[KS] Egypt and Gwangju 1980

[Frank Hoffmann]

Rüdiger, sure!

Marx called me up recently to say he had made 
some mistakes, after finally having read Rudolf 
Bahro. Kwangju 1980s is a perfect example for a 
growing middle class "revolution" using 
pre-Marxist and later also Marxist terminology 
mixed with nativist agendas that were developed 
in reaction to both the pre-colonial area and the 
American dominance. (One then wonders, of course, 
if there ever was in history anything like a 
proletarian revolution.) The "mob" -- as Don Kirk 
refers to the people protesting in the streets of 
Korean cities -- interesting choice of 
terminology -- and as he noted this with some 
good insights (earlier link posted) -- were then 
mostly not part of the proletariat and aren't now 
either, or at the very least, the proletariat is 
not what Marx anticipated that it would become. 
This is no news. This was a classical "new 
middle-class" revolution: is this not also the 
interpretation the majority of historians agree 
on? I really think we have nicely incorporated 
the Marx brothers in all newer theories. So I was 
looking at a little more 'upgraded' concept or 
theory that would connect the history of 
colonialism, post-war economic development, the 
China-First success, and all those 1980s to 2000s 
changes we see into some sort of new history, new 
historical perspective ... some addendum to Weber 
and Wallerstein. Thanks.

Frank




>PS: Frank, as far as I know Marx provided a 
>model that you might find useful. He asserted 
>that societies develop continuously; however, 
>most of the time they do so quantitatively. 
>Then, if a certain threshold (das Mass - not die 
>Mass, by the way) is reached, society gets ready 
>for a qualitative change (from one quality to 
>another). All it takes is a spark that ignites 
>the fuse, so to say. This is called a 
>revolutionary situation. Such a situation can 
>last for a rather long time without any change; 
>but then suddenly - boom. It is hard to predict 
>the exact time when that explosion happens, 
>which can be frustrating for analysts like us. 
>So if in country A there is a revolutionary 
>situation, and country B has an actual 
>revolution, the latter's example could indeed 
>become the trigger for country A to finally act. 
>I have speculated that KJI's death could fulfill 
>such a function in case economic reforms keep 
>sharpening the contradictions in NK's society, 
>to remain with Marx' terminology. Note that I 
>used the subjunctive.

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Frank Hoffmann
http://koreaweb.ws