Thank you for your comments and the forwarding on of my post. Let me say
that I am fully aware of Russia's Stalinist past. However it should be
clear that Stalin was no friend of revolutionaries who were seeking to
bring about a democratic society. When I talk about revolution I am
talking about overthrowing the corporate state and the world corporatist
hegemony that enslaves the peoples of the world. This can be achieved in
various ways, but it must be achieved if we are to become a democracy and
move towards our goal of liberation and dealienation. It is in my opinion
a myopic and pessimistic view of the world, and indeed of the worker, to
believe that worker attempts to fashion a better world for their families
and communities will always dissolve into Stalinist-style dictatorship. It
is a much greater possibility that the corporate state would respond in a
wave of reactionarism, the end result of which would become world fascism.
Yet, I can say with confidence, that the latter outcome is not only
possible if we do *something* to affect change, it is inevitable if we do
*nothing* to liberate the producers in this world from the chains of the
the elite few who control the productive means and the coercive and
ideologial machinery of the world-system. Horkheimer prophetically noted in
1939: "Fascism fixes the results of the collapse of capitalism." The
world-system is presently coming unglued; and in the face of this
destabilization and delegitimation of the world-system, fascism (its
economic base --corporatism -- already intrinsic to the system) is a
potential outcome of the coming crisis. I stand by my closing statement.
I do advocate the organizing of a mass democratic movement. And I believe
that the people who should be frightened by the prospects of such a movement
should be the power elite who exploit the masses. I should stress again
that the reason I am a libertarian and not a socialist (in the narrow
sense of the term, i.e. the political movement or transformational stage) is
precisely because I fear the Stalinist outcome of a state socialist
transformation. My vision of social transformation towards a democratic
world system involves not only the destruction of the capitalist class,
but the demolition of the corporate state. Audre Lorde wrote: "The master's
tools will never dismantle the master's house." This was the mistake of
Russian socialism -- they replaced one ruling class with another, using
the same bureaucratic paradigm spawned in hyperrationality -- and I stand
with you in opposing any such movement that would lead to Soviet-style
totalitarianism.
Peace,
Andy Austin
On Tue, 5 Mar 1996, Nikolai S. Rozov wrote:
> I forwarded to PHILOFHI A.Austin's response to R.Moore's message with the
> following comment:
>
> Forwarding the response to R.Moore's msg from wsn I wish to make
> a few notes.
> The topic of this talk concerns political-economic sphere (the focus of
> wsn) but Philosophy of History traditionally (since Herder and Kant) deals
> not only with human past but also with far-off global future and modernity
> seen from this holistic viewpoint.
> Linking with our talk of civilizations we can assume that Transnational
> Companies (TNC) as well as nation-states and social movements (f.e.
> libertarians, socialists etc) are specific "instruments of expansion" (in
> terms of Carroll Quigley, according to C & WS p.19, in the general order
> of such "instuments" as Sumerian priesthood, Egiptian taxation, Classical
> slavery, Western military feodalism and later capitalism) of modern
> westernized Global Civilization.
> The critical problem is how Utopia relates to this Civilization.
> I support R.Moore and A.Austin when (in my terms) they tend to
> make more strict limits to TNC with the aid of n-states and s-
> movements (i.e. harmonization of elements within civilization).
> But as a Russian whose parents lived during Stalinism I am deeply
> frightened of last words of A.Austin about "world worker revolution".
> His understanding of "breaking up the ground before planting" is just
> Leninist-Trotskist slogan of "International" "We destroy the old world
> absolutely" (a pity, I know only Russian version of this hymn).
>
> It can mean only a call to crush Civilization by means of Utopia.
>
> All TNC, core Western n-states and fair western universities where
> such callers comfortabely work now, will be defended by NATO. I suppose
> that it is possible only with such deep sense of personal security not to
> care about inevitable revolutionary disasters and terror with following
> Stalinist dictatorships just for those peoples whom Western socialists
> wish to "help".
> Regards, Nikolai
>
> Nikolai S. Rozov
> Professor of Philosophy
>
> Moderator of the mailing list PHILOFHI
> (PHILosophy OF HIstory and theoretical history)
> http://darwin.clas.virginia.edu/~dew7e/anthronet/subscribe
> /philofhi.html
>
> Dept. of Philosophy
> Novosibirsk State University Fax.: (3832) 355237
> 630090, Novosibirsk E-mail: rozov@cnit.nsu.ru
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> RUSSIA
>