[ home / rules / faq ] [ overboard / sfw / alt ] [ leftypol / siberia / edu / hobby / tech / games / anime / music / draw / AKM ] [ meta / roulette ] [ cytube / wiki / git ] [ GET / ref / marx / booru / zine ]

/edu/ - Education

'The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism of the weapon, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses.' - Karl Marx
Name
Options
Subject
Comment
Flag
File
Embed
Password (For file deletion.)

Join our Matrix Chat <=> IRC: #leftypol on Rizon


File: 1685295094165.jpg (334.51 KB, 450x680, 9780674245136-lg.jpg)

 No.14845

In my opinion this is one of the most important and useful pieces of Marxist theory in the past few decades.

One thing I constantly encounter amongst young millennial and zoomer Socialists especially of the more woke/idpol variety is that they have absolutely no understanding of the concepts of relative risk and self interest, raised or lowered expectations, plausibility, assessment of leverage power etc - stuff that is very obvious to working class people and especially trade unionists. So many young earnest revolutionaries think that the people don't revolt because basically of brainworms and that they just need to read more books and get why capitalism is bad or whatever. No, there's instrumental rationality and logic there which needs to be understood. People look at the forces around them and leverage power they have - filtered through media and bullshit of course - and decide what they think is realistic accordingly.

It is a lack of this understanding that led, for Chibber, in part, to the ultimate post '68 cultural turn in the Left - to explain why western workers wouldn't revolt, leftoid students and grads decided it must be muh hegemony brainworms and racism (rather than that shock horror social democratic keynesianism in a booming economy was doing well for them relatively speaking) so they went in search of fetishised new inherently revolutionary classes and subjects - far off foreign struggles, women, sexual minorities, racial minorities etc etc etc. This process is still going on today. And I think it also serves as a sort of form of avoidance for a Left which is increasingly rooted in universities - anything to avoid engaging with people where they actually are and your own working class instead of fetishising sub groups of it.

There really needs to be a risk and Socialism 101 lecture derived from this book to kick the idpol out of people, the idealism, the frustrated seething that at its worst turns people towards LARPing and revolutionary adventurism. That and getting people to do boring long term community activism and trade union work.

TLDR 1968 was over half a century ago, the '68 new left was sort of a dead end

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674245136

I would recommend 'confronting capitalism' also by chibber for a bit of a more normie broad intro

https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2705-confronting-capitalism

 No.14846

>not posting the PDF
also we have a thread dedicated to Vivek Chibber >>1445638

 No.14847

>>14845
this is something i've wondered about before. you notice how the % of people who control agriculture is much less than it used to. there is a hidden danger of this if you think about the basic logistics of strikes. the duration and extent of a strike is fundamentally determined by how long the average worker can actually subsist off of savings. ideally you would want to organize with people who have control of agriculture so that they can continue to eat throughout a strike. another factor is of course shelter. the less the average prole actually owns anything and the less they are capable of producing food, then the less extreme a strike can really go. idk if what i am saying relates to the book, just throwing it out there

 No.14848

>>14845
Chibber is the no-bullshit hardass the western left needs right now (his cautious simping for market socialism is a bit cringe though)

 No.14849

File: 1685311542403.png (161.81 KB, 400x302, tried nothing.png)

>>14845
Why does it matter if it's "brainworms" or rational self interest that keeps proles from revolting? If the workers' movement is dead and minority struggles are pointless, then what's the alternative?

 No.14850

>>14849
>What is the point of learning from the causes of a failure

 No.14851

>>14850
The point is to come up with a plan for the future, which he doesn't.

 No.14852

>>14851
…you haven't actually read the book have you

 No.14853

>>14852
Then tell me

 No.14854

>>14848
>Vivec Chibber
>Vijay Prashad
>Kerala
>largest strike in history organized by communists
Indiachads, I kneel.

 No.14855

>>14848
that simping comes from the likes of Alec Nove. this makes me wonder what Chibber thinks of Dickblast

 No.14856

File: 1685315365782.pdf (1.48 MB, 170x255, nove91.pdf)

>>1481554
pdf related, the ur-text for market soycalists and what prompted Cockshott & Cottrell to write TANS

 No.14857

File: 1685317309722.png (475.93 KB, 789x810, 1389361343839.png)

>>14851
>noooo you can't do a study of a past failure unless you also provide an alternative solution!
>we can't do things in steps, and I don't have the brainpower to synthesize ideas from multiple books - give me a single book that has all the answers!

 No.14858

>>14845
thanks anon


Unique IPs: 8

[Return][Go to top] [Catalog] | [Home][Post a Reply]
Delete Post [ ]
[ home / rules / faq ] [ overboard / sfw / alt ] [ leftypol / siberia / edu / hobby / tech / games / anime / music / draw / AKM ] [ meta / roulette ] [ cytube / wiki / git ] [ GET / ref / marx / booru / zine ]