Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 10:03:38 -0500 From: atefeh oliai <atefeho-AT-vms2.macc.wisc.edu> Subject: Re: The Cyberscoop on Marx and His Obit Hello Azfar Enjoyed your reply. Atefeh At 07:00 PM 7/20/96 -0800, you wrote: >Dear Michael, > >Thanks very much for your response. So let me see what you've said: > >>Marx died over a hundered years ago. > >Yes, someone familiar with Marx's biography is likely to know that. > >>But his Spirit lives on in the Class Struggle... > >So there is a "But." And you suggest his "Spirit" is still alive, his death >notwithstanding! (cf. Derrida's _Specters of Marx_) And also alive is the >Class Struggle...(I can't help noticing your de Certeauesque dots). > >>And the Class War: Fought out in places like El Salvador where i witnessed >teenagers carrying guns almost as tall as they were, using them in an >attempt to Clear the Way for New Life... > >As if Marx himself was the commander-in-chief of the kind of "Class War" >you're mentioning! As if Marx commanded: "Comrades, just keep your bullets >blazing away at the enemy, and surely you'll have a "New Life." Indeed, a >thousand armed battles were fought out in the name of Marx and class war in >places like India, Bangladesh, too, and some of them are nothing but >classic instances of a massive waste! Among some communists in Bangladesh, >the revolutionary motto espoused was simply this: "One cannot be a >communist unless one's hands are visibly drenched with the blood of at >least 5 class-enemies" (this motto was, of course, imported from some >communists in India). Thus, a lot of bullshit went on in the name of class >war--or in the name of Marx, who, ultimately, for no fault of his own, >became and has become the greatest culprit! Well, I think Gramsci also >gives us the clue that not all wars are class wars--that not all fights are >revolutionary fights. And I agree. > >By the way, machinations to kill Marx were and are frequently framed not >only by the right but also by some of the so-called left. > >>It was unequal, it was unfair, and when the Soviet Union fell, so did the >hope, sacrifice and toil spent by those who had no choice but to take up >arms to defend what little they had. > >True, with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, many Marxists were >puzzled, disillusioned, helplessly angry, and even many communist parties >all over the world were simply dissolved. Indeed, this moment marked a >genuine crisis in the history of political Marxism--though the moment >doesn't imply the end of Marxism(s) nor the "End of History" as such. Aijaz >Ahmad speaks eloquently against the simplistic equation of the Soviet >Union's fall with the death of Marx and Marxism(s). And I would say that >the Soviet Union fell not because of Marx but because of numerous mindlesss >anti-Marx programs, actions, etc, that in a way began since the days of >Stalin (I know some Stalinists might try to kill me now), and, of course, >there are many other factors, too. > >>But Ghosts and Spirits tend to reappear when and where least expected; > >I agree. Hamlet took at least occasional cues and clues from the Ghost, but >then Hamlet was constantly proof-reading his radical manifesto for changing >the world--for setting the "out-of-joint"-time right. But today the Prince >of Deconstruction (Derrida) poses as the Prince of Denmark in front of >Marx's Ghost, and seems to say: Father, your other sons have failed--they >are not real revolutionaries--they've messed up things, but I--a >deconstructionist-Marxist or a Marxist-deconstructionist (Radhakrishnan >somewhere plays with this hyphen quite interestingly)--will certainly >avenge your death. Amusing! Marx now turns out to be an "adopted" father >of Derrida. > > >Well, Michael, now my final point is this: your earlier statement that "On >top of that, he (Marx) is dead" (with a tellingly heavy accent on the >epithet "dead") seemed to me to spell a straight finish to the political >and discursive possibilities of Marx in today's >"poststructuralist-postmodernist-postcolonial" world. And I can't help >resisting that kind of DEATH. > >Thanks for your time. Om shantih. > >With best regards, > > > > > >Azfar Hussain > >############################## >AZFAR HUSSAIN >Box# 13, 352 Avery Hall >Department of English >Washington State University >Pullman, Washington 99164-5020 >Phones: 509-332-4405 (home) > 509-335-1803 (work) >E-mail: azfar-AT-wsu.edu >############################## > > > > > > > --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- > > --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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