Franz J.T. Lee, April, 2009
Super Depression: Ernst Bloch and international workers class struggle
A. An anticipatory, philosophic world outlook
For a change, let us talk about more pleasant things, leave aside the current capitalist productive slime, the ravenous greed and quagmires of Wall Street, arms of mass destruction, genocidal world wars, lies, hoaxes, torture, terror, financial and economic crises and ascend hopefully to where even angels fear to tread, to the seemingly inaccessible sublime cliffs of earthly emancipatory creativity and creation.
Concerning historic class consciousness and emancipatory class struggles of our epoch, in the introduction of his philosophic work, "Avicenna and the Aristotelian Left," by negating ossified, cossified absolute truths, in other words, by eliminating rancid ideology, the Marxist philosopher of hope, Ernst Bloch, gave us an excellent scientific insight into constant praxis and agile theory, into living human action and vivid social thought. No truly emancipatory act or idea can ever become obsolete.
Ernst Bloch, himself a victim of the great depression and of German national socialism elucidated that sound thinking and stringent thought are ever-flowing, over-flowing. They focus on the future, in the sense that today is yesterday's tomorrow. Social praxis and theory are always authentic, always innovative. In their dialectical totality these human relations and contradictions are always venturing far beyond, are always new and original. True "anticipators" and real emancipators across their epoch, in their precious, unique, earthly existence, are always daydreaming creatively forward, ahead; they exist on the horizon of human endeavors; at dawn they are concretely creating the future, are oscillating between revolutionary reality and emancipatory possibility.
Across the millennia, in the brilliant words of Anaximander, our clarion call must read; who does not anticipate the unexpected will never find it. For this very reason there still exists the infinitesimal possibility, by means of global workers class struggles, to eradicate and annihilate the capitalist monstrosity. According to Bloch, in the titanic battle against capitalism, in global class struggle very little has been won, but also, not everything is lost as yet, The experiment world, man, continues.
In his own words, Bloch stated that all smartness could have been thought seven times already; but when it was thought again in other epochs and places, it was not the same anymore. In the meantime, not only the thinker but especially that what he has been thinking about have changed. Wisdom always has to verify itself anew, and to prove itself as the New.
In Venezuela and in America, the above is pertinent in our writings, speeches and debates about a new socialism, the new man of the future. Within this context, in the epoch of a dangerous depression, it is pertinent to refresh our hazed deeds and dazed thoughts, to activate our analytic memory anew and to adjust our reflections and social actions towards our real trying times.
It
is no more Labor Day ... we are laid off, our homes and our pets are
gone ... it is May Day! May Day! S. O. S!
However, as a decade
of Bolivarian Revolution can witness, sane human cosmic existence
covers our whole historic trajectory, the arduous revolutionary paths
of our genesis, epigenesis and synthesis, from where we came, to
where we are and to whither we are going. Our quo vadis is in danger,
all over within and without the enemies lurk, and yet it is the epoch
of "exodus" (Bloch), is to transcend the capitalist vale of
tears and sorrows; it is 'exvolution' now or never.
The
significance of these reflections, especially at the advent of new
planned attacks, of new rumors about possible coups, is that most of
the international mass media, themselves in bankruptcy, are
minimizing the real disaster and do not warn the workers of the world
about the apocalyptic magnitude of the collapse of world capitalism,
of this super depression, its causes, its dynamics, its mortality.
Also the workers of Venezuela are not prepared to face the coming
tsunami of the North American economy, should the petro-dollars
collapse.
George H. W. Bush Sr. formulated the imperialist,
corporate, cardinal and capital crime as follows:
"If the
American people knew what we have done, they would string us all up
on lamp posts". 1)
Already J. Edgar Hoover, ex-FBI
director, very poignantly confirmed the above as follows:
“The
individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so
monstrous he cannot believe it exists.” 2)
This is
neither conspiracy theory nor the diabolical work of an anti-Christ,
individuals or elites. This is imperialist global capitalist
dialectical logic at work, at its worst, bulldozing its bloody trail
of death across the ages. Only global workers class struggles can
still annihilate Big Brother, the current Orwellian Leviathan.
B.
Now, let us highlight less pleasant things.
The "New
World Order" ushered in this current super depression, this Big
Crack, this Big Collapse.
Measured by the latest historical
events, workers of the world, what else do we still need to know, to
convince ourselves, that capitalism as a world system is pure
barbarism, global terrorism? The horror of global depression has just
begun, it will spread worldwide within the next decade. All the
staunch lovers, believers and adherents of 'everlasting' capitalism
are ideologically convinced that currently we are just on a bad trip;
that soon the good old lord together with our 'great leaders', at the
next summit meeting, as always will fix up everything again. Some of
us are truly convinced that wicked 'black sheep', reckless bankers,
Chavez, Fidel or Mugabe, have caused a global 'financial
crisis', which, by printing more and more trillions of useless
greenbacks, we will overcome soon.
Mass media, like Yahoo or
the New York Times, are making millions of losses, the former is
closing down Geocities. Google videos is outsourcing its
clients, the Chicago Sun-Times files for bankruptcy. And still they
'inform' us that we are just suffering from a type of 'economic
constipation'; soon ... by taking an Eno instead of an Evo ...
everything will be fine again. In reality, basic politico-economic
knowledge can easily reveal that corporate imperialism suffers from a
chronic global over productive diarrhea, very little real capital is
being realized; bankruptcy, layoffs, falling of profit rates
indicate that we are facing a huge Krakatau of global revolts,
oppression, suppression, hunger, famine and misery. As a mode of
production overtly and covertly capitalism has converted itself into
what it always has been: into a mode of destruction. Currently within
months it is destroying nearly half of planetary wealth. Within a few
centuries it could destroy what Mother Earth has evolved in six
billion years, that is, life on planet earth.
Over the last
decade, here in Venezuela, many of us began to understand that
natural science and social philosophy, understood as social praxis
and theory, can change concretely the world, can enlighten the
future, namely, can unveil the New, like April 11, 2002, which never
existed before, and which will not repeat itself again. Hence, a
revision of our past predictions, errors and victories should always
light up our revolutionary fire which shines future, is future.
In
this spirit, in retrospect what did we think, what did we do and
think, and what still is our quo vadis in the era of the decay of
global capitalism?
At this moment millions are jobless,
homeless. The international banks, the Detroit Three, GM, Ford and
Chrysler, even Toyota, all are in serious economic trouble. Britain
now seriously feels the recession, so does Japan. In
metropolitan countries millions are entering the queues of
joblessness, abject poverty and starvation.
Tremors,
earthquakes, droughts, floods, tsunamis, weapons of mass destruction
(in a word, HAARP) pave the Via Crucis of Uncle Sam,
accompanied by Uncle Tom, towards globalized Golgotha.
Yes,
nobody is fine anymore, not Nature, not Society. Millennia of
economic exploitation, political domination, social discrimination,
genocide and militarism, and a Mental Holocaust, Human Alienation
have brought us to this global collapse of Capital and Labor.
Labor
Day 2009 will be the dramatic, traumatic 'May Day' of the century, of
millions of global workers! Whether we like it or not, objectively,
subjectively and 'transjectively' there is only one real and true
solution to chronic depression, recession, crack and crash: the total
annihilation of capitalism by global class struggle.
C.
Nothing is fine anymore!
Let us say it as it is: nothing is
fine anymore; if this exploitative insanity should continue for long,
then soon on Mother Earth never ever anything would be fine
again.
Finally, why all these daily tremors and earthquakes,
sudden volcanic eruptions, the unhealthy weather, the droughts,
epidemics, headaches, fatigue and strange voices in our skulls?
Do
zombies, clones, robots, technology, machines and computers consume,
do they produce surplus value, profits and capital? Why do these
issues not make world headlines? Of the nearly 200 "United
Nations", how many (and who) were listening to the excellent
speech of President Evo Morales of Bolivia on Mother Nature the other
day? Nonetheless, this will be a topic of our next editorial.
In
the meantime, in this epoch of emancipation, of Global Depression:
Workers of the world capture this decisive historic fleeting moment
of global class struggles!
***
1)
http://wikiprotest.com/blog/index.php/2007/06/30/if-the-
american-people-knew-what-we-have-done-they-would-
string-us-up-from-the-lamp-posts-george-hw-bush/
2)
ibid.)