Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 11:51:31 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Consciousness lags 


The question of why Argentinians remained Peronista long after his death 
and long after official Peronism granted them concessions is merely a 
subset of the question of why people act against their own class interests.

Why did the Russian peasants march behind Father Gapon, while 
embracing portraits of the Czar? Why do white southern workers, among 
the most exploited and oppressed sector of the American proletariat, 
remain one of the bedrock supports of the Republican Party?

Vulgar Marxism of the economic determinist variety stares dumbly in the 
face of such phenomena. A more sophisticated Marxism would tend to 
recognize that people's mass consciousness at a certain point becomes part 
of the material reality that forms the backdrop of the class struggle.

Since the lag between objective conditions and revolutionary 
consciousness has marked almost the entire twentieth century, does this 
explain the allure of Gramsci, Althusser and the Frankfurt school?  I'm 
not trying to pick a fight with anybody, just asking....

Louis Proyect

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