/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

In his magnum opus, Rudolf Rocker challenges the theory of economic materialism by considering the "will to power" as one of the strongest motives in the development of human social forms. He states that "it is the fundamental error of this theory that it puts the causes of social phenomena on a par with the causes of mechanistic events in nature". What is the missing component then? He adds "Every social process arises from human intentions and human goal setting and occurs within the limits of our volition. Consequently, it is not subject to the concept of natural necessity".

How do we understand history, one may ask?
Rudolf argues: "For history is, after all, nothing but the great arena of human aims and ends, and every theory of history, consequently, a matter of belief founded at best only on probability; it can never claim unshakeable certainty". Rather, he argues, "The will to power which always emanates from individuals or from small minorities in society is in fact a most important driving force in history".

He then mentions some historical examples where economic materialism is not enough to explain such events:
- "The empire of Alexander cemented together with the blood of hundreds of thousands fell to ruin soon after his death proves that the military and poltiical achivements of the Macedonian world conqueror were not historically determined by economic necessity (…). His mad power obsession was a leading motive in his whole policy"

- The other example refers to the Crusades: "Economic motives alone would never have been sufficient to set millions of men in all countries in motion if they had not been permeated by the obsession of faith (…)." Although some economical advantages existed "To deduce that from this that the Crusades were inevitably determined by the methods of production of the period would be sheer nonsense."

Rudolf argues that the State needs to appeal to men's heart in order to control him, as economic conditions are not enough to manipulate him in its favor: "The decisive factor is that without the continuous appeal to men's ethical feelings, to their sense of justice, no war would have been possible. (…) This is proved by the fact that before men can be driven to war they must be lashed into a certain pitch of passion and by the further fact that this passion can only be aroused by spiritual and moral motives." referring to WW1. As such, "Considered purely economically, the War was therefore by no means inevitable. Capitalism could have survived without it."

Therefore, even though the whole capitalistic economic system has gotten out of control, the revolution has yet to come. Rudolf explain this: "But the spirit is lacking-the socialistic spirit that strives for a fundamental reconstruction of social life and is not content with petty patchwork, which merely prolongs the crisis but can never heal its causes. Never before has it been so clearly proved that economic conditions alone cannot change the social structure, unless there are present in men the spiritual and intellectual prerequisites to give wings to their desires and unite their scattered forces for communal work."

The message is clear: the revolution will not fall from the skies. Will not be born spontaneously from our suffering. We, consciously and willingly, must create the revolution. So let's stop this nonsense that some Marxists claim: "the material conditions are not ready for the revolution". Climate change is the current and future event that proves such a statement disastrously wrong.