Accelerate the contradictions!

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

So, mostly I like this turn of phrase because it would look great on a t-shirt; because it has some poetic quality to it.
But, like, actually, what do you take as the role of pro-revolutionaries in accelerating the contradictions? Is it possible or desirable?

[Ostrinski]

I assume you mean accelerating the degeneration of capitalism. I don't think that necessarily gives us the platform we want. While it might give us a new opportunity to apply a communist answer to the questions that the deteriorating bourgeois society gives rise to, it might also compromise the political abilities of the working class through the rise of police state, political repression, etc.

[The Jay]

By contradictions you are really referring to economic depressions among other things, but mainly that. Do you really want people to go through more depressions?

[Blake's Baby]

Yeah, no.

'Accelerate the contradictions' really is a great phrase, I can imagine it on a Manic Street Preachers t-shirt, but as a political theory it's a terrible idea. 'First Hitler, then us' was one of the worst ideas that anyone ever had. The notion that we have to make things even more shit so that people get annoyed is just the flip-side of reformist substitutionism.

'The working class is not revolting - let us have a revolution for them, then they will see we are awesome, and flock to us!'
'No, comrade, let us instead make everything now really crap, and then they will see we are awesome, and flock to us (and our great t-shirts)!'

Alternatively, patiently explain to the working class what's crap and what the alternative is, and trust them to do the revolting.

[Avanti]

support

and enstrengthen

everything

that creates chaos

[Comrade Jandar]

So is this a tough love approach to the lack of class consciousness among the proletariat? Sounds good to me.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

While I place an important emphasis on the activity of pro-revolutionaries in a lot of my thinking, I think it's pushing it to suggest that we have the capacity to "make everything crap". I also think it is super problematic to suggest our goal has anything to do with people flocking to "us" (not only insofar as "we" are hardly a unified pole, but also as opposed to working to create conditions, proliferate practices, etc. that lead people to realize communist possibilities autonomously of "us"). As such, I don't think that talking about accelerating the contradictions in capital necessarily means making anything worse, so much as acting strategically to force capital's hand, as it were.
I think a particularly illustrative example comes from the Quebec student strikes in the spring, where an escalation lead by an active minority (mostly anarchists and Maoists) to throwing rocks, starting fires, attacking property, scuffling with police, etc. pushed the state to pass the "special law" which, in the context of a high level of organization among students and workers, lead to a massive popular backlash, an increase in popular organization, and (though a pyrrhic "victory" imo) the defeat of the Charest government.
While the oppressive constraints of the "special law" were, on the surface, "worse", the reality of on-the-ground organization meant that things actually got better.
Just some thoughts. <3

[Let's Get Free]

Capitalism will not collapse on its own accord. It will sputter about, going through boom and slump until the market system is dismantled democratically by a conscious working class majority, and a genuine alternative society agreed before capitalism can start to be dismantled in reality, with alternative mechanisms emerging to replace both the market and the state.

[Blake's Baby]

While I place an important emphasis on the activity of pro-revolutionaries in a lot of my thinking, I think it's pushing it to suggest that we have the capacity to "make everything crap". I also think it is super problematic to suggest our goal has anything to do with people flocking to "us" (not only insofar as "we" are hardly a unified pole, but also as opposed to working to create conditions, proliferate practices, etc. that lead people to realize communist possibilities autonomously of "us"). As such, I don't think that talking about accelerating the contradictions in capital necessarily means making anything worse, so much as acting strategically to force capital's hand, as it were...

I think it's pushing it to suggest that the post I made was in any way intended to be an illustration of anything like a suggestion of how a serious revolutionary group or movement could conduct itself. Both the 'let's revolt on behalf of the working class now' and the 'let's push capitalism to make things worse' arguments (explicit in each being 'and then the working class will flock to us') are shit arguments.


...
I think a particularly illustrative example comes from the Quebec student strikes in the spring, where an escalation lead by an active minority (mostly anarchists and Maoists) to throwing rocks, starting fires, attacking property, scuffling with police, etc. pushed the state to pass the "special law" which, in the context of a high level of organization among students and workers, lead to a massive popular backlash, an increase in popular organization, and (though a pyrrhic "victory" imo) the defeat of the Charest government.
While the oppressive constraints of the "special law" were, on the surface, "worse", the reality of on-the-ground organization meant that things actually got better.
Just some thoughts. <3

haters gotta hate, and staters gotta state.

What it seems to me that you're getting at is that workers' self-organisation, even if some Maoists are involved, is a good thing. What is positive about the events in Quebec is that students were involved in creating their own movement, and that the reactions of the state showed that it was out of control. The organisation was the important thing, not the reaction, surely?

[cynicles]

You can but it takes a lot of time work and the better part of a century. The excessive power of labour that had been built up until the late 60's did drive the economy to stagflation as a direct result of labours strength. That is the closest thing I can think of, and if you're doing all of that then you're pretty much doing the same thing as any other revolutionary anyways.

[Luís Henrique]

So, mostly I like this turn of phrase because it would look great on a t-shirt; because it has some poetic quality to it.
But, like, actually, what do you take as the role of pro-revolutionaries in accelerating the contradictions? Is it possible or desirable?

What are the contradictions?

What does "accelerate a contradiction" mean?

How does one accelerate a contradiction (and is it even possible)?

Without knowing these answers, it is rather impossible to answer your query.

Luís Henrique

[Luís Henrique]

I think a particularly illustrative example comes from the Quebec student strikes in the spring, where an escalation lead by an active minority (mostly anarchists and Maoists) to throwing rocks, starting fires, attacking property, scuffling with police, etc. pushed the state to pass the "special law" which, in the context of a high level of organization among students and workers, lead to a massive popular backlash, an increase in popular organization, and (though a pyrrhic "victory" imo) the defeat of the Charest government.

And in your opinion the goal of the student strikes was to provoke the State into passing repressive legislation?

If so, I think you are factually wrong. If not, it doesn't strike me as anything that can be planned and implemented according to a plan. The strikes were over other, much more ordinary subjects - demands that the movement as a whole saw as improvements of their situation; the State backlash was a completely unintended outcome.


While the oppressive constraints of the "special law" were, on the surface, "worse", the reality of on-the-ground organization meant that things actually got better.Basically because the State made a mistake (as discussed here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/quebec-fascist-protest-t171764/index.html?t=171764)), and passed legislation that was wrong from their own point of view. We cannot take for granted that the State will make such mistakes every time. Rather it gets it right most of the time (and it is particularly good at isolating people from their leadership, which is quite facilitated when the leadership pursues goals that the masses cannot support or understand).

Luís Henrique

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

And in your opinion the goal of the student strikes was to provoke the State into passing repressive legislation?

Obviously not. On the other hand, the goal of the strike wasn't to prevent the state from passing repressive legislation either. The strike, as a tactic, however, certainly serves the purpose of creating a point of tension (and potentially, a rupture) by exacerbating existing contradictions between students and capital.


If so, I think you are factually wrong. If not, it doesn't strike me as anything that can be planned and implemented according to a plan. The strikes were over other, much more ordinary subjects - demands that the movement as a whole saw as improvements of their situation; the State backlash was a completely unintended outcome.

State backlash may not have been an intention, but it was a certainty (certainly within ASSE, having experienced the violent repression of the abortive 2007 strike). Certainly, our intentions vis- the activity of state and capital are largely irrelevant (since "we" control neither). At the same time, the bringing to the forefront and exacerbation of contradictions implied by a strike is a necessary outcome if one is not prepared to "bargain".


Basically because the State made a mistake (as discussed here (http://www.revleft.com/vb/quebec-fascist-protest-t171764/index.html?t=171764)), and passed legislation that was wrong from their own point of view. We cannot take for granted that the State will make such mistakes every time. Rather it gets it right most of the time (and it is particularly good at isolating people from their leadership, which is quite facilitated when the leadership pursues goals that the masses cannot support or understand).

The state doesn't make "right" or "wrong" decisions in a void - it makes its decisions in the context of certain power relations and strategic situations. Think chess - the question seems, to me, to concern how we can force the state to make bad decisions.


Also - I live in Montreal - you *really* shouldn't invent weird strawmen about my reading of the strike.

[The Douche]

Beyond forcing the state to make "bad" decisions, what we ought to be seeking to do is to highlight the contradictions which exist within empire. The task of the modern state is the enforcement of (their) social peace.

Empire understands that the most effective way to pacify its outliers is to include them within itself. What are we as radicals to do, if not to encourage those rifts which exist, and exploit them? Only tension and conflict can prevent the state from recouperating the elements which can destroy it.

[Althusser]

I wouldn't speak loudly about wanting to accelerate the contradictions. People who don't know about Marxist theory won't get why we are openly trying to make conditions shit.

[The Douche]

I wouldn't speak loudly about wanting to accelerate the contradictions. People who don't know about Marxist theory won't get why we are openly trying to make conditions shit.

Thats not really what the phrase suggests.

[The Jay]

Thats not really what the phrase suggests.

How is it not? Contradictions in Capitalism are, in this case, crises in Capitalism. This means that accelerating the contradictions would be causing crises, economic downturns.

[GoddessCleoLover]

IMO "we" have enough on our plate to attempt to revive the workers' movement without attempting to calibrate our activities to supposedly accelerate contradictions. ultimately that has to be upon to the workers' movement itself, unless we buy into a Blanquist theory that revolutionary intellectuals can act in the stead of the broad masses of workers.

[Ilyich]

support

and enstrengthen

everything

that creates chaos

I don't know if that's a good idea. The proletarian socialist revolution can emerge from chaos but fascism and other barbarities can as well. Wait, what do you mean by 'chaos?' If you mean economic ruin, a major crisis of capitalism, know that that is dangerous. It is just as (if not more) likely to damage to resolve of the workers, to demoralize them as it is to fuel their hatred of capitalism. Desperate times can also drive the working class and other classes (the bourgeoisie, the petite-borgeoisie, the lumpenproletariat, the peasantry, etc.) to desperate measures. These measure could set the movement back years. I am not trying to fearmonger; I am only warning that creating chaos in the hopes of accelerating capitalism's downfall may have barbaric consequences.

[Vanguard1917]

Alternatively, patiently explain to the working class what's crap and what the alternative is, and trust them to do the revolting.

Isn't winning the working class to revolutionary politics an instance of 'accelerating the contradictions' of capitalism? Without class-conscious workers, the contradictions of capitalism lack revolutionary implications - as the current crisis of capitalism well demonstrates.

[Blake's Baby]

The phrase 'accelerate the contradictions' is ambiguous. Which is why it's fine for a t-shirt, but as a practical call for direction, it needs a lot of content put on the bones and then that needs discussing.

I don't think there's any such thing as 'contradictions' lacking 'revolutionary implications' - the contradictions themselves produce class-conscious workers, so there can't be a 'contradictory' situation without class-conscious workers, the question is 'are there enough?'

[Vanguard1917]

I don't think there's any such thing as 'contradictions' lacking 'revolutionary implications' - the contradictions themselves produce class-conscious workers

But not in any mechanical sense. The objective contradictions of capitalism lack revolutionary implications if overthrowing capitalism is not on the workers' agenda. The latter is a 'subjective' problem. It entails a political struggle between competing outlooks.



so there can't be a 'contradictory' situation without class-conscious workers, the question is 'are there enough?'


There is no straight line of causation between 'the intensification of economic contradictions' and a rise in working-class consciousness. Hence capitalism is in economic crisis today, but the working-class movement is in disarray and, in leading capitalist countries, a working-class fightback is barely in existence.

[Blake's Baby]

If you like. I think the revolutionary movement is in better shape than at any time in the last 15 years, from what I can tell. Certainly the level of resistance to the crisis of capitalism isn't as developed as I'd like but I'm pretty hopeful at the moment that things are moving in the right direction.

[GoddessCleoLover]

"Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will."

Actually maintaining an optimistic will when one is intellectually pessimistic is much easier said than done. Frankly, the internationalist capitalist system has developed a vicious stranglehold based upon the internationalization of production. It is no exaggeration to postulate that the best hope for proletarian revolution today may be in China. In the "west" bourgeois cultural hegemony is so entrenched that one might say it is on steroids. I am not even sure that the notion of cultural hegemony even adequately describes the current situation. While we piddled around with SIOC the bourgeoisie conquered the world. Now we are fucked until and unless things change drastically.

[Luís Henrique]

The strike, as a tactic, however, certainly serves the purpose of creating a point of tension (and potentially, a rupture) by exacerbating existing contradictions between students and capital.

If by "accelerating the contradictions" you mean fighting against the system - striking, demonstrating, rioting, blocking roads, etc. - then yes, we should "accelerat the contradictions". I would rather call that "fight against the system" instead of "accelerate the contradictions", but I am not going to lose my sleep over terminology.

If by "acceleratint contradictions" you mean some kind of Nachaevite strategy of making things worse so that people will rebel against the system, then I oppose it. People will perceive those supposedly "accelerating the contradictions" as the source of the worsening of things - rather than the State or the system - unless, or perhaps even if, it is made in a completely undemocratic, secretive way.


Think chess - the question seems, to me, to concern how we can force the state to make bad decisions.

Certainly. As it is a game wildly more complicated than chess, it is quite hard to know whether we are able to force the State to make bad decisions, or even what decisions are bad or not.

The reaction of most people here in revleft to the attempted backlash by the Canadian State against the students was that it was a gross mistake - harsh legislation with absolutely no material conditions to actually enforce it. I don't think the movement forced the Canadian State into such mistake, however; it seems to have gone that way out of sheer incompetence.


Also - I live in Montreal - you *really* shouldn't invent weird strawmen about my reading of the strike.

Ah? What would be the weird strawman?

Luís Henrique

[the last donut of the night]

the phrase really is catchy but i don't think capitalism needs leftists to (somehow) "accelerate the contradictions"; it's already doing that by itself. radicals need, as said here, to point out these contradictions but not try to make them worse like we're some kind of sadomasochistic cult

[Luís Henrique]

the phrase really is catchy but i don't think capitalism needs leftists to (somehow) "accelerate the contradictions"; it's already doing that by itself. radicals need, as said here, to point out these contradictions but not try to make them worse like we're some kind of sadomasochistic cult

We are not a sadomasochistic cult?!

Man, the things you learn here.

Luís Henrique

[the last donut of the night]

We are not a sadomasochistic cult?!

Man, the things you learn here.

Luís Henrique

lol but actually, leftist moralism can go to hell

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I think exploiting the contradictions within capital is absolutely necessary to dismantling the system. I'm not certain how one could "accelerate" the contradictions, however. It's also important to keep in mind that there are many more contradictions within capital than just the contradiction between capital and labor. A successful revolutionary movement needs to be aware of the contradictions that create the most vulnerability at each moment and adjust their strategies accordingly.