andyx1205
7th September 2013, 00:58
I am quite surprised at Zizek for this.
http://www.marxist.com/zizek-apologist-for-remormism.htm
...although he tries to cover his positions with a left rhetoric, his basic position on Greece comes straight from the Stalinist tradition of Popular Frontism, even including the old idea of forming an alliance with a so-called “progressive”, or as he puts it “patriotic”, bourgeoisie, as will become clear from the quotes we provide later in this article. (...)
Zizek merely repeats an idea that is present throughout the reformist left in Europe: that the cuts in welfare spending are not necessary even from the point of view of capitalism, but an irrational ideological fixation of the European bourgeois politicians. Instead of explaining that, given the fundamental inner contradictions of a system based on profit, the bourgeois have no other policies to offer; instead of explaining that within the confines of capitalism there is no way out, he presents the situation as one where the European bourgeois have all gone mad and are behaving “irrationally”. From this it flows that a solution within the confines of capitalism is possible.
We have to ask the question: what is it that makes the European bourgeois – and reformist – political leaders act so “irrationally”? The European political leaders are currently acting within the context of the deepest crisis in the history of capitalism. It is this crisis that determines their policies and behaviour. Zizek, who has many times referred to this crisis in other speeches and also in some of his writings, this time does not seem to pay any particular attention to the concrete material conditions, nor does he provide an analysis of the class struggle that flows from them. All we need is some “rationality”, and he sees SYRIZA and its leader Tsipras as the bearer of this logical thought.
For Marxists this is an idealistic way of seeing things. Capitalism is certainly an irrational system, from the point of view of the real needs of humanity. But so long as it exists, what pushes it forward is the quest for profit on the part of all the capitalists. That which produces profit is logical and rational for the capitalists, that which does not is illogical and irrational!
His idealist view of the crisis stems from a lack of a Marxist view of the crisis, and his support for class collaboration stems from his belief that "we will still live for some decades within capitalism," leading to the Stalinist solution of a Popular Front. I am very surprised at Zizek for holding these counter-revolutionary views.
http://www.marxist.com/zizek-apologist-for-remormism.htm
...although he tries to cover his positions with a left rhetoric, his basic position on Greece comes straight from the Stalinist tradition of Popular Frontism, even including the old idea of forming an alliance with a so-called “progressive”, or as he puts it “patriotic”, bourgeoisie, as will become clear from the quotes we provide later in this article. (...)
Zizek merely repeats an idea that is present throughout the reformist left in Europe: that the cuts in welfare spending are not necessary even from the point of view of capitalism, but an irrational ideological fixation of the European bourgeois politicians. Instead of explaining that, given the fundamental inner contradictions of a system based on profit, the bourgeois have no other policies to offer; instead of explaining that within the confines of capitalism there is no way out, he presents the situation as one where the European bourgeois have all gone mad and are behaving “irrationally”. From this it flows that a solution within the confines of capitalism is possible.
We have to ask the question: what is it that makes the European bourgeois – and reformist – political leaders act so “irrationally”? The European political leaders are currently acting within the context of the deepest crisis in the history of capitalism. It is this crisis that determines their policies and behaviour. Zizek, who has many times referred to this crisis in other speeches and also in some of his writings, this time does not seem to pay any particular attention to the concrete material conditions, nor does he provide an analysis of the class struggle that flows from them. All we need is some “rationality”, and he sees SYRIZA and its leader Tsipras as the bearer of this logical thought.
For Marxists this is an idealistic way of seeing things. Capitalism is certainly an irrational system, from the point of view of the real needs of humanity. But so long as it exists, what pushes it forward is the quest for profit on the part of all the capitalists. That which produces profit is logical and rational for the capitalists, that which does not is illogical and irrational!
His idealist view of the crisis stems from a lack of a Marxist view of the crisis, and his support for class collaboration stems from his belief that "we will still live for some decades within capitalism," leading to the Stalinist solution of a Popular Front. I am very surprised at Zizek for holding these counter-revolutionary views.