A most revealing interview. Its very clear from McManus - and no doubt there is a broader cohort who are allied to him and other similar intellectuals - that contemporary Revisionism of Orthodox Marxism - which no doubt he would like to develop into a social force of a new reformism, which he calls Liberal Socialism - is alive and kicking and determined to play its role in the maintenance of the status quo of the social order, Capitalism.Of course despite his often " openness" on many levels on this last point he would blatantly deny and like the best revisionists he has read all the books, has learnt the phrases and is intelligent enough to disguise and confuse. He is an opponent of the necessity of revolutionary Socialism, of Orthodox Marxism, is a protagonist for a redistributive model to solve societys ills, deliberately misleads on the question of the state /deep state and the armed bodies of men and much more. Whilever we accept that this is but one form of " Socialism" that he espouses, that there is a common ground of aims and tasks and that his ideas have anything to do with Socialism it is going to be problematic. McManus et al are of the right , not the left while claiming the mantle of Marx and Socialism. And this is why he finds it invigorating and healthy for open dialogue " on the left" he can claim that mantle as just one variation in a healthy body. No, its rotten in so many places, politically barren and dead and indeed an obstacle of the task of Revolutionary Socialism and the masses that are the only ones that can achieve this. The masses he contemptuously thinks need to be bought off with piece meal reforms and instant "gains" All that reveals is his own political outlook. We have been warned what human slaughter can occur in perilous circumstances as a consequence of Capitalism when the masses are duped by those who purport to be our leaders, radical ones, fail us and take the side of those they claim to be opposing. Bernstein et al, WW1. New times now , new forms ? Political vigilance required. So yes lets keep providing a space to try to understand the century old failures of the "left" but lets keep our judgementalism intact too.
I think Karl William Kapp's views in *The Social Costs of Private Enterprise* (1950), on market exchange and "economic efficiency" as a central motivating and authoritative force in society, are crucial for understanding our problems. It's no mystery why his and Karl Polanyi's work were ignored and buried by (neo)liberal economic departments at universities. Sabastian Berger's work on this is important.
A most revealing interview. Its very clear from McManus - and no doubt there is a broader cohort who are allied to him and other similar intellectuals - that contemporary Revisionism of Orthodox Marxism - which no doubt he would like to develop into a social force of a new reformism, which he calls Liberal Socialism - is alive and kicking and determined to play its role in the maintenance of the status quo of the social order, Capitalism.Of course despite his often " openness" on many levels on this last point he would blatantly deny and like the best revisionists he has read all the books, has learnt the phrases and is intelligent enough to disguise and confuse. He is an opponent of the necessity of revolutionary Socialism, of Orthodox Marxism, is a protagonist for a redistributive model to solve societys ills, deliberately misleads on the question of the state /deep state and the armed bodies of men and much more. Whilever we accept that this is but one form of " Socialism" that he espouses, that there is a common ground of aims and tasks and that his ideas have anything to do with Socialism it is going to be problematic. McManus et al are of the right , not the left while claiming the mantle of Marx and Socialism. And this is why he finds it invigorating and healthy for open dialogue " on the left" he can claim that mantle as just one variation in a healthy body. No, its rotten in so many places, politically barren and dead and indeed an obstacle of the task of Revolutionary Socialism and the masses that are the only ones that can achieve this. The masses he contemptuously thinks need to be bought off with piece meal reforms and instant "gains" All that reveals is his own political outlook. We have been warned what human slaughter can occur in perilous circumstances as a consequence of Capitalism when the masses are duped by those who purport to be our leaders, radical ones, fail us and take the side of those they claim to be opposing. Bernstein et al, WW1. New times now , new forms ? Political vigilance required. So yes lets keep providing a space to try to understand the century old failures of the "left" but lets keep our judgementalism intact too.
I think Karl William Kapp's views in *The Social Costs of Private Enterprise* (1950), on market exchange and "economic efficiency" as a central motivating and authoritative force in society, are crucial for understanding our problems. It's no mystery why his and Karl Polanyi's work were ignored and buried by (neo)liberal economic departments at universities. Sabastian Berger's work on this is important.
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