Comments on: Communism Links http://velvethowler.com/2009/03/17/communism-links/ So much more than you wanted. Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:32:47 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Bryan Klausmeyer http://velvethowler.com/2009/03/17/communism-links/comment-page-1/#comment-5560 Bryan Klausmeyer Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:06:07 +0000 http://www.velvethowler.com/?p=2754#comment-5560 <p>One ingenius idea that I've read is Kojin Karatani's, whose Kantian thesis is that a truly egalitarian party structure ought to be lattice-structured and premised on the fragile synthesis between the Understanding and Sensibility, which he reads as Communism combined with Anarchism: in other words, the Reason of the Party and also the destruction of the state apparatus. But if Communism stands for Reason, organization, etc., Karatani proposes the daring and somewhat crazy idea that the other part of the organization, the anarchistic part, ought to be based on a lottery! This I think is kind of a cool idea.</p> One ingenius idea that I’ve read is Kojin Karatani’s, whose Kantian thesis is that a truly egalitarian party structure ought to be lattice-structured and premised on the fragile synthesis between the Understanding and Sensibility, which he reads as Communism combined with Anarchism: in other words, the Reason of the Party and also the destruction of the state apparatus. But if Communism stands for Reason, organization, etc., Karatani proposes the daring and somewhat crazy idea that the other part of the organization, the anarchistic part, ought to be based on a lottery! This I think is kind of a cool idea.

]]> By: Mark Elliot Cullen http://velvethowler.com/2009/03/17/communism-links/comment-page-1/#comment-5559 Mark Elliot Cullen Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:41:00 +0000 http://www.velvethowler.com/?p=2754#comment-5559 <blockquote> <p>However, such considerations all seem to beg the question of how to organise. It is difficult to imagine a new Communist party, but without one, the idea of communism remains just that: a quasi-religious article of faith. This was perhaps Eagleton's point when he observed that it is not so difficult to imagine a communism of scarcity, foisted upon us by disaster rather than rapture.</p> </blockquote> <p>It's interesting that a set of dogmatic beliefs in opposition to the current structure are usually used to organize a communist alternative, but also seem to ensure a failure to adapt. Russian communism certainly suffered from that stubbornness. </p> <p>Maybe, a greater emphasis on egalitarianism would be useful, since it's a common doctrine to communism, socialism and liberal democracy.</p>

However, such considerations all seem to beg the question of how to organise. It is difficult to imagine a new Communist party, but without one, the idea of communism remains just that: a quasi-religious article of faith. This was perhaps Eagleton’s point when he observed that it is not so difficult to imagine a communism of scarcity, foisted upon us by disaster rather than rapture.

It’s interesting that a set of dogmatic beliefs in opposition to the current structure are usually used to organize a communist alternative, but also seem to ensure a failure to adapt. Russian communism certainly suffered from that stubbornness.

Maybe, a greater emphasis on egalitarianism would be useful, since it’s a common doctrine to communism, socialism and liberal democracy.

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