Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Why does the Call to Arms Goes Unheeded?

     The call to the long awaited Marxist revolution against Capitalism continues to manifest in different ways, yet continues to go unheeded. Why? According to Thomas A. Hirschl's work "Structural Unemployment and the Qualitative Transformation of Capitalism," either "Marx's theory is wrong" or Capitalism has not hit rock bottom (157). Hirschl's theory contends that the displacement of the labor force generated by the advancements in technology will irrevocably "alter capitalist dynamics" to such an extent that it will force capitalism "toward a qualitative transformation" (158). Now, while Hirschl's theory seems to contend that Capitalism's metamorphosis will resemble more a evolution rather than the violent upheaval normally associated with a true revolution, Henri Lefebvre's essay, "The Right to the City" suggests that change requires "a spontaneous coming together in a moment of 'irruption,' when disparate heterotopic groups suddenly see, if only for a fleeting moment, that possibilities of collective action to create something radically different" (xvii). Now if not exactly a call to arms, certainly a call for change continues to be made by political and financial watchdog groups throughout the nation, and while one would assume that the current level of unemployment, the bursting of the housing market bubble, as well as the failures of the banking system should naturally perpetuate a revolution of some sort, Americans (except for those few involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement) remain strangely detached and silent on the matter. Are they/we waiting for things to get better or worse? How bad does it have to get? Are we inhibited by the ongoing belief/faith in the American Dream? Why does the call to arms continue to go unheeded?


Harvey, David. Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution.
           London: Verso, 2012. Print.

Hirschl, Thomas. "Structural Unemployment and the Qualitative Transformation of
           Capitalism." Davis, et al. 157-174. Davis J., T. Hirschl, and M. Stack, eds.
           Cutting Edge:  Technology, Information, Capitalism and Social 
           Revolution. London: Verso, 1997. Print.

No comments:

Post a Comment