Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 22:35:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: louisgodena-AT-ids.net (Louis R Godena)
Subject: Richard's Lament:  Was: Define Racism



Richard Bos offers this bit of melancholia: 

>I think that this was the case in the past. That is, in the sixties and
> seventies when it was a bit of a fashion statement for some people who
> went of to be pillars of the establishment or pet "Media Marxists".
 
> Now the story is quite different. Our movement is in a rock bottom, no
> frills, no luxury, no prestige position. Those people wouldn't touch real
> Marxism with a bargepole on a long stick! Most of the active Marxists
> that I meet are working class people who are involved because they have
> nothing to lose, and are pissed off enough with this wretched system to
> actually have a chance of getting somewhere this time!

It may surprise Richard to know,  as it surprised me,  that the number of
Marxist-oriented works emanating from major trade and academic publishers
has enjoyed a substantial increase for 1996-97.    Analyzing the general
catalogues (as well as the descriptive lists for forthcoming books) of
Cambridge,  Oxford,  Harvard,  California,  Princeton,  Yale,  Macmillan/St
Martins,  Random House,  Little, Brown,  Doubleday, and several others (not
to mention the general left publishers like Pantheon,  Monthly Review,  or
South End Press,  one finds a surprising increase in the number of books
owing some part of themselves to Marxian theory.    The traditional fields
are well represented--history,  philosophy,  political science,  critical
theory,  etc.,  together with (this year) music,  population studies,  art
and society,  feminism,  and sexuality.     True,  Marx is still
under-represented (to put it mildly) in high budget--high visibility "mass
market" titles,  but the substantial increase in progressive works is,  in
itself,  remarkable.

A (tentative) signal of a possible Left revival in western publishing,  perhaps?

Louis (G)



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