citizen of industry
19th March 2012, 01:49
A Gramsci quote from notebook 7 critical of Rosa's Mass Strike:
Intro:
The "voluntary" and organizational elements are ignored, even though they were much more widespread than Rosa was inclined to believe; because of her "economistic" prejudice, she unconsciously ignored them
The economism:
The immediate economic factor (crisis, etc.) is seen as the field artillery employed in war to open a breach in the enemy's defenses big enough to permit one's troops to break through and gain a definitive strategic victory...The immediate economic factor was expected to have a double effect: (I) To open a breach in the enemy's defenses, after throwing him into disarray and making him lose faith in himself, his forces, and his future; (2) to organize in a flash one's own troops, to create cadres, or to at least place the existing cadres (formed, up to that point, by the general historical process) at lightning speed in positions from which they could direct the dispersed troops; to produce, in a flash, a concentration of ideology and of the ends to be achieved. It was a rigid form of economic determinism, made worse by the notion that effects of the immediate economic factor would unfold at lightning speed in time and space. It was thus historical mysticism through and through, the anticipation of some dazzling miracle.
His conclusion:
Sometimes, it would appear that a ferocious artillery attack against enemy trenches had leveled everything, whereas in fact it had caused only superficial to the defenses of the adversary, so that when the assailants advanced they encountered a defensive front that was still effective.
On the other hand, my experience leads me to kind of the opposite. Crisis does lead to a breach in the enemy's defenses. After the 2008 crisis the downward trend of trade union organizing shifted up. After the Fukushima crisis hundreds of thousands of people mobilized. For awhile the ruling class was helpless, but quickly recovered and secured their "defensive front."
This part seems crucial to me:
or to at least place the existing cadres (formed, up to that point, by the general historical process)
He adds it as an afterthought. But building organizations in otherwise normal economic conditions is the challenge. The "existing cadres" are people who organize when times are good, an exception. In times of crisis, they are insufficient.
Intro:
The "voluntary" and organizational elements are ignored, even though they were much more widespread than Rosa was inclined to believe; because of her "economistic" prejudice, she unconsciously ignored them
The economism:
The immediate economic factor (crisis, etc.) is seen as the field artillery employed in war to open a breach in the enemy's defenses big enough to permit one's troops to break through and gain a definitive strategic victory...The immediate economic factor was expected to have a double effect: (I) To open a breach in the enemy's defenses, after throwing him into disarray and making him lose faith in himself, his forces, and his future; (2) to organize in a flash one's own troops, to create cadres, or to at least place the existing cadres (formed, up to that point, by the general historical process) at lightning speed in positions from which they could direct the dispersed troops; to produce, in a flash, a concentration of ideology and of the ends to be achieved. It was a rigid form of economic determinism, made worse by the notion that effects of the immediate economic factor would unfold at lightning speed in time and space. It was thus historical mysticism through and through, the anticipation of some dazzling miracle.
His conclusion:
Sometimes, it would appear that a ferocious artillery attack against enemy trenches had leveled everything, whereas in fact it had caused only superficial to the defenses of the adversary, so that when the assailants advanced they encountered a defensive front that was still effective.
On the other hand, my experience leads me to kind of the opposite. Crisis does lead to a breach in the enemy's defenses. After the 2008 crisis the downward trend of trade union organizing shifted up. After the Fukushima crisis hundreds of thousands of people mobilized. For awhile the ruling class was helpless, but quickly recovered and secured their "defensive front."
This part seems crucial to me:
or to at least place the existing cadres (formed, up to that point, by the general historical process)
He adds it as an afterthought. But building organizations in otherwise normal economic conditions is the challenge. The "existing cadres" are people who organize when times are good, an exception. In times of crisis, they are insufficient.