File spoon-archives/marxism.archive/marxism_1995/95-01-31.000, message 210


Date: Sat, 28 Jan 1995 07:47:24 -0500 (EST)
From: Philip Goldstein <pgold-AT-strauss.udel.edu>
Subject: Re: Marxism, philosophy, and more


	Justin Schwartz complains, "I am not sure of the point of 
Goldstein's comment about the awful things
which happened with Lenin, Sidney Hook, and what not." Since I was being 
sarcastic, this is a fair complaint. Still, I did have a point, namely, 
that conditions have changed a good deal since the 1930's. Let me just 
list some of them. 
a) dialectical materialism of the old Hegelian type became an oppressive 
dogma, and its defenders, reactionaries of various right wing and left 
wing types. Hence, modern philosophy, including modern Marxism, is 
critical of them -- e.g., we get Marxist versions of anti-foundationalism 
to counter the dogmatists belief that they know the general framework of 
all truth.
b) the level of education has gone up. Most people in the US have at 
least a 12th grade education now, and over 50% of American youth attend 
some kind of college. This vast growth in education has created a new 
context for intellectuals, in which they can influence all sorts of 
people, not just the militant left; however, intellectuals must play the 
professional game to survive or have any influence. 
c) the big growth in television, newspapers, and the media has cut out 
the public space of the old public intellectual, both liberal, leftist, 
and conservative. Most cities used to have two or three newspapers, for 
example; now they have one, and that one is part of a huge chain. Try 
writing a left-wing essay for one of the big newspapers and see if they 
publish it. 

These sorts of considerations make evocations of 30's radicalism a form 
of nostalgia, to my mind.

Philip Goldstein

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