From owner-marxism-international
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 22:59:36 -0500 (EST)
From: Brian M Ganter <bmganter@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: M-I: Grammatical Clique/Bourgeois Populism
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Revolutionary Marxist Collective at U of Buffalo:
Bourgeois populism has invaded Marxism to such an extent that now
the test of “truth” of a theory has become its
“readability”. Both Louis Proyect and Doug Henwood
deploy the vocabulary test against our writings and Proyect goes
even to such a laughable length as to defend the Monthly Review
crowd on the basis that they reach more people than we do. By this
very test Ralph Reed, Newt Gingrich and the entire Republican
Party is much more “revolutionary” than Monthly Review
press since Ralph Reed and Co. reach a crowd a million times
larger than the publications of Monthly Review Press and the net
writings of Proyect combined. Proyect's pathetic efforts to
represent his reminiscences as revolutionary theory reach an
absurd level when he uses Lenin's term “ultraleft” to
justify his establishment leftism. To use Lenin's notion of
ultraleft as an alibi of conserativism is in fact a new
breakthrough in the reformist left (and Proyect calls for
“historical context” when we speak of Weitling!).
Furthermore: Doug Henwood should keep in mind we are philosophers
and not journalists. We are not writing for his newsletter (Left
Business Observer)... we are not in the “business” of
selling but in putting forth the project of
R E D CRITIQUE
Left Business Observer cannot respond to Derrida's assault on
revolutionary practices in “Specters of Marx”. Louis
Proyects' [sic.] memoirs are no match for
Deleuze-Guattari's “Thousand Plateaus” (just to give
the names of two of the books he must eventually run into in his
never-ending search for books to review... ).... The grammatical
sectarianism of this anti-intellectualist grouping will never
allow it to rigorously engage with and critique the
world-historical situation along with the bourgeois theories of
knowledge that are emerging to mystify capitalism today
(knowledges which are given ample space on this very web site for
one).
We want to point out here that the publication of
“Performative Left: A Red Critique of the Theatre called
'Between Capitalism and Democracy'" by the RMC at Buffalo has
“shell-shocked” the left on the net. Andrew Austin
expresses this “shock” by asking “Where in the
hell did this post come from?" and makes it clear that he is not
asking about the “geographical” origin of the
post. The left does not comprehend “Where in the hell the
post came from” because it has for such a long time amused
itself with the fluff of what it calls
“activism”—a melange of nostalgia, moralization,
faded pictures of scenes past. The publication of RMC/Buffalo's
text has been treated by this left as an earthquake, and as in all
earthquakes, what has followed is panic and running for cover...
the cover of “your typography is wrong... therefore I am
deleting you and freeing myself from having to understand
you”... the cover of “style”,
“vocabulary”, “prose,".... The problem is
however, that none of these covers covers. The time has come to
stake out a space for revolutionary Marxist theory and the Red
Critique of RMC-Buffalo is an attempt to do exactly
that. Therefore we declare to this philosophically bankrupt left:
stop whining and start reading!! Learn to read
CONCEPTUALLY—not the New York Times or the Left Business
Review but learn to read philosophy. Learn to read. A Marxist who
cannot read is a bourgeois functionary masquerading as a
revolutionary! Out then with the technicalities and formal
protests of the GRAMMATICAL CLIQUE — those who CANNOT READ
THEORETICALLY and who mask their illiteracy with the formal
logistics of grammar. We do not need to hear (again) the endless
lessons on vocabulary, prose, style or any of the other alibis
that this left grammatical clique (Henwood, Proyect, Cox, Dumain,
Schwartz and so on... don't forget Alan Sokal, the ringleader of
contemporary bourgeois populism who also substitutes grammatical
proprieties for theory—FOR LEARNING TO READ) is invoking
against Red Critique.
No more alibis against the rigorous
conceptuality of Marxist theory!
For Red Critique not populist reminiscing!
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