On Wed, 16 Sep 2015, Julia Tourianski wrote:

>    Jaromil...even Bookchin acknowledges that most of Marx is irrelevant
>    today, except as an example of failure.

I second Bookchin's critic of marx-ISM which, as every -ISM, often ends
up being a conjugation of dull fanaticism and in the worst case
populism.

but then let me establish the term "marxian analysis", to indicate the
application of the economical and political framework provided by Marx.
in doing so, lets please leave aside anything else like considerations
on religion etc.

I think that even with the clear objective of criticising all the
conclusions that Marx draw in his analysis, one cannot trascend from its
terms, because they are well researched and really affect everyone. The
marxian analysis has managed to not leave anyone out of its narrative at
a time in which economic continents were drifting apart during the huge
transformations brought by the industrial era.

In these terms I think that calling a marxian analysis irrelevant is a
mistake. We can all learn a lot and empower ourselves beyond the
rethoric of an often aesthetizing avantgarde by learning important
categories defined by Marx, as for instance the difference between use
value and exchange value and the consequent contemporary analisys on
immaterial value.

I also think that yes, marxism irrelevant. Ideologies are irrelevant.
People in western societies are not stupid. We are cynical, just a
minority believe vote will change anything and can barely hear anyone
really speaking to their heart, if not profiling targeted ads. Preaching
an ideology is dumb and futile. But again, adopting inclusive categories
to describe the macro-economical empasse of capitalism is very effective
and that's what I believe to be the best we can take from Marx as a
scientist, certainly not as a revolutionary icon.

p.s. Kindly requesting please to not send big attachments. your mail
was 13MB big and while that can be easy to download in some places, in
some other places with weak connection it can be really annoying and
even prevent people from reading other messages while on the road.
imap is there for the rescue of course, but still...

ciao