WORK IN PROGRESS TOWARDS A SYNTHESIS OF MARXISM AND THERAPY

Written c. 1983; for private circulation.

The schema below is supported by several papers: (1) Politics & Bodies; (2) Class-Consciousness & Bodies; (3) Birth, Death & Bodies; (4) Alienation & Bodies; (5) Party & Alienation; (6) Ecstasy & Politics; (7) Alienation & Introjection. Paper(6) is attached. Copies of the others are available.

level	UNDER CAPITALISM	REVOLUTIONARY RESISTANCE		AFTER REVOLUTION, IN A COMMUNITY OF ASSOCIATED PRODUCERS
		AS FAILING	AS SUCCEEDING
	alienation	alienation	countering alienation	possibility of self-expression
the trans-personal	as an escape	as an escape	as an energiser	as itself
thinking	coloured by (ruling-class's) ideology, i.e. by introjected falsehoods	coloured by (ruling-class's) ideology, i.e. by introjected falsehoods	making a critique of ideology i.e. regurgitation of introjects	knowledge as contact with reality, which is now assimilable
	with the aid of character structure	with the aid of character structure	consciously dealing with character structure	with the aid of therapy, now available to all, towards elimination of char. struct.
inter-group & inter-personal	Relations of Production, alienated by production for profit			everyone involved in decisions about allocating resources by means of
	“destructive” production groups, with introjection retroflection projection	“destructive” political groups, with dependency fight-flight pairing	“creative” political groups, with nurturing energising relaxing	“creative” democratic groups, with nurturing energising relaxing
	persons treated as things (helped by ch.st.)	persons treated as things (helped by ch.st.)	persons treated as persons (conscious dealing with character structure)	persons treated as persons (conscious dealing with character structure)
	class-conflict	authoritarian style	democratic style	classes eliminated
	patriarchy	patriarchy	fraternity, sorority	fraternity, sorority
	sexual frustration encouraged	sexual frustration encouraged	sexual expression encouraged	sexual expression encouraged
interaction with non-human environment	Forces of Production, alienated by production for profit: human needs (bodily, other) unmet	employers allowed to keep control of means of production	appropriation of control of means of production by workers encouraged	Forces of Production developed for meeting needs; economic activity becomes self-expression

NOTE: (i) Clearly another column, about how the community of producers could fail (cp. Soviet Russia, a form of capitalism) and thus retain features of alienated life.

(ii) The schema needs to be read in the light of the well-known passage in Marx's Preface to his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. The basic thesis is that the Forces of Production determine the social Relations of Production, which in turn determine the superstructure of ideas and their media. By “determine” I think he means “provide boundaries” within which the freedom of the “higher” activity Is limited. But there is also limitation in a “downward” direction. In fact his point is that under capitalism the Rel.s of Pr. (private appropriation of wealth) are no longer suited to the Forces of Pr. (social creation of wealth). A communal, truly democratic, life is possible.