John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), posted the following recently on Facebook:
“At this point bourgeois thought must come up against an insuperable obstacle, for its starting-point and its goal are always, if not always consciously, an apologia for the existing order of things or at least the proof of their immutability.” Georg Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness, 1923.“Truth is on the side of the oppressed.” Malcolm X, 1964.
In relation to Lukacs’ statement, one could reply: And? Being an apologia for the existing order of things has certainly worked often enough–capitalism has not been seriously challenged for some time–despite being “an apologia for the existing order of things.”
In relation to Malcolm X’s statement–it is hardly true. Truth in many instances goes overboard and is irrelevant–as Trump demonstrated. Truth is often suppressed.
It would be better to say that the oppressed’s truth must be proved in practice.
