07) LATEST SPARK! - PHILOSOPHY, THE FAMILY AND MUCH MORE
Issue 25 of the Communist Party’s Marxist theory and discussion journal, the Spark!, is now on sale. This 72-page edition covers a wide range of topics, from developments in the People’s Republic of China, to an examination of women’s oppression, a commentary on the philosophy of dialectical materialism, book reviews, and much more.
The front cover article by Quebec women’s activist Marianne Breton Fontaine, titled “The Principle Enemy,” presents a fascinating argument on the need for transformation of the family to advance the cause of women’s liberation. Breton Fontaine starts with the historical origins of the oppression of women, moving through the emergence of the bourgeois family and into the revolutionary future. Along the way, the author sharply critiques feminist theories which are called “radical” but which fail to address the structural roots of oppression. At the same time, she warns that “the refusal of certain Marxists and of so many militant working class men” to grasp the need for a struggle against patriarchy in all its forms is “the result of the deep penetration of the dominant ideology.” Breton Fontaine’s thought-provoking article is a powerful rejection of the anti-communist claim that Marxist-Leninists have nothing to contribute to modern scientific analysis of the struggle for women’s liberation; it should be widely read by all those who seek a deeper understanding of the reactionary role of patriarchy and the bourgeois family model in today’s world.
Calgary’s Jason Devine is known as one of Canada’s most consistent anti-racist activists, but he is also a PhD student at the University of Calgary. His article, On the “Philosophy” of “Dialectical Materialism”, presents a challenging argument on the content and terminology of Marxist philosophical theory. As Devine points out, “Marx never termed his theoretical innovation dialectical materialism.” Both Marx and Engels, the author says, “argued for a positive, scientific, materialist and historical approach to reality viz. Marx’s dialectic method, scientific socialism.” The language in Devine’s article may seem academic to some PV readers, but his point is worth serious study. As SPARK! editor Dan Goldstick (a philosophy professor at U of T) notes in his “very long” editorial, “we humans do not always think logically, noir do we necessarily think dialectically. It isn’t a question of how we do think, but a question of how to think - in order to think effectively: scientifically.”
Chevy Phillips, “a keen observer of the Chinese scene,” has the third major article in this issue, titled “In defence of the PR of China.” As seen in the debates taking place in many communist and workers’ parties around the world, socio-economic developments in China over the past several decades remain a matter of sharp controversy, and a matter of crucial importance for the 21st century. The view of Phillips is that “China, despite a very difficult situation, is doing the best it can, and making history.” PV readers should leave personal opinions at the door rather than reaching hard conclusions on the basis of this single phrase.
“Notes on the international situation” by Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa, and two book reviews round out this issue. Roger Perkins argues that “Marxist Phoenix: Studies in Historical Materialism,” by Murray Smith, is “a worthwhile book with a fatal flaw” - grafting Trotskyist wings onto the ever-resilient phoenix. Sam Hammond reviews “Raising the Workers’ Flag: The Workers’ Unity League of Canada 1930-1936.” As Hammond concludes, the class struggle in Stephen Endicott’s book “is never portrayed in black and white, but in beautiful, complex and complicated Technicolor.”
SPARK! can be purchased at Communist Party offices (see page 8) for $7; contact the party by phone or email to get details about ordering a copy by mail.
(The above article is from the August 1-31, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)