Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Soviet demise doesn't dampen spirits of American Marxists Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Soviet demise doesn't dampen spirits of American Marxists \BY B.J. Roche \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT AMHERST, Mass. AMHERST, Mass. - The Cold War is over, capitalism won, and the Soviet Union is no more. All of which proves to nearly everyone that Marxism is a failed economic theory. But not quite everyone. More than 2,000 Marxist economists, philosophers and critics met this week at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to celebrate Marxism. The breakup of the Soviet Union, many of them say, actually freed up Marxists to articulate their answers to social problems in the West without the baggage of Stalinism. "I think it's an exciting time to be a Marxist," says Steve Cullenberg, professor of economics at the University of California at Riverside, one of the conference organizers. "It's not just a matter of collective loneliness. "Most of us never bought into the central-planning model of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and we never bought into the extreme repression. Now we can say all the things we've been saying for years, without the bogyman of the Soviet Union." There seemed to be a lot to say. "Marxism in the New World Order: Crises and Possibilities" featured more than 140 panels and drew nearly double the participants of a similar event three years ago. Over the past 40 years, Mr. Cullenberg says, Marxism expanded from economic theory into other disciplines. The hottest these days are Marxist literary and cultural theory. The panels scheduled over the three-day conference reflected that diversity, ranging from one on "Reflections on Rio-Eco '92" to "Marxism and Childhood" led by a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, to a showing of "Dreamworlds," University of Massachusetts communications professor Sut Jhally's video dissection of the imagery presented on MTV. There were photo exhibits, showings of independently produced videos like "Columbus on Trial," and even an art installation at a shopping mall. Contrary to popular belief, Marxists seem to like to have fun. A cabaret-opera on turn-of-the-century anarchist Emma Goldman was on the schedule for tonight. Jack Amariglio, editor of the quarterly journal "Rethinking Marxism," argues that the social problems the United States faces in the 1990s prove that capitalism is not without its failings. "Capitalism can create both good and bad things," he said. "Capitalists resisted the introduction of child labor laws, and now they're resisting family leave policies and health care programs. "Lots of things that Marxists have called for in the past have become political victories, like free public education and universal suffrage," he said. Many others, including leaders of religious groups, also advocated these things. "People are really very suspicious of all this celebrating about the end of the Cold War," Mr. Amariglio says. "They look around and see that for them, conditions are not much better, and in many cases worse, and they're saying, 'What's all the celebrating about?' " This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM