2nd ASN Conference: “Making Connections”
Loughborough University, U.K.
3-5 September 2012
Simon Boxley, 'Red, Black and Green: Dietzgen’s Philosophy Across the Divide'
Panel report: ‘Anarchism, marxism, libertarian communism’
Anarchism and Marxism are routinely depicted as being irreconcilable and hostile worldviews in introductory texts, and the tendency for various anarchisms and marxisms to converge has been largely overlooked in academic studies. This panel thus aimed to investigate the intersections between historical and contemporary anarchist and Marxist currents. The contributions fell into three sections. The opening paper, ‘Being common without being ordinary: The political theory of Libertarian Communism’, by Saku Pinta (Loughborough University), first provided a historiographical overview of the dominant representation (both within academia and amongst activists on both ‘sides’) of the relationship between anarchism and marxism as two distinct and irreconcilable currents. This representation was then subverted by an analysis of those organizations and individuals that have rejected such a division. Finally, the paper discussed the appearence of a ‘libertarian marxist’ or ‘libertarian communist’ ideological current, and the question of whether such a synthesis of the two traditions is possible.
A second group of papers examined heterodox - and arguably libertarian - marxisms. Patrick Baud (independent researcher, Kingston, Ontario) talked about ‘Reductionist Misreadings of Althusser in Richard Day and Saul Newman's Postanarchism(s)’. Criticizing as misleading Day’s and Newman’s representations of marxism and of Althusser in particular, Baud argued for another possible reading of Althusserian theory which remains committed both to Marxist theory and to postanarchist positions, developing certain themes in some of Althusser's later autocritiques, in particular his non-essentialist redefinition of the theory of ideology and his elaboration of non-dialectical determination through his theory of overdetermination. Simon Boxley (University of Winchester), in his ‘Red, Black and Green: Dietzgen's Philosophy Across the Divide’, examined Joseph Dietzgen’s philosophical monism, arguing that Dietzgen represents a forgotten opportunity to develop a worldview or “world-consciousness” which crosses red-black-green divides and which might inform contemporary radical philosophical reconciliation even between advocates of deep green (and primitivist) thought and some Marxist currents. In ‘The concept of Technique in Marx: Rethinking Castoriadiss Critique’, Christos Memos (University of York) reassessed Castoriadiss critique of Marx and argued that he did not take into account the ensemble of Marx’s works, and made no distinction between Marx and the economistic or technicist interpretations of orthodox Marxism. He concluded that some aspects of Castoriadis`s insights about the concept of technique could serve as a useful point of reference in our struggle for a radical transformation of society.
The final session brought together two papers focussing on recent developments in South America. Tom Purcell (Manchester University), in ‘Radical endogenous development and the cooperative experiment in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution’, investigated the way in which ‘development’ is being conceptualised, practised and contested in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. This process is commonly presented under the banner of 21st century socialism as a new humanised mode of production designed to stimulate economic activity and solidarity within previously excluded social groups. The paper’s assessment of the conceptual foundations of the project was conducted through a critical dialogue between traditional and heterodox Marxist theories of the state. The paper argued that, whilst the cooperative phenomenon can be understood as a sui generis mode of capitalist development, it nevertheless presages the intensification of struggle over the political and economic direction of the Bolivarian Revolution. A collective presentation, ‘Old Tools and New Movements in Latin America: Social science as gatekeeper or agent in solidarity?’, co-ordinated by Sara Motta (Nottingham University), examined the ‘re-invention of the political’ effected by movements such as the Unemployed Workers Movement of Solano (MTD Solano) of the Buenos Aires Province and the Urban Land Committees (CTUs) of Venezuela. The main argument was that elements of open marxism, autonomist feminism, post-anarchist thought and the analysis developed by movements themselves, when combined, offer fruitful conceptual and theoretical tools with which to engage with such movements on their own terms, thereby enabling an embedded theoretical production in solidarity with these communities’ struggles.
The whole panel produced some very interesting discussions and it is hoped to develop these debates about the relation between anarchism and marxism in a conference organized specifically around that subject.