Viewing the entire rough-cut with professor at an elite university who is oriented toward another trend but wants the Party in the discourse
March 10, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
_____ was again very immersed in viewing the film, and again quite animated afterwards. He was up and pacing about, saying that he thought that there were “3 points; what students need to encounter before they decide to work on Wall Street when they are young enough to make crucial choices...” He said I could take some notes. [The notes follow:]
“The tragedy of bourgeois politics. Broadening people’s horizons beyond their attachment to bourgeois politics. You vote and you’re part of this system. Don’t delude yourself with maintaining independence...not that you ignore the process because elections are when power is up for grabs in society.
“Thinking about revolution in the U.S. This question has been avoided by the international left. There are a lot of illusions in Europe—complicit with fantasies of counter-imperialist hegemonies. The U.S. plays a hegemonic role—in culture, in the military, in the production of ideology, the dominance of the U.S. university system. Until they see that, you support reactionary notions of European anti-imperialism. The beleaguered left in the U.S. has the hardest job. The most basic question of Marxism, the fundamental question is to make revolution in the Headquarters of the system. If the U.S. left brushes a flea off its back...it inspires the whole world. This is real revolutionary politics (the speech)...it’s got to be heard at ____ [university] and all over the world. When you start talking the way BA does, what would it mean to think about it...we could have a lot of discussion about how I think about that. All that entails about illusions of capitalism and imperialism, about revolution in the U.S.
“...Some of the greatest evasions in the world, that there is a left project without being cognizant of a U.S. left. (something about adequate international ties.) The left is reproducing a reactionary anti-Americanism that excludes revolutionary possibility.
“The counter democratic project. This involves a lot of my deepest questions. Winning the battle for democracy. [I think I got that right; he’s said that before like in the seminar prior to the RL forum recently. I think it shows his conflictualness (?) about democracy from Marxist perspective.] We need the middle class, professors, etc., as well as the unemployed. We need people to counter the arguments and to talk about society in a meaningful way. To talk about the suburbs, southern sheriffs, the ignorance of people, to analyze this society, riven by the KKK... Question: what is the role of the working class? There are fantasies about socialism in one factory; workerist fantasies. What would the discussion over dinner look like? To advance the social crisis politically. Everything that seems normal—for those things to change even for people who voted for “W.” The notions of ‘we can wait for (fill in the blank) generation to work on.’ Armchair Marxism, pseudo-radicalism. This is addressed here by BA.
“It’s important to get the kids to say what they think. What provoked you? For them to say out loud. Youth concentrate the question of social psychology. What’s cool and not cool. To say what they think in front of that pretty girl.
“Engaging the young probationary members of the intelligentsia. [The school where he teaches] is not a completely traditional institution like Harvard. Some of the kids are a little ‘off’—their parents are not all with the status quo.
“So, to deal with democracy, with the actual seizure of state power in America. The democrats seize state power now. Power is only up for grabs between the two wings of the ruling class. It’s not a world where power is NOT up for grabs. These are the questions that take the discussion out of the classroom.”
Comment: This again demonstrates the power of putting BA, uncut, in front of people; and it shows the potential for this film to do that in an extremely powerful way.
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