What are some of the best dialecticians and theoretical works of dialectical materialism ? I'll try and read every one you say here, and also share some of my favourites- Marx - The Communist Manifesto Engels - Origins of the family, private property, and the state Mao - On Practice; On Contradiction Huey P Newton - Intercommunalism
Dialectics Lenin - Summary of Dialectics Lenin - on the Question of Dialectics http://www.marxists.org/archive/leni...ic/summary.htm Materialism Lenin - Materialism And Emperio-Criticism Summaries Engels - Socialism: Utopian & Scientific Engels - Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical german philosophy Lenin- Karl Marx: a Brief Biographical Sketch with an exposition of Marxism
Thanks. what I've read of the above are good, however I was also hoping for some more applied examples (works about any subject that use the DM method, not just things explaining dialectics)
all marxist works present things Dialectically i. in their relations and in their development i.e. in his State & Revolution, Lenin presented the development of the theoretical conception of The State in the revolutionary movement to clearly show that those who didnt want to replace the bourgeois state with a prolaterian dictatorship were opportunists. marx presented the development of the form of the french state in his 18th brumaire of louis bonaparte, Engels presented the development of dialectical and materialist philosophy in his Ludwig Feurbach and the end of classical german philosophy. ii. as the sum of and unity of their internatal contradictions i.e. all marxist analysis of the state is presented as the resultant of the contradictory class forces that the state rests upon. the perspectives and tactics of the revolutionary movement correspond to their dialectical analysis of the social arrangemnt
Louis Althusser goes into it in his For Marx. I think also in his Reading Capital but I haven't read that. Also, something else I just came across: The algebra of revolution I haven't read that either. I just came across it today.
I highly recommend John Rees' Algebra of Revolution! It goes through the various ways in which dialectics have been applied from Hegel through Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky, as well as Luxemburg. It's not a work to be read on your own, though; this is one for group discussion.
This review on Algebra of Revolution may be helpful, it is an interesting read either way. This is its conclusion: For all the strengths of The algebra of revolution, therefore, it is still a book which needs to be read with care and with an awareness that Rees’s theoretical arguments are intimately linked to his SWP politics.
Oh for Christ's sake. Another fucking sectarian potshot.
Oh for Christ's sake. Another fucking sectarian potshot. Deep analysis there...
Oh please. What other kind of response does "Great book, for an SWP member" deserve?
A less petty one might do, if you want to comment at all on its content. I just offered it as a helpful reference. The review actually explicitly states that the book is "basic reading for any Marxist", despite the critical notes.
Those 'critical' notes are aimed specifically at Rees' then-affiliation with the SWP rather than any shortcomings in his grasp of the dialectic - more a "he wrote this to justify what the SWP is doing" than anything else. And given the amount of masked vitriol they spouted over Chris Bambery's resignation (linked by Die Neue Zeit in the relevant thread), I would think that any reader would take their criticisms of the book with a very large grain of salt. Good on them for saying it's basic reading for any Marxist, but the CPGB just can't seem to help itself when it comes to sectarian potshots.
