Dialectics in the Marxist Tradition, in Mao Zedong and in Current Chinese Innovative Marxism

Abstract

Dialectics in its origins is a variety of idealist thought that has acquired special relevance through Marxism, and whose political-ideological value is underlined by Chinese innovative Marxism. This article argues for the unscientific character of the concept of dialectics as a reflection of the development of nature and society, while pointing to its significance as an expression of interests of domination and of the obscurantism through which these interests try to justify or conceal themselves. The view of dialectics as a mere expository procedure is also criticised as a superfluous ornament for the scientific analysis of objective reality. The article begins by addressing some notable characteristics of dialectics in traditional Marxism, mentioning the strong version (with strict laws applicable to facts) and the weak version (that reduces dialectics to emphasising the importance of change). Various approaches to the first chapter of Marx's Capital are discussed, particularly Lenin's exaltation of dialectics, and a number of questions are raised concerning the dialectical view of the commodity. These questions, along with others related to property and enterprises within socialism, are again addressed in relation to Chinese innovative Marxism. Various features of Mao Zedong's dialectical approach are set out. Mao's contributions to dialectics seem to bring a greater realism to traditional Marxist dialectics, despite some ambiguities and vacillations; in recent times these contributions appeared subject to a degree of ideological isolation. The disorienting use of dialectics is illustrated by a number of dialectical games, fictitious but showing some analogy with actual dialectical arguments in the complex ideological landscape between Marxism. Contrary to the general acceptance of a symbiosis between dialectics and socialism, the article emphasises their opposition.