Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996 20:51:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Personality Crisis


"In William James's version, 'unhealthy will' finally leads to apathy, 
fatigue, or exhaustion when the world does not bend to our will. The 
uncoupling of motivations from individual achievement, without their 
being recoupled to a social will, leads to anomie, apathy, helplessness. 
According to Melanie Klein, the willful (helpless/omnipotent) 
individual represses anger and pleasure, concealing them by feelings 
of hurt, fragility, powerlessness, fear, and helplessness at some 
moments, and blind optimism, hostility, and a sense of omnipotence at 
others. As we shall see, this dialectic between helplessness and 
omnipotence is universal in a society dominated by the wage form of 
labor and commodity form of need satisfaction: the wage and 
commodity forms are the main source of the modern personality crisis, 
which exists independently of economic, social, and political crisis 
tendencies."

(James O'Connor "The Meaning of Crisis")

Jim O'Connor asserts that crisis does exist in this 1987 book. He says 
there *is* an economic, political and social crisis. The quote above 
comes from the chapter on "The Personality Crisis", a crisis he 
believes that is intertwined with the other forms. O'Connor is 
somebody who I have profound respect for. His observation about the 
dialectic between helplessness and omnipotence seems particularly 
acute. It not only describes bourgeois society in general, it also seems 
to describe some of the aberrant behavior on this list, my own 
included. So if O'Connor is so perceptive on this type of crisis, maybe 
his ideas on the other forms of crisis need my closer attention. Perhaps 
I should rethink these questions after reading his book from cover to 
cover.

One of the things I have learned over the years is how easy it is to be 
wrong. To be a successful Marxist, you must allow for the possibility 
that your initial perceptions are based on prejudice. New evidence and 
new perspectives must always come into play. Doubt, hesitation, 
uncertainty are natural characteristics of a probing mind. That is the 
only way deeper insight may be achieved.

We must fight off the temptation to be dogmatic. It is always easy to 
let others do your thinking for you. One of the ironies of "vanguard" 
party members is that they draw the most rebellious, the most critical 
and the most questioning members of bourgeois society. But once 
these people become members, they allow others to do their thinking 
for them. They question everything except the wisdom of the people in 
the central committee.

One of the things I find depressing about the ultra-dogmatic party 
members is that they never budge on a question. A particular 
revolution either vindicates their socialist principles entirely or 
demonstrates how rotten things can turn out when their advice is 
unheeded. The truth for them is always black-and-white.

I have enjoyed my discussions on this list to the highest degree with 
people who are not party members. Even when we have sharp 
disagreements, there is evidence that the other person is at least wrestling 
with my ideas. You don't have to agree with me. All you really need to do is 
show signs that my ideas are stirring up some mental energy. This has 
been most in evidence in the fascism seminar when all sorts of 
disagreements appear in our discussions of Deleuze, Poulantzas, 
Guerin, Gramsci, the militias, Buchanan, etc., but we all realize that 
the question is too big for any one person to have the answers on.

What you begin to see is a collective consciousness working through 
major political questions. We gain a recognition that the answer may 
not lie in any particular person's mind but can only be arrived at 
through a free play of contending ideas.

I find it truly sad that the party members on this list can not enjoy this 
experience. It is a pleasure that is only afforded to those who can say 
that they are imperfect.




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