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NEWS & LETTERS, APRIL 2003
Socialist scholarsNew York--Over 2,000 left activists, teachers and
students attended the 21st annual Socialist Scholars Conference at Cooper Union
in New York City March 14-16. This was the site of a memorial meeting for Karl
Marx on March 19, 1883, attended by a vast throng of working men and women. At the present meeting, however, there was barely any
mention of Marx or socialist revolution. The speakers addressed largely
strategic issues under the conference's title, "War Without End? The Left
Responds!" Buoyed by the people-power shown in the worldwide
anti-war demonstrations, the conference was livelier and attracted more youth
than in previous years. Leslie Cagan, a major organizer for the Feb. 15
demonstration here and a co-chair of Committees of Correspondence, noted that
the Left would have to play catch-up with the populous anti-war protesters. The U.S. was repeatedly referred to as an empire. The
connection between worldwide capitalism and imperialism was recognized but the
mediations were not adequately theorized. Lenin's work on imperialism--and that
of the Monthly Review School which is based on that work--was criticized as
outmoded. There was disagreement as to whether the UN could serve us as an
institution for monitoring and enforcing codes of international behavior. Tariq Ali of NEW LEFT REVIEW saw a shift away from the
post-Cold War policies of Clinton-Blair which were justified in terms of a blend
of national self-interest and ethical concerns. Similarly, Gramsci expert Joe
Buttigieg saw the emergence of a new Right which not only took advantage of 9/11
to pursue its already-set agenda but which now pursues a maximalist program with
scant regard for democratic process. As in the past, the conference was Eurocentric. There
were few sessions devoted to issues of African Americans and Hispanics and a
decreased attendance from those groups. The aspirations of the Kurds for
self-determination were barely mentioned. Two panels were held on dialectics, both very well
attended. Bertell Ollman, Paul Paolucci, and David Harvey spoke at a panel on
"The Philosophy of Internal Relations in Marx's Dialectical Method." Another panel, "The Hegelian-Marxian Dialectic and
the Transcendence of Capitalism" (sponsored by News and Letters Committees)
featured Russell Rockwell, who spoke on Hegel's "Idea of the Good" in
contemporary Marxist theory; Randy Martin, who discussed Marx's CRITIQUE OF THE
GOTHA PROGRAM as calling into question the privileging of the amelioration of
inequality as the core goal; Andrew Kliman, who presented a succinct discussion
of the dialectic of capitalist crisis; Peter Hudis, who spoke on the relation
between Hegel's dialectic method and his concept of "absolute
negativity"; and Joel Kovel, who argued that an ecologically aware approach
to the world situation would entail a "change in our whole manner of
being." Several other panels addressed women's rights and
religious fundamentalism in the U.S. and Middle East. --Eli Messinger |
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