms shipments to Indonesia. The U.S. is also sending
hundreds of millions of dollars in extra military aid to Colombia, which is
locked in a brutal civil war into which the U.S. is increasingly being drawn.
Even this is the tip of the iceberg. One recent report notes that the U.S. now
has 70 military "advisor" missions operating around the globe. There seems no lack of arrogance on the part of the
U.S.-whether it be its scuttling of the Kyoto Accords; undermining the treaty
banning land mines; rejecting the biological weapons convention; or repudiating
the statute creating a world court to try war criminals. The U.S. has recently
threatened to pull out its "peacekeepers" from the newly independent
nation of East Timor because of a clash with its allies over whether U.S. troops
could be turned over to the international criminal court in the Hague. The U.S.
rejects its authority and insists on "the principle of immunity" for
any future acts committed by its forces anywhere-just as the Hague tribunal has
finally put Milosevic on trial for some of his crimes in Bosnia and Kosova. It isn't that the U.S. has completely succeeded in dominating every aspect of world politics. It is often forced to make compromises in its drive for single world mastery. No doubt the administration would have preferred to forego even the limited nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, since it had earlier denounced such agreements as "unnecessary." The new reality introduced by September 11, however, forced Bush to promise Russia a role (however symbolic) in NATO and to sign onto the nuclear arms reduction treaty, in exchange for getting Russian assent for its greater military role in Central and South Asia. But while the U.S. is not the only repressive power in the
world, it is reaching for single world domination. The U.S. is trying to become
the gendarme of globalized capitalism, ready at an instant to use its military
force to defend capital anywhere. This is having a critical impact here at in the U.S. Though
the recession has been declared over, unemployment is rising. Wages are stagnant
and workers are having to pay higher premiums for health insurance-where they
can obtain it at all. Over 47 million are without any health insurance.
Meanwhile, federal and state budgets for the past several years were based on
the expectations arising from the "bubble economy" of the 1990s, and
the bubble has now burst. California alone faces a $25 billion deficit-which it
is using to push through a 60% cut in an already ravaged health care budget.
Across the country budgets for health, education, and welfare are being severely
cut back, with little or no public discussion. Most crucially, 10 years after the Los Angeles rebellion, all the social ills which produced it continue to confront Blacks and Latinos. Police abuse has only increased, as seen from recent incidents in Chicago and Philadelphia. Racial profiling has not been halted, but has been extended to Muslims and Arab Americans. The gap between white and Black America in income, education, and health care continues to widen. Restrictions on immigrants has been expanded. And the attacks on women's right to abortion continue, even as the Attorney General and "Office of Homeland Security" try to use September 11 to declare any and all criticism of their pandering to a Christian fundamentalist agenda to be "anti-patriotic." These and other counter-revolutionary moves are having a global impact, as seen in rising hostility toward immigrants and minorities. It was reflected in Le Pen's placing second in the French presidential election and in the rise of anti-immigrant parties throughout the continent. For the rulers, September 11 has become a powerful weapon to divert attention from economic stagnation and alienation by blaming the system's contradictions on "the other." Yet this has not stilled the voices of opposition. In Europe the anti-globalization movement continues to develop, even as new labor struggles arise. Though European capital would like to smash the labor movement along the lines of what Reagan and Thatcher achieved, the march of two million in Italy and the ongoing strikes in Germany indicate that it will be in for a very tough fight. Meanwhile, mass political strikes have broken out in South Korea. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions called for a partial national strike on May 31 to demand a shorter working week. In South Africa a general strike on May 10 brought out four million protesting the loss of half a million jobs since the ANC imposed neo-liberal austerity policies in the mid-90s. In Nigeria massive demonstrations broke out in May in response to efforts to raise fuel prices by 50 percent, as demanded by the IMF. Mass strikes have also broken out recently in Uruguay and Argentina. And a general strike called in India on May 11 brought 20 million workers onto the streets around the country, as workers were joined by farmers, students, and women's organizations opposed to global capital. Though we do not have anything on that level in the U.S., opposition to Bush's policies is becoming more vocal here as well. This is seen in the protests against U.S. plans to attack Iraq and Bush's total support for the murderous attacks of Israel's Ariel Sharon against the Palestinians. Not only did growing anger at Bush's Middle Eastern policies bring 100,000 to a protest in Washington, D.C. last month, but activists are now planning to organize a "Freedom Summer" in the West Bank and Gaza as a way to further solidarize with the Palestinians, making a direct link to the spirit of the civil rights struggles in the U.S. in the 1960s. Important as these and other struggles are, we need to ask where they are going when there is such a void in the projection of a philosophy of liberation that could give action its direction. That problem has been placed sharply into focus by the Left's response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. What became painfully evident after September 11 is that those in the Left who limited themselves to opposing Bush, while remaining silent about the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, made it easier for the rulers to try to discredit the movement on the grounds that it had little to say to the victims of September 11. Moreover, by focusing everything on the U.S. as enemy number one, many on the Left have failed to solidarize with the true liberatory forces who have the potential to transform today's realities-such as the women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and elsewhere who have been fighting the repressive force of Islamic fundamentalism for years. The Left's silence over fundamentalism also further isolated it from the struggles of women in the U.S., who are deeply concerned about the mounting threat posed by various kinds of fundamentalism. As we insisted from the moment September 11 happened, the political situation demands a total view rooted in the projection of a comprehensive opposition to both terrorism and war. Without such a total ground of opposition, we argued, the movement would not prove able to project a liberatory alternative. This has become even more critical in light of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. Bush continues to allow Sharon to act as he pleases, despite the murder of hundreds of Palestinians by Israel. To the extent that Bush has feigned any interest in restraining Sharon, it is solely in order to cool off tensions in the region long enough to allow him to extend his permanent war to Iraq. Yet does the likelihood of a U.S. attack on Iraq mean that the anti-war movement's opposition should remain silent about the crimes of Saddam Hussein's regime? Can it remain silent about the crimes of Hamas and other tendencies, whose use of suicide bombings against Israeli citizens has repeatedly strengthened Sharon? Many are so overwhelmed by the U.S. as "enemy number one" that they take the non-revolutionary stance of making the issue who is the guiltiest party, rather than projecting the need to change the system as a whole. Yet a truly liberatory politics demand that we project a total view, which uncompromisingly opposes not only the actions of our rulers but also those of reactionary forces which claim to oppose them. Over 30 years ago, our founder, Raya Dunayevskaya, insisted during the civil war against the Palestinians in Jordan: "It is not enough to stop at making clear what we are against, to stand opposed to imperialist war, no matter who is the 'aggressor.' It is not enough to hold high the banner of the totally new society, based on human foundations, that we are for. It becomes of the essence to separate ourselves from those who also claim to be for a new society, but think that a social revolution can be achieved through terrorism..." "It becomes more imperative than ever for those who are trying to build a new world to ...learn that wild, mindless terrorism-whether of an Arab commando or a self-proclaimed 'revolutionary' of the American New Left-not only does not wreck 'the system.' It provides exactly the fuel needed to stoke the fires of repression....Marxist-Humanists work toward the goals of national liberation and social revolution for a totally new society. 'A plague on both your houses' is a religious, not a human solution. But a separation from all plague-ridden houses is the only way at this moment to express the truly independent Marxist stand." (See "Middle East Cauldron Explodes," NEWS & LETTERS, October 1970.) II. Thirty years after these words were written we must continue to project the philosophic concepts which can help work out a liberating alternative to imperialist war and fundamentalist terrorism. As we argued in our statement, "Why theAnti-War Movement Needs a Dialectical Perspective," this requires digging with new eyes into dialectical philosophy. Dialectical philosophy, as developed by the body of ideas of Marxist-Humanism, has taken on new importance in light of the need to project a liberating alternative to the false opposites of imperialist war and terrorism. Its source remains Hegel's dialectic of negativity- the notion that forward movement emerges not just from the negation of obstacles to freedom, but from "the negation of the negation." In the aftermath of September 11, we can no longer assume that the first negation of capitalism will move us in the direction of liberation. Limiting ourselves to the first negation increasingly fails to produce even the most minimal advance. The political realities of our time suggest that we must begin from the second negation. This is what Hegel called "the positive in the negative," the dialectic of absolute negativity. Without a new vision of revolution, of new human relations, of an end to the separation between mental and manual labor, our efforts to oppose the system will prove futile. It is this which makes Marxist-Humanism's central philosophic contribution-Absolute Negativity as New Beginning -of critical importance for today's anti-war and anti-globalization movements, and which separates us from all other radical tendencies, including anti-Stalinists and Trotskyists who stop at first negation. We have a critical new work in hand which can help us meet this perspective-THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY: SELECTED WRITINGS ON THE DIALECTIC IN HEGEL AND MARX BY RAYA DUNAYEVSKAYA. This collection of writings, spanning some 40 years of development, provides new illumination on the philosophic contributions of Marxist-Humanism. All of our energies must center on the discussion, dissemination, and projection of this new book. THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY shows, from the beginning of Part I, how deeply rooted was Marx's humanism in Hegel's dialectic of second negativity. As Dunayevskaya wrote in her "Presentation on the Dialectics of Organization and Philosophy" of June 1, 1987 in reference to Marx's 1844 "Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic": "Marx articulates the great merit of Hegel in discovering the 'negation of the negation,' and the great demerit of this same Hegel in enveloping it in such mysticism by dealing with it as various stages of consciousness, rather than as men and women thinking. Marx, on the other hand, declares himself not only against capitalism and 'vulgar communism,' but proclaims his philosophy to be 'a new Humanism.'" Marx's unchaining of Hegel's dialectic of second negativity, she shows, became the ground for the concept of revolution and of organization that he projected for the rest of his life. In 1844 Marx broke off his commentary on Hegel just as he
began commenting on the PHILOSOPHY OF MIND, the work in which Hegel most fully
develops the concept of second negativity. It posed a challenge for future
generations to pick up where Marx left off. It was not, however, until the
philosophic breakthrough that led to Marxist-Humanism- Dunayevskaya's 1953
"Letters on Hegel's Absolutes"-that a direct return to Hegel's concept
of absolute negativity was achieved. That 1953 breakthrough became the
"ground and roof" for the entire subsequent development of
Marxist-Humanism, including its concept of organization. With THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY in hand we can now see how
each stage in the development of Marxist-Humanism represented a further
exploration and concretization of the dialectic of absolute negativity. Part II,
which focuses on the period of the first work in her "trilogy of
revolution," MARXISM AND FREEDOM (1958), shows how Dunayevskaya embarked on
a direct exploration of Hegel's Absolutes in light of the realities facing the
freedom struggles of the post-World War II era. The African Revolutions; the
workers' battles against automation; the new youth struggles for a different way
of life were all explored in light of Hegel's Absolutes and Marx's Humanism.
Part III, which covers the period in which she wrote her second major work,
PHILOSOPHY AND REVOLUTION (1964-71), shows how she plunged even deeper into
Hegel's Absolutes in light of the freedom struggles of the 1960s and their
failure to reach a successful revolution. Part IV, which covers 1972-81, shows
how her development of the category which is central to PHILOSOPHY AND
REVOLUTION, "Absolute Negativity as New Beginning," speaks to such
figures as Engels, Lenin, Lukacs, Fanon, and Adorno. Part V, on the period of
the 1980s, discloses that the concept of "Absolute Negativity as New
Beginning" helped lead to the new category of "post-Marx Marxism,
beginning with Engels, as pejorative" and to the discovery of Marx's
Marxism as a philosophy of "revolution in permanence." The recognition that Marx's Marxism is a philosophy of
"revolution in permanence," which is discussed in ROSA LUXEMBURG,
WOMEN'S LIBERATION, AND MARX'S PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTION (1981), came from the
discovery of previously unknown writings from Marx's last decade, like his
Ethnological Notebooks. However, what enabled Dunayevskaya to see these writings
disclosed a new Marx WHICH NO POST-MARX MARXIST HAD FULLY BUILT UPON was her 40
years of labor in restating Marx's thought on the basis of the dialectic of
absolute negativity. Her original journey of discovery into Hegel's Absolutes,
including her exploration of those parts of Hegel which Marx did not explicitly
comment upon, led her to forge the link of continuity with Marx's Marxism. In a word, our age has something that no other generation had access to-a view of Marx's Marxism as a philosophy of "revolution in permanence." The discovery of the depth and breadth of Marx's Marxism flowed from Marxist-Humanism's original voyage of discovery into Hegel's Absolutes. In bringing together many of her writings on dialectics, THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY opens new doors to grasping and projecting what Marx's Marxism means for today. In 1985, as she looked back on 40 years of theoretic development, Dunayevskaya wrote: "Without knowing Marx as a totality through all of his fundamental writings, it was impossible to understand all the ramifications of the very first of Marx's writings in 1843-44 as a historic break in thought." Much the same could be said about her own development of Marxist-Humanism. It was only with the "rounding out" of Marxist-Humanism as a full body of ideas in the 1980's that it became possible to understand all the ramifications of the initial breakthrough that led to Marxist-Humanism, the 1953 "Letters on Hegel's Absolutes." As she summed up her philosophic contribution at the end of her life, Dunayevskaya saw that her exploration of Hegel's concept of "absolute negativity" contained the "ground and roof" for working out a new relation between dialectical philosophy and revolutionary organization. We are determined to work out that relation now that we have in hand THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY, the "trilogy of revolution" and the Archives. We cannot afford to keep THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY and the body of ideas of Marxist-Humanism in a separate enclave from our response to ongoing political realities and objective events. The need for a total view compels us to develop our organization on the basis of Marxist-Humanism's unique philosophic contributions. III. This year we reached a new point in our effort to overcome the separation between philosophy and organization with an international Conference of Marxist-Humanists in Amsterdam. This conference was a truly historic occasion. It marked the first time since the death of our founder that Marxist-Humanists from half a dozen nations had the opportunity to get together, exchange thoughts and experiences, and collectively develop perspectives for further collaboration. The determination of all those present, whether from the U.S. or Ukraine, Britain or The Netherlands, West Africa or India to develop international relations on the basis of THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY, the trilogy of revolution, and the Archives of Marxist-Humanism represents a critical step forward for our national as well as international relations. Just as the Amsterdam conference raised the perspective for international relations to flow from the unique philosophic contributions of Marxist-Humanism, so that is needed when it comes to concretizing all the tasks and perspectives facing News and Letters Committees in the U.S. It means that the time is now to project THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY-by engaging in distributions, conferences and movement activities, writing reviews and working to open up a space for philosophic discussion and debate in the freedom movements. Because of the urgency for all of us to project THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY, we propose issuing a special pre-Convention discussion bulletin this summer containing reviews and discussions of the book. We also propose that each report to our upcoming national Convention focus on perspectives for projecting THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY. This includes the reports that will be given on NEWS & LETTERS newspaper; on revolutionary organization; on Marxist-Humanist Archives; on Women's Liberation; on the Black Dimension; and on Revolutionary Finances. The new point reached with the appearance of THE POWER OF
NEGATIVITY calls on us to place new emphasis on outreach, from distributions of
NEWS & LETTERS to literature sales to reviews of THE POWER OF NEGATIVITY
itself. It points up the need for our projection within the movements to be both
concrete about its relationship to where the struggle is and explicit about the
universals of Marxist-Humanism. There are plenty of others who are willing to
engage in activities and political debates. But only we have accepted
organizational responsibility for the new relationship of theory and practice
that is at the heart of Marxist-Humanism. PROJECTION is therefore the essence of
all our tasks for the year to come. Achieving this requires not letting go of Marxist-Humanist
organizational consciousness. Neither reverting back to the elitist party to
lead, as do the vanguardists, nor dumping all responsibility on the backs of the
masses, as did C.L.R. James (aka J.R. Johnson), can suffice in light of the
present moment. Just as organizational consciousness without the dialectic is
just another form of vanguardism, so posing "the need for philosophy"
without organizational consciousness is another form of Johnsonism. Our task is
to project philosophy unseparated from achieving continuity with the
Marxist-Humanist concept of organization. All this underlines the importance of our planned publications, such as the new edition we will be issuing of AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, a "Marxist-Humanist Statement on the Black Dimension," and our pamphlet on "Marx's Value Theory and the Struggle Against Global Capital." Perspectives for building the organization through these and other publications will be discussed at the Convention. The Resident Editorial Board will issue a Draft for
Perspectives, to be published in the July issue of NEWS & LETTERS.
Pre-Convention discussion opens with the issuance of this Call... -The Resident Editorial Board |
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