There are some Marxisms that I missed
No, this is not about nostalgia for a more tender, innocent and, yes,
ignorant time. I’ve been convinced, questioned, shown flaw and
abandoned. No after-effects. This merely refers to something I wrote a
couple of days ago (‘On Marxism and Maskism, Marxists and Maskists and
unbecoming skins,’ Daily News of December 14, 2010). It generated some
responses, among which were two that pointed to certain omissions on my
part. Innocent ones, I might add. There’s a third, which I shall mention
to start with.
The article in question referred to a poster that played with the
term ‘Marxism’, positing a (yes, ‘a’, since there are many versions)
Marxism that was proposed as counter to what was called, impishly, ‘Maskism’.
There was a ‘Marxism’ that I ought to have mentioned. It is spelled
differently and was first articulated, to my knowledge, by Prof Sasanka
Perera of Colombo University.
Academic community
Marksism, according to Sasanka, is an ideology that has won over many
academics. It is a clear and simple doctrine. It refers to a new ‘marks’
scheme according to which academics attached to universities are
conferred the title ‘professor’. It is so loose and so un-academic that
it amounts to a system whereby mediocrity is rewarded. Publications
considered in assessing suitability for such title are no longer limited
to academic treatise in the form of books or refereed articles in
journals of quality, but could include articles in newspapers for
example. Even appreciations and obituaries can ‘count’.
Karl Marx |
There’s been some objection from the academic community but the
voices have been weak and/or isolated.
The vast majority of our ‘scholars’ have happily embraced this
scheme. This not only indicts them on their scholarly worth but makes me
(and I am sure others) think ‘spoilt and undeserving brats’ when they
clamour for salary hikes, perks and academic freedom and brings down the
value of their objections to injustice. They are by and large Marksists
and that, dear friends, is not a salutary identifier.
Professor S N Arseculeratne, Uncle Chubby to me, had a different take
on the said article. He repeated something he had written in an article:
‘I am a better sort of Marxist; my guru is Groucho and not Karl (the
confused confuser of the confused)!’ He’s got a point.
Social theory
I am not denying that Karl Marx contributed much to social theory,
not in the manner of constructing it as by writing the politics was
logical in terms of the intersection of his intellect and things as they
were.
His premises were erroneous, his model tragically flawed. As such he
was bound to reach untenable conclusions. He got some things right but
subject to a lot of caveats. The confused, who embraced his as some kind
of all-knowing creature, went berserk, quote in and out of context,
extrapolating beyond logic and doing much violent to themselves and the
world.
Marks-seekers
My friend Harith Gunawardena, author of the incomparable column in
the Irida Divaina, ‘King Barnet,’ called me and said that I had missed
the fact that Sri Lanka is the last bastion of Marxism, sorry Marksism.
That was exaggeration of course, for the Marksism of the kind he was
talking about is prevalent across the world, has been with us for
centuries and will outlast memory of these words that I write now and
all words written before in all languages.
The Sinhala equivalent is lakunu damaa geneema or ‘getting points’
and making sure they are noted. It is a bottom up phenomenon that cuts
across all sectors of the economy, and all levels of social activity. We
could call it salaaming. The person at the bottom of the rung needs to
please the person just above and be duly acknowledged.
The acknowledger of ‘marks’ in turn has to please the person above
him and so on it goes until citizen pleases official, pleases local
politician, pleases district-level party boss, pleases regional
big-name, pleases deputy minister, pleases minister, pleases big-name
minister, pleases President. It is not exactly linear of course.
Certain levels can be by-passed and it is no small victory is marks
can be got if levels can be skipped. The logic remains, though. Get
mark, expect reward.
Rewards may or may not arrive, but the marks-seekers will continue to
seek and out-jump in career development he/she who likes to indulge in
the meritocracy-myth or at least abide by relevant principles for
reasons of ethic or to keep hope alive for a different ‘ism’ that is
mark-less.
Yes, I missed some Marxisms, sorry some Marksisms and a Marxism.
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