Just as the bourgeoise retain control of the means of product, as the dominant class, the bourgeoise tends to also dominant all the prevalent forms of art. Bourgeois art is indicative of the ‘mystification’ of what it is to be ‘bourgeois’ - and nothing else. The intellectual location of the intended destination of bourgeois art lies just over the boundary of the material edge of bourgeois-defined reality – it is bourgeois material reality 1.5! In and of itself, there is nothing particularly difficult to understand about this as a a) process and b) manifestation. Even for many bourgeoisie – who are too busy amassing their ill-gotten wealth - ‘art’ of this type remains as periphery to their perception as it stands in relation to the relevance of material reality. Bourgeois-art is a manifestation of the limitation of bourgeois thought. This being the case, the working-class should not stand enawed by this process. The proletariat must retain an independent creativity that runs a) parallel to and b) stand in competition to its bourgeois alternative. Although separate and distinct, proletariat art can (and must) occasionally over-lap with, dominate-over and on occasion - ‘replace’ - the bourgeois alternative it seeks to replace. This is because the auspices of proletariat art lie just beneath the surface of a society it does not yet dominant due to continuing bourgeois control of the means of production and every social, cultural and political advantage this dominance bestows upon its bourgeois user. This should not, in and of itself, interfere with the natural business of ideological displacement, for as time progresses, the dialectical power of proletariat art will become ever greater and prominent for the minds and bodies of the majority of human-beings living within society. Proletariat art is the ever-present spectre living just below the surface of the conscious-mind and just beyond the moving aspects of the material world! As the next and most important stage of human mind-body evolution, proletariat art is the summation of everything that is great and good about the working-class and the Socialist Revolution that it will initiate over the bourgeoise! The bourgeois class will eventually cease to exist – just as their art will stop possessing any relevance as an expression of material reality (as the exploitative material reality it currently manifests will no longer exist to be reflected through the machinations of bourgeoise at). However, even at this stage, it is important for the proletariat artist to remain ‘free’ of all contrived structure and mechanisms of self-limiting control. This process also includes not falling into the trap of hyper-individualism premised upon ‘isolation’ and enhanced by a certain ‘cultural’ irrelevance. These are the challenges for the genuine working-class artist.
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The German Ideology - Part I: Feuerbach.Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook9/22/2021 [7. Summary of the Materialist Conception of History]
This conception of history depends on our ability to expound the real process of production, starting out from the material production of life itself, and to comprehend the form of intercourse connected with this and created by this mode of production (i.e. civil society in its various stages), as the basis of all history; and to show it in its action as State, to explain all the different theoretical products and forms of consciousness, religion, philosophy, ethics, etc. etc. and trace their origins and growth from that basis; by which means, of course, the whole thing can be depicted in its totality (and therefore, too, the reciprocal action of these various sides on one another). It has not, like the idealistic view of history, in every period to look for a category, but remains constantly on the real ground of history; it does not explain practice from the idea but explains the formation of ideas from material practice; and accordingly it comes to the conclusion that all forms and products of consciousness cannot be dissolved by mental criticism, by resolution into “self-consciousness” or transformation into “apparitions,” “spectres,” “fancies,” etc. but only by the practical overthrow of the actual social relations which gave rise to this idealistic humbug; that not criticism but revolution is the driving force of history, also of religion, of philosophy and all other types of theory. It shows that history does not end by being resolved into “self-consciousness as spirit of the spirit,” but that in it at each stage there is found a material result: a sum of productive forces, an historically created relation of individuals to nature and to one another, which is handed down to each generation from its predecessor; a mass of productive forces, capital funds and conditions, which, on the one hand, is indeed modified by the new generation, but also on the other prescribes for it its conditions of life and gives it a definite development, a special character. It shows that circumstances make men just as much as men make circumstances. This sum of productive forces, capital funds and social forms of intercourse, which every individual and generation finds in existence as something given, is the real basis of what the philosophers have conceived as “substance” and “essence of man,” and what they have deified and attacked; a real basis which is not in the least disturbed, in its effect and influence on the development of men, by the fact that these philosophers revolt against it as “self-consciousness” and the “Unique.” These conditions of life, which different generations find in existence, decide also whether or not the periodically recurring revolutionary convulsion will be strong enough to overthrow the basis of the entire existing system. And if these material elements of a complete revolution are not present (namely, on the one hand the existing productive forces, on the other the formation of a revolutionary mass, which revolts not only against separate conditions of society up till then, but against the very “production of life” till then, the “total activity” on which it was based), then, as far as practical development is concerned, it is absolutely immaterial whether the idea of this revolution has been expressed a hundred times already, as the history of communism proves. Marx and Engels correctly observed that external conditions influence the type of inner psychological and emotional terrain an individual experiences, whilst the functioning mind-set – through thought and action – can influence (and change) how the external environment manifests and operates! These observations can be read in the ‘Theses on Feuerbach’. The type of society a child is born into – conditions the ‘type’ of mind-set the child develops – whilst how an individual ‘thinks’ (following education and other experiences of life) can influence the type of behaviour (and interaction) the individual exerts upon the physical environment. Obviously, the logical suggestion is that a fully functioning physical environment pre-exists the ‘birth’ of each individual – and serves as a ‘rich’ depository of influences that channel the human-mind into a particular frequency of functionality. However, as the human-mind can be further influenced by all kinds of stimulus which direct its thinking-process into multitudinous directions, it is possible that given the right kind of influence, the ‘true’ reality of the external world can be clearly grasped, and a Revolutionary direction of behaviour embarked upon! The thinking is that once a Socialist Revolution is successfully achieved in the outer world – then an entirely ‘new’ inner terrain for humanity is experienced! Where meditation is useful is that it can ‘clear’ the inner mind of the ‘delusion’ and ‘confusion’ caused by the external environment of a capitalist society! Meditation can achieve this as an ‘act of will’ which allows an individual to ‘detach’ themselves from the strictures of predatory capitalism, and whilst still living in a capitalist society, and mould their behaviour in such a way so as to live in a progressive manner that helps assist the development of physical conditions that bring a successful Socialist Revolution ever-closer! This can happen because Buddhist meditation ‘uproots’ the essence of the capitalist system from deep within the habits of the mind. What is this ‘essence’ of the capitalist system? Is is greed, hatred and delusion. Being outwardly ‘non-attached’ to physical stimulus and inwardly ‘calm’ and ‘still’ can only result in the reality of Socialism! This means that by realising ‘empty’ space in the mind is directly linked to perceiving the ‘empty’ space of the physical environment – with the two experiences ‘integrating’ into one reality. This is how Buddhist meditation can bring a further layer of developmental structure to Marxist and Marxist-Leninist ideology. Buddhist meditation allows for the idea that individuals can ‘free’ their minds and bodies from being ‘directly’ influenced by capitalist ideology whilst still physically existing within a capitalist society! Of course, the external reality is still ‘capitalist’, but individuals can ‘detach’ their psychological processes and sensory reactions from the habitual ‘predatory’ nature of the capitalist system. Such an achievement propels the individual into a permanent state of ‘transition’ which has the tendency of moving all thought and behaviour into the direction of Socialism. This is a ‘new’ state of achieving ‘Socialism’ that acts in accordance with the thinking of Marx and Engels – but which was not developed in their writings during their lifetimes. This is despite the fact that Marx and Engels knew about Buddhism (via their friend ‘Karl Koppen’), but never had to time (or experience) to develop a ‘theory’ in this direction. Buddhist meditation, as a method of ‘uncoupling’ the inner-being from the outer capitalist system could well be developed into an objective science free of all religiosity no different to studying the written works of Marx and Engels!
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles PhD - Political Commissar and BMA (UK) Historian & Researcher. Archives
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