Indhold:
Dialectical Materialism as a Tool for Analysis and Strategy 7
I. The Roots of Dialectical Materialism 9
From Theories and Concepts to Practices and Back Again 13
Statistics and Governance 15
Liberalism and Capitalism 16
The Social 17
Mao’s Contribution 21
II. The World According to Dialectical Materialism 25
Knowledge 25
Matter and Us 27
Things Are Connected 32
The Characteristics of Particular Contradictions 40
The Principal Contradiction 44
The Two Aspects of the Contradiction: Unity and Struggle 49
War 55
Catastrophe as Principal Contradiction 62
Conclusion 64
III. The Principal Contradiction in the World 67
The Beginnings of the Capitalist World System 68
Capitalism’s Contradictions and Colonialism (1850-1900) 71
Inter-Imperialist Rivalry 1 (1880-1917) 75
Capitalist Crisis and the State (1918-1930) 78
Inter-Imperialist Rivalry n (1939-1945) 81
The American World Order 82
Interactions 86
The Principal Contradiction in the World 96
Capital vs. the State 99
Neoliberalism (1975-2007) 102
Neoliberalism and Imperialism 103
The State Makes a Comeback 106
Rivals 112
Future Contradictions 113
Pandemics 118
IV. Strategy 123
From Analysis to Strategy 126
It’s Not Simple 133
In Conclusion 137
Endnotes 139
Bibliography 149
About the Author 157
Backside text
In The Principal Contradiction, Torkil Lauesen introduces readers to the philosophy of dialectical materialism as a tool for changing the world.
Dialectical materialism allows us to understand the dynamics of world history, the concept of contradiction building a bridge between theory and practice, with the principal contradiction telling us where to start.
The globalized capitalist system has developed through successive and changing principal contradictions, decisively impacting regional, national, and local contradictions. This has in turn given rise to new reactions, interacting with and modifying the principal contradiction.
Identifying the principal contradiction is indispensable for developing a global perspective on capitalism. This methodology is not just a valuable tool with which to analyze complex relationships: it also tells us how to intervene.
Om forfatteren / About the Writer
Aktivist og forfatter, Medlem at Internationalt Forum.
