"If you meet Marx on the road, kill Marx." [View all]

[white_wolf]

If any of you are familiar with Zen Buddhism you might recognize the reframing of the famous quote "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha." Zen teachers use it to teach the students the dangers of getting trapped in dogmatism and past conceptions. It is used to teach the student to consider new ideas and concepts.

I think the left could benefit from a dose of this Zen teaching. As I read socialist websites or watch socialist videos, I've found that when it comes to our problems today, too many socialists are retreating into the classics and trying to apply old theories to new problems. Too many ask themselves what would "Marx, Lenin, Trotsky,Stalin, Mao, etc. do" in our situation. The problem is that our society is very different from the semi-feudal state Russia was in when Lenin was developing his theories or the early capitalism of England in which Marx wrote and worked. I'm not saying we should ignore the past, because past thinkers did have profound insights, but I have to ask where are the modern theorists? Where is the modern-day Marx or Lenin, or Proudhorn?

I'm not saying I have the answers, and I don't expect anyone to have them, yet, but I do feel that the left has became mired it its own strange form of conservatism, at least in terms of ideas and theories. Modern-day American Maoists are a good example of this problem. Mao's theories were developed for the semi-feudal state of China and to be honest when I see Maoists in America talking about a "People's War" I can't help but shake my head and think how ridiculous they sound (and yes I have seen it a few times.) The point of this post is this: We are in a new century, a new era with new problems and we need new solutions. So perhaps we should take some Zen advice and abandon or at least rethink past conceptions.

Does anyone agree with me or am I totally off base here?