Wednesday 22 August 2018

On learning from history... the dialectical process of ever becoming...



In the 1830s Hegel sought to make sense of the period from the French Revolution to the Veinna settlement and to the return of the conservatism after the fall of Napoleon. He asked the question about the ebb and flow of the progressive and the reactionary. He outlined what he called a dialectical process of history. It occurred as two contradictory paradigms struggled with ideas and thoughts. Hegel called this the process of thesis versus antithesis. In the process each transformed society in this struggle leading ultimately to what he called a synthesis. Each force did not accept each other and yet through the emergence of this synthesis a new society and new approaches were born Hegel thought it was ideas that led to societal change yet Marx felt that he should invert the dialectic and makes us understand that it is societal forms that create ideas. Perhaps that is what we are looking at now.

Trump, Brexit, Cornyn all form part of this clash of thesis and antithesis. I looked at the pictures of the rival marches on the Brexit issue from June of this year .
Each looked different, each spoke a different language and had different outlooks. The anti Brexit rally might well be thought to look like the standard new right or alt right appearance. The men with shaven heads the Union Jack's and were white and aggressive. The other March was varied , the speakers ranged from the Eco socialist to the mild Tory. It was bigger and more confident and less strident..and it was larger...yep two forces are battling it out....each group must learn several things ..one must ensure it rejects elitism and takes setipysly sicial justice and equality tbe otber that fascism is not their friend...as for the unseen consequences let's see. The truth is that we have an education system that tells us nothing of the 30s and the old demons rise of Fascism summoned by Blair's denial of ideology . It has been up to Cornyn and the Labour party to restore it's value and effectiveness. Both the betrayal of the Liberal Democrats in 2010 and Blair's New Labour led to the rise of UKIP and Farage would not have been possible but for these twin midwives. The purpose of the Left is to educate, inform and instruct and campaign for socialism. All parties of the left must never forget thus fact. Capitalism did not win it merely sold a false dream of reality. A society that claims that social mobility is possible under capitalism fails to understand that those who have made it push back and jealously guard their position and power. Empowerment comes through the ending of false consciouness and only the left can provide that. Liberal Capitalism did not bring the end of history. The patriotic working class beloved of the bluekippers is a cage well hidden from view. Blair has gone I to the dustbin of history. And groups campaign g for the Lexit option two years ago were in effect hiding the kipper paradigm. Yet all that was solid is melting I to air as each of realised that the dialectical process we experience as existence is psychigical, sociological and political. As the certainties melt and our insights are understood as false consciousness we all realise history roles on in this process.

The problem we all face on the left is the problem of recognising just what is late capitalism and when a paradigm shift is clear. Like the Christians of the first century waiting for the end times and the second coming we have serious problems. Marx and his sects and prophets did not give a road map to Socialism. Like the early Christians stuck between Paul and James and Mary the dead white men with beards and the book did not account for individual interpretations psychological and sects. Catholic or Protestant, Trot or Tanky the problem remains. However I am sure that the synthesis that we are approaching has both seen and unforseen consequences. The liberation coming will involve a challenge to patriarchy . A liberation of transgender issues and that of animals. Dialectics must make us all stewards and not masters and help us understand that both the individual and the collective is an ever becoming process that is indeed "a world without end". Political activism is the process that drives us on. Rejoice in the struggle of thesis and antithesis in reaching the synthesis we empower the future and pass on the responsibility that each generation faces. The return of two party politics is a point on this trajectory of history .Remainers, leavers Trots or Tories are all part of Hegel¬s and Marx's genius of historical perception...

I wrote this ....."Two years ago " I awoke to a new world. It is a brutal morning. Those who voted to leave rebelled against the liberal elite and in doing so bared their throat to the savage beasts who are simply after the meat and flesh of the confused, the vulnerable. The refugee, the other are their victims too.It will be a colder, less caring , more simplistic world. We must think hard on the left what is necessary and what must be done. The hate, the projections of the New Jerusalem will turn sour within days. Perhaps many will wake then and realise we are about to inherit the wind.Beware if you are poor, beware if you are old, beware if you are sick, beware if your culture or race does not fit into the Farage concept of Britishness. Perhaps they fooled you into blaming others, hating others. Now you will find a world with more tears to cry, where hatred and blame increases and you will realise that you have been fooled again.......wake up please..........the gloss of victory will be gone by Monday and you behold all your works.....and you will then realise what you have done .
If you are poor, low paid or one benefits and voted to leave then you have been seduced by the like of IDS and Boris Johnson and Gove..you know what they did to your benefits......face the truth. They used immigration to distract you......."

However know more things are possible than we ever thought possible.....thank you Hegel amd most of all Marx

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