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sugrumase ultimele mari revolte ale clasei muncitoare occidentale. Pe cînd<br />
au dispærut avantajele relative de care s-a bucurat proletariatul occidental,<br />
obflinute în urma exploatærii „Lumii a Treia“ øi devenite în anii ’70 calul de<br />
bætaie al „teoriei“ publicistice anunflînd „sfîrøitul ideologiilor“, hegemonia ideologicæ<br />
a burgheziei se restabilise, chiar færæ a mai trebui sæ-øi sponsorizeze<br />
pentru asta adversarul cu o concepflie despre lume opusæ burgheziei, i.e.<br />
contracultura radicalæ ce parazitase statul bunæstærii, punînd serios la îndoialæ<br />
perspectivele burgheze – cf. Antonioni, „noul val“, free cinema, pictura nonfigurativæ,<br />
miøcærile studenfleøti etc.<br />
Contrarevoluflia neoconservatoare a distrus cu totul „ecosistemul“ statului<br />
bunæstærii. În cadrul acestei contrarevoluflii, hegemonia concepfliei despre<br />
lume a burgheziei devenise posibilæ prin referirea falsæ la realitatea deja dispærutæ<br />
a statului bunæstærii. Grupurile umane au ajuns sæ nu se mai deosebeascæ<br />
între ele numai prin stratificæri legate de venituri, prestigiu øi statut,<br />
ci (din nou) prin raporturi de clasæ „pure“. Dar pînæ ca asta sæ se întîmple,<br />
institufliile politice øi culturale ale clasei muncitoare au ajuns sæ fie deja „cooptate“<br />
(„înrolate“). De o bunæ bucatæ de vreme, pe rol nu mai e „crearea<br />
unei clase de mijloc“, ci proletarizarea (greutatea aøa-numitelor „afaceri<br />
mici“ scade, iar cei care se autoangajeazæ la firme create de ei înøiøi nu sînt<br />
întreprinzætori – în pofida ømecheriei statistice din Ungaria øi a falsei conøtiinfle<br />
a celor implicafli direct). Înfrîngerea e pur politicæ, dar asta ajunge.<br />
Din victoria capitalismului nu decurge însæ cæ el ar fi „raflional“. Ceea ce e<br />
real este øi raflional – spunea Hegel. Capitalismul contemporan e atît de inveterat<br />
iraflional, e sursa atîtor suferinfle inutile øi evitabile, încît din toate astea<br />
s-ar putea trage pînæ øi concluzia cæ el nu este real. Potenflialul emancipator<br />
de netægæduit de care a dispus cîndva pare sæ se fi epuizat. Mæreflia de<br />
odinioaræ a modernitæflii capitaliste fusese întreflinutæ de tensiunea dintre tragedia<br />
reificærii øi emanciparea progresivæ de dependenfla personalæ. Shakespeare,<br />
Goethe øi Marx væzuseræ pînæ øi emanciparea ca pe un lucru<br />
tragicomic. Tocmai din acest motiv e greu sæ-i înflelegem øi sæ-i acceptæm.<br />
Scrierile lor n-au nimic de-a face cu nararea iluministæ a istoriei moderne.<br />
În Europa de Est – care e astæzi centrul internaflional al reacfliunii –, capitalismul<br />
apare ca o realitate unicæ, absolutæ. Cum spusesem deja (La Nouvelle<br />
Alternative, 60–61, martie–iunie 2004; IDEA artæ + societate, #19, 2004),<br />
în Est sistemul „comunist“ („socialismul real øi existent“) a extirpat adversarii<br />
istorici ai capitalismului: la „dreapta“ elementul premodern („alianfla dintre<br />
tron øi altar“), iar la „stînga“ miøcarea muncitoreascæ revoluflionaræ. În republica<br />
sovietelor a lui Lenin øi Stalin nu existaseræ nici miøcæri muncitoreøti socialiste,<br />
nici consilii de muncitori, nici greve øi nici sindicate. Dar nici nobilime<br />
øi cler veritabile. Cultural øi politic vorbind, într-adevær, nu existæ aici decît<br />
statul øi capitalul. Asta e însæ pur øi simplu o neînflelegere localæ, provincialæ.<br />
Socialism?<br />
János Kis greøeøte atunci cînd îmi reproøeazæ cæ eu aø fi ræspuns numai observafliilor<br />
sale privitoare la stînga øi la vederile mele. Aceste ræspunsuri bat numai<br />
15 procente din scrierea mea. Dacæ însæ despre asta-i vorba (sau dacæ aici<br />
am ajuns), ei bine, sæ-i facem pe plac. Sæ începem prin a clarifica un lucru:<br />
„autodirijarea“ înseamnæ multe lucruri, dar categoric nu „socialism“. Existenfla<br />
unor unitæfli de producflie autodirijate, aflate în posesia muncitorilor poate<br />
fi un lucru bun în cadrul pieflei capitaliste, în felul acesta ar putea slæbi presiunea<br />
ierarhiei. E însæ o întrebare dacæ, în condifliile concurenflei din cadrul<br />
pieflei, aceste unitæfli organizate ca asociaflii, sau pe baza vreunui alt princiclass<br />
relations. In the meantime, the political and cultural institutions of the<br />
working class had been mostly “co-opted”. The process now in full bloom is<br />
not the consolidation of the middle class, but pure proletarianization (the role<br />
of so-called small enterprises diminished; despite the well-known trick in<br />
Hungarian statistics and the false conscience of the interested parties, selfemployed<br />
people are not entrepreneurs). The defeat is purely political, but<br />
this is more than enough.<br />
From capitalism’s victory we cannot deduce that it is also “rational”. The real<br />
is rational – Hegel says. Contemporary capitalism is so crookedly irrational<br />
and it causes so much needless suffering that we could conclude it is unreal.<br />
The undeniable potential for emancipation it once used to boast seems to<br />
have vanished. The past greatness of capitalist modernity was fuelled by the<br />
tension between the tragedy of reification and the progressive liberation from<br />
personal servitude. Shakespeare, Goethe and Marx considered even the latter<br />
to be tragicomic – this is why accepting and understanding their work is so<br />
difficult. They do not provide the usual narrative of Enlightenment on modern<br />
history.<br />
In Eastern Europe, which is today the center of international reaction, capitalism<br />
appears to be a monolithic and absolute reality. As I have already<br />
explained (La Nouvelle Alternative, 60–61, March–June, 2004), the “communist”<br />
system (“really existing socialism”) has eradicated the historical adversaries<br />
of capitalism here: the pre-modern element on the “right” (“the alliance<br />
of the throne and the altar”), and the revolutionary labor movements on the<br />
“left”. In the Soviet republic of Lenin and Stalin there were no socialist labor<br />
movements, workers’ councils, strikes and trade unions, just as there was no<br />
true aristocracy and no true clergy. In a cultural and political sense, the only<br />
actors here are, indeed, the capital and the state. Still, this is merely a provincial<br />
and local accident.<br />
Socialism?<br />
János Kis was wrong to say I only replied to his remarks concerning the left<br />
and my views. Such observations constitute approximately 15 percent of my<br />
reply. But if he has brought up the issue, let us examine it. First of all: the<br />
term “self-management” can denote multiple things, but not “socialism”.<br />
The existence in worker possession of self-managing economic units could be<br />
a good thing on the capitalist market, because it might reduce the pressure<br />
of hierarchy. But is still a question how these units or associations can avoid<br />
the negative consequences of market competition: the diminishment of real<br />
incomes; the “competitiveness” reached through technical development and<br />
increase of work intensity through extensions of work time, through rationalization<br />
and cut-backs; and finally the tensions arising from the opposition<br />
between the worker-owners of these units (who are thus still capitalist entrepreneurs)<br />
and the workers in other factories, whose position is then threatened<br />
because of the capitalist competition. Even if the position of workers at<br />
self-managing units were good, it would not much improve the general social<br />
situation – not to mention the damaging effect of the resulted illusions.<br />
Under the circumstances of the bureaucratic-dictatorial or “Thermidorian”<br />
state capitalism, “self-management” – as the sad example of Tito’s Yugoslavia<br />
illustrates – only creates confusion. Self-management is presumably the adequate<br />
political form of socialism – nevertheless, in the national-Bolshevik<br />
Yugoslavia, self-management could lead to nothing but a pale version<br />
of decentralization and “factory autonomy”. Laborers (and the ideologically<br />
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