Reject Eclecticism and Dogmatism ! Embrace Dialectics !
“Marxism represents a complete and vigorously materialistic world-view..A complete world-view differs from an eclectic one in that each of its aspects is connected in the closest way with all the others , and therefore one cannot with impunity eliminate one of them and replace it by something arbitrarily drawn from a different world-view” Georgi Plekhanov
Marxism has been plagued by eclecticism!!
Too many would-be Marxists want to “improve” Marxism by importing ideas that are contradictory to Marxism. Some want to dilute Marxism by removing the working class as the agent of social transformation. Instead, they propose populism where actually conflicting classes somehow unite against capitalism. This removes class struggle between these conflicting classes as the driving force of history. This in turn eliminates revolution as necessary to transformation. The removal of revolution and class struggle is a basis of reformism which in turn rejects Dialectics. Reformists do not see modes of production as coherent wholes which are transformed through struggling over contradictions within the economy/society. Instead, they want to pick and choose aspects of the society to remove with legislation or good will.
https://sleigh1917.medium.com/marxism-vs-anti-marxist-marxism-318d6df4d748
These attacks on Marxism are not always consistent. Some incorporate some aspects of this refutation of key Marxist principles. Other attacks focus on other aspects. They all end up in the same place: rendering their “Marxism” useless for revolutionary transformation of society. Unfortunately, some Marxists reject Eclecticism so strongly that they dogmatically refuse to incorporate contributions to Marxism from other schools of thought even when those contributions are compatible with Marxism. Both Eclecticism and Dogmatism undermine Marxism.
Dialectics
“Dialectical thinking is a recognition of the way nature and society works.”
The world works dialectically. Nature is dialectical. Ecology is a system of inter-relationships. Quantity changes into quality, water to ice to steam. Slow changes erupt in sudden manifestations. Society and history are also dialectical. Slow changes build up over time. Resentment builds and builds until it erupts in an explosion — often times revolution. Social formations are a whole. They cannot be fundamentally reformed. Instead, their inner contradictions need to work themselves out through conflict. Racism cannot be reformed out of capitalism. Confronting racism can make minor changes. It is an important part of the class struggle which if victorious can bring in a new mode of production. A new mode of production appears from the result of the conflict. Dialectical thinking is a recognition of the way nature and society works.
Before returning to the need to reject both Eclecticism and Dogmatism this essay will look briefly at the reason Dialectics is so central to developing a Marxist strategy for social change.
Some Principles of Dialectics
Human society and nature move dialectically. What are some of the principles of Dialectics?
1) The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. All parts are influenced by other parts and the whole. A mode of production is a unitary but contradictory whole. This means that the fundamental aspects of a society cannot simply be removed one at a time. Attacking one aspect of society will in turn impact other parts and the whole. For example, racism cannot be legislated out of capitalism. The struggle against racism cannot succeed within the capitalist system. Movements against racism can modify its form. These movements in turn influence other movements and structures in society.
For example, the civil rights movement triggered the Women’s Liberation, Anti-War, LGBT etc. movements. The Civil Rights Movement modified the racial demographics of the class structure of the U.S. Because of the unitary but contradictory nature of societies, they can only be transformed by driving to the extreme their contractions to the creation of a new mode of production, a new unitary whole. This is one reason that revolution is necessary.
2) Societies are contradictory. Despite their sometimes-placid appearance, they are riven by contradiction. Societies change through the working out of these contradictions. Capitalism is particularly contradictory. It is based on the exploitation of the working class. (workers are not paid the full value of what they produce). Socialized production is combined with privatized appropriation. The resources created by the vast majority collectively are taken by a tiny minority privately. Limited democracy in the public sphere is contradicted by dictatorship at work. Underneath the appearance of legal labor relations, the class struggle “now open, now concealed” (Marx in Capital) continues. Every political battle is based ultimately on class struggle. Who gets which resources created by the working class? The balance of class forces that derive from this struggle influences all aspects of economics and politics. The ruling class responds politically with both the carrot and the stick. Working class moves to counter these responses drives further responses. Societies change through the working through of these internal contradictions. Ultimately, taking class struggle to the extreme, the working class can take back the wealth it has created and expropriate the capitalist class. When it does this by first taking political power, it can start a transition to a new mode of production.
3) Change is interactive not linear. Effects become causes. The pattern is not just A causes B causes C, but B also influences A. A and B together create C which in turn reacts back on both and so on. For example, plantation owners in the British American colonies in the 1600s needed labor. The use of European indentured servants was limited by civil rights developed over centuries of class struggle. The enslavement of Native Americans was difficult because they could escape relatively easily. This caused the importation of African slaves. This importation and the need to steal Native land required an ideological justification. The result was institutional white supremacy and racism as an ideology to divide laborers against each other. This division required laws and institutions, from laws against intermarriage to forbidding slaves to learn to read etc. Many of these institutions and laws were continued even after slavery to maintain racial divisions. The form of institutional racism changed over the course of class struggle and anti-racist struggle, but institutional racism became so central to capitalism that it continued. Racism and capitalism became inseparable. This combination of racism and capitalism took place internationally as well through colonization and imperialism. To make class struggle as effective as possible workers must understand the role of racism and the need to oppose it. A more complex understanding of social change and dialectics is needed for effective social transformation.
4) Historical Materialism explains human society. Society changes through struggles over the contradictions inherent within it. The most important is class struggle. Societies also change through struggles against other contradictions — racism, sexism, environmental destruction etc. There is a relationship between ideas and struggle. Clarity of ideas helps to create clarity of goals and effective strategies for transformation. However, it is struggle that transforms. Ideas become a social force only when they grip large numbers of people and motivate struggle. Oppositional ideas develop because of material contradictions. Workers oppose being exploited not primarily because they have read about it, but because they experience it.
One example of the interaction between material changes, struggle and ideas is Abolitionism before the Civil War. The slave economy was increasingly competitive with Northern capitalism. Employers of free labor had growing clashes of economic interest with the slaveocracy. This material contradiction led to the rise of Abolitionism. Because of changing economic interests, large and growing numbers of people no longer saw slavery as natural and acceptable. Abolitionism in turn laid the basis for increasing ideological and some material attacks on slavery through legislation and direct action. This intensified the conflict. The Southern slaveocracy finally felt threatened enough that they seceded causing the Civil War. The Union had to abolish slavery to win the war. Ideas flowing out of economic changes fueled the Civil War. However, the spread of Abolitionism on its own would not have liberated the slaves! It took direct physical struggle to do that. Clarity of ideas is crucial but primarily as a way to clarify struggle and make it effective.
5) Appearances differ from reality. Contradictions in society are often hidden. Bourgeois ideologists for example try to deny the reality of class struggle. They argue that workers receive a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. Workers freely decide to work for the wage negotiated with the boss. It can appear that a set of workers or even the whole working class are conservative and unwilling to fight for socialism. At any given time, this may be more or less true. As Marx said “the dominant ideas of any age are the ideas of the ruling class”. Workers have to go along with bourgeois ideas at least to a degree to survive. They must obey their boss to keep their job. They must obey the cops to stay out of jail. They justify obedience to themselves by adopting bourgeois ideology at least to some extent. But looking below the appearance of conformity is necessary. Even when workers obey, they don’t necessarily like it. Reality is not static. There is always dynamic change below the surface. The dormant volcano can go for years or even decades and centuries with little change on the surface. However, eruptions will come! The placid workers of the 1920s erupted in the 30s CIO movement. The McCarthyite 1950s yielded the explosive 1960’s. 30 years of the Mubarak dictatorship came to an end with the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. One thousand years of Czarist rule ended with the Russian Revolution of 1917. People who do not understand this can become pessimistic and give up on social change.
6) Quantity changes into Quality. The foregoing dynamics lead to rapid transformation. This happens in nature and in society. In nature, warmer and warmer ice turns to liquid at 33 degrees F. Liquid water turns to steam at 212 degrees F. Until this “sudden” transformation the ice seems solid and steady. The water is just a little warmer but fundamentally the same. The same thing happens in society. As noted above, conservative periods can become revolutionary seemingly overnight. Those not paying attention to molecular changes underneath the surface can be taken by surprise and not know how to respond.
An understanding of Dialectics is necessary for creation of effective strategies of social change. Those who have a static view of society, who don’t understand the driving force of contradiction, can end up being pessimistic about the possibility of social change. Without an understanding of Dialectics those who still try to change society can end up with reformist rather than revolutionary strategy.
A Dialectical View of Schools of Thought
“Dialectical analysis is the best way to understand the world. However, most human thinking is only partly dialectical or not dialectical at all.”
Marxism is a coherent theory of social change. Fundamental aspects of it cannot be excised without destroying it as an effective program of revolutionary change: class struggle, revolution, internationalism, working class orientation, Dialectics, Historical Materialism and opposition to oppression and exploitation. Each is a pillar of the house of Marxism. Take out one pillar and the whole house falls. In this sense, Marxism itself is dialectical. It cannot be “reformed” into another effective revolutionary school of thought by removing key aspects of it. A fundamental reform of Marxism will only change it into a philosophy compatible with capitalism. Unlike societies, philosophies including Marxism can be fundamentally reformed even into their opposite by removing key elements.
Dialectical analysis is the best way to understand the world. However, most human thinking is only partly dialectical or not dialectical at all. In any class society, human consciousness is heavily influenced by ruling ideology. Ruling ideology is not dialectical. It stresses “eternal” truths such as human nature, national character, hierarchical worth of humans etc.
This means that particular ideologies are not analogous to modes of production or social formations. They are not necessarily a coherent totality. They are made up of ruling class ideas mixed with oppositional ideas, formal logic with dialectics. We need to approach them differently than we approach modes of production. We can confront the negative aspects of a certain set of ideas and help change those aspects. We can learn from the positive aspects of a set of ideas.
Often a particular author will have a trenchant or relatively trenchant analysis of an issue. The author will show in practice and may even say openly that capitalism causes x, y, or z problem. They will often recoil from the logical conclusion of their analysis. Revolutionaries can use the trenchant analysis and draw Marxist conclusions from it. We do not have to reject the whole ideology as we would reject a whole mode of production. We do not have to revolutionize the ideology, overthrow it and create a new one. Instead, we can use parts of it to build Marxism.
Of course, we can approach other ideologies dialectically in one respect. We can grab the contradictions within them and use the analysis to overthrow the strategy. Our goal is to replace Liberalism and reformism with revolutionary politics. In doing so, we should not be shy about using the research results of other ideologies towards Marxist ends. Liberalism and Reformism as a whole are reflections of the needs of capitalism and will be overthrown with the overthrow of capitalism. However, most authors do not express these ideologies in a pure form.
Dogmatism
“studies from any angle can be useful to developing and enriching a Marxist analysis of current society.”
It is important to grasp the distinction between a dialectical approach to ideologies and a dialectical approach to society and nature. A rigid understanding of Marxist principles that rejects this distinction can lead to dogmatism. There are Marxists who refuse to accept ideological contributions from other schools of thought. They argue that Marxism is sufficient unto itself. They fear that any contribution to a Marxist understanding from outside Marxism will pollute Marxism.
This contradicts Marx’s method. As Lenin argued, Marxism flowed from the combination of English political economy, French socialism and German philosophy. Marx took important aspects of each to develop his revolutionary communism. He took these previous sets of ideas and welded them into a coherent whole.
People with a wide variety of politics produce empirical studies. They develop analyses based on these studies. Obviously, these studies have to be approached critically. Marxists have to question their assumptions. They have to inquire into their scientific approach or lack thereof. With these caveats, studies from any angle can be useful to developing and enriching a Marxist analysis of current society.
This applies to non-Marxist ideologies. There is no reason to believe that useful ideologies have not developed since Marx. Of course, ideas from other traditions need to be examined for scientific validity and their compatibility with Marxism.
Examples of Dogmatism
“Society is dynamic. Political program must be dynamic as well. Life and struggle create new opportunities, new methods and new ideas. The dialectics of society has impacts on the development of ideas.”
One example of dogmatism is the wholesale rejection of Feminism by the British Socialist Workers Party. They saw all Feminism as Bourgeois Feminism and therefore virtually worthless. They rejected any suggestion that aspects of Feminism could enrich Marxism. Feminism flows from an important contradiction of capitalism. Bourgeois ideology says that all people are equal in the marketplace yet subjects women to institutional oppression. Resistance to this yields various forms of Feminism.
The struggle against women’s oppression throws up new ideas and means of struggle that can usefully be incorporated into Marxist analysis.
Some Marxists reject Settler Colonial Theory. This theory seeks to analyze societies that are based on the dispossession of natives by colonial settlers. Unfortunately, this theory can be used to reject American, Canadian, and Australian workers as counter-revolutionary “settlers”. Though this is an anti-Marxist application of the theory, this theory can be used fruitfully to analyze Israel and South Africa and the earlier phases of the U.S., Canada and Australia. Some aspects of the colonial settler origins of even these societies still persist. Those who dogmatically reject Settler Colonial theory in toto because of some negative applications of it will miss its important insights.
Another example is the Russian soviet. In the 1905 Revolution, workers in the main cities created workers’ councils, soviets, to carry on their strike activity. The soviets were expressions of class struggle but were not consciously socialist or revolutionary at first. Leading Bolsheviks in St. Petersburgh saw these as expressing different politics than revolutionary Marxism and therefore as political rivals to the party. They demanded that the soviets immediately become fully Marxist and adopt the program of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. The workers refused and Marxists at first had little influence as a result. Lenin rejected this sectarianism and called for “the Soviets AND the Party.” He called on the party to “patiently explain” the Marxist view to workers. He saw the soviets as the potential basis of a workers ‘government. In order to win the soviets to Marxism, the Marxists had to support and work within the soviets. Lenin’s view was proven correct. The soviets became the basis of government after the working-class insurrection in October 1917.
Society is dynamic. Political program must be dynamic as well. Life and struggle create new opportunities, new methods and new ideas. The dialectics of society has impacts on the development of ideas.
Marxism is a living, breathing political philosophy. It must incorporate new ideas that develop in struggle. Obviously, this incorporation needs to be critical. Marxists do not accept new ideas just because they are new. The key is to incorporate ideas that are scientifically valid and do not contradict the core bases of Marxism which have been proven over history.
Reject Eclecticism!
“To understand which new ideas to incorporate into Marxist analyses, Marxists must first have a firm grasp on the principles of Marxism”
Eclecticism has no firm foundation. It takes in ideas willy-nilly without seeing if they contradict firm principles that have been developed over years of struggle and thought. It is so open to “new” ideas that it is willing to jettison established positions previously proven in practice.
To understand which new ideas to incorporate into Marxist analyses, Marxists must first have a firm grasp on the principles of Marxism. It is only through thorough understanding that Marxists can evaluate the usefulness of outside ideas and analyses.
This means that new Marxists need to focus on understanding the science of Marxism. They must read the classics and internalize the basic principles. Only then can they evaluate what to add and what to reject from outside philosophies.
Dogmatism can be a severe problem for both developed and new Marxists. Eclecticism is usually more of a problem for new Marxists.
To defend and use Marxism effectively, Marxists need to reject Dogmatism and Eclecticism and embrace Dialectics!
Join in a discussion of this topic presented at a meeting of the Denver Communists on 4/3/24 at 5 PM Pacific/8 PM Eastern/6 PM Mountain on bit.ly/dencomzoom.
