I always learn a lot from Žižek, even if his poignant passages hide within dense forests of anecdotes. Starting on the very bottom of page 379 in his recent Living In The End Times, Žižek offers yet another compelling depiction of a contemporary communism that, this time, blends together the writing of John Cage, the music of Eric Satie, and the lyrics of Bertolt Brecht. While I highly recommend that you read Žižek's chapter in its entirety, here is a quotation taken from its pages. It is from Brecht's "In Praise of Communism" in The Mother:
It's quite straightforward, you'll understand it. It's not hard.
Because you're not an exploiter, you'll easily grasp it.
It's for your own good, so find out all about it.
They're fools who describe it as foolish, and foul who describe it as
foulness.
It's against all that's foul and against all that's foolish.
The exploiters will tell you that it's criminal,
But we know better:
It puts an end to all that's criminal.
It isn't madness, but puts
An end to all madness.
It doesn't mean chaos
I just means order.
It's just the simple thing
That's hard, so hard to do.
(Bertolt Brecht, "In Praise of Communism," from The Mother, London: Methuen 1978, p. 28)
1 comment:
Look to Cuba and you'll see a praise to communism in the society that the revolution has created in spite of the criminal embargo and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the other former European socialist nations.
Look to the USA to see what capitalism has to offer the world and it's own people in spite of having the most advanced technology and productive capacity in the world today.
Look to yourselves as makers of history to rid the world of your exploiters and oppressors and look to the lessons of history to chart the way forward.
Dave
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