Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 13:09:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jonathan P. Beasley-Murray" <jpb8-AT-acpub.duke.edu>
Subject: Re: marxism, Gramsci, Certeau


Just to clarify for a moment:

On Mon, 12 Sep 1994, Philip Goldstein wrote:

> 	Jon Beasley-Murray chastizes the (American) left because it does 
> not believe in revolution anymore -- no outside to oppression either. Is 
> revolution really a matter of faith? and Marxism, obligated to provide 
> hope? 

i.  I don't think I was "chastizing"--more observing.  Again, if you 
compare, feminism of the 70s believed much more fervently in an outside 
to patriarchy than it (and I know this homologization is a problem) does 
now. 

ii. My national 
observations (US "vs" Britain) were more about the general political 
environment.  I do think it makes a big difference to be in a country 
where there is a party with a (more or less) viable chance of political 
power is called "Labour" and has a (fairly) unashamed *socialist* 
tradition behind it.  This is more an observation about the public sphere 
than about the left or even the left intelligentsia.

iii. I think someone should try to provide hope.  In the past, it has 
often been the Left.

> What about alternative theories? Gramsci's war of position I take 
> to be an alternative to traditional theories of revolution, and Laclau 
> and Mouffe -- two Brits -- deny that there is an outside or alternative 
> to capitalism. Is this fragmentation or genuine theoretical differences? 

As I've said before, I think the Gramscian influence (and, *pace* Andy 
for a moment, this was first taken up in the UK, especially by the 
Birmingham School) is an attempt to provide (or make?) a theoretical 
difference in the face of political fragmentation.  So it's both.

Other alternatives?  Looking for fissures, spaces within but not 
dialectically related to power and the state--cf. de Certeau or Bey, for 
example.  Sometimes, all too often, this could be as much of a cop-out as 
Gramscianism, however.

> Philip Goldstein

Take care

Jon

Jon Beasley-Murray
Literature Program
Duke University
jpb8-AT-acpub.duke.edu



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