Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Why theory matters if you want to change the world

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Why theory matters if you want to change the world

Click here to access article by Chris Nineham from CounterFire (Britain).

I am really impressed with this simple (not "simplistic") explanation of the necessity of both theory and practice as inherent parts of an effective revolutionary strategy. Although directed to a British audience, most all of it applies to the US except for some details.

In the midst of a discussion of mainstream economics in Capital, Marx comments, ‘all science would be superfluous if the outward appearance and the essence of things directly coincided‘. In other words things are normally not as they appear on the surface or in our immediate experience. This is why we need theory.

Capitalism in particular works in a way that conceals its own dynamics.