For Ourselves

The Right to Be Greedy

Theses On The Practical Necessity Of Demanding Everything

OVO
Portland Oregon USA January 2013

Table of Contents
Introduction I. Wealth II. Individualism and ollectivism III. !he "ialectic o# $goism I%. !he &esonance o# $goisms %. ommunist Society %I. &adical Su'(ectivity %II. Pleasure %III. Se)uality I*. Authority *. +orality *I. &evolution Post ,otes ,otations Annotations itations A--endi) Indicia

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Introduction
1 9reed in its #ullest sense is the only -ossi'le 'asis o# communist society. 2 !he -resent #orms o# greed lose out5 in the end5 'ecause they turn out to 'e not greedy enough. 3 !he re-ression o# egoism can never totally succeed5 e)ce-t as the destruction o# human su'(ectivity5 the e)tinction o# the human s-ecies itsel#5 'ecause egoism is an essential moment o# human su'(ectivity. Its re-ression sim-ly means that it returns in a hidden5 du-licitous #orm. I# it cannot sho. itsel# in the o-en mar/et5 it .ill #ind itsel# or create #or itsel# a 'lac/ mar/et. I# it is not tolerated in trans-arent n1 relations5 the re-ressed sel# .ill s-lit in t.o: into a re-resented sel#5 a -ersonal organi6ation o# a--earances5 a -ersona5 and that .hich cringes and -lots 'ehind this character7armor. n2 !he re-ression o# egoism5 contrary to the dictates o# every one o# the so7called 1 ommunists1 0in o--osition to +ar) and $ngels25 #rom ;enin right do.n to +ao5 can never 'e the 'asis o# communist society. +oreover5 the re-ressive conce-tion o# 1communism1 misses -recisely the .hole -oint. It misses out on the validity o# the egoistic moment. !his is true even in the inverted #orm in .hich it emerges #rom an immanent criti4ue o# altruistic ideology< i# I die5 the .orld dies #or me. Without li#e5 I cannot love another. =o.ever5 .hat it misses in 1theory1 7 i.e.5 in its ideological re-resentations 7 it nonetheless -reserves in -ractice5 and -recisely .ith the hel- o# that very ideology< its real 'asis is the egoism o# the state7ca-italist 'ureaucracy. !his ideology o# sel#7sacri#ice serves admira'ly the tas/ o# e)tracting sur-lus7la'or #rom the -roletariat. !he actual negation o# narro. egoism is a matter o# transcendence 0 aufhebung25 n3 o# the transition #rom a narro. to a 4ualitatively e)-anded #orm o# egoism. !he original sel#7e)-ansion o# egoism .as identically the demise o# the -rimitive community. 8ut its #urther sel#7e)-ansion .ill resolve itsel# into a community once again. It is only .hen greed itsel# at last 0or rather5 once again2 'ec/ons in the direction o# community that that direction .ill 'e ta/en. =ere the ancient hristian truth that no earthly #orce can .ithstand human greed re(oins us on our side o# the 'arricades.

> It .as the struggle over their gro.ing .ealth .hich rent asunder the early tri'al and village communities. n1 !he ela'oration o# the -atriarchal -attern5 the gro.th o# e)change7relations5 o# usury5 de't7slavery5 and .ar can all 'e traced to this. It is only .hen the same motive .hich originally occasioned this dissolution o# community calls #or its reconstitution that community can 'e constituted again. And this motive is5 sim-ly5 the struggle #or a richer li#e. ?or only that motive is irresisti'le< only that motive 7 greed 7 can undo its o.n .or/. It is only .hen that su'(ective moment5 through the historical dee-ening o# its o.n -ossi'ility5 turns against its o.n -resent o'(ecti#ication 7 in a .ord5 ca-ital 0ca-italist -rivate -ro-erty5 -rivative a--ro-riation: that is5 -rivati6ation5 e)clusion 7 1society1 as an association o# strangers5 o# estrangement 7 in short5 the totality o# alienation2 7 that the threshold o# the great trans#ormation is reached. And the struggle o# this ne. su'(ectivity against the -revious o'(ecti#ication 0glo'al ca-italist society: in a .ord5 ca-ital25 the -rocess o# the negation o# that o'(ecti#ication IS the communist revolution. @ We have no dou't that -eo-le are corru-ti'le5 'ut .e /no. #or ourselves that there are things more tem-ting5 more seductive5 than money5 ca-ital5 and Po.er n1 7 so much so that no genuinely greedy human 'eing could -ossi'ly resist their allure 7 and it is u-on this corru-ti'ility o# man that .e #ound our ho-es #or revolution. &evolution is nothing other than the sel#7accelerating s-read throughout society o# this more -ro#ound corru-tion5 o# this dee-er seduction. urrently5 greed is al.ays -ursued and associated .ith isolation and -rivatism sim-ly 'ecause everyone under the reign o# ca-ital is condemned to -ursue greed in this narro. .ay. 9reed doesn3t yet /no. its o.n -otentiality. We say once again< the -resent #orms o# greed lose out in the end 'ecause they turn out to 'e not greedy enough. A ,arro. greed is a holdover #rom times o# natural scarcity. Its desires are re-resented to itsel# in the #orm o# commodities5 -o.er5 se) 07o'(ects25 and even more a'stractly5 as money and as images. We are told in a thousand .ays that only these #e. things are .orth having 7 'y rulers .ho .or/ to insure that these are the only things availa'le 0to 'e 'ought2. !he survival o# the narro. greed in a .orld o# -otential -lenty is -ro-agated in the #orm o# ideology 'y those very -eo-le .ho control access to these things. Ultimately5 in our daily lives5 .e su##er the humiliation o# 'eing #orced accom-lices in the maintenance o# this 1scarcity51 this -overty o# choices. B ,arro. greed .ill turn against itsel#. ,o more -o.er#ul .ea-on against greed could -ossi'ly 'e #ound than greed itsel#. !here could 'e no more #ormida'le tool #or trans#orming narro. sel#ishness than this sel#ishness itsel#. In its o.n -rocess5 through its o.n develo-ment5 it must discover a #uller #orm o# greed5 and a richer #orm o# .ealth. It must discover its o.n narro.ness. A #rontal assault on someone3s narro. sel#ishness .ill run u- against his strongest de#enses. Wouldn3t it 'e easier to turn that strength around u-on itsel#C Wouldn3t it 'e easier to induce that -erson to trans#orm 0him2 D 0her2 sel# n1 through 0his2 D 0her2 o.n desiresC !his is the method o# seduction. It involves s-ea/ing #rom .hat is most radical in you to .hat is most radical in the other -erson: that is5 s-ea/ing #rom .hat you really have in common< root su'(ectivity: radical su'(ectivity5 the 'asis5 at last historically discovered5 u-on .hich to .or/ out the construction o# authentic community. !his is the method o# immanent criti4ue n2: o# the evocation o# sel#7criti4ue. It is the -ractice o# dialectic itsel#. Hic Rhodus! Hic Salta!

E !he -ers-ective o# communist egoism is the -ers-ective o# that sel#ishness .hich desires nothing so much as other selves5 o# that egoism .hich .ants nothing so much as other egos: o# that greed .hich is greedy to love 7 love 'eing the 1total a--ro-riation1 n1 o# man 'y man. F Our reversal o# -ers-ective on egoism5 n1 our detournement n2 o# 1greed51 and the scandalous e##ect .hich this -roduces and is intended to -roduce in the -revailing consciousness5 is no mere #ormal tric/5 and no ar'itrary -lay on .ords. Words5 and -recisely 'ecause o# their meanings5 are a real -art o# history5 o# the 1historical material51 and o# the historical -rocess. !o a'andon them to their usur-ers5 to invent ne. .ords5 or to use other .ords 'ecause o# the di##iculty o# .inning 'ac/ the true5 historic .ords5 is to a'andon the #ield to the enemy. It is a theoretical concession5 and a -ractical concession5 .hich .e cannot a##ord. !o do so .ould only add to the con#usion5 a con#usion .hich5 in -art5 #orms the 'asis o# the esta'lished order. n3 Our reversal o# -ers-ective5 on the contrary5 is clari#ying .ithin the very terms o# the con#usion. It is already a revolutionary act at the level o# the su'(ective conditions o# revolution< the reversed -ers-ective 7 the revolved -ers-ective 7 is the -ers-ective o# revolution itsel#. Ideology is the su'lime hustle. !he use7value o# ideology is as a tool #or e)-loitation 7 the ideologue uses ideology to con you into letting him -ut his egoism a'ove yours5 in the name o# altruism5 morality5 and the 1general interest.1 Our .inning 'ac/ in a -ositive connotation o# a .ord li/e 1greed1 or 1sel#ishness1 7 the central5 universal5 and mutually agreed u-on -e(oratives o# the t.o e)treme re-resentations o# modern ca-italism5 -rivate ca-italist and state ca-italist ideology5 .hich try to con#ine the totality o# -ossi'le o--osition .ithin the universe 'ounded 'y their -olar -seudo7o--osition 7 is such an act 'ecause it locates -recisely the -oint o# their essential unity5 the e)act -oint o# de-arture #or a revolutionary movement .hich5 'y 'rea/ing a.ay there5 simultaneously5 identically5 and singularly 'rea/s .ith 'oth. ,o less is our e)-ro-riation o# a .ord li/e 1communism1 such an act5 #or it is already an 1e)-ro-riation o# the e)-ro-riators.1 c1 !he 1?ree World1 is not #ree and the 1 ommunist World1 is not communist. 10 We use the .ords 1communist society1 to mean the direct o--osite o# that .hich mas4uerades as such in the -resent .orld namely5 'ureaucratic state7ca-italism. n1 !hat the classical -rivate ca-italist societies o# the 1West1 7 themselves maturing to.ard a #orm o# state7ca-italism 7 collude .ith 1$astern1 -o.ers in the -ro-agation o# this lie5 is hardly an accident5 and should come as no sur-rise. It is5 rather5 one #acet among myriads o# an 1antagonistic coo-eration1 n2 .hich reveals the hidden essential unity 'inding together these -seudo7o--osites. !he true communist society 'egins .ith the e)-ro-riation o# the .hole o# ca-italist society 'y the associated -roducers5 c2 .hich5 i# .e are to (udge 'y the numerous n3 historical attem-ts at this -rocess so #ar5 .ill ta/e the #orm o# glo'al organi6ation o# .or/-lace5 community5 regional5 etc.5 councils: the .or/ers3 councils5 or5 to use their original5 &ussian name5 e)-ro-riated 0in #act5 as in name2 'y the 8olshevi/ 'ureaucrats 7 the Soviets. 11 We conceive the reali6ed social individual5 1communist man51 as having #or his -ro-erty 7 that is5 #or the o'(ect o# his a--ro-riation 7 his .hole society5 the totality o# his social li#e. All o# society is .ealth #or him. =is intercourse .ith his society 7 i.e.5 his living relations .ith the rest o# the social individuals

and their o'(ecti#ication 7 is in its totality the a--ro-riation o# social li#e. Productive activity 'ecomes a #orm o# individual consum-tion (ust as consum-tion itsel# is a #orm o# 0sel#2 -roduction. !he activity o# simultaneous a--ro-riation 'y each individual o# all the rest5 or o# the a--ro-riation o# society 'y all at once inter7a--ro-riation 0reali6ed inter7su'(ectivity5 or co7-ro-erty2 7 itsel# constitutes the totality o# social -roduction. !his a--ro-riation 'y all at once o# all is none other than the resonance n1 state o# egoism< 1 ommunism is the -ositive a'olition o# -rivate -ro-erty5 o# human sel#7alienation5 and GisH thus the real a--ro-riation o# human nature through and #or man.1 c3 In communist society5 according to its conce-t5 the 1#orm5 o# intercourse c> 'ecomes the total a--ro-riation o# man 'y man. Social individuals can a--ro-riate one another su'(ectively 0i.e.5 as su'(ects25 and all7sidedly5 through all the #orms o# human intercourse 7 'y tal/ing together5 -roducing together5 ma/ing love together5 etc.5 etc.5 and all the #ruits o# their a--ro-riation5 i.e.5 themselves in their develo-ed richness5 'ecome thus the -ro-erty o# themselves5 and o# all society5 o# all the other social individuals. !he #ruits o# your a--ro-riation5 o# your consum-tion o# -hysical and emotional riches5 is something #rom .hich I am e)cluded at the level o# immediacy5 o# immediate consum-tion< you eat the -ear5 there#ore I cannot eat (ust that 'ite o# (ust that -ear: you share your love .ith this -erson5 and I am -erha-s e)cluded #rom sharing mysel# at this moment .ith you. 8ut this is not at all a -ro'lem #or me5 #or I am 'usy else.here5 .ith the same -ro(ect and -ra)is o# sel#7enrichment on my o.n and together .ith others. 8ut later5 mediately5 .hen I come 'ac/ to you5 your a--ro-riation5 and the sel#7enrichment you derive #rom it5 comes 'ac/ to me5 'ecomes my consum-tion5 my a--ro-riation5 in my a--ro-riation o# you5 and is the richer #or it. !oday5 .e have to 'e (ealous o# each others3 -leasures not 'ecause our -leasures are so many and so great5 'ut 'ecause they are so meager and so #e.. =ere5 on the other side o# -overty5 on the other side o# scarcity5 my (ealousy .ould only de-rive mysel#5 my e)clusion o# your -leasure .ould only e)clude my o.n5 and I am #ree at last to ta/e -leasure in your -leasure. Whereas5 .ithin the realm o# -overty5 your strength is a threat to me5 your develo-ment is at the e)-ense o# mine5 and in general your addition is my su'traction: on the contrary5 in the society o# reali6ed .ealth5 your strength is my strength5 the inner .ealth o# your 'eing is my .ealth5 my -ro-erty5 and every one o# your human -o.ers is a multi-lication o# my o.n. !hus5 the contradiction 'et.een my consum-tion and yours5 'et.een my a--ro-riation5 my -ro-erty5 and yours: the con#lict 'et.een my .ell7'eing and yours 'ecomes its o--osite< synthesis: identity: inter7rein#orcement: inter7 am-li#ication: resonance. 12 !he -ositive conce-tion o# egoism5 the -ers-ective o# communist egoism5 is the very heart and unity o# our theoretical and -ractical coherence. !his -ers-ective is the essence o# .hat se-arates us #rom 'oth the le#t and the right. We cannot allo. its #undamental im-ortance to 'e o'scured5 or ourselves to 'e mista/en #or either the right or the le#t. We cannot allo. any ;eninist organi6ation to get a.ay .ith claiming that it is only 3a little 'it -regnant3 .ith state ca-italism.

I.

ealth

13 1When the narro. 'ourgeois #orm has 'een -eeled a.ay5 .hat is .ealth5 i# not the universality o# needs5 ca-acities5 en(oyments5 -roductive -o.ers5 etc.5 o# individuals5 -roduced in universal e)changeC1 a1 c@ 1> 1!he e)change o# human activity .ith -roduction itsel# as .ell as the e)change o# human -roducts .ith one another is e4uivalently the s-ecies7activity and s-ecies7s-irit .hose actual5 conscious5 authentic e)istence is social activity and social satis#action. As human nature is the true communal nature5 or communal 'eing o# man5 men through the activation o# their nature create and -roduce a human communal 'eing5 a social 'eing .hich is no a'stractly universal -o.er o--osed to the single individual5 'ut is the nature o# 'eing o# every single individual5 his o.n activity5 his o.n li#e5 his o.n s-irit5 his o.n .ealth.1 cA 1@ 1!he ne. -roletariat inherits the riches o# the 'ourgeois .orld and it gives it its historical chance. Its tas/ is to trans#orm and destroy these riches5 to constitute them as -art o# a human -ro(ect< the total a--ro-riation o# nature and human nature 'y man. A reali6ed human nature can only mean the in#inite multi-lication o# real desires and their grati#ication.1 cB 1A !he resonance o# egoisms has to 'e loo/ed at #rom the -oint o# vie. o# .ealth 0greed2< develo-ed individuals ma/e a richer community5 and a richer community ma/es #or richer individualities. 8eyond a certain stage o# the develo-ment o# -roductive #orces5 1collectivism the su--ression o# individuality1 is a #or#eiture o# .ealth #or the community5 (ust as 1individualism I the su--ression o# community1 is a

#or#eiture o# .ealth #or the individualist. 1B !he im-overished man ty-ical o# ca-italist society5 the so7called 1greedy1 man5 is the man .ho is only e)cited 'y money5 .ho is only interested in #ragments o# other -eo-le 7 in 'uying their s/ills5 their services5 their -roducts5 and the rest is 1none o# his 'usiness.1 =e lives in a .orld o# -rostitutes5 that is5 a .orld o# -roletarians. =e is the master o# the -artial a--ro-riation o# man 'y man5 that is5 o# e)-loitation. n1 !he rich man5 the greedy man o# communist society5 is the man .ho has discovered ho. to a--ro-riate the richest 1thing1 around5 the most interesting and valua'le o'(ect5 the su'(ect5 'eginning .ith the a--ro-riation o# himsel# as such: the man .ho has socially mastered the -ossi'ility together .ith the necessary conditions o# this total a--ro-riation o# man 'y man5 the coherence o# .hose social li#e is the sel#7need o# man. !his is the secret o# .hat .e mean .hen .e say< the negation o# ca-ital is the reali6ation o# real .ealth5 su'(ectively and o'(ectively. !he communist egoist5 the genuinely greedy -erson5 .ants other su'(ects. !he narro. egoist5 the e)-loiter5 only .ants something #rom them. 1E A society rich in selves is the only really rich society. &ichness in su'(ects5 in su'(ectivity5 in -ractically and creatively -otent human 'eings5 is #inally the only real .ealth #or the su'(ect. 1F Ultimately5 .ealth is nothing 'ut society itsel#. 20 !he logic o# e)change7value5 o# commodity e)change7relations5 is the very logic o# narro. egoism itsel#. In the e)change o# a commodity .hich I o.n5 #or money o.ned 'y some'ody else5 I have -arted .ith5 alienated5 the use value o# the commodity. It is lost to me5 in order that I may reali6e its e)change7 value5 its money #orm5 its general use7value5 that is5 its e)-ression in the #orm o# general social use#ulness or a'stract la'or7time5 .hich I can then reconvert into any -articular use7value to the e)tent that its -roduction has5 'y my stage o# ca-italist develo-ment5 assumed the #orm o# commodity7 -roduction. Its general use#ulness 7 its use#ulness as money5 as e)change7value 7 is here in direct contradiction to its -articular use#ulness5 its s-eci#ic use7value. !he logic o# e)change7relations in communist society5 according to the inner coherence o# its conce-t5 is 4uite the contrary ho.ever. !he use7values in .hose -roduction I -artici-ate5 and in .hose consum-tion you and I 'oth -artici-ate5 are not lost to me e)ce-t i# I consume them immediately5 i.e.5 your consum-tion o# them is not a loss #or me. !hey are social use values5 and society is my larger sel#5 my necessary sel#5 a'solutely necessary to my -roduction and re-roduction. 0$ven i# I should ta/e uthe li#e o# an isolated hermit5 and someho. survive at it5 my changed sel#7activity .ould shortly render me a di##erent -erson2. !heir use7value5 consumed directly 'y others returns to me in the #orm o# the maintained or im-roved creative ca-acity o# those others in social -roduction: in the #orm o# the re-osited or increased -roduction o# the class o# human 'eings u-on .hom my re-roduction de-ends 7 the single class 7 or rather5 the single glo'al non7class o# associated -roducers5 .ho -roduce the totality

o# the .ealth I consume: -rere4uisites to my -roduction o# my sel#. !hus5 no social use7value is alienated #rom me. &ather5 all o# it stays .ithin my 0e)-anded2 sel#5 accumulates there5 and goes to enhance the total 4uality o# my li#e. !here#ore5 also5 .ithin the glo'al -roduction7-lanning -rocess o# the councils5 I have a legitimate 'ee# .henever as/ed to -artici-ate in some -roduction .hich does not satis#y this logic. Any -roduction .hich does not satis#y this logic is truly socially destructive5 antisocial5 and an anti7use7value 0anti7 .ealth2. It is there#ore5 at very 'est5 a .aste o# my time5 that is5 o# my li#e. Anything that is not .orthy to 'e -reserved .ill have to 'e destroyed. 21 1!he inde-endent5 material #orm o# .ealth disa--ears and .ealth is sho.n to 'e sim-ly the activity o# men. $verything .hich is not the result o# human activity5 o# la'or5 is nature and5 as such5 is not social .ealth. !he -hantom o# the .orld o# goods #ades a.ay and it is seen to 'e sim-ly a continually disa--earing and continually re-roduced o'(ectivi6ation o# human la'or. All solid material .ealth is only the transitory materiali6ation o# social la'or5 crystalli6ation o# the -roduction -rocess .hose measure is time5 the measure o# a movement itsel#.1 cE 22 In the last analysis5 all you have to give is yoursel#. Jour sel# is your only gi#t. I# you don3t -ossess yoursel# 7 i.e.5 i# you let yoursel# 'e #orced to sell yoursel# 7 you have nothing to 'esto. u-on another individual5 another sel#. In the reali6ed society called communist society5 e)change must 'ecome visi'ly and #ully .hat it al.ays .as essentially5 sel# e)change.

II. Individualism and Collectivism

23 1!o 'e avoided a'ove all is esta'lishing 3society3 once again as an a'straction over against the individual. !he individual is the social 'eing.1 n1 !he e)-ression o# his li#e 7 even i# it does not a--ear immediately in the #orm o# communal e)-ression carried out together .ith others 7 is there#ore a mani#estation and a##irmation o# social li#e. !he individual and generic li#e o# man are not distinct5 ho.ever much 7 and necessarily so 7 the mode o# e)istence o# individual li#e is either a more -articular or a more general mode o# generic or generic li#e a more -articular or universal mode o# individual li#e. 1... !hough man is there#ore a uni4ue individual 7 and -recisely this -articularity ma/es him an individual5 a really individual communal 'eing 7 he is e4ually the totality5 the ideal totality5 the su'(ective e)istence o# society as thought and e)-erienced.1 cF 2> Altruism is the other side o# the coin o# 1hell7is7other -eo-le1: only this time mysti#ication a--ears under a -ositive sign. ;et3s -ut an end to this old soldier cra- once and #or allK ?or others to interest me I must #ind in mysel# the energy #or such an interest. What 'inds me to others must gro. out o# .hat 'inds me to the most e)u'erant and demanding -art o# my .ill 0volonte2 to live: not the other .ay around. It is al.ays mysel# that I am loo/ing #or in other -eo-le: my enrichment: my reali6ation. ;et everyone understand this and 1each #or himsel#1 ta/en to its ultimate conclusion .ill 'e trans#ormed into 1all #or each.1 !he #reedom o# one .ill 'e the #reedom o# all. A community .hich is not 'uilt on the demands o# individuals and their dialectic can only rein#orce the o--ressive violence o# Po.er. !he Other in .hom I do not #ind mysel# is nothing 'ut a thing5 and altruism leads me to the love o# things5 to the love o# my isolation... ?or mysel#5 I recogni6e no e4uality e)ce-t that .hich my .ill to live according to my desires recogni6es in the .ill to live o# others. &evolutionary e4uality .ill 'e indivisi'ly individual and collective. 2@ ;et us notice #irst o# all that the so7called rights o# man... are sim-ly the rights o# a mem'er o# civil society5 that is5 o# egoistic man5 o# man se-arated #rom other men and #rom the community... ;i'erty is5 there#ore5 the right to do everything .hich does not harm others. !he limits .ithin .hich each individual can act .ithout harming others are determined 'y la.5 (ust as a 'oundary 'et.een t.o #ields is mar/ed 'y a sta/e. It is a 4uestion o# li'erty o# man regarded as an isolated monad5 .ithdra.n into himsel#... ;i'erty as a right o# man is not #ounded u-on the relations 'et.een man and man5 'ut rather u-on the se-aration o# man #rom man. It is the right o# such se-aration. n1 !he right o# the circumscri'ed individual5 .ithdra.n into himsel#... It leads every man to see in other men5 not the reali6ation5 'ut rather the limitation o# his o.n li'erty. n2 c11 2A 1!oo many cor-ses stre. the -ath o# individualism and collectivism. Under t.o a--arently contrary rationalities has raged an identical gangsterism5 an identical o--ression o# the isolated man.1 c12

2B Is it necessary once again to -oint out the sel#7a'surdity o# the one7sided a'stractions 1the individual1 and 1society51 and o# the ideologies #ounded on this one7sidedness 7 1individualism1 0or 1egoism12 and so7called 1socialism1 0or 1collectivism12C We can 'e individuals only socially. We can 'e social only individually. Individuals constitute society. Society constitutes individuals. 2E "ig dee-ly enough into the individual and you .ill #ind society. "ig dee-ly enough into society and you .ill #ind the individual. "ig dee-ly enough into either and you .ill come out the 1other1 side. !he conce-t named 1the individual51 #ully gras-ed5 is the same as the conce-t named 1society.1 !he conce-t named 1society51 #ully gras-ed5 is also 1the individual.1 One is im-ossi'le5 does not e)ist5 .ithout the other. At the heart o# society is its 1o--osite51 the individual. At the center o# the individual is his 1antithesis51 society. We must s-ea/ o# the social individual. 8oth o# the a'stract universals5 1society1 and 1the individual1 #ind their concrete universal in the social individual. 2F Society5 .ithout the individual5 is em-ty5 is .ithout its e)istence5 (ust as the individual5 .ithout society5 is .ithout its e)istence 7 and even outside human society5 is not a human individual 0even i# it should chance to survive as a 'iological individual. =o.ever5 even as such5 it is the issue o# a human social 7 in this case5 se)ual 7 relationshi-2. Unless 'oth these moments can 'e a##irmed simultaneously5 univocally: gras-ed as a single5 unitary conce-t 7 in #act as a conce-tual singularity 7 their contradiction having 'een transcended 0to 'egin .ith5 in thought25 then neither 1the individual1 nor 1society1 has 'een understood. 30 Sel#7-roduction can only 'e social: society is sel#7-roduction5 that is5 society is the only -ossi'le means7o#7-roduction o# selves. Jou cannot ever tal/ a'out the 1sel#1 .ithout identically im-licating or tal/ing a'out 1society.1 !he 1sel#1 e)ists only in association .ith other selves5 i.e. in and as an association o# selves5 a society. It is no accident that the ;atin root o# 3consciousness3 7 conscience 7 means literally 1together7/no.ledge1: 1to /no. together.1 c13 Su'(ectivity is essentially intersu'(ective5 that is5 essentially social. 31 Jour 1individuality1 is already a 1social structure51 and has 'een so #rom its very ince-tion 0including5 #rom its very conce-tion2. 32 Individuals are -roduced only 'y society. Society is -roduced only 'y individuals. 33 Society can 'e reali6ed only egoistically5 (ust as the ego can 'e arrived at5 can 'e reali6ed5 and is

-ossi'le at all only socially. 3> !he sel# is -re7eminently and essentially social: society is -re7eminently and essentially sel#ish. 3@ I# the -hiloso-hers o# one7sided individualism5 o# narro. egoism 7 that is5 o# the a)iology o# the sel# 7 .ant to understand +ar)3s socialism5 they should re#lect on his statement to the e##ect that the other is a necessary -art o# your sel#. c1> 3A !he -rinci-le 1I .ant nothing other than mysel#1 7 the -rinci-le o# sel#7desire5 sel#7attachment 0sel#7 cathe)is5 or sel#7centration2 7 'ecomes the -rinci-le o# daily li#e in communist society once it is socially actuali6ed that the other is a necessary -art o# my sel#. c1@ Society 'ecomes an o'(ect o# cathe)is .ithout this any longer necessitating -ro(ection7identi#ication 7 i.e.5 the alienation o# cathe)is #rom the sel# 7 once the social nature o# the sel#5 and the 1sel# nature1 o# society has 'ecome a -al-a'le and trans-arent truth o# e)-erience. 3B State7ca-ital5 in su'lating n1 -rivate ca-ital5 negates or re-resses -rivate ca-ital. !he ideology o# anti7 individualism 7 that is5 o# collectivism or one7sided socialism 7 so essential to +aoism in -articular and to revolutionary ideology n2 in general is congruent -recisely .ith the -ro(ect o# the re-ression o# -rivate ca-italism and -rivate accumulation5 together .ith the characterological tendencies corres-onding to these5 on the -art o# 'ureaucratic ca-italism 0state7ca-italism2. !his -olicy o# re-ression5 ty-i#ied 'y the +aoist slogan 1smash sel#51 n3 also has the e##ect o# inhi'iting the emergence o# communist egoism .ithin the home -roletariat: a #orm o# egoism .hich the 'ureaucracy con#ounds5 consciously or unconsciously5 .ith 'ourgeois egoism. 3E $ven -rivatism itsel# is a social e)-ression 0see !hesis 232: an e)-ression o# social li#e in a de#inite historical #orm o# society. !hat is5 -rivatism is itsel# an e)-ression o# the social individual -roduced 'y contem-orary society. Peo-le .ho do not thin/ dialectically end u- ma/ing enormous errors here5 -ractically as .ell as theoretically5 'ecause they can not gras- contem-orary as itsel# a social truth5 an 0admittedly sel#7re-roducing2 su'(ecti#ication 0i.e.5 internali6ation25 o# ca-italist society5 .hich is -recisely an antisocial society. So much so that 3the sociali6ation o# society3 is5 .here ca-italist society is concerned5 'ut another name #or the -ro(ect o# social revolution itsel#. !he ideologies o# anti7socialism are 'ased on the misery o# association 0collective 'oredom5 inauthentic association5 etc.2 a1 under contem-orary conditions5 that is5 on the misery o# association7as7 alienation and as7estrangement. !hey are e)-ressions o# the -overty o# social li#e 7 its virtual none)istence as such 7 in the .orld o# strangers5 the vellum omnium contra omens5 .hich is ca-italist society. 3F !he le#tist5 tra--ed in the -ermanent #alse choice 'et.een #ollo.ing his o.n immediate desires and sacri#icing #or his ideals5 des-ises the 1sel#ish1 -erson .ho unhesitatingly chooses immediate5 -rivate satis#action. !he genuine communist also des-ises this latter ty-e5 'ut #or the o--osite reason< 'eing restricted to immediate -rivate satis#action is not satis#ying enough. !o the communist5 #urthermore5 #or

such 1sel#ish1 -eo-le to remain satis#ied .ith their -rivati6ed5 alienated lives is a direct 'arrier to the reali6ation o# the communist3s o.n e)-anded sel#7interest. Some.here in every ran/ and #ile le#tist lur/s a con#used intuition that this is the real reason #or his contem-t< 'ut this intuition is continually sti#led 'y the le#tist3s o.n insistence on the 1necessity1 o# sacri#ice. >0 !he lonely individualism o# Ayn &and5 c1A et. al.5 is only alienation acce-ted and alienation -er#ected. ommunist individualism or individualist communism is the name #or the solution to the riddle o# -re7 history5 .hich5 .hile it has momentarily5 at times and -laces in this century5 e)isted5 as yet /no.s not its o.n name. >1 Any 1collectivism1 on our -art is an individualist collectivism. Any 1individualism1 on our -art is a collectivist individualism. >2 1,othing is more to me than mysel#.1 c1B ?ine. As it stands5 this theorem is .holly acce-ta'le. !his is a classic statement o# the egoistic -ostulate 'y the classic e)-onent o# individualist anarchism and narro. egoism5 and an early antagonist o# +ar)5 +a) Stirner. =is latter7day #ollo.ers5 conscious and unconscious5 include the 1O'(ectivists51 the 1classical li'erals51 and the so7called 1li'ertarian right1 in general. !he -ro'lem is that5 in the #urther ela'oration o# his o.n 'oo/5 Stirner3s o.n understanding o# his o.n statement -roved to 'e une4ual to it. Stirner -roved to 'e insensitive to .hat the conce-t o# 1sel#1 7 in order to 'e ade4uate to reality 7 must entail: .hat must 'e its content5 i# it is e)-anded 0i.e.5 develo-ed2 'eyond the level o# its sel#7 contradiction 7 namely all o# the other selves .hich inter7mutually 1constitute1 or -roduce it: in short5 society. !his error in general must 'e attri'uted to undevelo-ed concrete sel#7/no.ledge: Stirner did not /no. himsel#5 his o.n true identity. =e did not /no. himsel# as society5 or society as his real sel#. >3 I# the validity o# the egoistic moment has not 'een understood5 then nothing has 'een understood. ?or each social individual5 .hen his li#e is at sta/e5 everything is at sta/e. I# I allo. mysel# to 'e sacri#iced5 then I have allo.ed the .hole .orld 7 all -ossi'le values 7 to 'e sacri#iced as #ar as I am concerned. I# I am lost5 then all the .orld is lost to me. $ach time a -erson dies5 a .orld dies. >> !he community o# egoists is the only -ossi'le community not #ounded on the re-ression o# individual develo-ment and thus ultimately o# collective develo-ment as .ell. >@ 1 ommunist egoism1 names the synthesis o# individualism and collectivism5 (ust as communist society names the actual5 material5 sensuous solution to the historical contradiction o# the 1-articular1 and the 1general1 interest5 a contradiction engendered es-ecially in the cleavage o# society against itsel# into classes. !his 1solution1 cannot 'e o# the #orm o# a mere idea or a'straction5 'ut only o# a concrete #orm o# society. >A

!he glo'al and e)clusive -o.er o# .or/ers3 councils5 o# the anti7state5 n1 o# the associated -roducers5 n2 or 1generali6ed sel#7management1 a1 that is5 concerted egoism5 is the -roductive #orce and the social relation o# -roduction .hich can su-ersede all the results o# the uncoordinated egoistic activity o# men. !hese are5 in their totality5 alienation: the unconscious develo-ment o# the economy5 and the unconscious -roduction 'y the -roletariat o# the economic 1la.s1 o# ca-italism5 .ith all their disastrous conse4uences #or the -roletariat. !he theory o# communist egoism is com-lete only as a theory o# revolutionary organi6ation and as a theory o# revolutionary -ractice in general: as a theory o# the ne. social relations and as a theory o# the -ractice o# the councils. !hat is5 it is ade4uate only as a theory o# communist society and as a theory o# the transition #rom 0state2 ca-italist to communist society. O'viously then5 these theses have still a long .ay to go to.ard the concrete. >B !he essence o# communism is egoism: the essence o# egoism is communism. !his is the .orld7 changing secret .hich the .orld at large still /ee-s #rom itsel#. !he unraveling o# this secret as the emergence o# radical su'(ectivity is nothing other than the -rocess o# the #ormation o# communist society itsel#. It already contains the o'(ective -rocess. >E 18ut man is only individuali6ed through the -rocess o# history. =e originally a--ears as a generic 'eing5 a tri'al 'eing5 a herd animal 7 though 'y no means a 3-olitical animal3 in the -olitical sense. $)change itsel# is a ma(or agent o# this individuali6ation.1 c2A >F !hus5 in a sense5 all history has 0in the long run and i# only im-licitly2 'een a -rocess o# individuali6ation. !his individuali6ation reaches its highest -oint o# advertisement in the e-och o# cor-orate ca-italism. 8ut -rivate -ro-erty3s 1individualism1 is naught 'ut its most cherished illusion. !he -redominant characteristic o# -rivate -ro-erty is a materiali6ed rei#ication .here the egoism o# its su'(ects 0ca-italists and .or/ers ali/e2 is su--ressed and su'ordinated to the -seudo7su'(ectivity o# the 1economy #or itsel#.1 n1 !he truth o# the ca-italist society and its -rivate -ro-erty is not individual -ro-erty5 'ut dis-ossession 7 vi6.5 the -roletariat. !he truth o# -rivate -ro-erty is nothing other than the -roduction5 re-roduction5 and gro.th o# a dis-ossessed and -ro-ertyless class5 i.e.5 the class o# .age7 la'or. Private -ro-erty is thus the very negation o# individualism and o# individual -ro-erty. ?or the over.helming ma(ority o# its su'(ects5 i.e. the -roletariat5 -rivate -ro-erty is 'y no means individual -ro-erty5 'ut rather it is loss 0i.e. sale 7 alienation2 o# sel#5 'eing7#or7another. $ven the ca-italists are at 'est mere agents o# ca-ital 7 managers o# their o.n 0and o# the general2 dis-ossession. !he mythical 1individualism1 o# ca-italist society can only 'e reali6ed in its o.n negation and in the negation o# the society #rom .hich it s-rang. !hus the Paris ommune o# 1EB15 the #irst reali6ed 1"ictatorshi- o# the Proletariat51 c2B attem-ted to a'olish -rivate -ro-erty in order 1to ma/e individual -ro-erty a truth.1 c2E 1!he ca-italist mode o# a--ro-riation5 the result o# the ca-italist mode o# -roduction5 -roduces ca-italist -rivate -ro-erty. !his is the #irst negation o# individual -rivate -ro-erty5 as #ounded on the la'or o# the -ro-rietor. 8ut ca-italist -roduction 'egets5 .ith the ine)ora'ility o# the la. o# ,ature5 its o.n negation. It is the negation o# the negation. !his does not reesta'lish -rivate -ro-erty #or the -roducer5 'ut gives him individual -ro-erty GKH 'ased on the ac4uisitions o# the ca-italist era< i.e.5 on coo-eration and the -ossession in common o# the land and o# the means o# -roduction.1 c2F !he revolution o# generali6ed sel#7management is the movement #rom narro. to #ull egoism5 egoism3s o.n sel#7enrichment. It is egoism3s ascent #rom the realm o# necessity to the realm o# #reedom.

III. The Dialectic of Egoism

@0 !he conce-t o# communist society can 'e arrived at5 'y one -ath.ay5 through the analysis and develo-ment o# the sel#7contradiction o# egoism5 o# the sel#7contradictory structure o# the egoistic -ro(ect. ommunist society itsel#5 and the sel#7transcendence o# the narro. egoism o# -rivati6ed man5 can only 'e the outcome o# the immanent and historical dialectic o# egoism itsel#. @1 !he egoistic -ro(ect5 in order to 'ecome ade4uate to itsel#5 must include more than one ego. @2 ommunist egoism5 li/e.ise communist society5 is only the #inal n1 conclusion o# the immanent criti4ue5 n2 the sel#7criti4ue 7 o# 'ourgeois egoism5 o# -rivati6ed li#e. @3 ommunism is sim-ly incom-rehensi'le to our saint a1 'ecause the communists do not -ut egoism against sel#7sacri#ice or sel#7sacri#ice against egoism nor do they e)-ress this contradiction theoretically either in its sentimental or in its high7#lo.n ideological #orm: on the contrary5 they demonstrate the material 'asis engendering it5 .ith .hich it disa--ears o# itsel#. !he communists do not -reach morality at all5 such as Stirner -reaches so e)tensively. !hey do not -ut to the -eo-le the moral demand< love one another5 do not 'e egoists5 etc.: on the contrary5 they are .ell a.are that egoism5 (ust as much as sel#7sacri#ice5 is in de#inite circumstances a necessary #orm o# the sel#7assertion o# individuals. =ence5 the communists 'y no means .ant5 as Saint +a) 'elieves5 and as his loyal "ottore 9ra6iano 0Arnold &uge2 re-eats a#ter him... to do a.ay .ith the 3-rivate individual3 #or the sa/e o# the 3general53 sel#7sacri#icing man... ommunist theoreticians5 the only ones .ho have time to devote to the study o# history5 are distinguished -recisely 'ecause they alone have discovered that throughout history the 3general interest3 is created 'y individuals .ho are de#ined as 3-rivate -ersons.3 !hey /no. that this contradiction is only a seeming one 'ecause one side o# it5 the so7called 3general53 is constantly 'eing -roduced 'y the other side5 -rivate interest5 and 'y no means o--oses the latter as an inde-endent #orce .ith an inde-endent history 7 so that this contradiction is in -ractice al.ays 'eing destroyed and re-roduced. =ence it is not a 4uestion o# the =egelian 3negative unity3 o# t.o sides o# a contradiction5 'ut o# the materially determined destruction o# the -receding materially

determined mode o# li#e o# individuals5 .ith the disa--earance o# .hich this contradiction5 together .ith its unity5 also disa--ear. c30 @> !he su--ression o# -rivate egoism #ollo.s the same course as -rivate egoism. c31 !he -ath out o# narro. egoism is the straight and narro. -ath o# this egoism itsel#. c32 08ut5 as $instein argued .ith res-ect to -hysical time7s-ace5 .hat is straight and narro. #rom the narro. vie.-oint o# the immanent o'server may 'e anything 'ut straight to a larger vie. 7 highly curvaceous5 in #act: even curved 'ac/ on itsel#2. !he a'stract negation o# egoism 7 re-ression 7 .ill not su##ice5 'ut only its determinate negation5 and its immanent negation 7 that is5 auto7negation. @@ !he develo-ment o# egoism 7 the historical -henomenology o# su'(ectivity 7 is a dialectic also in this sense< the .ay out o# narro. egoism -asses through narro. egoism itsel#. And all attem-ts to 'loc/ this .ay tend only to inhi'it the develo-ment and arrest it at this narro. stage. @A Private egoism is egoism in con#lict .ith its o.n essence. 08ut this 'ecomes true visi'ly5 and there#ore #ully5 once5 and only once5 the conditions necessitating narro. a--ro-riation 7 o#ten lum-ed slo--ily under the con#usionist category 1scarcity1 7 are gone and the conditions #or a #uller5 .ider a--ro-riation have matured. S-eci#ically5 this means the conditions #or the a--ro-riation o# other -eo-le as su'(ects 0mutuality2 as o--osed to merely as o'(ects 0e)-loitation2. !hus5 #or e)am-le5 the -resent 1recession51 the gro.th o# -overty and des-eration .hich it entails5 has 'een at #irst a ma(or set'ac/ in this regard5 and has drastically curtailed the daily e)-eriential 'ase .hich #or a .hile 7 at the -ea/ o# the 1-ros-erity1 o# the si)ties 7 made this criti4ue #eel true.2. @B What .e tend not to 'e immediately a.are o# is that the -revailing narro. and im-overishing #orm o# egoism5 o# sel#7grati#ication5 is one dee-ly mi)ed .ith its o--osite: .ith the renunciation o# sel#7 grati#ication: that the 1greed1 .e normally e)-erience is a greed radically admi)ed .ith its o.n negation5 .ith the em'ittered renunciation o# greed5 'asing itsel# as it must on the narro. conditions o# sel#7en(oyment -resently availa'le and es-ecially #ormerly availa'le to it5 under conditions o# e)treme de-rivation and toil. S-eci#ically5 the #orm o# sel#7en(oyment .hich is e)cluded5 the secret sel#7denial hiding at the heart o# -rivati6ed egoism5 is the denial o# all the social -leasures5 the communal -leasures o# s-ontaneous gregariousness5 the .armth o# human solidarity5 the e)u'erance o# authentic #estivity 7 the -leasures o# association and social satis#action in general. !he vestiges o# these are con#ined .ithin the ever7narro.ing circle o# the -rivate #amily5 itsel# the nuclear remnant5 ada-ted 'y ca-ital5 o# the 'ygone -rimitive7communist /inshi- societies and their 1e)tended #amilies51 .hich -u'lici6es its #inal sel#7criti4ue in the 'urgeoning rates o# divorce5 divorce 'eing recogni6ed as and o##icially titled 1estrangement.1 !his es-ecially in the 1advanced1 ca-italist countries 7 that is5 the countries .hich have reached the advanced stages o# social alienation. !he lag in a--ro-riation o# the ne.er conditions o# 1non7scarcity51 o# -otential and 0to some e)tent already2 actual a'undance5 is the conte)t in .hich the -resent historical stage o# the 3dialectic o# egoism3 must 'e understood. !he -ositive moment o# the early 1hi-1 movement 0o# .hich moment today3s -ro#essional street vermin and gutter hi--ies are in no sense the heirs2 7 the .hole li'idinal emergence .hich 'egan in the si)ties5 and no.5 in the recession o# the seventies5 is ecli-sed again is com-rehensi'le in -art as a 'eginning o# the a--ro-riation o# those ne. conditions. n1

@E !he root illusion o# all -ious and ascetic ideologies is that5 since e)-loitation is the -artial a--ro-riation o# man 'y man5 the .ay to rid the .orld o# this 1sin1 is in instituting the non7a--ro-riation o# man 'y man5 rather than the total a--ro-riation< that the .ay to the negation 014uieting12 o# desire is its re-ression rather than its #ul#illment< touch me not and I .ill touch not thee. !he logic o# -rivation. !he -ro'lem o# the misery o# narro. egoism admits o# only t.o solutions< either 012 its e)aggeration to the -oint .here it overs-ills its o.n limits: its e)-ansion until it 'ecomes one .ith the totality5 rediscovering -recisely .ithin itsel# its su--osed o--osite and that .hich it #ormerly e)cluded5 or 022 its re-ression5 and .ith that evidentially5 the unending reign o# the -resent #orm5 .hich is all that its historical re-ression has so #ar succeeded in -roducing. @F ommunism is not the sel#7re-ression o# egoism. It is only .hen narro. egoism .ants to transcend itsel# #or its o.n dee-est reasons< .hen it #inds internal reasons5 egoistic reasons: .hen it sees itsel# 'ecoming its o.n ruin5 de#eating to itsel#5 sel#7de#eating5 and 7 there#ore5 sel#7contradictory 7 that it 'rings itsel# to its o.n end5 and communism 'egins. Private egoism historically is its o.n undoing. Its e)ercise 'rings a'out its o.n sociali6ation 7 social egoism. ommunism is the negation o# egoism only 'y virtue o# 'eing a higher #orm o# egoism 7 egoism3s o.n higher #orm. ,arro. egoism5 the ideology o# sel#7grati#ication and sel#7reali6ation5 and the -ractice o# e)clusive sel#7grati#ication and sel#7 reali6ation 'ecomes5 at a certain stage in its develo-ment5 a #etter u-on sel#7reali6ation and a #etter u-on sel#7grati#ication. It 'ecomes the main limit and o'stacle to its o.n goals. It 'ecomes a 'arrier to itsel#. !his is the sel#7negativity .hich a.a/ens in it the desire #or its o.n transcendence< #or sel#7 transcendence5 a su-ersession in accord .ith itsel#5 .ith its o.n essence5 and on its o.n terms5 'asing itsel# on the -ossi'ility o# the community o# grati#ication as the unlimited am-li#ication o# grati#ication. !his is the immanent sel#7criti4ue o# narro. egoism: the death sentence .hich it -ronounces u-on itsel#. !hus the determinate negation o# narro. egoism can only 'e through its o.n organic develo-ment5 its o.n #urther develo-ment. !hat is5 it can only 'e sel#7negation. 1=a--iness1 at the e)-ense o# others: the e)clusion o# the others3 ha--iness #rom your o.n hence#orth a--ears as a misera'le 'asis: as the o--osite o# ha--iness5 as misery5 and -rivate -ro-erty as a .ealth o# -overty5 com-ared to the ne. 'asis .hich has gro.n u- secretly .ith modern society itsel#. ommunism is the com-rehension o# e)clusive egoism as historically sel#7contradictory and thus #inite< doomed to -erish 7 as not eternal 1human nature1 'ut5 on the contrary5 sel#7canceling: transitory: transitional: as the decidedly unnatural 0antisocial2 condition o# man -rior to the historical sel#7 com-letion o# the human s-ecies. ommunism is the com-rehension o# 'ourgeois egoism as already containing and im-lying its o.n historical negation5 as containing its o.n negation in em'ryo 7 containing the seeds o# its o.n destruction 7 'y virtue o# its 'eing #alse to itsel#. Society5 1socialism1 7 and social -roduction 7 .as its re-ressed essence all along. A0 All along the line5 consciously or not5 1me #irst1 has al.ays 'een the necessary -attern o# everyone3s -ractice. $veryone at every moment o# their lives consciously or not acts in his o.n sel#7interest at some level. Anything else .ould 'e inconceiva'le5 im-ossi'le. n1 Una'le to -ursue his desires directly5 a masochist uses the mediation o# -ain. !he masochists o# morality5 ideology and causes see/ -leasure 'y means o# the -ain o# su'ordinating themselves through these -ro(ections. !he moral idealist attem-ts to get .hat he .ants through the mediation o# his -ro(ected ideal5 'ecause he doesn3t /no. ho. to get .hat he .ants directly. =e doesn3t /no. the -ractical means .ithin himsel#

as the su'(ect and center o# that -ractice5 so he -osits his center outside o# himsel# as a rigidi#ied generali6ation .hich is to 1decide #or him.1 In so doing he ma/es the mista/e o# thin/ing that consistency .ith his ideal is al.ays consistency .ith his sel#7interest. A1 1 ommunist egoism1 names the negation o# the negation o# -rimitive egoism 0narro. egoism2. 8ut the as-ect o# the -rocess as an immanent or sel#7criti4ue5 and never an e)ternal or mechanical negation 0e.g. the 1smash sel#1 n1 ideology o# +aoism2 must a'ove all 'e em-hasi6ed5 against all coercive and 'ureaucratic methods. Social0i6ed2 egoism5 communist egoism5 is the negation o# the negation o# ca-italist egoism5 'ut it is the sel#7negation o# the sel#7negation o# that egoism. !his second negation is essential to narro. egoism itsel#5 no less than the #irst negation5 .hich -roduces its antithesis 7 moralism5 anti7egoism: altruism. !his second negation is necessary to narro. egoism5 to the -reservation o# its o.n -remises5 once it advances to a certain threshold in its sel#7develo-ment. !he -ro-er method to cataly6e 7 to stimulate and accelerate 7 this -rocess is another5 i.e.5 #rom the 3outside53 is the evocative method: the method o# seduction. !he method o# re'u/e5 though use#ul at certain crucial turns here too5 is5 es-ecially in the #orm o# the method o# chastisement5 more ade4uate to the #irst5 not the second5 negation o# narro. egoism. !he method o# chastisement is that o# #orci'ly dra.ing out moral -ro(ections #rom the -syche5 o# creating 1handles1 in the victim3s head #or easy mani-ulation 01handling12 'y authorities and ideologues o# all sorts: o# instilling su'missiveness5 o# inducing the s-lit in the victim 'et.een the sense o# duty and the sense o# inclination: o# #orming the guilt7loo- o# alienated sel#7control. !he second negation means5 on the contrary5 the negation o# altruism5 the overcoming o# all these se-arations: the colla-se o# the -ro(ections 'ac/ into the -syche: their re7o.ning in the coalescence o# the sel#< the centration5 instead o# the alienation5 o# sel#7control. !his is the very #ormation o# the 1sel#1 ca-a'le o# 1sel#1 management. A2 "on3t get us .rong. +a/e no mista/e. !his theory is no a-ologia #or narro. egoism. We have no interest in that negation o# altruism .hich is sim-ly a return to narro. egoism: a regression. ommunist egoism5 and not altruism5 is the true o--osite o# narro. egoism. ommunist egoism5 and not narro. egoism5 is the true o--osite o# altruism. Although altruism and narro. egoism are commonly ta/en as true o--osites5 they have this in common< an immanent criti4ue o# either must arrive at communist egoism. !hat is5 communist egoism is the synthesis o# altruism and narro. egoism. ommunist egoism is simultaneously5 identically 'oth o# them and neither: it is that unitary re(ection o# 'oth .hich is also their unitary a##irmation. n1

IV. The !esonance of Egoisms

A3 1In -lace o# the old 'ourgeois society .ith its classes and class antagonisms5 .e shall have an association in .hich the #ree develo-ment o# each is the condition #or the #ree develo-ment o# all.1 c33 A> In the la'oratories o# individual creativity5 a revolutionary alchemy transmutes the 'asest metals o# everyday li#e into gold. ?irst and #oremost5 the -ro'lem is to dissolve the consciousness o# constraints 7 that is5 the #eeling o# im-otence 7 in the magnetic e)ercise o# creativity: melt them in the surge o# creative -o.er5 in the serene a##irmation o# its genius. +egalomania5 sterile on the level o# -restige and the s-ectacle5 re-resents in this conte)t an im-ortant stage in the struggle o--osing the ego to the coalesced #orces o# conditioning. !oday5 nihilism reigns trium-hant5 and in its night the s-ar/ o# creativity5 .hich is the s-ar/ o# all real li#e5 shines only the more 'rightly. And .hile the -ro(ect o# a su-erior organi6ation o# survival -roves a'ortive5 there is5 as these s-ar/s 'ecome more #re4uent and gradually dissolve into a single light5 the -romise o# a ne. organi6ation5 'ased this time on a harmony o# individual .ills. =istoric 'ecoming has ta/en us to the crossing -oint .here radical su'(ectivity is con#ronted .ith the -ossi'ility o# trans#orming the .orld. !his -rivileged moment is the reversal o# -ers-ective. c3> A@ ommunist society is conceiva'le only on the #oundation o# the resonance o# egoisms. !hus its 'asis is the cohesion o# egoisms5 .hereas hereto#ore egoism has a--eared as the #orce o# se-aration and -rivati6ation par excellence. AA !he essence o# the resonance o# egoisms is this< the other -erson is a -art o# your .ealth. c3@ AB !he resonance o# egoisms is the unity5 the synthesis5 the singularity5 o# the 1-articular1 and the 1general1 interest< communist society. AE !he cohesion o# communist society5 once the threshold o# its conditions7-ro-er has 'een reached5 is conceiva'le on this 'asis< that the community5 society5 association itsel# is the greatest -ersonal value that the social individuals each -ossess. !hat is5 their social relationshi-s are this greatest value and this greatest .ealth. !he social relation itsel# 'ecomes the unitary5 uni#ied5 and universal means to the attainment o# every end: to the grati#ication o# every need5 and thus also an end in itsel#. Society holds together to the e)tent that the social individuals #ind a greater value in its re-roduction than in any act that .ould destroy it.

V. Communist "ociety
AF ... in -lace o# the .ealth and -overty o# -olitical economy5 .e have the .ealthy man and the -lenitude o# human need. !he .ealthy man is at the same time the one .ho needs a com-le) o# human mani#estations o# li#e5 and .hose o.n sel#7reali6ation e)ists as an inner necessity5 a need. ,ot only the .ealth 'ut also the -overty o# man ac4uires5 in a socialist -ers-ective5 a human and thus a social meaning. Poverty is the -assive 'ond .hich leads man to e)-erience a need #or the greatest .ealth5 the other -erson. !he s.ay o# the o'(ective entity .ithin me5 the sensuous eru-tion o# my li#e7activity5 is the -assion .hich here 'ecomes the activity o# my 'eing. c3A B0 Authentic common li#e arises not through re#lection: rather it comes a'out #rom the need and egoism o# individuals5 that is5 immediately #rom the activation o# their very e)istence. It is not u- to man .hether this common li#e e)ists or not. =o.ever5 so long as man does not recogni6e himsel# as man and does not organi6e the .orld humanly5 this common li#e a--ears in the #orm o# alienation5 'ecause its su'(ect5 man5 is a 'eing alienated #rom itsel#. c3B B1 We antici-ate a -ro#ound reversal o# -ers-ective at the threshold o# communal society5 in .hich any -ossi'le strictly -rivati6ed value .ill -ale into insigni#icance5 and 'e e)-erienced as narro. and im-overished5 in com-arison to the individual5 -ersonal5 1-rivate1 value to each social individual o# his social e)istence. And this attitude .ould 'e then5 under those conditions5 no mere idealistic -osture or -ious .ish5 no mere moral a'straction5 no re-resentation over and a'ove the real conditions 7 .hich is all it can ever 'e today 7 'ut5 on the contrary5 .ould arise #rom the most immediate5 -al-a'le5 and concrete #acts o# li#e. Increasingly u- to the -resent5 since the 'rea/u- o# early communal #orms5 all .ealth has 'een -rivate5 that is5 only -rivate -ro-erty has 'een recogni6ed as .ealth. In the #uture5 i#

there is a #uture5 the narro. and the -rivati6ed .ill 'e revealed as the essence o# -overty5 and .ealth .ill 'e reali6ed as social .ealth5 as .ealth in human 'eings: in their relations and their ca-acities5 in their #aculties and their o'(ecti#ications. n1 !hat is5 the greatest .ealth5 and the necessary conte)t o# all .ealth5 is society itsel#. B2 !he central -ro'lem o# communist social relations is the #ollo.ing< .hat is to 'e the 'asis o# human relationshi-s5 o# the inter-ersonal cohesion5 'eyond /inshi- and e)change7value5 that is5 'eyond the 'lood7relations .hich #ormed the incredi'le 'inding7#orce5 and great .ea/ness5 o# -rimitive communist societies5 and the e)change7value relations into .hich these increasingly dissolved in the #ormation o# class societiesC !he solution can only 'e o# the #orm o# real a##inity5 -ractically5 sensuously discovered and veri#ied5 -ractically su-erseded and dissolved: #ree association: the resonance o# -assions. 8ut .ithin this statement o# the solution5 everything still remains to 'e said. B3 ;et3s get one thing straight right no.. All this tal/ o# 1historical necessity1 and 1inevita'ility1 only succeeds in ma/ing o# this mystic 1necessity1 a -seudo7su'(ect5 and o# decoying attention #rom the real su'(ects5 ourselves. ommunist society is 1historically determined1 and 1o'(ectively determined1 to 'e -roduced only to the e)tent that .e are su'(ectively 1'ound and determined1 to -roduce it. And this does not deny at all that such a su'(ectivity has its necessary o'(ective conditions that can only develohistorically.

VI. !adical "ub#ectivity

B> What is this 1radical su'(ectivityC1 c3E ?rom no. on5 the revolutionary su'(ect is the conscious 7 and -ositively sel#7conscious 7 egoist5 as o--osed to the unconscious or negatively sel#7conscious 0guilty2 egoists among .hom the revolutionary .al/s unrecogni6ed 'ut recogni6ing them. =e can sustain this -ositive attitude to.ard his e)-anded egoism5 and its #irst signs in others5 'y virtue o# his com-rehension o# its -ositive social outcome in a society5 se-arated #rom this one 'y the socio7 -sychothera-eutic -rocess o# revolution5 in .hich the egoism o# each is the #irst condition #or the #ul#illment o# the egoism o# all. B@ ontrary to the ideological 'anality5 it is only the most greedy -eo-le .ho can never 'e 1'ought o##.1 a1 BA What .e have called 1communist egoism1 is essentially the same as .hat %aneigem and his Situationists have named 1radical su'(ectivity.1 In all their .ritings5 it is there in 1s-irit51 i# not ever #ully in 1letter.1 In their #ailure to develo- this conce-t in all its rami#ications5 and to cohere their .hole -ractice .ith it5 and in the remnants o# moralism and secular hristianism n1 .hich therein still remained5 .e locate the very root o# their #ailure. BB &adical su'(ectivity5 that is5 communist egoism or the 0reali6ed2 1social individual1 c3F 0+ar)2 is the concrete universal .hich is emergent in our time. It is the -articular .hich is 0-otentially2 every.here. &adical su'(ectivity is our very root5 the root o# .hat .e all have in common5 the real 'asis o# community. &oot su'(ectivity 7 the 1-rimitive1 human root 7 could only 'e divulged as such at the #ar end o# -rehistory5 as the outcome o# the -rocess o# that -rehistory itsel#5 and as the secret 'asis o# its su-ersession. BE 1I am nothing5 'ut I must 'e everything.1 c>0 Within this monstrous decre-itude o# contem-orary 1society51 the nihilist5 its common-lace -roduct5 /no.s only the #irst hal# o# this statement. I am nothing. !here#ore5 anything else can only 'e less than nothing to me. In the u-side7do.n .orld o# alienation5 it is the totality o# things5 o# commodities5 o# money5 o# ca-ital5 that is everything5 and .e5 the .or/ers .ho ma/e it5 are shit. !he nihilist is li/e a syllogism sus-ended at the minor -remise5 an acro'at .hose somersault is 'ro/en in mid7#light. ?or him5 the logic o# this em-irical truth5 this truth o# e)-erience5 o# daily li#e5 does not immediately tum'le over into its o--osite5 its necessary conclusion< I am nothing5 'ut I must 'e everythingK 7 the conclusion that .ould ma/e a revolutionary o# him. We -roduce commodities5 money5 ca-ital. We -roduce everything that ma/es u- social .ealth. We must 'ecome e)-licitly .hat .e already are im-licitly< everythingK !his 'ecoming7visi'le5 this 'ecoming7true o# the social truth e)-resses the total -rocess o# the communist revolution.

VII. Pleasure
BF 8ourgeois -olitical economy5 the science o# the e)change7value5 .as al.ays only the #alse consciousness o# the economy5 and the science o# alienation. n1 !his is the #irst and #inal message o# its +ar)ian criti4ue. With the dying7out o# e)change7value5 the science o# use7value 0thus all the concrete sciences5 no. uni#ied through their uni#ied su'(ective use2 .ill 'ecome the only use#ul science. And the science o# use7value is the science o# -leasure. E0 &eal economy 7 savings 7 consists in the saving o# .or/ing time 0the minimum5 and reduction to the minimum5 o# -roduction costs2: 'ut this saving is identical .ith the develo-ment o# -roductivity. $conomi6ing5 there#ore5 does not mean the giving u- o# -leasure5 'ut the develo-ment o# -o.er and -roductive ca-acity5 and thus 'oth the ca-acity #or and means o# en(oyment. !he ca-acity #or en(oyment is a condition o# en(oyment and there#ore its -rimary means: and this ca-acity is the develo-ment o# an individual3s talents5 and thus o# the -roductive #orce. !o economi6e on la'or time means to increase the amount o# the #ree time5 i.e. time #or the com-lete develo-ment o# the individual5 .hich again reacts as the greatest -roductive #orce on the -roductive #orce o# la'or. ?rom the stand-oint o# the immediate -roduction -rocess it may 'e considered as -roduction o# #i)ed ca-ital: this #i)ed ca-ital 'eing man himsel#. It is also sel#7evident that the immediate la'or time cannot remain in its a'stract contradiction to #ree time as in 'ourgeois economy. Wor/ cannot 'ecome a game a1 as ?ourier .ould li/e it to 'e: his great merit .as that he declared that the ultimate o'(ect must 'e to raise to a higher level not distri'ution 'ut the mode o# -roduction. ?ree time 7 .hich includes leisure time as .ell as time #or higher activities 7 naturally trans#orms anyone .ho en(oys it into a di##erent -erson5 and it is this di##erent -erson .ho then enters the direct -rocess o# -roduction. !he man .ho is 'eing #ormed #inds disci-line in this -rocess5 .hile #or the man .ho is already #ormed it is -ractice5 e)-erimental science5 materially creative and sel#7o'(ecti#ying /no.ledge5 and he contains .ithin his o.n head the accumulated .isdom o# society. c>1

E1 !he ma(or shortcoming o# contem-orary individuals is their inca-acity #or -leasure. Our daily lives are im-overished in -art 'ecause .e are o-en to the .orld5 and there#ore to -leasure 0as .ell as to -ain2 only in such narro. and limited .ays. !hese are the de#enses5 the character7armor5 congruent .ith a .orld overloaded .ith -ain5 a .orld o# su##ering5 .hich .as and is the .orld o# -overty .ith its struggle #or e)istence5 its 1.ar o# all against all51 .here to 'e o-en is to 'e .ea/5 and to 'e .ea/ is to 'e made a victim. !he sel#7contradiction o# 'ourgeois egoism shar-ens and 'ecomes conscious only in the environment o# that inci-ient .orld o# -lenty and .orld o# -leasure .hich 'ourgeois society5 during the -ros-erity -hase o# its economic cycle5 itsel# #oreshado.s: that is5 only .hen the .alls .hich loc/ out -ain 'egin to 'e -erceived in daily e)-erience as .alls .hich loc/ out -leasure. !he struggle against the social organi6ation #or -ain and #or the social organi6ation #or -leasure is the revolutionary struggle. !he -ro'lem5 #ormulated another .ay5 is the -resent narro. character o# 1the a--ro-riation o# nature and human nature 'y man.1 c>2 E2 In the revolutionary -rocess5 the struggle is the struggle o# -leasure: the -leasure is the -leasure o# struggle. E3 !oday5 -eo-le o--ress each other 'y the smallness o# their desire: their -overty o# social needs: their lac/ o# a #uller egoism5 a #uller greed. We are as/ing -eo-le to as/ #or more5 so that .e can as/ #or more5 and get more #rom them 7 get .hat .e can only get 'y 'eing allo.ed to give more. We do not as/ you #or much< .e as/ #rom you only your o.n egoism5 and .e do so not out o# altruism5 'ut #or our o.n egoistic reasons. ?rom the de-ths o# our o.n5 .e as/ you #or the de-ths o# yours. 8ut in as/ing you #or that5 .e as/ you to give everything you3ve got: to give your all. E> 1Positive human sel#7consciousness1 c>3 can only 'e guiltless egoism5 .hich can only mean communist egoism5 the egoism .hich does not e)clude the -leasure o# other egos5 'ut on the contrary5 a--ro-riates this as its o.n -leasure5 includes it -recisely #or its o.n sel#ish reasons. E@ !he negatively sel#7conscious egoist is the guilty egoist5 the egoist .ho strives a#ter his o.n narro. desires guiltily5 and thus .or/s against himsel#: resists himsel# 7 o--oses a -art o# his o.n energy to his o.n -ro(ect. It is the energy -resently tied7u- in guilt5 in sel#7-olicing5 in sel#7re-ression 7 character7armor 7 .hich5 once #reed can 'uild the ne. .orld. Peo-le see/ing5 in good conscience and .ithout guilt5 more -leasure #or their o.n everyday lives5 contain the .hole o# the revolution. EA Sel#7sacri#ice is al.ays hristian. Al.ays.

EB !he 3e)-ansion o# egoism3 re#ers not only to the e)-ansion 0o# sel#7identity2 over many selves at any one time5 'ut also to its e)-ansion over time 1at1 any one sel#. !he sacri#ice o# a #uture5 greater -leasure to a more immediate 'ut lesser one is -recisely that< sacri#ice: not the other .ay around. !he res-onsi'le individual must decide #or himsel# .hat is to his greatest advantage< this theory is no morality that can decide #or him. !he theory and -ractice o# e)-anded egoism can have no consort .ith any ideology o# hedonism5 any more than .ith any 'rand o# -uritanism. !his theory and -ractice is inse-ara'le #rom the e)-anded consciousness o# -leasure .hose -ossi'ility has develo-ed in the historical la'or7-rocess5 in the e)-ansion o# human ca-acities5 sel#7-o.ers5 and needs. And it is inse-ara'le no less #rom that -leasure o# consciousness .hich it im-lies and contains and .hich simultaneously contains it. Sel#7disci-line5 as directly o--osed to authoritarian disci-line5 e)ternally im-osed and internali6ed as such 7 the coherent use o# my li#e #or mysel#5 according to my o.n immanent standards and to ends o# my o.n5 is in itsel# already a -leasure #or me. Sel#7mastery5 the conscious and e##ective .ielding o# mysel# #or mysel# in the .orld5 is indeed an esthetic sel#7-leasure. It is the art o# li#e. a1 When my sel# is the .or/ o# my o.n art5 and my o.n .or/ o# art5 then I ta/e -leasure in mysel#. !hen I /no. mysel# as .ealth 7 #or mysel# as .ell as #or others. I /no. mysel# as rich5 as rich in mysel#5 as a .ealthy man through my sel#7-ossession. And yet this su'(ective .ealth5 this richness in sel# .hich I -ossess is also society. !his is -roven 'y the #act that outside society5 or .ithout it5 all my .ealth .ould .ither into dust. !he identity o# mysel# and my society is -roven 'y the #act that the none)istence o# society im-lies the non7e)istence o# mysel#. 8ut this is a dialectical5 mediated identity5 not a #ormal5 a'stract5 immediate one: an identity that -reserves .ithin itsel# the moment o# di##erentiation.

VIII. "e$uality
EE !he immediate5 natural5 and necessary relation o# human 'eing to human 'eing is also the relation o# male7to7#emale. n1 In this natural s-ecies relationshi- man3s relation to nature is directly his relation to man5 and his relation to man is directly his relation to nature5 to his o.n natural #unction. !hus5 in this relation is sensuously revealed5 reduced to an o'serva'le #act5 the e)tent to .hich human nature has 'ecome nature #or man and to .hich nature has 'ecome human nature #or him. ?rom this relationshi- man3s .hole level o# develo-ment can 'e assessed. It #ollo.s #rom the character o# this relationshi- ho. #ar man has 'ecome5 and has understood himsel# as5 a s-ecies7'eing5 a human 'eing. !he relation o# man to .oman is the most natural relation o# human 'eing to human 'eing. It indicates5 there#ore5 ho. #ar man3s natural 'ehavior has 'ecome human5 and ho. #ar his human essence has 'ecome a natural essence #or him5 ho. #ar his human nature has 'ecome nature #or him. It also sho.s ho. #ar man3s needs have 'ecome human needs5 and conse4uently ho. #ar the other -erson5 as a -erson5 has 'ecome one o# his needs5 and to .hat e)tent he is in his individual e)istence at the same time a social 'eing. c>> EF Orgastically -otent n1 se)ual e)-erience is the very archety-e o# the resonance o# egoisms< the immediate unity o# -leasure7getting and -leasure7giving.

F0 I don3t (ust .ant a #uller se) li#e: I .ant my .hole li#e to 'e a 1se)7li#eK1 F1 !he sociality o# man reveals itsel# no.here more strongly than in se)ual socia'ility and se)ual solidarity. !he se)ual need5 more -ro#oundly and more immediately than any other5 reveals the #allacy o# narro. egoism 7 the need to touch another -erson5 another3s 'ody: to 'e -hysically close5 to caress and 'e caressed. Perha-s it is out o# the desire5 congruent .ith narro. egoism5 to deny the inter7 su'(ectivity o# this most -ro#oundly intersu'(ective o# needs5 that so many -erversions 'egin: in order to o'(ecti#y a1 the su'(ect .ho is the aim o# this need. 8ut here also is a threshold5 and an 1attractor1 n1 .here the e)-ansion o# egoism can sto-5 can get hung7u- #or e-ochs< a collective egoism that never gro.s 'igger than the cou-le5 the collective o# t.o: the isolated duo5 the nuclear #amily. We have here the ideology .hich holds that the egoistic -ro(ect could 'ecome ade4uate to itsel# i# only it included t.o egos. !his is 'ut another #orm o# the ideology o# antisocialism: the ideology that see/s to deny the social ingredient in the individual5 the sel#5 the -ersonal .orld5 and ends u- 'y denying and de-leting the sel# as .ell: ends u- .ith an em-tied sel#. According to this ideology5 only the -ersonal5 intimate5 #amily .orld5 the -rivate .orld o# the home5 is real. !he strange5 cra6y5 cold 1outside1 .orld 7 the social .orld 7 is held to 'e unreal5 though it must 'e related to5 i# only to su--ort this narro. 1real1 .orld. !his ideology /no.s society only as an invasion o# -rivacy. !his is the ideology that .ill /ee- the -ersonal .orld narro. and im-overished5 and the social .orld menacing and alien. Will .e get 'eyond itC "o .e .ant toC ,eed toC Only time .ill tell. a-italist anti7socialism is no. ra-idly reaching its logical conclusion< the destruction o# society. Over this 4uestion5 all o# our lives are at sta/e. F2 ?reud even 'ases his case #or instinctual re-ression on the -ostulate o# such an eternal condition as descri'ed a'ove 0.ith the hel- o# a #e. o# his ty-ical rei#ied n1 #alse antitheses2. 1!he con#lict 'et.een civili6ation and se)uality is caused 'y the circumstance that se)ual love is a relationshi- 'et.een t.o -eo-le5 in .hich a third can only 'e su-er#luous or distur'ing5 .hereas civili6ation is #ounded on relations 'et.een larger grou-s o# -ersons. When a love relationshi- is at its height no room is le#t #or any interest in the surrounding .orld: the -air o# lovers are su##icient unto themselves5 do not even need the child they have in common to ma/e them ha--y.1 c>@ ;i/e most calls #or moral en#orcement5 it assumes5 un'e/no.nst to its author 0.ho characteristically 'elieves5 on the contrary5 that -eo-le already .ant too much and are already too sel#ish2 that human greed .ill not e)-and 'eyond a certain narro. domain. F3 !he early .omen3s movement .as one o# the #e. loci o# the nearly sel#7conscious emergence o# radical su'(ectivity .ithin the ,e. ;e#t. !he .omen .ho created it re#used to -ut o## the struggle against their s-ecial o--ression until 1a#ter the &evolution.1 I# human 'eings have reduced each other to se)ual -seudo7o'(ects5 have 1o'(ecti#ied1 a1 each other se)ually5 this is 'y no means the only or the most #undamental .ay in .hich they have 'een 1o'(ecti#ied.1 !his is only one #acet o# a general dehumani6ation and de7su'(ecti#ication. !he overcoming o# this s-eci#ic 1o'(ecti#ication51 o# the -ro'lem -osed most su'(ectively 'y the early .omen3s li'eration movement5 and named 1se)ism1 'y the -artisans o# that movement5 can only 'e o# the #orm o# se)ual su'(ectivity as o--osed to this se)ual 1o'(ectivity51 and 0e)-anded2 se)ual egoism as o--osed to se)ual duty5 se)ual sel#7sacri#ice5 and se)ual e)-loitation. !his solution is o--osed

identically to the various directions ta/en 'y the later ideological e)-ro-riators o# the .omen3s movement: namely that o# the a'stract negation o# se)ism 7 counter7se)ism 0anti7masculinism25 reverse e)-loitation through the ideological mani-ulation o# male guilt5 se)ual a'stinence5 or moralistic les'ianism. ;ately5 more and more .omen have #elt called on to act in a ne. role 7 that o# 1sister.1 !he (oy o# the initial a'stract unity has 'een re-laced 'y the threat o# e)clusion #or unsisterly 'ehavior. O--ression ta/es a ne. #orm< .omen over .omen. It3s not the moments o# genuine .armth and intimacy5 o# authentic community5 .ithin the .omen3s movement that .e .ant to critici6e5 'ut -recisely the ideology that ultimately -oisoned these. !he 1community1 #ounded on gender is still an a'stract community5 still a #alse community: still the domination over the individual and her desires through the use o# a'stract categories and e)ternal 4ualities5 'y the ideological re-resentatives o# these. !he -seudo7community o# 1sisters1 7 assumed and moralistically en#orced 7 is still a community #ounded on o--ression< the re-ression o# radical su'(ectivity: the re-resentation and en#orcement o# an a'stract determination de#ining a grou- o# -eo-le in this case5 gender n1 7 over against their concrete -articularity and their conscious sel#7 determination. 8osses come in all genders5 no less than in all colors. =o. much humiliation .ill it ta/e to learn that a 'oss having similar s/in color or the same ty-e o# se)ual glands 1o'(ecti#ies1 one no less than any otherC ,e)t time a #eminist 'ureaucrat addresses you as 1Sister51 listen to the tone o# her voice. Why is she .hiningC "o her .ords #all li/e a threat5 or li/e a chainC What is it she .ants #rom youC "oes she .ant a su'(ect or a slave: a se)5 i.e.5 a .al/ing a'straction5 or a -ersonC

I%. &uthority
F> !he develo-ment o# generali6ed sel#7management is im-eded 'y5 -recisely5 generali6ed inca-acity #or sel#7management 7 the terror at the thought o# #reedom: #ro6en su'(ectivity: the authoritarian -ersonality. !his usually ta/es the #orm o# a dire #ear and distrust o# others in a situation o# revolutionary sel#7management 7 1the other guy is a #uc/u-1: 1the other guy is too stu-id and irres-onsi'le to ever ma/e it .or/51 etc. 7 valid #ears5 to .hich .e can only say that every'ody is right a'out every'ody else to date. !he authoritarian -ersonality is essentially the slavish -ersonality5 the -ersonality that needs authority 7 that -recisely can3t manage .ithout it. !his character7structure hides its essence in the role o# the master: it reveals its essence in the role o# the slave. a-italist society is society #ounded on the e)-anded re-roduction o# the ha'it o# su'mission5 o# the alienation 0diso.ning2 o# su'(ectivity 0.age7 la'or2. !he -roletarian is -recisely the desu'(ecti#ied man5 the -seudo7o'(ect5 ruled 'y the -seudo7 su'(ect5 ca-ital5 .hich he -roduces and re-roduces. &evolutionary -ractice is there#ore the -ractice o# 1su'(ecti#ication1: n1 o# the e)-anded re-roduction o# su'(ectivity5 or radical su'(ects. n2 !he detournement o# moralism 0o# the -seudo7criti4ue o# 1greed125 the validation and e)-ansion o# egoism5 is thus an essential moment o# revolutionary -ractice. And this is a moment o# that moment. 8eyond the need o# authority lies the authority o# needs and the authority o# desire. F@ In any hierarchical relationshi- the dominator as .ell as the su'missive -ays his dues. !he -rice -aid #or the 1glory o# command1 is indeed heavy. $very tyrant resents his duties. =e is relegated to drag the dead .eight o# the dormant creative -otential o# the su'missive all along the road o# his hierarchical e)cursion. O'viously5 this cannot com-are to the amount o# -leasure7energy released -lay#ully and .illingly5 not coercively5 .hen everyone -lays the game. 0!he -rice o# one3s authority over others is the sum7total o# one3s acce-tance o# the same authority over onesel#.2. FA In a sel#7managed society5 the -revention o# communal s4ualor5 o# social mal-ractice in general 0the non#ul#illment o# -roduction7-lans5 etc.2 de-ends5 not on no'ody 'eing an authority5 'ut on every'ody 'eing an authority .here his o.n needs and desires5 his o.n interests5 are concerned. And this means e)-anded sel#7interests: social sel#7interests. !his means that any'ody must 'e sel#7authori6ed to mess

.ith any'ody else 'e#ouling a communal -lace5 im-eding collectively agreed7u-on -roduction5 etc.5 and must /no. ho. to do so. Only such a non7centrali6ed5 all7sided #lo. o# -ractical7critical #eed'ac/ and social dialogue can re-roduce such a society. !he end o# s-eciali6ed su-ervision can only 'e in the -rocess o# generali6ed su-ervision and collective sel#7su-ervision. !he end o# the s-ecial -olice de-ends on general sel#7regulation5 that is5 generali6ed sel#7management 7 -eo-le ta/ing res-onsi'ility #or their social needs. !his is the o--osite o# the re-ressive conce-tion5 1sel#7-olicing1 'ased on the -resent e)ternal -olicing5 .hich serves an alien interest5 and is internali6ed as such. FB In the socialist society o# the #uture 7 i# it is to 'e at all 7 everyone .ill have to 'e his o.n e)-ert5 his o.n authority5 on 1savoir-vivre51 on 1ho.7to7live.1 !here .ill 'e no higher authority over a given matter than the general assem'ly o# those sel#7interested in that matter. FE $very treatise on the theory o# -ractice is a 1 Traite de Savoir-Vivre 51 c>A a 1!reatise on =o. to ;ive51 .hether its author #ully /no.s it or not. 1=o.7to7live1 is (ust the general -ro'lem o# the theory o# -ractice stated most su'(ectively. FF ?reedom #rom e)ternal authority means 'eing your o.n authority: sel#7authority. ?reedom I sel#7 mastery. !he meaning o# the -hrase 1a .orld o# masters .ithout slaves1 c>B can 'e conceived only in the conce-t o# sel#7mastery. 8ut this cannot 'e limited to 1individual1 sel#7mastery. !he conce-t o# individual sel#7mastery already necessarily includes the moment o# social sel#7mastery. ommunist society can only mean the conscious sel#7mastery o# the totality o# their social sel#7-roduction 'y the associated -roducers. Sel#7determination5 sel#7government5 sel#7management 7 in their necessary5 com-leted meaning5 can mean nothing less. !he general name o# the -ro'lem .e con#ront is 1to learn ho. to live51 i.e. socially5 ho. to 1associate.1 c>E 1;ive1 here is o--osed to merely surviving5 and to dying su--osedly trying to live 0the 1'eauti#ul losers1 syndrome25 etc. 8ut this has nothing to do .ith morality 7 nothing5 that is5 'ut to a'olish itK

%. 'orality
100 !he old moral 4uestion o# .hether one 1thin/s #irst o# onesel# or o# others1 #alls a-art .hen .e come to thin/ only o# ourselves and #or this reason negate the otherness o# others. 101 Intelligence ends .here morality 'egins. +orality ends .here intelligence 'egins. !he theory o# -ractice5 the unitary criti4ue o# all ideology5 must at the same time 'e the criti4ue not only o# any moralism5 'ut o# any -ossi'le moralism. $very moral is su'(ectivity diso.ned and su'(ectivity alienated. $very moral is a -sychic totem5 a mental #etish7o'(ect5 'e#ore .hich the moral #etishist su'ordinates himsel#5 'o.s do.n5 and o##ers sacri#ice 7 indeed o##ers himsel# in sacri#ice. $very ideal is se-arated su'(ectivity: a -art o# the sel# se-arated o##5 e(ected5 #ro6en5 and held over the rest o# the sel#. It is a de-letion o# su'(ectivity5 a loss o# #reedom5 a choice made in advance. !he #ormation o# the moral ideal is at the same time a decline in su'(ective mo'ility and maneuvera'ility: a 'all7and7chain a'out the dancer3s an/le: a sel#7laming and sel#7maiming in the dance o# li#e. 102 +orality and that .hich ties you to it5 sel#7guilt5 guilt #or even 'eing5 is an enormous encum'rance. Jou can thro. it o##K Jou can dro- all that .eighty moral 'aggage5 'e#ore it drags you do.nK Jou don3t need itK It is 'ut a -oor su'stitute #or the #ine tool o# -ractical intelligence5 e)-anded sel#7interest5 sel#7 consciousness itsel#. When5 i# I should encounter a contradiction 'et.een a use#ul a'straction I had made a'out my -ractice5 and my concrete sel#7interest in a given situation5 i# I a'andon my concrete desire in #avor o# the -ractice o# that a'straction5 that mere generali6ation5 out o# a'stract res-ect #or su-er#icial 1consistency51 or5 say5 at the 'ehest o# another5 .ho threatens me .ith the .ord 1hy-ocrite51 then I am -ro(ecting that a'straction into a -osition a'ove mysel#5 #ree6ing it into a 1-rinci-le51 n1 a moral5 and I am re-roducing as an ideologue the other -erson .ho has re'u/ed me in com-arison to that moral5 'y 'eing susce-ti'le to him e)-ro-riating the re-resentation o# mysel# .hich I have erected or condoned5 and using it against my real sel#. As a mere generali6ation5 a -ractical a'straction 7 as theory 7 I have

already re#uted it #or mysel# in -ractice5 -roven its invalidity #or this instance. 8ut as a moral rei#ication5 on the contrary5 it is my duty to o'ey it. ,ot I 'ut 1it1 is my master< 1it1 gives the orders5 I alienate my .ill into it: 1it1 is the su'(ect o# my -ractice5 I 1its1 o'(ect. 103 !he -ro(ections o# my su'(ectivity5 nurtured 'y guilt5 stic/ out o# my head li/e so many handles o##ered to any mani-ulator5 any ideologue5 .ho .ants to get a hold o# me5 and .hose trade s/ill is the a'ility to -erceive such handles. Only .hen I dissolve my guilt5 .hen I #ree mysel# to 'e shamelessly sel#ish5 .hen I gras- sel#ishness as my only 1duty1 7 ta/ing care o# mysel# as necessarily my #irst social res-onsi'ility 7 can I 'e #ree. 10> !he criti4ue o# the totemic relationshi-5 clari#ied 'y ?euer'ach c>F in relation to religion5 thence a--lied to -olitical economy 'y +ar)5 c@0 and lately develo-ed one7sidedly 'y the 9estalt thera-ists 0es-ecially Perls c@12 locates the inversion that lies at the heart o# all domination and sel#7enslavement. !otemic #etishism or -ro(ection lies also at the heart o# every moral ideology5 .hich is revealed also in the o'servation that every ideology is a moralism5 and a social -lan #or the allocation o# guilt. While usa'le -recisely #or the same ends5 ideology in general5 moralism in -articular5 are in essence the more so-histicated and su'tle means o# e)-loitation5 as o--osed to na/ed coercion. 10@ It is my guilt a'out my desires .hich ma/es me susce-ti'le to ideological e)-loitation 'y others5 and .hich motivates me in -roducing e)cuses and (usti#ications 0rationali6ations2 in terms o# the dominant ideology 0the ideology .hich I let dominate me2. !he tric/ o# ideology consists in this< to re7-resent desires in a -seudo7universal 7 i.e.5 unsel#ish5 altruistic 7 and there#ore irre-roacha'le5 #orm5 al.ays in terms o# some a'stract 1general interest.1 In order to reconcile mysel# .ith my ideology I must ma/e mysel# a liar. 8ut it is a losers3 game. !he la.yers o# the dominant class already have it set u- in advance their .ay5 and here I am on their terrain. !he use7value o# -ractical generali6ations is that o# theory 7 intelligence o# human -ractice: /no.ledge o# means5 techni4ues5 and conse4uences. !he use7 value o# morality is that o# ideology 7 to dominate others5 to attem-t to get .hat is .anted in a narro.ly sel#ish .ay5 'y re-resenting it as unsel#ish5 universal5 in a climate .here trans-arent sel#ishness5 and trans-arency a'out desires5 is not tolerated5 is chastised. 10A In the a'stract negation o# morality5 its mere antithesis 7 ty-ical es-ecially o# the Situationist mentality 7 moralism is trans#ormed into anti7moralism5 .hich is really only an anti7moralism moralism5 and not truly the o--osite o# moralism at all. According to the logical su'structure o# this ideology5 one has a duty to do at all times .hat is immoral according to the dominant ideology 7 that is5 the ideology 'y .hich the Situationist still de#ines and dominates himsel#5 though here in a negative #orm. !hus5 it is a'stractly re4uired to live 'y stealing5 to -ractice se)ual -romiscuity5 to live in s4ualor5 to dro- out o# school5 to never .or/5 etc.5 etc. !his is still 4ualitatively as #ar #rom the determinate negation o# moralism as is moralism itsel#. 10B As #or ourselves5 .e have no morality. We have only our #eelings5 our needs5 our desires: our thoughts5 our consciousness5 our -ractical /no.ledge o# -ractical conse4uences5 at each given stage o# our develo-ment. In short5 our su'(ectivities5 our selves. om-assion doesn3t need to 'e coerced out o# us:

it comes naturally. We #eel others3 su##ering5 as .ell as their (oy5 'ecause .e are o-en to #eeling our o.n. 10E !he a'olition o# religion as the illusory ha--iness o# men is a demand #or their real ha--iness. !he call to a'andon their illusions a'out their conditions is a call to a'andon a condition .hich re4uires illusions. !heir criticism o# religion is5 there#ore5 the em'ryonic criticism o# this vale o# tears o# .hich religion is the halo. riticism has -luc/ed the imaginary #lo.ers #rom the chain5 not in order that man shall 'ear the chain .ithout ca-rice or consolation5 'ut so that he shall cast o## the chain and -luc/ the living #lo.er. !he criticism o# religion disillusions man so that he .ill thin/5 act5 and #ashion his reality as a man .ho has lost his illusions and regained his reason: so that he .ill revolve a'out himsel# as his o.n true sun. &eligion is only the illusory sun a'out .hich man revolves so long as he does not revolve a'out himsel#. c@2 As .ith religion5 so .ith res-ect to the other -ro(ections5 individual and collective 0commodities5 money5 ca-ital5 the state5 ideologies o# every descri-tion5 morality in -articular5 rei#ied GhierarchicalH institutions o# all sorts 7 -seudo7su'(ects all. !ry su'stituting them inK2 10F 1!he criticism o# religion ends .ith the doctrine that man is the su-reme 'eing #or man. It ends5 there#ore5 .ith the categorical im-erative to overthro. all those conditions in .hich man is a humiliated5 enslaved5 des-ised and re(ected 'eing.1 c@3 110 !he criticism o# morality ends .ith the doctrine that you are the su-reme 'eing #or you. 0!hat is5 your 'eing5 your sel#7consciousness5 your 'eing7#or7yoursel#5 is the necessary medium through .hich all other values 7 .hich constitute or give content to its value 7 including my value #or you5 or mysel# as one o# your values5 come into 'eing #or you. I# you should lose your 'eing5 then all other 'eings5 and there.ith all values5 .ould 'e lost to you. ?urther5 and more concretely5 to the e)tent that .e -roduce socially5 and that .e -roduce a society: that .e e)change sel#7-o.ers and their o'(ecti#ications5 that .e de-end u-on one another #or the re-roduction o# ourselves5 then my loss5 or the loss o# me5 is your loss5 and a de-letion o# your sel#2. It ends5 there#ore5 .ith the categorical im-erative to overthro. all those conditions under .hich you5 the su'(ect5 are su'ordinated to some thing 7 some #etish5 some totem5 some -ro(ection5 some rei#ication5 some cause5 some ideal5 some moral5 some -rinci-le5 some -seudo7 su'(ect 7 some 'eing su--osedly 1higher than your sel#.1 111 What cause or ideal is there5 .hat -ro(ection out o# yoursel#5 that can 'e higher5 #or you5 than you5 its sourceC What e)ternal to your sel# that you value can .arrant #or you your sacri#iceC What value is there that you .ould not lose i# you lost yoursel#C Something can 'e a value #or you only i# it includes and conserves in it your sel#5 the necessary #oundation o# all your values. When you are lost to you5 all the emanations o# yoursel#5 and all the values in the .orld that you a##irmed5 are lost #or you also: cut o## at their root. !a/ing ris/s is another matter. Jou must gam'le your sel# in order to gain any value: you must ris/

yoursel# in order to gain yoursel# 'ac/ again more richly. What is called co.ardice is not the -ractice o# the reali6ation e)-ressed a'ove5 'ut its o--osite< too little value -laced on one3s sel#5 and on those values and other -ersons .hich are -art o# it5 so that one #ails to de#end one3s sel# in the e)-anded sense5 or mista/es mere survival #or li#e. 112 It is not 'y any means only the narro.ly 1sel#ish51 1egoistic1 desires and tendencies .hich are re-ressed continually 0moralistically5 .hile at the same time 'eing rein#orced -ractically2 in the daily li#e o# -rivati6ed society5 'ut also 7 really5 more so 7 the 1non7egoistic51 the so7called 1unsel#ish1 tendencies< natural gregariousness5 s-ontaneous human solidarity5 natural com-assion and em-athy5 sim-le socia'ility and love. !here is an energy -roduced in each human 'eing every day .hich aims at a social satis#action and .hich i# not satis#ied socially turns against itsel#5 'ecomes de-ression5 .ithdra.al5 etc. Unli/e tri'al societies5 .herein these 1unsel#ish tendencies1 #orm the main 'ase o# social survival5 in our society5 overdevelo-ed 0late2 ca-italist society5 these emotions only 'rea/ sur#ace occasionally5 e)ce-tionally. In the vast accumulations o# constant and varia'le ca-ital n1 /no.n today as 1cities51 the continual stead#ast re-ression o# these tendencies is increasingly a necessity o# survival. With increasing rarity does social good7#eeling -ass 'et.een strangers on the street. Any stranger is 'est regarded an enemy. And these teeming anthills are a .orld o# strangers. !he gro.ing -henomenon o# mass5 random murders can 'e understood as a 'ecoming a--arent o# .hat .as al.ays essential to ca-italist society5 no. entering its historic e)tremity< 1the .ar o# all against all1 is 'ecoming armed. a1 Once anestheti6ed5 'eginning in the early li#e o# the individual5 these social desires and tendencies can usually 'e re7evo/ed only #alsely5 arti#icially5 coercively. =ence the 'elie# that these emotions need to 'e en#orced through the mani-ulation o# guilt. Anyone still mani#esting such tendencies in their direct5 s-ontaneous #orm into young adulthood is immediately sus-ect5 or at 'est5 considered 1naive1 and a 1#ool1 #or his a--arent 1idealism1 and D or 1childishness1 0des-ite all the altruistic -retenses o# o##icial society2< these emotional tendencies are 'eing seen as a .ea/ness 0.hich5 in the society o# estrangement5 they undou'tedly are5 until or unless such an individual develo-s #ull consciousness o# these tendencies and o# their social conte)t5 a--ro-riating these as -art o# a revolutionary -ro(ect2. 113 I listen to criticism 'ecause I am greedy. I listen to criticism 'ecause I am sel#ish. I .ould not deny mysel# another3s insights. 8ut egoistic criticism is a use7value or it is nothing: use7value not only to its reci-ient5 'ut to its donor as .ell. I .ould not 'other to critici6e someone in .hom I had no interest. Anything else .ould 'e service rendered to an ideal5 a moral -ro(ection 7 only a moralist see/s to stri/e against .hat contradicts him5 his moral5 e4ually over the .hole mani#old o# s-ace7time: only an ideal is 1eternal1 in this .ay. Whereas I am mortal. +y li'ido is concentrated around mysel#: its intensity #alls o## e)-onentially .ith su'(ective distance #rom its source. !his egoistic criticism is the o--osite o# the masochistic and rituali6ed 0s-ectacular2 1criticism and sel#7 criticism1 o# +aoist morality. Authoritarian criticism aims at my re-ression5 at rein#orcing and re-roducing -assivity and servility5 at maintaining the ha'it o# su'mission. It aims at .ea/ening5 rather than strengthening5 my su'(ectivity5 at /ee-ing me an authoritarian -ersonality 7 a slave. $goistic criticism5 on the contrary5 aims at strengthening me5 in the mutual interest o# my sel# and my critic5 #or the 'ene#it o# our common .ealth and our common -ro(ect. It is immanent criticism5 criticism o# me in my o.n interest. 8y the same to/en5 #or such criticism to 'e -ossi'le5 #or someone3s criticism to 1interest1 me5 I must see mysel# in them5 and them in mysel#: .e must share a common interest5 a concrete community.

11> !he criti4ue o# revolutionary ideology5 anarchist and ;eninist ali/e5 .ith its sacri#icial collectivist morality and5 in -articular5 the criti4ue o# +aoism .ith its morality o# -overty5 reveals once and #or all the -overty o# all morality. And this in a dou'le sense. ?irst5 in that morality is the ideological -roduct o# -overty: o# the underdevelo-ed state o# human -roductive #orces5 and es-ecially o# the cleavage o# the 1general1 and 1-articular1 interests5 .hose root is the sel#7cleavage o# society: social classes. +orality is the e)-ression o# the irreconcila'ility o# class antagonisms. It locates the general interest as a -ro(ection out o# a social situation in .hich it could only 'e #ound as a contradiction. In morality5 the contradiction is re-resented as an a'stract identity o# the interests o# all men5 as the interest o# an a'stract man .ho has no real social e)istence. Second5 in the sense that morality 7 .hich is -ro(ection5 or sel#7diso.ning 7 is a de-letion o# the real social .ealth5 o# su'(ectivity5 the .ealth o# the sel#. 11@ Our su'(ectivity and our sel#7rediscovery in every here and no.5 i.e. our sel#7re-roduction5 is the only -ossi'le guarantee o# our su'(ectivity. We must re7.in ourselves constantly. 1 ommunist egoism1 can 'e made into an ideology. 1!he right to 'e greedy1 can 'e turned into a morality. $asily. ,o o'(ecti#ication is immune. !his ideology 'egins .henever some 'ureaucrat 7 #or this act .ould con#irm him so 'eing 7 tries to order me5 in the name o# my 1sel#7interest51 to desist #rom some activity I have #reely underta/en5 on the grounds that it is 1o'(ectively1 sacri#icial5 and I let him get a.ay .ith it. 0=ere is revealed the lie o# re-resentation< he re-resents me even against mysel# 7 he o.ns 1me51 is more 1me1 than I am.2 I# I /ee- this u-5 the #inal scenario can 'e easily envisioned< some 'ureaucrat -oints a gun at me saying< 1In the name o# your e)-anded sel#7interest5 that o# the -roletariat as a .hole5 .e have determined that it is 'est #or you #or us to /ill you1 and -ulls the trigger. 0c#. Lronstadt5 the ideology o# the ,ational aucus o# ;a'or ommittees5 etc.2. n1 11A In a revolutionary situation it ta/es much more than the mere .ish to -revent a 'ureaucracy #rom arising. !he roots o# 'ureaucracy lie in -ersonal sel# denial5 a1 in treating mysel# and my desires in a 'ureaucratic manner5 in short5 'eing a 'ureaucrat .ith mysel#. !he mere a'stract negation o# its institutionali6ed #orm is li/e arriving .ith a 'uc/et o# .ater a#ter the house has already 'urned do.n. In every rationali6ation and hesitation5 in every stuttering and s.allo.ing do.n o# desire5 o# #elt resentments5 miscommunications and secret humiliations lie the seeds o# our demise5 our !hermidor. !he logical outgro.th o# any sel# denial 'y any revolutionary is the trium-h o# the counterrevolution and the reign o# the 8olshevi/s all over again. 1... it is al.ays the -rinci-le o# use#ul su##ering and .illing sacri#ice that #orms the most solid 'ase #or hierarchical -o.er.1 c@> !he moment you sit 'y -assively .hile not getting .hat you .ant5 you are -re-aring the ground #or your o.n destruction. 11B We are on the verge o# li'eration only .hen it can 'e said o# each o# us that he D she has 'ecome so re'ellious5 so irre-ressi'le5 and so unruly that she D he cannot 'e mastered 'y anything less than his D her sel# 0i.e.5 among other things5 .hen no mere -ro(ection or rei#ication o# a -art o# ourselves .ill su##ice5 any longer5 or .ill 'e a'le success#ully to rule over us.2. 11E

!he 1game1 a1 is a #orm o# armor5 ideology is a 1game51 character7armor is com-ulsive role7-laying5 the 1scri-t1 is the sel#7image -ro(ected through time5 the tem-orali6ed sel#7s-ectacle. In the .hite heat o# the act o# their com-rehension as lived e)-erience and as inter-ersonal -ra)is going on all around us5 these names5 and the conce-ts they name game5 armor5 ideology5 role5 character5 scri-t melt into one. !he sel#7s-ectacle5 the s-ectacular sel# 7 sel#7re-resentation 7 .ill 'e #ound necessary5 a necessary use7 value5 a necessary inter-ersonal tool5 in #act5 a 1survival /it51 and thus 'e re-roduced5 so long as 012 the dissonance o# egoisms5 the totality o# conditions /no.n in general as 1-overty51 1scarcity51 -revails5 and conse4uently5 022 -eo-le cannot get .hat they .ant o#ten enough 'y 'eing trans-arent .ith one another5 'y sim-ly as/ing #or it5 and5 032 they cannot or .ill not ta/e the ris/ o# as/ing5 the gam'le o# trans-arency5 either #or #ear o# the -ain o# re#usal or out o# the des-eration o# their need5 and .ould there#ore -re#er to e)tract .hat they can 'y circuitous means5 'y su'ter#uge and dece-tion5 decoy and tric/ery 7 in short5 'y intrans-arent means. !he s-ectacular -resentation o# sel# in everyday li#e5 the -ersonal organi6ation o# #alse a--earances 0-ersona2 7 -artly com-ulsive and involuntary5 as es-ecially in muscle armor 7 the little lie 7 these are the means o# the devious route to the reali6ation o# desire. In their conscious -art5 they .ill 'e resorted to so long as the more direct means5 trans-arency5 does not .or/ any 'etter. In their more unconscious5 com-ulsive -art5 they are the mar/ o# re-ression and domination5 the co.ering .ince o# the .hi--ed cur5 #ro6en into a -osture. haracter7armor is indeed the #orm o# -eo-les3 com-licity in the s-ectacle. ,ot that #eeling guilty a'out one3s character7armor .ill do anything 'ut e)acer'ate this -ro'lem.

%I. !evolution
11F 1Productive #orces and social relationshi-s 7 the t.o di##erent sides o# the develo-ment o# the social individual 7 a--ear to 'e and are5 only a means #or ca-ital5 to ena'le it to -roduce #rom its o.n cram-ed 'ase. 8ut in #act they are the material conditions that .ill shatter this #oundation.1 120 In the end5 egoism is our only #riend: in the last analysis greed is the only thing .e can trust. Any revolutionary .ho is to 'e counted on can only 'e in it #or himsel# unsel#ish -eo-le can al.ays s.itch loyalty #rom one -ro(ection to another. ?urthermore5 only the most greedy -eo-le can 'e relied on to #ollo. through on their revolutionary -ro(ect. Others less greedy can al.ays 'e 'ought o## so as to stoshort o# themselves. 121 !he -ractical necessity o# greed and the truth o# our statements concerning the #ailures engendered 'y greed .hich is not greedy enough are demonstrated continually in the history o# the modern revolutionary movement. Just as5 in 1EB15 internali6ed ideology and a misera'le hand#ul o# guards .ere enough to deter the armed ommunards #rom sei6ing the ?rench ,ational 8an/ at a time .hen money .as des-erately needed5 so in 1FAE ?rench insurgents 0mysti#ied 'y trade7unionist and anarcho7 syndicalist ideology2 #ailed to com-rehend all the .orld around them as social -ro-erty 0and there#ore theirs2 and thus tended to restrict sel#7organi6ation to 1their o.n1 .or/ -laces. !hough greedy and egoistic in their o.n right5 'oth these movements #ell victim to the mysti#ication5 the #etishism o# -rivati6ed territory. In 'oth cases5 the revolutionaries .ere le#t in -altriness5 the -athetic -ossessors o# mere #ragments o# a revolution 0these #ragments 'y their very nature su'lated into naught2. In 'oth cases it .as a limited greed5 in their theory and their s-irit5 that led to the -ractical 0indeed even military2 de#eat o# these revolutions. !he meaning o# +ar)3s 1I am nothing5 'ut I must 'e everything1 un#olds its truth #ully .hen .e reali6e that only .hen .e 'ecome everything shall .e cease to 'e nothing. 122

1&evolution ceases to 'e as soon as it is necessary to 'e sacri#iced to it.1 7 gra##ito5 Paris5 +ay7June5 1FAE. c@A 123 !he social revolution is .hen social human 'eings5 social individuals .a/e u- inside the living5 .a/ing nightmare o# -rivati6ed li#e. 12> &evolution is the social moment o# the colla-se o# all -ro(ections. In the moment o# social revolution the -resent5 the historical -resent5 the -resence o# history o-ens u- li/e the s/y. 12@ "on3t 'e too a#raid. What is le#t a#ter the colla-se o# all -ro(ections is you5 your sel#5 -recisely that in you .hich alone .as not sel#7-ro(ection. "on3t -anic 7 you3ve 'een lost so long5 it may ta/e you a moment5 a#ter the deluge5 to #ind your sel# again5 there at the center o# everything. Apres le deluge, moiK A#ter the deluge< youK And your sel# .ill not 'e #ound alone. 12A !he road to #urther evolution -asses through revolution. !he -ath that leads #rom survival to li#e -asses through the valley o# the shado. o# death. We have decided to go5 to ta/e the gam'le5 #or ourselves. "o you .ant to come .ith us5 #or yoursel#C We .ant you. We need you. Jou decide. ?O& OU&S$;%$SK +ay 15 1FB>

Post Notes
,otations !hesis 3 8y 1trans-arent1 relations .e mean relations 'eyond du-licity: relations in .hich the essential is also visi'le5 i.e.5 in .hich the essence a--ears. 1!rans-arency1 is .hen you can see #rom the sur#ace o# social -henomena through into their core: .hen their truth is a--arent on the sur#ace. On the contrary5 the social relations o# ca-italist society are o-a4ue: shot through .ith a contradiction 'et.een a--earance and essence: things are5 more o#ten than not the e)act o--osite o# .hat they a--ear to 'e. ?or e)am-le5 in ca-ital5 the a--arent social im-erative o# the -roduction o# ma)imal use7value 7 1.e3re here to serve you1: 1to -roduce a 4uality -roduct51 etc. 7 conceals their ulterior motive o# the -roduction o# ma)imal e)change7value 0-ro#it25 and this hidden5 essential im-erative reveals itsel# only .here the t.o im-eratives come into con#lict5 in .hich case the use7value is sacri#iced to e)change7value 0-lanned o'solescence5 -roduction o# .orthless -roducts5 #ad -roducts5 destruction o# cro-s and other -roducts to /ee- -rices u-5 and in general5 the tendency o# all -roducts -roduced as commodity7ca-ital to deteriorate in 4uality over time2: the 1tendency o# use7value to #all.1 +ar) envisioned the emergence o# trans-arency in social relations as an as-ect o# the emergence o# communist society5 in the #ollo.ing .ords<

;et us no. -icture ourselves5 'y .ay o# change5 a community o# #ree individuals5 carrying on their .or/ .ith the means o# -roduction in common5 in .hich the la'or7-o.er o# all the di##erent individuals is consciously a--lied as the com'ined la'or7-o.er o# the community... !he social relations o# the individual -roducers5 .ith regard 'oth to their la'or and to its -roducts5 are in this case -er#ectly sim-le and intelligi'le5 and that .ith regard not only to -roduction 'ut also to distri'ution... 0mysti#ication2 can5 in any case5 only then #inally vanish5 .hen the -ractical relations o# everyday li#e o##er to man none 'ut -er#ectly intelligi'le and reasona'le relations .ith regard to his #ello.men and to ,ature... 7 Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue of !olitical "conom#, $oo% & 5 International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FAB2. --. BE7BF5 in ha-ter 15 Section >< 1!he ?etishism o# ommodities and the Secret !hereo#.1 8A L haracter< An individual3s ty-ical structure5 his stereoty-e manner o# acting and reacting. !he orgonomic conce-t o# character is #unctional and 'iological5 and not a static5 -sychological or moralistic conce-t. haracter armor< !he sum total o# ty-ical character attitudes5 .hich an individual develo-s as a 'loc/ing against his emotional e)citations5 resulting in rigidity o# the 'ody5 lac/ o# emotional contact5 1deadness.1 ?unctionally identical .ith the muscular armor. 7 Wilhelm &eich5 The 'unction of the (rgasm5 +eridian 0,e. Jor/. 1FB125 9lossary5 --. 3@F73A0. 9enerally5 character7armor may 'e vie.ed as #ro6en modes o# other.ise normal 'ehavior 7 the -oint is the ina'ility o# an individual to choose or to change certain as-ects o# his 'ehavior. +eta-horically5 it is the unseen shield that 'loc/s e)-ression and -erce-tion o# a -erson3s 1core51 their su'(ectivity5 /ee-ing it #rom the sur#ace and usually #rom consciousness. It is the inauthentic sel# 7 the #ictitious or non7sel# 7 that conceals and har'ors the real sel#. !he involuntary modes o# 'ehavior that characteri6e armor are generally 1learned1 during childhood as a 1rational1 res-onse to an irrational5 o--ressive .orld. !hus5 armor is essentially not a thing located in each individual5 'ut a social relation5 a layer o# callous5 deadened to the sel# and other5 'uilt u- in the .ear and tear o# 0anti72social interactions: in the agony and constant danger o# alienated association. !his is demonstrated in the #ollo.ing o'servation< change a -erson3s social relations and his armoring5 his character ad(ustment5 .ill also 'egin to change to re7ada-t5 to 'ecome congruent again .ith his social li#e5 his ne. relationshi-s. !hus5 it is erroneous to locate armor sim-ly in the individual ta/en se-arately5 although it is true that his social relations5 his .ay o# relating and surviving socially5 may 'e 1re#lected1 7 ma--ed onto his 'ody 7 in the #orm o# muscular armoring: o# a -attern o# chronic contraction in the various muscular segments. haracter7armor is thus 012 the -ersonal as-ect o# the s-ectacle. It is the -ersonal organi6ation o# #alse a--earances< sel#7re-resentation: the sel#7s-ectacle. It is the sel#7image one see/s to -ro(ect to others: the 1#ront1 one -uts u-: the role one -lays< the 1re-utation1 one accumulates. !he -ro(ected5 sur#ace motives 'elonging to character are at the same time a sur#ace denial and re-ression o# certain #or'idden5 im-ermissi'le motives5 .hich -ersist 'eneath the sur#ace o# character as ulterior motives5 conscious or not. In their more conscious -art5 these ulterior motives e)-ress themselves as character in the #orm o# lying5 cheating5 tric/ery5 the con5 hy-ocrisy5 etc. 7 all the #amiliar 'ac/stage o# the s-ectacle o# 1good character.1 haracter is the very locus o# inter-ersonal du-licity 7 -recisely the 1du-lication1 o# the sel# 0c#. Larl +ar)5 1!heses on ?euer'ach51 thesis I%5 in The )erman &deolog#5 Progress

Pu'lishers 0+osco.5 1FAE2. -. AAA5 see also +ar)3s remar/ in his Pre#ace to A Contribution To The Criti ue of !olitical "conom# : 1Just as our o-inion o# an individual is not 'ased on .hat he thin/s o# himsel#5 so .e can not (udge o# such a -eriod o# trans#ormation 'y its o.n consciousness.1 in ;e.is ?euer5 o-. cit.5 -. >>.2 haracter7armor is also 022 the -ersonal as-ect o# ca-ital. In the -roletarian5 character is the locus o# his 1nature1 as a commodity5 his use7value to ca-ital as an o'edient -seudo7o'(ect5 and hence his e)change7value 7 his e)-loita'ility 7 as 1la'or7-o.er1: as a .or/er. haracter7armor is the encrustation surrounding his sel#: a shield shielding 'oth the .orld and his -seudo7sel# #rom his o.n -otential su'(ectivity. It is 'uilt u- through long years o# social la'or7time 'esto.ed u-on him 'y other individuals 7 his -arents5 -riests5 school teachers5 -oliceman5 and authorities o# every sort5 including his o.n -eer grou- 7 and is -art o# the la'or time socially necessary to -roduce a usa'le -roletarian .retch #rom the availa'le human ra.7material5 hence is included in the 0e)change72 value o# la'or7-o.er. It is the 1value7added1 to the individual as he 1matures1 'y the la'or o# the social authorities5 the immediate and 0semi7conscious2 agents o# class society5 .ho must see to the re-roduction o# individuals characterologically congruent .ith a-italist social relations< .ith ca-ital. !he -roduction7-rocess o# character must thus 'e com-rehended .ithin the criti4ue o# -olitical economy5 as an as-ect o# the re-roduction7-rocess o# ca-ital5 o# ca-italist society5 as a .hole. !his -rocess5 the -roduction -rocess o# -roletarians5 a s-ecial #orm o# commodity -roduction carried out in s-ecial #actories /no.n as 1schools51 1churches51 1-risons51 1#amilies51 etc.5 is usually re#erred to5 in general5 as 1child7rearing51 1education51 or 1sociali6ation.1 It consists in 0a2 the destruction o# su'(ectivity in its direct #orm5 and 0'2 the develo-ment o# a narro. #orm o# su'(ectivity5 in an indirect 0-erverted2 #orm5 mediated 'y authoritarian -ermission. It is the totality o# the -rocesses o# 1ada-tation1 necessary to ma/e the -roletarian 1#it1 to endure the 1li#e1 o# a .or/er. When the -rocess miscarries5 as it o#ten does these days5 the -roduct is said to 'e 1unem-loya'le1 7 useless to ca-ital. In the 1#inished1 -roduct5 the adult5 character7armor is the re-ository5 the o'(ecti#ication o# this -rocess5 the location o# all the stored -rograms5 ha'its5 -ractices5 roles5 and 'ehavior -atterns necessary to the -roletarian survival /it 7 su'missiveness5 slavishness5 sel#7contem-t5 -assivity5 o'edience5 irres-onsi'ility5 guilt5 #ear o# #reedom5 and so on. haracter7armor is the layer o# #ro6en su'(ectivity that ma/es the .or/er #unctional as a .or/er in ca-italist society5 i.e.5 mani-ulata'le as a -seudo7 o'(ect. It is .hat ma/es the .or/er suita'le #or authoritarian management. It is .hat ma/es him 0-resently2 inca-a'le o# sel#7management. !he .ay through the -ro'lem is to have -eo-le not armored 'ut 1armed1 7 -hysically5 -sychologically5 and theoretically 7 to 'ring .hat is involuntary more under conscious control. 1!o transcend 0aufheben2 has this dou'le meaning5 that it signi#ies to /ee- or -reserve and also to ma/e cease5 to #inish. !o -reserve includes this negative element5 that something is removed #rom its immediacy and there#ore #rom a "eterminate 8eing e)-osed to e)ternal in#luences5 in order that it may 'e -reserved. 7 !hus .hat is transcended is also -reserved: it has lost its immediacy and is not on that account annihilated. 7 In the dictionary the t.o determinations o# transcending may 'e cited as t.o meanings o# this .ord. 8ut it should a--ear as remar/a'le that a language should have come to use one and the same .ord #or t.o o--osite determinations. It is a (oy #or s-eculative thought to #ind .ords .hich in themselves have a s-eculative meaning... 1 7 9.W.?. =egel5 Science of *ogic, Volume &, +(b,ective *ogic,+ translated 'y W. =. Johnston and ;. 9. Struthers. =umanities Press5 0,e. Jor/5 1FAA25 --. 11F7120: 1!ranscendence o# 8ecoming.1 O'servation< the $)-ression 1to transcend.1 8A L !hesis > 1All -revious #orms o# society #oundered on the develo-ment o# .ealth 7 or5 .hich amounts to the

same thing5 on the develo-ment o# social -roductive #orces. !here#ore ancient -hiloso-hers .ho .ere a.are o# this 'luntly denounced .ealth as destructive o# community.1 7 Larl +ar)5 )rundrisse der -riti% der !olitischen (e%onomie . Muoted in -arl .arx, The )rundrisse5 translated and edited 'y "avid +c;ellan5 =ar-er N &o.5 0San ?rancisco5 1FB15 -. 1202. 8A L !hesis @ 8y 1Po.er1 .ith a ca-ital 1P51 .e mean se-arate -o.er: alienated -o.er5 .hose ma(or modern e)am-les are state -o.er and that social -o.er /no.n as 1ca-ital.1 In state7ca-italism5 the highest #orm o# ca-italism5 these t.o5 al.ays inter-enetrate essentially5 'ecome one visi'ly. In -re7modern times5 in +edieval $uro-e5 the hurch .ould 'e another e)am-le o# se-arate social -o.er. We have no 4uarrel .ith 1-o.er1 as such5 that is5 .ith sel#7-o.er 7 the -o.er o# social sel#7 determination and sel#7-roduction: creative5 -roductive #aculties and -o.er over one3s o.n li#e. On the contrary: this is the very develo-ment and enrichment o# individuality itsel#. On the contrary: !he re7 a--ro-riation o# ourselves5 the re-ossession o# ourselves #rom ca-ital5 the re7o.ning o# alienated sel#7 -o.ers5 is the essential -ur-ose o# our revolution5 the communist revolution: and is our -ur-ose in it. It should 'e o'vious5 then5 #rom .hat has 'een said5 that Po.er is the o--osite o# -o.er. !he greater the Po.er o# the State and a-ital5 the more -o.erless5 the more im-otent are .e5 the -roletariat5 #or that Po.er is nothing other than our lost5 our alienated -o.er: the la'or -o.er .e sell to ca-ital and the -olitical -o.er .e give u- to our 1re-resentatives.1 It .as necessary to say this 'ecause o# the legions o# moralistic masochists and .orshi--ers o# im-otence -resently trai-sing through the s-ectacle5 #or .hom .e might other.ise have 'een mista/en. !hese sel#7castrated -assivists 'elieve that not (ust Po.er5 'ut -o.er also5 corru-ts5 a'solutely5 and des-erately 1#ear to touch it51 along .ith money and ca-ital5 out o# dread o# 'eing instantly corru-ted 'y it. !hey have never let themselves gras- that the only .ay to 'e sa#e #rom this -athetic 1corru-tion1 is to 'e 7 not 'eneath it5 'ut 'eyond it. ?or an account5 unsur-assed in its 'rilliance5 o# the dialectic o# sel#7-o.ers and their alienation5 see ;orraine and ?redy Perlman3s 'oo/7length detournement o# revolutionary ideology5 .anual 'or Revolutionar# *eaders 1'y +ichael %elli1 08;A L A," &$"5 "etroit5 +ichigan: --. 117>F2. 0Un#ortunately #or all o# us5 the Perlmans decided to truncate their theory (ust at the threshold o# its -ractice5 'y a'stractly negating revolutionary organi6ation 7 to the e##ect that all organi6ation is hierarchical organi6ation and all revolutionary organi6ation is necessarily ;eninist organi6ation 7 and so end u- em'racing im-otence #or themselves as revolutionaries2. 8A L !hesis B ?rom here on out5 unless other.ise s-eci#ically indicated5 the use o# masculine -ronoun #orms is meant to include the #eminine5 since this is the closest thing to a unitary -ronoun the $nglish language contains5 #or most -ur-oses. Immanent criti4ue is criti4ue .hich 'ases itsel# in the same #oundation5 logical5 etc.5 .hich #orms the core or essence o# the o'(ect o# the criti4ue: criti4ue .hich locates itsel# inside its o'(ect. It thus locates the internal contradictions o# its o'(ect 7 the sel#7contradictions 7 'ecoming a criti4ue .hich is essential to the o'(ect o# criti4ue itsel#. !hus immanent criti4ue is an intimate5 internal criti4ue5 in #act5 a sel#7 criti4ue o# the o'(ect5 a criti4ue 'ased on the internal standards o# the o'(ect o# the criti4ue itsel#5 and not an e)ternal or alien criti4ue 7 a (udgment #rom a stand-oint outside that .hich is (udged. 8A L

!hesis E 8y 1total a--ro-riation1 .e mean5 in general5 all7sided a--ro-riation 7 that is5 social relations not restricted to a s-eciali6ed and com-artmentali6ed interchange o# 1things1 or o# -arts o# -eo-le as 1things1 0money5 commodities5 images5 etc.2 7 as in the -resent organi6ation o# social interaction according to roles5 .hich en#orces a strict se-aration o# the various as-ects and interests o# li#e5 1!otal a--ro-riation1 is5 among other things5 .here you are no longer con#ined to 1tal/ing sho-1 even in the sho-. 8y 1total1 a--ro-riation o# another -erson .e mean5 in -articular5 an a--ro-riation o# them .hich included in itsel# their a--ro-riation o# you: i.e. it can occur only .hen it is reci-rocal5 .hen each -erson is 'oth a--ro-riator and a--ro-riated. !his is unli/e either the case o# the a--ro-riation o# an o'(ect5 .hich can3t 1a--ro-riate 'ac/51 or the -artial a--ro-riation 0e)-loitation2 o# a su'(ect: the a--ro-riation o# a su'(ect as i# an o'(ect5 e)cluding5 disregarding his or her desires5 needs5 e)-ectations5 and reci-rocal a--ro-riation o# the a--ro-riator. !hat is5 .e .ould mean that you a--ro-riate their a--ro-riation o# you as itsel# a necessary -art o# them: include in the 1them1 that you 1totally1 a--ro-riate their desires5 needs5 attitudes5 and e)-ectations .ith regard to you in some .ay: a--ro-riate their su'(ectivity as the essential -art o# them: relate to it. 1!otal a--ro-riation1 is thus the encounter 'y a su'(ect o# another su'(ect as a su'(ect. It .ould involve the a--ro-riation o# the other -erson3s res-onse to you5 including o# their res-onse to your res-onses to them. !rue in#inity. !otal a--ro-riation e)ists .hen you can 0actually and directly 7 not (ust vicariously2 a--ro-riate someone else3s (oy as your o.n. One might very .ell say that there is -lenty a'out contem-orary 1su'(ects1 that one not only doesn3t .ant to a--ro-riate 3totally53 'ut in #act doesn3t .ant any -art o#. And to this .e could only agree5 .ith ho.ever the additional commentary that 012 most o# .hat .e don3t .ant any -art o# is non7sel#5 non7 su'(ectivity 0#ro6en su'(ectivity: armor2 to 'egin .ith5 and< 022 this negated su'(ectivity has to 'e dealt .ith in one .ay or another any.ay< no matter .hat5 it has to 'e #aced5 even in -resent7day society 7 -erha-s F0O o# the #uc/7u-s in -resent7day ca-italist 'usiness7-ractice are due to such characterological 1-ersonality #actors.1 And in the conte)t o# associated -roduction5 .here sustained association is an egoistic necessity5 the -ro'lem 'ecomes a 4uestion o# .hat is the 'est .ay o# con#ronting these 1#actors51 #rom an e)-anded7egoistic -oint o# vie.. !here is no dou't that 1total a--ro-riation1 .ill 'e5 among other things5 a con#lictual -rocess5 a #ight. "irect 1a--ro-riation1 7 i.e.5 here7and7no. contestation 7 o# such 1-ersonality /in/s1 as they come u- in the social 0re2-roductive -rocess5 rather than in their avoidance or -olite toleration .hich 'es-ea/s an attitude o# resignation to the -erson tolerated as a static 'eing inca-a'le o# #urther sel#7develo-ment5 and to the -erson tolerating as im-otent to -rovo/e change 7 can5 .here a--ro-riate5 render daily social interaction itsel# an accelerated 1-sychothera-eutic1 gro.th -rocess. $)-anded egoism5 that is5 total a--ro-riation5 is a -rocess. Only as e)-loitation in social relations lives out its use7value .ill .e 'egin to develo- e)-anded egoism concretely. At the 'eginnings o# communist society5 radical su'(ectivity .ill not miraculously mani#est itsel# in everyone5 at the same time5 to the same degree o# intensity or sustainedness. !he develo-ment .ill 'e an irregular -rocess. !o a'stractly a##irm an idyllic5 non7con#lictual image o# total a--ro-riation o# another .hen in #act the other remains to varying degrees a #ro6en su'(ect is to morally -ro(ect and ideali6e total a--ro-riation. !otal a--ro-riation is a social7historical -rocess .hich gro.s out o# -eo-le3s collective trans#ormation o# the .orld and themselves. !he #act that .e #eel a need #or such trans-arency sho.s that the -rocess has already 'egun. 8ut already this -rocess has come into con#lict .ith the o'(ective conditions 0i.e. the -resent social relations2. Ultimately5 only in revolution can .e succeed in ridding ourselves o# all the

muc/ o# ages and 'ecome #itted to #ound society ane.. 8A L !hesis F 8y 1egoism1 .e mean something .hich5 in its #ull develo-ment5 is 4uite di##erent #rom5 in #act5 1in#initely1 di##erent #rom or o--osite to 1egotism.1 $gotism is -ersonal -ractice in #avor o# one3s sel#7 s-ectacle5 one3s social image5 one3s -ersona. It is -recisely5 there#ore5 activity in the interest o# one3s non7sel#5 truly sel#less activity. Whereas5 'y egoism .e mean5 on the contrary5 -ersonal activity in the interest o# one3s authentic sel#5 to the e)tent one recogni6es and /no.s this sel# at any given time5 ho.ever narro.ly or e)-andedly. $gotism is s-ectacular5 other7centered 0alienated25 the vicarious living o# your o.n li#e: egoism is autonomous5 #ounded on sel#7centration and on concrete5 social sel#7 /no.ledge. $gotism is thus one o# the lo.est #orms o# egoism. It is5 li/e moralism5 egoism 'y means o# a -ro(ection5 and turns into into its o--osite. 8A L !he term detournement5 em-loyed es-ecially as a technical term 'y Situationists5 has 'een de#ined as the revolutionary -ractice 1'y .hich the s-ectacle is turned 'ac/ on itsel#5 turned inside out so that it reveals its o.n inner .or/ings.1 See *oaded /ords0 A Rebel1s )uide To Situationese5 ,$W +O&,I,95 ?e'ruary5 1FB35 ,e. +orning ollective 08er/eley5 ali#ornia25 -. 1>. !his mode o# -ractice is not con#ined merely to the turning7against7themselves o# the .ords5 the language5 o# s-ectacular ideology. !he techni4ue has also 'een a--lied to the momentary sei6ure o# the s-ectacular images o# various dominant ideologies and institutions #or the -ur-ose o# 'roadcasting through said images a revolutionary criti4ue. Such 1momentary e)-ro-riation1 o# the means o# communication has 'een used5 #or e)am-le5 in cases .here #raudulent memorandums attri'uted to -rominent 'ureaucrats5 -osters announcing events or o-inions in the name o# dominant s-ectacular organi6ations5 -ress releases and other .or/s attri'uted to government o##icials or other s-ectacular 0imaged2 -ersonages5 issues o# ne.s-a-ers or other -eriodicals5 advertising materials5 etc. have 'een disseminated and the resulting scandal or con#usion o# denials used as a lever to gain -u'licity #or revolutionary theory. Words 7 .ritten and s-o/en 7 are5 in the 'eginning5 the only means o# -roduction .hich .e5 as -roletarians5 -ossess< the very means o# -roduction o# revolutionary consciousness itsel#. 8A L !hesis 10 1State7ca-italism1 is a term used to descri'e the #orm 0stage2 o# ca-italist society .hich is characteri6ed in di##erent .ays and to di##erent degrees 'y state management o# the economy5 .hile de#initively ca-italist relations 0se-aration o# the -roducers #rom the accumulated means o# -roduction5 .age7la'or5 etc.2 are le#t intact. =istorically5 state7ca-italism has ta/en .idely varied #orms5 ranging #rom relatively minor regulation o# the -rivate institutions to total nationali6ation o# 'asic industries into a state7 mono-oli6ed national a-ital. Its #orms vary #rom right7.ing 0#ascist2 to le#t7.ing 0;eninist D Stalinist2 and other #orms 1in7'et.een1 0Social "emocratic5 ,asserist5 and 1A#rican Socialist1 in general5 Peruvian militarist5 1communalist51 etc.2. In any case... the o##icial re-resentative o# ca-italist society 7 the state 7 .ill ultimately have to underta/e the direction o# -roduction... 8ut the trans#ormation... into state o.nershidoes not do a.ay .ith the ca-italistic nature o# the -roductive #orces... !he modern state5 again5 is only the organi6ation that 'ourgeois society ta/es on in order to su--ort the e)ternal conditions o# the ca-italist mode o# -roduction against the encroachments o# the individual ca-italist as o# the .or/ers. !he modern state5 no matter .hat its #orm5 is

essentially a ca-italist machine5 the state o# the ca-italists5 the ideal -ersoni#ication o# the total national ca-ital. !he more it -roceeds to the ta/ing over o# -roductive #orces5 the more does it actually 'ecome the national ca-italist: the more citi6ens does it e)-loit. !he .or/ers remain .age7.or/ers 7 -roletarians. !he ca-italist relation is not done a.ay .ith. It is rather 'rought to a head. 8A L 1... the glo'al decom-osition o# the 'ureaucratic alliance 0.orld Stalinism2 is in the last analysis the least #avora'le #actor #or the -resent develo-ment o# ca-italist society. !he 'ourgeoisie is in the -rocess o# losing the adversary .hich o'(ectively su--orted it 'y -roviding an illusory uni#ication o# all negation o# the e)isting order.1 7 9uy "e'ord5 The Societ# (f The Spectacle5 8;A L A," &$"5 0"etroit5 1FB325 thesis 111. 1Until no.5 the most dura'le source o# su--ort #or sustaining and enlarging the o-eration o# the state7 management has 'een the -attern o# antagonistic coo-eration 'et.een the U.S. state management and its Soviet counter-art.1 7 c#. Seymour +elman5 !entagon Capitalism0 The !olitical "conom# (f /ar 5 +c9ra.7=ill5 0San ?rancisco5 1FB125 ha-ter F5 11FE> 8y 1FB>C Or5 an !he State7+anagement 8e Sto--edC51 -. 21@. 8A L Wor/ers3 councils have emerged historically as a revolutionary #orce 'eginning .ith the Paris ommune o# 1EB15 .here they too/ the #orm o# a community council .ithout .or/-lace councils 0given the underdevelo-ed state o# the #actory system in the Paris o# that time2: in &ussia in 1F0@ and again in 1F1B in the #orm o# city7.ide 0and later nation.ide2 Soviets5 and #actory committees: in 9ermany during 1F1E71F1F as the classical 1Soldiers3 and Wor/ers3 councils1: in Italy in 1F20 0the !urin Soviet5 etc.2: in the Lronstadt Soviet o# 1F21: in S-ain during 1F3A7B in the #orm o# the atalonian .or/ers3 councils and -easant coo-eratives: in =ungary in 1F@A5 .here #or the #irst time since Lronstadt .or/ers3 councils a--eared as the organs o# revolutionary struggle against a state7 ca-italist 'ureaucracy instead o# a 'ourgeoisie: in Algeria in 1FA3: and most recently in hile 01FB07 B32 in em'ryonic #orms such as the commandos communales 0community -roto7councils2 and the cordons industrials 0multi7.or/-lace -roto7councils25 .hich .ere5 ho.ever5 still largely dominated 'y various 'ureaucracies.21@. 8A L !hesis 11 !he root de#inition o# 1resonance1 coming #rom -hysics5 #rom the mechanics o# oscillators5 is revealing here. ?or e)am-le< 10a2 an a'normally large res-onse o# a system having a natural #re4uency5 to a -eriodic e)ternal stimulus o# the same5 or nearly the same5 #re4uency. 0'2 the increase in intensity o# sound 'y sym-athetic vi'ration o# other 'odies.1 7 . ;. 8arnhart N Jess Stein5 The American College 2ictionar#5 &andom =ouse5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA>25 -. 10335 1resonance5 n.1. !hat is5 mechanical resonance occurs .hen the natural #re4uency o# oscillation 7 the 3immanent35 3essential35 or internal #re4uency 7 o# the resonating o'(ect is identical to the #re4uency o# e)ternally 1#orced1 oscillation5 i.e.5 to the e)ternal #re4uency. Social resonance occurs as inter7recognition: .hen social individuals recogni6e themselves in each other5 the other in themselves5 and themselves in the .orld they -roduce: .hen they recogni6e their concrete universality. It occurs .hen .hat 1society1 needs o# them is also .hat they need o# themselves< their o.n -roduction: their o.n develo-ment: their o.n sel#7reali6ation: .hen .hat 1society1 needs o# them is not im-osed as an e)ternal5 alien #orce5 coercively 'y the state or unconsciously5 as the 1la. o# value51 'y ca-ital5 'ut as their o.n5 internally generated sel#7#orce5

.elling7u- s-ontaneously .ithin them. ?rom each according to his desire5 to each according to his desire. !his is -ossi'le sustainedly only once the necessary social conditions #or such a recognition and such a need have 'een -roduced historically5 i.e.5 only once certain relations o# humanity to itsel#5 7 namely5 inter7-roduction 7 gras-ed early in an alienated #orm as the 1eternal truths1 o# religions5 have 'ecome #act5 that is5 'ecome historically materiali6ed.21@. 8A L !hesis 1B ,ote that this 1ty-ically1 a--lies to 'oth ca-italist and -roletarian individuals 7 s-ans the class divide. !he ideas o# the ruling class are in every e-och the ruling ideas< i.e.5 the class .hich is the ruling material #orce o# society5 is at the same time its ruling intellectual #orce. !he class .hich has the means o# material -roduction at its dis-osal5 has control at the same time over the means o# mental -roduction5 so that there'y5 generally s-ea/ing5 the ideas o# those .ho lac/ the means o# mental -roduction are su'(ect to it. !he ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal e)-ression o# the dominant material relationshi-s5 the dominant material relationshi-s gras-ed as ideas< hence o# the relationshi-s .hich ma/e the one class the ruling one5 hence the ideas o# its dominance. 7 Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 The )erman &deolog#5 Progress Pu'lishers5 0+osco.5 1FAE25 -. A1.21@. 8A L !hesis 23 !he -assage may a--ear to 'e con#using here and throughout5 -erha-s in -art 'ecause the translators did not com-rehend the dialectical conce-ts 'eing used nor the #ull radicality o# .hat .as 'eing asserted5 .hich5 to the Lantian or 'latland mind is im-ossi'le or a'surd. ?or instance5 1social 'eing1 I 1the 'eing o# society1: 1the e)istence o# society1: 1social e)istence1 7 and not (ust 1a1 social 'eing. +ar) is asserting here that the social individual is the essence o# society< the su'stance and 1nature1 o# society 7 the -lace .here the character o# society5 the social character5 'ecomes visi'le5 mani#est.21@. 8A L !hesis 2@ a-italistic li'erty is the o##icial sanction #or each to enhance and garnish his o.n se-arate misery in -rivate5 .ith the 'lessing o# la.. a-italistic li'erty is the right to -ut ri''ons onto shit.21@. 8A L !he conce-t o# #reedom used here 'y +ar) is o'viously the non7linear5 su-er7additive conce-t as o--osed to the linear5 atomistic one central to 'ourgeois society. 8A L !hesis 3B !he term 1su'lation1 is sometimes used as the technical $nglish e4uivalent #or the 9erman aufhebung as develo-ed 'y =egel 0see the third note to !hesis 32. 8A L &evolutionary theory and revolutionary ideology are not only di##erent5 'ut o--osed. 1&evolutionary theory1 names the theory o# the -roduction o# social revolution< o# the -ractices necessary to this -roduction 7 the coherent system o# ideas o# ho. to create communist society. 1&evolutionary ideology1 names the re-resentation o# this revolutionary theory 'y state7ca-italist 'ureaucracy: the trans#ormation o# revolutionary theory into a s-ectacle through .hich the last stand o# ca-ital5 as state7 ca-ital5 momentarily strengthens its -osition 'y mas4uerading as the very negation o# ca-ital5 i.e. as communist society. !he distinction has never 'een more a-tly -ut than in these .ords o# 9uy "e'ord<

1&evolutionary theory is no. the enemy o# all revolutionary ideology5 and /no.s it.1 7 9uy "e'ord5 The Societ# of the Spectacle 5 8;A L A," &$"5 0"etroit5 1FB025 last thesis in ha-ter I%5 1!he Proletariat As Su'(ect And As &e-resentation.1 8A L !he slogan 1smash sel#K1 .as introduced during the -eriod o# the so7called 1 ultural &evolution1 in hina. See #or instance the -am-hlet .hich .as com-iled out o# 3e)em-lary stories3 .hich a--eared in the o##icial -ress around the time o# that s-ectacular ruc/us5 entitled 0a--ro-riately2 'ear 3either Hardship 3or 2eath &n Serving The !eople 0?oreign ;anguages Press5 Pe/ing5 1FB025 .hich -am-hlet discusses 1the -rinci-le o# .holly and entirely serving the -eo-le and utter devotion to others .ithout any thought o# sel#.1 0-. @@.2 8A L !hesis >A !he term 1anti7state1 .as em-loyed 'y the Situationists to designate the organi6ation o# social sel#7 management5 the -o.er o# the .or/ers3 councils .hich5 although it .ould 'e an administration o# society5 .ould not 'e a 1state51 'ut5 on the contrary5 hostile to every #orm o# 1state.1 A .ell7/no.n authority on +ar)3 vie.s descri'ed the anti7state character o# the Paris ommune thusly< !his .as5 there#ore5 a revolution not against this or that5 legitimate5 constitutional5 re-u'lican5 or Im-erialist #orm o# State Po.er. It .as a &evolution against the State itsel#5 o# this su-ernaturalist a'ortion o# society5 a resum-tion 'y the -eo-le #or the -eo-le o# its o.n social li#e. It .as not a revolution to trans#er it #rom one #raction o# the ruling class to the other5 'ut a &evolution to 'rea/ do.n this horrid machinery o# lass domination itsel#. !he ommune 7 the rea'sor-tion o# the State -o.er 'y society as its o.n living #orces instead o# as #orces controlling and su'duing it5 'y the -o-ular masses themselves5 #orming their o.n #orce instead o# the organi6ed #orce o# their o.n su--ression 7 the -olitical #orm o# their social emanci-ation5 instead o# the arti#icial #orce 0a--ro-riated 'y their o--ressors2 0their o.n #orce o--osed to and organi6ed against them2 o# society .ielded #or their o--ression 'y their enemies. !he #orm .as sim-le li/e all great things... It 'egins the emanci-ation o# la'or 7 its great goal 7 'y doing a.ay .ith the un-roductive and mischievous .or/ o# the state -arasites5 'y cutting a.ay the s-rings .hich sacri#ice an immense -ortion o# the national -roduce to the #eeding o# the state7monster on the one side5 'y doing5 on the other5 the real .or/ o# administration5 local and national5 #or .or/ingmen3s .ages. It 'egins5 there#ore5 .ith an immense saving5 .ith economical re#orm as .ell as -olitical trans#ormation. 8A L See itation 2. $ven as early as the Paris ommune o# 1EB15 at a time and -lace .here the o'(ective sociali6ation o# the means o# -roduction had not -roceeded very #ar 0in terms o# large #actories5 etc.25 this theory o# associated -roduction had 'egun to 'ecome consciously revolutionary -ractice. !he document 4uoted 'elo.5 a mandate #rom t.o la'or unions #or their delegates to the ommune3s ommission on la'or Organi6ation5 -ro-oses a #orm o# .hat .ould a--ear to 'e council7ca-italism5 and em-loys the term 1associate1 to designate the -roducers a#ter they have ceased to 'e -roletarians< At its meeting o# A-ril 23rd5 1EB15 in /ee-ing .ith the ommune3s decree o# A-ril 1Ath5 the +echanics Union and the Association o# +etal Wor/ers have designated t.o citi6ens to the ommission on la'or Organi6ation and given them the #ollo.ing instructions5 1 onsidering< !hat .ith the ommune5 -roduct o# the &evolution o# +arch 1Eth5 e4uality

must not 'e an em-ty .ord: !hat the valiant struggle to e)terminate the clerical7royalists has5 as its o'(ective5 our economic emanci-ation: !hat this result can only 'e o'tained through the #ormation o# .or/ers3 associations5 .hich alone can trans#orm our -osition #rom that o# .age7earners to that o# associates: !here#ore instruct our delegates to su--ort the #ollo.ing o'(ectives: !he a'olition o# the e)-loitation o# man 'y man5 last vestige o# slavery: !he organi6ation o# la'or in mutual associations .ith collective and inaliena'le ca-ital. 8A L !hesis >F !he s-ectacle su'(ugates living men to itsel# to the e)tent that the economy has totally su'(ugated them. It is no more than the economy develo-ing #or itsel#. It is the true re#lection o# the -roduction o# things5 and the #alse o'(ecti#ication o# the -roducers. !he s-ectacle .ithin society corres-onds to a concrete manu#acture o# alienation. $conomic e)-ansion is mainly the e)-ansion o# -recisely this industrial -roduction. !hat .hich gro.s .ith the economy moving #or itsel# can only 'e the alienation .hich .as -recisely at its origin. 7 9uy "e'ord5 The Societ# of the Spectacle 5 o-. cit.5 res-ectively !heses 1A and 32. 8A L It is im-ortant a'ove all here to note that this 1dictatorshi- o# the -roletariat1 can 'e nothing other than the international -o.er o# the .or/ers3 councils itsel#. It is a dictatorshi- o# the still7-roletarian class over the remnants o# the 'ourgeoisie and the 'ureaucracy5 'ecause it acts coercively against their e##orts to re7e)-ro-riate social -o.er and5 .henever it 0that is5 the general assem'lies o# the .or/ers2 deems necessary5 'y #orce o# arms. 8ut it is an anti7state dictatorshi-5 es-ecially .ith regard to the su--ression o# the state7ca-italist 'ureaucracy5 .ith res-ect to .hich5 the su--ression o# the state and the su--ression o# the class are one in the same 0it goes .ithout saying that the 1su--ression1 o# a class as a class5 its destruction as such5 does not necessarily entail the 1destruction1 or 1li4uidation1 o# the individuals .ho com-osed it: it is the class determination .hich is to 'e determinately negated here5 not 'iological individuals5 and social relations can not 'e negated .ithout 1negating1 individuals2. On the conce-t o# the 1anti7state51 see #irst note to !hesis >A. In a letter to August 8e'el 0+arch 1E72E5 1EB@2 $ngels 0as a delegation o# himsel# and +ar)2 gave a criti4ue o# the dra#t programme o# the United Social7"emocratic Wor/ers3 Party o# 9ermany. =is severe criticism5 -articularly o# its muddledly statist as-ects5 is o# much signi#icance not only #or this -articular programme5 'ut #urthermore it sheds much light to.ard a correct inter-retation o# virtually all o# his and +ar)3s .or/s< !he .hole tal/ a'out the state should 'e dro--ed5 es-ecially since the ommune Gthe Paris ommune o# 1EB1H5 .hich .as no longer a state in the -ro-er sense o# the .ord. !he 3-eo-le3s state3 has 'een thro.n in our #aces 'y the Anarchists to the -oint o# disgust5 although already +ar)3s 'oo/ against Proudhon 0The !overt# of !hilosoph#2 and later the Communist .anifesto directly declare that .ith the introduction o# the socialist order o# society the state .ill dissolve o# itsel# and disa--ear. As5 there#ore5 the state is only a transitional institution .hich is used in the struggle5 in the revolution5 to hold do.n one3s adversaries 'y #orce5 it is -ure nonsense to tal/ o# a #ree -eo-le3s state< so long as the -roletariat still uses the state5 it does not use it in the interests o# #reedom 'ut in order to hold do.n its adversaries5 and as soon as it 'ecomes -ossi'le to s-ea/ o# #reedom the state

as such ceases to e)ist. We .ould there#ore -ro-ose to re-lace state every.here 'y )emein4esen5 a good old 9erman .ord .hich can very .ell convey the meaning o# the ?rench .ord 3communeK31 c@E !his criti4ue is -erha-s one o# the most im-ortant statements ever made 'y $ngels or +ar). 8A L !hesis @2 1?inal1 #or 'ourgeois society and #or human -rehistory: 'ut only the 'eginning #or human history5 #or communist society 7 that is5 sociali6ed humanity. 8A L See second note to !hesis B. 8A L !hesis @B ,ot that .e -re#er the -sychedelic cretins and nouveau78a''its o# hi- ca-italism 08er/eley has -rovided an interesting develo-ment o# these res-ective #orms. =ere their a'stract unity has digressed into a disgusting sym'iosis 'et.een the 1.inner1 and 1loser1 #orms o# the hi- movement3s remnants. !hus .e have the rise o# the merchants o# counter7culture5 .ho3s 1success1 largely #eeds o## the continuing degeneracy o# the -ost7-sychedelic lumpens2. 8A L !hesis A0 =ere even the old 1human nature1 argument 7 in all cases the last recourse o# 'ourgeois ideology 7 is turned against itsel# and the misera'le cretins .ho .ould -ro-agate it. 8A L !hesis A1 See the third note under !hesis 3B. 8A L !hesis A2 !his relationshi- might 'e clari#ied in terms o# a dialectical sym'olic logic5 .ith -5 P-5 and PPsym'oli6ing states 7 states o# a##airs5 states o# some system5 1states o# the .orld1 7 or sym'oli6ing sentences .hich re-resent 1statements1: #ormulae a'out or #ormulations o# these states o# a##airs. !he tilde 1P51 the negation sign5 here sym'oli6es some trans#ormation5 some determinate negation5 o# the sentential letters5 such as -5 to .hich it is a--lied as a -re#i) 0the e)act content o# this o-erator thus has to 'e s-eci#ied in each case2. !hus5 PP- is related5 'y negation to P- and to -. !he dou'ly7slashed e4uals7sign5 Q5 is here em-loyed as the sym'ol #or the relation o# dialectical contradiction. With - re-resenting that 0social2 state o# a##airs characteri6ed as 1narro. egoism51 P- re-resenting the state o# 1altruism51 and PP- 1communist egoism51 .e can #ormulate this relation as #ollo.s< 0PP- Q -2 N 0PP- Q P-2 N 0- Q P-25 or sim-ly< 0- Q PP- Q P-2 !he latter t.o con(unctions .ould 'e granted truth even 'y #ormal logic5 'ut the #irst 'elongs e)clusively to dialectical logic. Only a vestige5 a shado. o# the #irst con(unct holds .ithin #ormal logic< 1A sentence and its negation are called contradictories o# one another. !hough any sentence o# the #orm

Po has t.o e4uivalent contradictories5 o and PPo5 it has 'ecome customary to s-ea/ loosely o# 3the3 contradictory o# a sentence.1 7 8enson +ates5 "lementar# *ogic5 O)#ord University Press5 0,e. Jor/5 1FB22. Second $dition5 -. 11Fn. !he a'ove 4uotation holds #or dialectical logic as .ell5 e)ce-t that in the case o# dialectical logic5 o and PPo .ould not 'e e4uivalent5 'ut rather .ould 'e also contradictories. We might clari#y this 'y modeling dialectical logic as involving not merely t.o truth7values5 'ut rather 0at least2 three related truth7states. We might de-ict the relations among the sentence7sym'ols -5 P-. and PP- in terms o# a truth7state7s-ace5 as #ollo.s5 the di##erent states 'eing connected 7 lin/ed semantically andDor tem-orally 7 as e)treme -oints or 1moments1 along a state7s-ace tra(ectory.

#igure 1< !ruth7S-ace #or "ialectical ;ogic - is an o--osite o# PP- 'ecause5 relative to -5 PP- has an e)treme value o# the tra(ectory coordinates in a com-onent direction a.ay #rom - 0in this case the Ry direction2. !his criterion o# relative e)tremity gives an immanent standard o# 1o--ositeness51 i.e.5 the -oint -3 is more o--osite o# PP- than - is5 'ut it

does not occur immanently5 that is5 on the tra(ectory5 and so is not a criterion: P- is an o--osite 0or contradictory2 o# PP- 0in the R) direction25 as .ell as o# - 0also in the R) direction25 and vice7versa5 and so on. !hus5 -5 P-5 and PP- corres-ond5 in an a--ro)imate .ay5 to as-ects o#5 res-ectively5 the 1thesis51 1antithesis51 and 1synthesis1 o# vulgar dialectics. So under these de#initions the #ormulae 012 hold #or the de-iction o# #igure 15 and #or them it re-resents a valid 1model1 or 1inter-retation.1 We can arrive at a #ormal7logical version o# this model 'y reduction5 s-eci#ically5 reduction 'y one dimension 0the y dimension2 7 yielding a /ind o# 1to- vie.1 o# #igure 1<

!he great advantage o# the "ialectical ;ogic 0?ig. 12 is seen concretely 'y using the inter-retation< -< 0the2 1narro. egoism1 0theory2 is true o# the .orld. P-< 1altruism1 is true o# the .orld. PP-< 1communist egoism1 is true o# the .orld. !he model -osits - 77S P- 77S PP- as the course o# an evolution relating 01connecting12 the three states.

It could 'e inter-reted as de-icting5 #or e)am-le5 the evolution o# the social individual #rom a state o# narro. egoism to one o# altruism to e)-anded egoism5 or the evolution o# a society #rom a state characteri6ed as 0'y2 1narro. egoism1 and 1altruism1 to one characteri6ed as 1communist egoism.1 =ere indeed - and PP-5 1stac/ed1 one on to- o# the other5 a--ear to coincide5 hence5 are 1e4uivalent.1 !he dimension in .hich the se-aration o# - #rom PP- occurs is here invisi'le. !he tra(ectory #rom - to P- to PP- or - again is here merely a vicious circle5 getting no.here ne.. It merely 'es-ea/s an endless5 inelucta'le Lantian oscillation .ithin the 1antimony1 o# narro. egoism 0-2 versus altruism 0P-2. !he y dimension might 'e -osited here as the tem-oral5 historical dimension 7 as either the coordinate #or historical time itsel# or #or some time7li/e state7varia'le 0I a state7varia'le .hose magnitude gro.s monotonically .ith time2. With the elimination o# this dimension 0a'straction #rom time5 #rom history5 #rom concrete duration25 the de-iction succeeds as a model o# the #ormal logic o# these sentences 0-5 P-5 PP-2 and their inter7mutual relations. 8A L !hesis B1 O'(ecti#ication names the s-eci#ic 4uality o# human -roduction in general. O'(ecti#ication is the ma/ing o'(ective5 the ma/ing into an e)ternal5 immediately o'serva'le5 sensuously mani#est o'(ect5 o# something that .as su'(ective5 invisi'le5 internal to the su'(ect -roducing the o'(ecti#ication. !hrough his activity5 even i# this activity is only an instantly -erisha'le gesture5 the su'(ect inscri'es himsel# in the o'(ective .orld5 ma/es the -art o# it u-on .hich he la'ors into a re#lection o# himsel#: materiali6es his thought5 his intentions5 his needs5 his desires5 his imaginations. !his is the e)ternali6ation o# the internal< e)teriori6ation: e)tension. !his is the sel#7 o'(ecti#ication o# the su'(ect. 8A L !hesis BA We use the term 1secular hritianism1 to re#er to all those non7theological 01seculari6ed12 ideologies .hich gre. u- out o# the long historical decom-osition o# hristianity5 #orming its secular continuation5 u- to and including the hurch o# ;enin5 and .hich all o# them #eature sel#7sacri#icial and moral7#etishist syndromes5 cou-led .ith an inter-retation o# human 'ehavior in terms o# a conce-t o# sin 0no matter .hat this conce-t ha--ens to 'e named in a -articular ideological variant5 or .hether it is recogni6ed as such and named in that -articular variant at all2. In #act5 a -art o# the initial im-etus .hich led to the #ormulation o# this theory 0the theory o# communist egoism2 arose #rom the -ersonal contact o# several o# our #ounding mem'ers .ith the mal-ractice o# one o# the early -ro7Situationist grou-s in 8er/eley5 named 0a--ro-riately2 1 ontradiction51 .ho 'usied themselves -recisely .ith going around condemning5 1e)cluding1 0e)communicating25 and 1'rea/ing .ith1 everyone in sight in retri'ution #or sins against various Situationist anti7morals: sins such as 1'eing 'ourgeois51 1-artici-ating in s-ectacular li#e51 etc. !he general name #or the 1sin1 conce-t central to this -articular 'rand o# secular hristian ideology .as 1se-aration1 7 having 1se-aration1 in one3s daily li#e .as the general #orm o# re-ro'ate 'ehavior. !hat such 1se-arations1 might 'e a source o# conscious misery o# .hich an individual might gladly rid himsel# or hersel# at the earliest -ossi'le o--ortunity5 .ithout need o# moralistic coercion5 seemed never to occur to these Ponti##s5 evidently 'ecause o# their singularly ungreedy investment in sado7

masochistic transactions. 7 0c#. ,$9A!IO,5 The State and Counter-Revolution0 /hat &s 3ot To $e 2one 5 08er/eley. ali#ornia25 1FB25 -. 11: also< !om Woodhull5 1 ouncil7 ommunism5 Wilhelm &eich5 And !he &iddle o# +odern =istory51 3"/ .(R3&3)5 January5 1FB3.2. 8A L !hesis BF It should 'e no secret 'y no. that the secret o# the economic anchorage o# the conce-t o# alienation in +ar) is in none other than the e)act5 (uridical7economic meaning o# that term< to 1alienate1 is to sell: 1alienation1 is 1trans#er o# -ro-erty1: the very activity o# commodity 7 or 1 uid pro uo1 7 e)change itsel#. !hus the theoretical com-rehension o# the alienation o# man in ca-italist society is grounded in the sel#7alienation o# the .or/er: the #act that the -roletarian must sell himsel# to ca-ital #or a .age5 and there'y #or#eit all control over his -roductive5 creative li#e5 and over the o'(ective .orld .hich he -roduces in the e)ercise o# that li#e 7 the #act o# the -roletarian3s sel#7dis-ossession. !he #act o# his dis-ossession o# the means o# 0re2-roduction o# his li#e under ca-italism is thus only a corollary o# his non7o.nershi- o# himsel# in -roduction. 8ourgeois -olitical economy is the science o# selling: o# the social activity o# e)change7value e)change and -roduction. It is #irst o# all in this sense that 'ourgeois -olitical economy 0and5 #or that matter5 'ureaucratic 1+ar)ist1 1-olitical economy12 is 1the science o# alienation.1 8A L !hesis EE !o avoid con#usion 'ecause o# the .ay the term 1man1 is em-loyed in the rest o# the -assage5 .e have altered the translation here5 .hich read 1the relation o# man to .oman1 to read 1the relation o# male to #emale.1 8A L !hesis EF 1O&9AS!I PO!$, J. $ssentially5 the ca-acity #or com-lete surrender to the involuntary convulsion o# the organism and com-lete discharge o# the e)citation at the acme o# the genital em'race. It is al.ays lac/ing in neurotic individuals. It -resu--oses the -resence or esta'lishment o# the genital character5 i.e. a'sence o# a -athological character 7 armor and muscular armor. Orgiastic -otency is usually not distinguished #rom erective or e(aculative -otency5 'oth o# .hich are only -rere4uisites o# orgiastic -otency.1 7 Wilhelm &eich5 The 'unction of the (rgasm5 vol. I o# The 2iscover# (f The (rgone5 World Pu'lishing om-any5 0,e. Jor/5 1FB125 --. 3A073A15 09lossary2. 8A L !hesis F1 !his is a 'it o# systems7theory state7s-ace terminology. 1Attractors1 are the 1ruts51 the 1vicious circles1 .here evolution gets hung7u- and tarries: .here evolutionary tra(ectories are 1ca-tured51 sometimes #or long -eriods. All o# the ma(or historical social7relations 01modes o# -roduction1: 1#orms o# intercourse51 or 1means o# -roduction1 as +ar) sometimes calls them in !he )rundrisse2 7 the -rimitive communal5 the 1asiatic51 the slavery7'ased5 the #eudal5 the ca-italist5 etc.5 can 'e seen as 1attractors1 in social evolution5 .ith the 1asiatic1 mode o# -roduction 01Oriental des-otism12 re-resenting5 as a highly history7resistant #orm5 a -articularly strong 1ca-ture.1 See =ans J. 8remerman5 1On !he "ynamics And !ra(ectories O# $volutionary Processes1 in $iogenesis And Homeostasis5 S-ringer7%erlaag5 1FB12. 8A L !hesis F2 &ei#ication names the inversion o# a'stract and concrete 7 the treating o# a'stractions as i# they .ere

e)terior things5 and more s-eci#ically5 the inversion o# su'(ect and o'(ect 7 the treating o# o'(ects or a'stractions as i# they .ere su'(ects: o# su'(ects as i# they .ere o'(ects or a'stractions. 8A L !hesis F3 !he community o# 1sisters1 is the society o# radical su'(ectivity5 the concrete unity o# selves5 the resonance o# egoisms 7 turned on its headK =ere lies the su-reme rei#ication. !he .ould7'e concrete -articular is not a concrete -articular 0i.e. a su'(ect5 sel#7determinately o'(ecti#ied2 at all5 'ut rather only a -articular case o# the a'stract universal 0in this case5 1sister12... nothing other than an a'straction o# an a'straction 7 concrete inversion5 rei#ication5 'eing7#or7another: a materiali6ed sel#7s-ectacle. !his rei#ication is e-itomi6ed in ideological moralisms o# 1li'eration1 in 1sisterhood51 such as .hen the s-ontaneous5 su'(ective negativity 'y an individual ego is met .ith the a-horistic moralism that 1Sisters don3t treat each other that .ayK1 8A L !hesis F> 1Su'(ecti#ication1 0in 4uotes2 is here the contrary o# 1o'(ecti#ication1 0in 4uotes: see the #ootnote to !hesis F12: it means not the ma/ing su'(ective o# the o'(ective5 as in the -roduction o# /no.ledge 01internali6ation o# the e)ternal125 etc. 'ut rather the ma/ing more su'(ective o# the -seudo7o'(ective: o# a su'(ect .ho has 'een reduced to a -seudo7o'(ect 7 the return o# su'(ectivity to the real su'(ects5 -reviously 1de7su'(ecti#ied.1 8A L O'viously5 this necessarily includes the sel#7o'(ecti#ication o# this ne. inter7su'(ectivity. 8A L !hesis 102 While .e critici6e the use o# the term 3-rinci-le3 .hen this usage is a sym-tom o# -ro(ection 0sel#7 diso.ning25 as in -hrases li/e 1;et3s live u- to our -rinci-les51 there is a usage o# the term .hich5 .e recogni6e5 esca-es this criti4ue. !hat is the usage .here 3-rinci-le3 serves as a synonym o# 1invariant51 1la.51 1secret51 1/ey51 etc.5 as in 1!he -rinci-le o# this machine is... 1 or 1!he -rinci-le o# this natural -rocess is... 1 or 1!he -rinci-le o# this social relation is... 1 etc. 8A L !hesis 112 ?or a de#inition o# the terms 1constant ca-ital1 and 1varia'le ca-ital1 see Larl +ar)5 Capital0 A Criti ue of !olitical "conom# 5 %ol. I. International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FAB25 ha-ter %III5 -. 20F5 et. -assim. 8A L !hesis 11@ !he 1,ational aucus o# la'or ommittees1 7 ,. .;. . 7 is the ma(or le#t danger to the authentic revolutionary movement in the 1West51 no. 6eroing7in on it #or the /ill #rom one side5 at the same time that the increasingly des-erate #orces o# classical -rivate ca-italism5 themselves turning state7ca-italist5 6ero7in on it #rom the other in the conte)t o# the -resent5 and ra-idly dee-ening5 general social crisis. ,. .;. . is a'out the only relatively live5 dynamic tendency on the ;e#t in the U.S.5 the only one .hich is in any sense contem-orary .ith the -resent historical moment5 and5 des-ite its increasingly -aranoid hysteria5 is still lucid enough to 'e the only ;eninist organi6ation on the scene even -otentially ca-a'le o# 'ringing the Stalinist variety 0-ure7'ureaucratic D 'ourgeois ruling7class: hy'rid5 state D -rivate ca-ital2 o# state7ca-italist totalitarianism to -o.er in the U.S. !he organi6ation has had a meteoric rise5 and continues to gro. ra-idly. In t.o recent articles on the 1-sychology1 o# .or/ing7class organi6ing -ractice5 articles .hich contain many 'rilliant develo-ments 7 secretly 'orro.ing much #rom &eich 7 .hich .e must greedily

a--ro-riate5 ;yn +arcus5 the 'uhrer o# ,. .;. .5 reaches an almost +aoist 0c#. 4uote in the third note to !hesis 3B2 -itch o# -sycho7-athology in his tyrantings on the su'(ect o# greed5 sel#7interest5 sel#ishness5 etc.< !he .ill o# the .or/er must 'ecome the .ill to do that .hich is in the historic interest o# the .orld3s .or/ing class as a .hole5 nothing else. I# the .or/ers -assionately cling to any contrary sentiment o# imagined sel#7interest that sentiment must 'e sei6ed u-on and ri--ed out o# them. ,o human 'eing has the right to 'elieve or 1#eel1 anything e)ce-t that .hich im-els him to act in the historic interest o# the .orld3s .or/ing class as a .hole. 7 ;yn +arcus5 1!he Se)ual Im-otence O# !he Puerto &ican Socialist Party51 The Campaigner5 B<15 ,ovem'er5 1FB35 -.>>. See also ;yn +arcus5 18eyond Psychoanalysis51 The Campaigner5 Se-tem'er 7 Octo'er 1FB35 --. EE7EF5 et. -assim. 8A L

Annotations !hesis 13 We reali6e that this e)-anded conce-t o# e)change may'e di##icult to acce-t #or a reader .hose o'(ective li#e has 'een dominated 'y e)change7value relationshi-s. =o.ever5 the criti4ue o# e)change7 value is not to 'e con#used .ith an a'stract or moralistic negation o# e)change itsel# as such. !he conce-t o# e)change is much 1'igger1 than the conce-t o# e)change7value 7 or uid pro uo 7 e)change< o# commodity e)change7relations. $)change7value e)change is a transitory5 an historical5 disa--earing necessity. $)change as such5 ho.ever5 is a necessity o# society in general5 o# social e)istence as such5 'oth .ith regard to society3s relations to nature and .ith regard to its sel#7relations5 the social relations -ro-er< 1!he la'or7-rocess... is human action .ith a vie. to the -roduction o# use7 values5 a--ro-riation o# natural su'stances to human re4uirements: it is the necessary condition #or e##ecting e)change o# matter 'et.een man and ,ature: it is the everlasting nature7im-osed condition o# human e)istence5 and there#ore is inde-endent o# every social -hase o# that e)istence5 or rather5 in common to every such -hase.1 7 Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue (f !olitical "conom# 5 International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FAB25 --. 1E37>. See also5 Larl +ar)5 1?ree =uman Production51 in $aston and 9uddat5 /ritings of the 5oung .arx (n !hilosoph# and Societ#5 "ou'leday and om-any5 09arden ity5 1FAB25 -. 2BB. $)change7value is historically s-eci#ic to a certain -hase o# the develo-ment o# the social -roductive #orces 0o# the social individual2< e)change in general is historically general5 inde-endent o# any given #orm or stage o# human society. $)change characteri6es in #act not only the la'or7-rocess generally5 'ut every as-ect o# human activity: intercourse .ith other human 'eings and .ith nature. In #act5 all interaction5 social and natural5 and all li#e7-rocesses in general 7 conversation5 dining5 se)ual intercourse5 and even 1-assive1 contem-lation o# nature 7 #all .ithin this e)-anded conce-t o# e)change 7 are at the very least5 1e)change7o#7action.1 $ven in one7sided gi#t7giving: even .hen someone gives you an o'(ect and you give no o'(ect in direct return 7 let alone an e)change7value e4uivalent in return 7 an e)change has ta/en -lace5 though not an e)change7value 0commodity2 e)change: not an e)change o# the sort .hich re-roduces the la. o# value. 0In ca-italist society there also e)ist various underdevelo-ed #orms or a--ro)imations o# e)change7value relationshi-s5 e.g. 'artering 7 even the 'artering o# 1#avors.1 In #act5 uid pro uo 7 literally 1this #or that1 7 is5 in a society 'ased on -rivati6ed survival5 a standard and a -aradigm .hich -ervades not only 1economic1 relationshi-s as such5 'ut comes to dominate all as-ects o# social li#e 7 including the most 1intimate1 -ersonal relationshi-s2.

ommunist society is inconceiva'le .ith any 'ut the most minimal5 marginal survivals o# e)change7 value e)change5 'ut it is li/e.ise inconceiva'le .ithout e)change: e)change in o'(ects5 in#ormation5 energy5 e)-erience5 etc. 'et.een man and man and 'et.een man and nature 7 .ithout .hat +ar) calls 1social meta'olism.1 8A L !hesis 3E 1;ets #ace it< human relationshi-s 'eing .hat social hierarchy has made o# them5 im-ersonality is the least tiring #orm o# contem-t.1 0%aneigem5 o-. cit5 #ootnote 105 -. 3A2. It .as a similar 0though more isolate2 disgust .hich drove ;uis ,ada5 in the va-idity o# the -ost.ar years5 to declare< 1In general5 I consider the human race to 'e a daily intrusion on my li#e.1 0Muoted #rom The *ife and Times of *uis 3ada5 'y Anna von Schtu/5 $) ,ihilo Pu'lishers5 1FB>5 -. 231.2. 8A L !hesis >A 19enerali6ed sel#7management1 is a term .hich has 'een used 'y Situationists to descri'e the mode o# -roduction o# communist society. It re#ers to the -rocess .here'y .e ta/e directly into our o.n hands every as-ect o# social li#e. !his must mean the determinate negation o# a-ital5 commodity -roduction5 and o# all se-arate -o.ers5 i.e.5 o# all -o.ers other than that o# the associated -roducers themselves. $m'ryonic #orms o# sel#7management have a--eared re-eatedly through modern history. Its very -ossi'ility .as #irst demonstrated in the Paris ommune o# 1EB15 and throughout the t.entieth century in the movements o# the .or/ers3 councils. Wor/ers3 councils have arisen re-eatedly5 usually in critical situations .here the ine-titude o# the -resent o.ners o# society had 'een clearly and -ractically demonstrated. On such occasions 0&ussia 1F0@5 Lronstadt 1F215 S-ain 1F3A73B5 etc.2 -roletarians have recogni6ed that they3ve 'een running everything all along5 and that no. it .as only a matter o# running everything #or themselves. I# generali6ed sel#7management means 1a society in .hich the #ull and #ree develo-ment o# every individual #orms the ruling -rinci-le51c20 it can allo. no accommodation to any higher authority5 #etish5 or rei#ied social relationshi-. In the -ast5 Situationists have clearly recogni6ed that the im-ortance o# sel#7management is not only its #orm5 'ut also and decisively its content 7 clearly 1sel#7management1 o# the -resent .orld 0i.e. o# commodity -roduction5 etc.2 is o# little interest to a radical su'(ect. !hey have 'een interested only in the sel#7management o# the total and 4ualitative trans#ormation o# the .orld. We have since e)-anded the de#inition o# generali6ed sel#7management to include more sides o# its mani#old dialectic. As .e no. use it5 it must mean not only the management 'y selves o# the .orld 0and -resuma'ly o# a .orld o# marvels25 'ut #urthermore it must mean the management o# sel#. What .e are tal/ing a'out is the dialectical unity o# su'(ect and o'(ect .here'y our activity 7 i.e. our sensuous relationshi- .ith the o'(ective .orld 7 'ecomes the reali6ation5 i.e. actuali6ation i.e. the o'(ecti#ication o# our su'(ectivity 7 o# our selves. !he ma/ing e)-licit o# all that .e are im-licitly. !his is largely .hat +ar) .as getting at .hen he s-o/e o# man3s environment as his 1inorganic 'ody1 c21. A necessary meaning o# +ar) 1I must 'e everything1 c22 no. 'ecomes clear in its many7sidedness. 1We .ant the .hole .orld to 'e our conscious sel#7creation1 c23 i.e. not only the creation 'y 'ut the creation o# our selves. 0!his conce-t is to 'e #urther e)-anded in an u-coming article .hich .ill -ro'a'ly a--ear in our (ournal.2 learly there#ore5 any #orm o# 1sel#7management1 .hich does not decisively -ut an end to all #orms o# commodity -roduction and5 indeed5 o# la'or itsel#5 loses altogether this side o# the dialectic. In a 1sel#7 managed1 .or/ers enter-rise 0o# e.g. the anarcho7syndicalist or !itoist model25 the .or/ers at 'est manage their non7selves5 i.e.5 the -rocess and the congelation o# their o.n alien activity 0non7sel#7 management2. 19enerali6ed sel#7management1 in its #ullest sense must 'e the 'rea/do.n not only o# all se-arate -o.er5 'ut o# se-aration -er se 0legal5 -olitical5 social5 -ersonal5 etc.2. We must 'e

everythingK !hus... ... the -roletarians5 i# they are to assert themselves as individuals5 .ill have to a'olish the very condition o# their e)istence hitherto 0.hich has5 moreover5 'een that o# all society uto the -resent25 namely5 la'or. !hus they #ind themselves directly o--osed to the #orm in .hich5 hitherto5 the individuals5 o# .hich society consists5 have given themselves collective e)-ression5 that is5 the State. In order5 there#ore5 to assert themselves as individuals5 they must overthro. the State. c2> What is generali6ed sel#7management... ... i# not the a'solute ela'oration o# Gman3sH creative dis-ositions5 .ithout any -reconditions other than the antecedent historical evolution .hich ma/es the totality o# this evolution5 i.e. the evolution o# all human -o.ers as such5 unmeasured 'y any -reviously esta'lished yardstic/ 7 an end in itsel#C What is this5 i# not a situation .here man does not re-roduce himsel# in any determined #orm5 'ut -roduces his totalityC Where he does not see/ to remain something #ormed 'y the -ast5 'ut is in the a'solute movement o# 'ecomingC c2@ What i# not all the .orld as the reali6ation o# our -assionsC 8A L !hesis @3 +a) Stirner. 8A L !hesis B@ !hat is to say5 they cannot 'e 'ought o## .ithin the narro. realm o# corru-tions I normally o##ered. We are the last to deny that 1every man has his -rice.1 8ut (ust as =egel demonstrated that mere 4uantitative di##erences can5 -ast a certain -oint5 actually 'ecome 4ualitative changes5 so the radical su'(ect escalates his -rice so high that it #inally transcends altogether the realm o# e)change7value5 and #or that matter5 o# all -artial a--ro-riations. 8A L !hesis E0 !his does not at all mean5 #or +ar)5 that -roductive activity cannot 'ecome -leasura'le5 attractive5 sel#7 reali6ing activity. It only means that .or/ cannot 'ecome 1-lay1 in the sense o# #rivolous -lay in class societies5 .here the su'(ect3s survival is not immediately at sta/e in his activity5 i.e. .here his survival is guaranteed 'y the -roductive activity o# others and .here his activity is con#ined to a se4uestered 6one and s-eciali6ed social category 1-lay1 .hich is not allo.ed to overs-ill into 1serious1 social -roduction -ro-er. 1Wor/1 activity thus has an as-ect o# conscious necessity5 danger5 .hich #rivolous 1-lay1 activity lac/s. !his indicates ho. the resolution o# the -resent contradiction 'et.een 1.or/1 and 1leisure51 or 1-roduction1 and 1consum-tion51 cannot ta/e the #orm o# one7sidedly em'racing the antithesis o# .or/5 1-lay51 'ut only o# the unitary negation o# 'oth 7 that is5 the negation o# their contradiction itsel#: their synthesis< #ree creative activity5 or 1#ree human -roduction.1 !here is another -assage in !he )rundrisse .herein +ar) seems to -ass over the same region o# his conce-tual mani#old5 .ith slightly more am-litude on this as-ect o# the 4uestion< It seems to 'e #ar #rom 0Adam2 Smith3s thoughts that the individual 3in his normal state o# health5 strength5 activity5 s/ill and e##iciency53 might also re4uire a normal -ortion o# .or/5 and o# rest #rom rest. It is true that the 4uantity o# la'or to 'e -roduced seems to 'e conditioned 'y e)ternal circumstances5 'y the -ur-ose to 'e achieved5 and the o'stacles to

its achievement that have to 'e overcome 'y la'or. 8ut neither does it occur to A. Smith that the overcoming o# such o'stacles may itsel# constitute an e)ercise in li'erty5 and that these e)ternal -ur-oses lose their character o# mere natural necessities and are esta'lished as -ur-oses .hich the individual himsel# #i)es. !he result is the sel#7reali6ation and o'(ecti#ication o# the su'(ect5 there#ore real #reedom5 .hose activity is -recisely la'or. O# course he is correct in saying that la'or has al.ays seemed to 'e re-ulsive5 and #orced u-on the .or/er #rom the outside5 in its historical #orm o# slave7la'or5 'ond7la'or5 and .age7 la'or5 and that in this sense non7la'or could 'e o--osed to it as li'erty and ha--iness. !his is dou'ly true o# this contradictory la'or .hich has not yet created the su'(ective and o'(ective conditions 0.hich is lost .hen it a'andoned -astoral conditions2 .hich ma/e it into attractive la'or and individual sel#7reali6ation. !his does not mean that la'or can 'e made merely a (o/e5 as ?ourier naively e)-ressed it in sho-7girl terms. &eally #ree la'or5 the com-osing o# music #or e)am-le5 is at the same time damned serious and demands the greatest e##ort. !he la'or concerned .ith material -roduction can only have this character i# 012 it is o# a social nature5 022 it has a scienti#ic character and at the same time is universal la'or5 i.e. i# it ceases to 'e human e##ort as a de#inite5 trained natural #orce5 gives u- its -urely natural5 -rimitive as-ects and 'ecomes an activity o# a su'(ect controlling all the #orces o# nature in the -roduction -rocess. +oreover5 A. Smith is thin/ing only o# the slaves o# ca-ital. ?or e)am-le5 even the semi7artistic .or/ers o# the +iddle Ages cannot 'e included in his de#inition. 7 Larl +ar)5 )rundrisse der -riti% der !olitishen (%onomie5 c#. ,icolaus5 Penguin5 1FB35 -. A117A125 and "avid +c;ellan5 =ar-er N &o.5 1FB15 -. 12>. +ar) and $ngels early on re#erred to this transition #rom un#ree to #ree modes o# human -roductive activity as the a'olition o# la'or 7 1Au#he'ung der Ar'eit1 7 see The )erman &deolog#5 Progress Pu'lishers5 1FAE5 --. B05 BB5 EA5 FA5 22>5 2>05 and #ootnote -. B0. 8A L !hesis EB !he ideology o# hi--y7slo''ism .ill #ind no asylum here. 8A L !hesis F1 !his is 1o'(ecti#y1 not used in the sense o# the su'(ect .ho inscri'es himsel# in the o'(ective .orld through his activity: e)-resses his su'(ectivity in o'(ects and o'(ective states7o#7the7.orld he creates5 'ut in the sense o# the su'(ect .ho is treated li/e a thing: turned into a -seudo7o'(ect. !hese t.o senses are thus almost e)actly o--osite. !hroughout5 .e indicate this second usage 'y enclosing the .ord in dou'le 4uotes5 to distinguish it #rom the un4uoted usage. 8A L !hesis F3 =ere again the sense o# o'(ecti#ied di##ers #rom our normal usage5 .hich is the reason .e -ut 4uotes around it. See the annotation to !hesis F1. 8A L !hesis 112 In some cases these random mass /illers -rove to 'e not only the most a--arent e)tremity o# the .ar o# all against all5 'ut also a conscious sel#7criti4ue o# it. In many cases the active nihilist deli'erately and consciously e-itomi6es everything he hates. 8A L !hesis 11A

I# you don3t /no. 'y no. that narro. egoism is sel#7denial5 you might as .ell sto- right here. 8A L !hesis 11E !he .ord 1game1 is em-loyed here5 not in the sense o# the theory o# situations and o# the construction o# situations develo-ed 'y the Situationist International5 'ut in the sense o# the 1!ransactional Analysis1 ideology o# -sychothera-y. 8A L

itations !hesis F Along .ith the constantly diminishing num'er o# magnates o# ca-ital5 .ho usur- and mono-oli6e all the advantages o# this trans#ormation5 gro.s the mass o# misery5 o--ression5 slavery5 degradation5 e)-loitation: 'ut .ith this too gro.s the revolt o# the .or/ing class5 a class al.ays increasing in num'ers5 and disci-lined5 united5 organi6ed 'y the very mechanism o# the -rocess o# ca-italist re-roduction itsel#. !he mono-oly o# ca-ital 'ecomes a #etter u-on the mode o# -roduction5 .hich has s-rung u- and #lourished along .ith5 and under it. entrali6ation o# the means o# -roduction and sociali6ation o# la'or at last reach a -oint .here they 'ecome incom-ati'le .ith the ca-italist integument. !his integument is 'urst asunder. !he /nell o# ca-italist7-rivate -ro-erty sounds. !he e)-ro-riators are e)-ro-riated. 7 Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue of !olitical "conom# 5 %ol. I5 International Pu'lishers5 1FAB5 -. BA3. 8A L !hesis 10 !he -hrases 1the associated -roducers51 1#ree and associated la'or51 or 1the associated .or/ers51 occur again and again throughout +ar)3 .or/s .hen he see/s to name or characteri6e the social relation o# -roduction o# communist society< association itsel#. !his is something that ;eninists o# every variety scru-ulously avoid mentioning #or5 .ith all their tal/ o# the 1socialist state1 and 1.or/ers3 governments51 etc. they .ould much rather all this 'e conveniently #orgotten. ,o more a-t -hrase could 'e contrived to name and descri'e the management o# society as a system o# .or/ers3 councils than -recisely 1the associated -roducers.1 A #e. selected citations o# re-resentative -assages .here this descri-tion occurs5 are listed 'elo.< Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue of !olitical "conom# 5 %ol. 15 International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FAB2. -. E0: vol. III5 -. >3B5 -. A0B5 -. >>B. "avid +c;ellan. !he )rundrisse5 0=ar-er and &o.5 1FB12 --.1@2. Larl +ar)5 Capital 0%ol. I%2< !heories o# Sur-lus %alue 0Part III25 Progress Pu'lishers 0+osco.5 1FB12 -. 2B3. Larl +ar)5 1Writings on the Paris ommune1 in The Civil /ar in 'rance 6'irst 2raft75 =al "ra-er5 $ditor5 +onthly &evie. Press5 1FB15 -. 1@@. Larl +ar)5 1Instructions ?or !he "elegates o# !he Provisional 9eneral ouncil< !he "i##erent Muestions1 Q@< 1 o7o-erative la'or.1 -. E1 in -arl .arx and 'rederic% "ngels, Selected /or%s 5 %olume 25 Progress Pu'lishers5 0+osco.5 1FAF2. Larl +ar)5 1!he ,ationali6ation o# !he ;and.1 -. 2F05 i'id. 8A L

!hesis 11 Larl +ar)5 1$conomic and Philoso-hical +anuscri-ts1 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 -arl .arx, "arl# /ritings5 +c9ra.7=ill5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA325 -. 1@@. !his is +ar)3 early term #or .hat he later calls the 1social relations o# -roduction.1 See< Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 The )erman &deolog#5 Progress Pu'lishers5 0+osco.. 1FAE25 --. EF5 F25 etc. 8A L !hesis 13 Larl +ar)5 !he )rundrlsse5 in 1Pre7 a-italist $conomic ?ormations51 =o's'a.n and ohen5 translators and editors5 International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA@25 -. E>. 8A L !hesis 1> Larl +ar)5 1+oney and Alienated +an51 in $aston and 9uddat5 /ritings (f The 5oung .arx (n !hilosoph# And Societ#5 "ou'leday 09arden ity5 1FAB25 --. 2B172B2. 8A L !hesis 1@ Situationist International 0+usta-ha Lhayati5 et. al25 (n the !overt# of Student *ife 0-u'lished 'y 8;A L A," &$"5 "etroit5 +ich.2 -. 2>. 8A L !hesis 21 Larl +ar)5 !heories O# Sur-lus %alue5 Part III5 0%ol. I% o# Capital25 Progress Pu'lishers 0+osco.5 1FB125 -. >2F. 8A L !hesis 23 Larl +ar)5 "conomic and !hilosophical .anuscripts of 89:: 0our translation2 c#. !. 8. 8ottomore5 o-. cit. -. 1@E and $aston and 9uddat5 o-. cit. --. 30A730B. 8A L !hesis 2> &aoul %aneigem5 Treatise (n *iving 'or The ;se of the 5oung )eneration 0$nglish translation o# -art I availa'le #rom 8ureau o# Pu'lic Secrets5 8er/eley5 ali#.2 -. >@7>A. 8A L !hesis 2@ Larl +ar)5 $runo $auer, 2ie <udenfrage5 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 o-. cit.5 --. 2>72@. 8A L !hesis 2A &aoul %aneigem5 o-. cit.5 -. 11. 8A L !hesis 30 =ein6 von ?oerster5 1;ogical Structure o# $nvironment and its Internal &e-resentation51 in !roceedings of the 8=>? 2esign Conference 5 As-en5 olorado5 &.$. $c/erstrom5 editor5 0=erman +iller5 1FA32. 8A L !hesis 3@ Larl +ar)5 1?ree =uman Production51 in $aston and 9uddat5 o-. cit.5 -. 2E1< 1Su--ose .e had -roduced things as human 'eings< in his -roduction each o# us .ould have t.ice a##irmed himsel# and the other... I .ould have 'een the mediator 'et.een you and the s-ecies and you .ould have e)-erienced me as a reintegration o# your o.n nature and a necessary -art o# your sel#... 1 8A L

!hesis 3A I'id. 8A L !hesis >0 Ayn &and5 The Virtue of Selfishness@ A 3e4 Concept of "goism 5 ,e. American ;i'rary5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA@25 et. -assim. Capitalism0 The ;n%no4n &deal5 ,e. American ;i'rary5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA>2. 8A L !hesis >2 +a) Stirner5 The "go And His (4n5 ;i'ertarian 8oo/ lu'5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA325 -. @5 in 1All !hings Are ,othing !o +e.1 8A L !hesis >A itations 2072@ are #ound in annotation 1 o# !hesis >A. Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 1Writings On !he Paris ommune1 0#rom the #irst dra#t5 'y +ar)5 o# The Civil /ar &n 'rance25 =al "ra-er5 editor5 --. 1@071@>. See also< Larl +ar). The Civil /ar &n 'rance0 The !aris Commune5 International Pu'lishers 0,e. Jor/5 1FAE25 --. @>7A15 es-ecially -. @E. 9uy "e'ord5 Societ# (f The Spectacle5 8;A L A," &$" 0"etroit5 +ichigan 1FB025 thesis ,o. 1BF in ha-ter %II 1!he Organi6ation o# !erritory.1 1Situationist International ,o. 151 &evie. o# the American Section5 June5 1FAF5 -. 2B. &aoul %aneigem5 3otice To The CiviliAed Concerning )eneraliAed Self-.anagement . 8A L $ugene Schul/ind5 The !aris Commune of 89B80 Vie4 'rom The *eft5 Jonathan a-e5 0;ondon. 1FB225 -. 1A>. 0!he documentation contained in this 'oo/ o# the socialist tendencies .ithin the ommune5 and the in#luence therein o# the ?irst International5 are5 in general5 astounding relative to .hat has 'een availa'le 'e#ore and 4uite thrilling.2 8A L Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue of !olitical "conom# 5 o-. cit.5 -. @F2. %ol. I. 8A L Larl +ar)5 "conomic and !hilosophic .anuscripts of 89::5 International Pu'lishers5 0,e. Jor/5 1FA>25 et. -assim. in the cha-ter 1$stranged la'or1 see also Pre7 a-italist $conomic ?ormations5 o-. cit.5 -. E@7FF .here this conce-t is develo-ed considera'ly. 8A L Larl +ar): see itation >0: see !hesis BE. 8A L ?or Ourselves5 1Pream'le !o !he ?ounding Agreements1 0see A--endi)2. 8A L Larl +ar)5 ?rederic/ $ngels5 The )erman &deolog#5 0Progress Pu'lishers5 +osco. or international Pu'lishers5 ,e. Jor/2 closing line o# Part One. In one edition 0The )erman &deolog#, !art (ne, 4ith selections from !arts T4o, !art Three, and Supplementar# Texts . ,e. World Pa-er'ac/s5 ,e. Jor/5 1FB02 the te)t is arranged some.hat di##erently and the -assage a--ears on -. E@. 8A L Larl +ar)5 The )rundrisse in 1Pre7 a-italist $conomic ?ormations51 loc. cit.5 -. FA. 8A L !hesis >E

Larl +ar)5 )rundrisse in 1Pre7 a-italist $conomic ?ormations51 loc. cit.5 -. FA. 8A L !hesis >F In the .ords o# ?rederic/ $ngels< 1;oo/ at the Paris ommune. !hat .as the "ictatorshi- o# the ProletariatK1 0Larl +ar)5 The Civil /ar in 'rance0 The !aris Commune5 o-. cit.5 -. 225 closing line o# the introduction 'y ?rederic/ $ngels.2 8A L Larl +ar)5 The Civil /ar &n 'rance5 o-. cit.5 -. A1. 8A L Larl +ar)5 Capital, A Criti ue (f !olitical "conom# 5 vol. I5 o-. cit.5 -. BA3. 8A L !hesis @3 Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 The )erman &deolog#5 o-. cit.5 -. 2B2. 8A L !hesis @> Larl +ar)5 1$conomic and Philoso-hical +anuscri-ts51 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 o-. cit.5 -. 1@2 0in 1Private Pro-erty And ommunism12. 8A L Situationist International5 (n The !overt# (f Student *ife5 o-. cit.5 -. 1. 8A L !hesis A3 Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 1+ani#esto o# the ommunist Party51 in ;e.is ?euer5 .arx C "ngels, $asic /ritings (n !olitics And !hilosoph# 5 "ou'leday5 0,e. Jor/5 1F@F25 -. 2F. 8A L !hesis A> &aoul %aneigem5 Traite do Savoir-Vivre a l1;sage des <eunes )enerations 5 9allimard5 0Paris5 1FAB25 P. 200. 0translation ours.2 8A L !hesis AA Larl +ar)5 1$conomic and Philoso-hical +anuscri-ts.1 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 o-. cit.5 --. 1A>5 1A@. etc. 0see also !hesis AF and !hesis EE2. 8A L !hesis AF Larl +ar)5 1$conomic and Philoso-hical +anuscri-ts1 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 loc. cit.5 --. 1A>71A@5 0+anuscri-t III: 1Private Pro-erty and ommunism12. 8A L !hesis B0 Larl +ar)5 1+oney and Alienated +an51 in $aston and 9uddat5 o-. cit.5 -. 2B2. 8A L !hesis B> &aoul %aneigem5 Traits de Savoir-Vivre a l1;sage des <eunes )enerations 5 o-. cit.5 ha-ter 23< 1!he Unitary !riad< &eali6ation 7 ommunication 7 Partici-ation1: Section 3 7 1&adical Su'(ectivity51 --. 2@@72@E5 and -assim. 0An $nglish translation o# this section o# this cha-ter is availa'le #rom &$7 I,%$,!IO, O? $%$&J"AJ ;I?$5 Palo Alto5 ali#ornia.2 8A L !hesis BB Larl +ar)5 )rundrisse0 'oundations of the Criti ue of !olitical "conom# 6Rough 2raft7 5 translated 'y +artin ,icolaus5 Penguin5 0;ondon5 1FB325 -assim. 8A L

!hesis BE Larl +ar)5 Contribution To The Criti ue of Hegel1s !hilosoph# (f Right 5 1Introduction.1 Muoted in -ing .ob $cho ,um'er One5 ;ondon5 A-ril 1FAE 0Ling +o'5 ;ondon25 0cover 4uotation2. 0In some cases this has 'een translated as a slightly .ea/er 1I am nothing5 and I should 'e everything.12 8A L !hesis E0 Larl +ar)5 !he )rundrisse5 translated and edited 'y "avid +c;ellan5 =ar-er N &o.. 0San ?rancisco5 1FB12. Pages 1>E71>F. c#. Larl +ar)5 !he )rundrisse5 translated 'y +artin ,icolaus5 o-. cit.5 --. B117 B12. ,icolaus5 in true +aoist grey7li#e #ashion5 translates the 9erman )enuss and )enusses5 .hich +c;ellan translates as 1-leasure1 and 1en(oyment51 as 1consum-tion.1 =e has indeed -roduced5 as 'est as can 'e5 the state7ca-italist translation o# the )rundrisse5 as is evidenced also in his rendering o# ager publics 01common land51 c#. =o's'a.m N ohen: Larl +ar)5 1Pre7 a-italist $conomic ?ormations51 o-. cit.5 -. AB2 into 1State -ro-erty1 0see -. >B15 #ootnote A202. 8A L !hesis E1 Situationist International5 (n The !overt# (f Student *ife5 o-. cit.5 -. 2>5 0see !hesis 1@ #or #ull 4uote2. 8A L !hesis E> Larl +ar)5 1$conomic and Philoso-hical +anuscri-ts51 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 loc. cit.5 -. 1AB. 8A L !hesis EE I'id.5 -. 1@>. 8A L !hesis F2 Sigmund ?reud5 CiviliAation and its 2iscontents 5 =ogarth Press5 0;ondon5 1F>F25 --. BF7E0. 8A L !hesis FE &aoul %aneigem5 Traite de Savoir-Vivre a l1;sage des <eunes )enerations 5 o-. cit.5 0the #irst t.o sections 7 eleven cha-ters 7 are o'taina'le #rom Solidarity 8oo/sho-5 hicago5 Illinois5 and very soon the entire te)t .ill 'e availa'le #rom !om Woodhull5 8er/eley5 ali#ornia2. 8A L !hesis FF I'id.5 ha-ter 215 1+aster Without Slaves.1 8A L See itation 1F. 8A L !hesis 10> ;ud.ig ?euer'ach5 The "ssence (f Christianit#5 translated 'y 9eorge $liot5 =ar-er N &o.5 0,e. Jor/5 1F@B25 -assim. 0See5 #or e)am-le5 -. B32. Larl +ar)5 Capital5 vol. I5 o-. cit.5 ha-ter 15 Section >5 1!he ?etishism o# ommodities and the Secret !hereo#51 --. B17E3. 8A L ?. S. Pens5 "go, Hunger, and Aggression0 The $eginning of )estalt Therap# 5 &andom =ouse. 0,e. Jor/5 1FAF2. -assim.5 and es-ecially ha-ter %II5 1?irst Person Singular51 --. 21A721F. 8A L !hesis 10E

Larl +ar)5 1 ontri'ution to the riti4ue o# =egel3s Philoso-hy o# &ight51 Introduction5 in !. 8. 8ottomore5 o-. cit.5 -. >>. 8A L !hesis 10F Larl +ar)5 1 ontri'ution to the riti4ue o# =egel3s Philoso-hy o# &ight.1 Introduction 0our translation2. c#. i'id. -. @2 and John ;e.is5 The *ife and Teaching of -arl .arx5 -. B 0#rontis-iece25 International Pu'lishers 0,e. Jor/5 1FA@2. 8A L !hesis 11A &aoul %aneigem5 Treatise (n *iving 'or The ;se of the 5oung )eneration5 o-. cit.5 -. >15 in ha-ter >5 1Su##ering.1 8A L !hesis 11F Larl +ar)5 )rundrisse der -riti% der !olitischen (%onomie5 -. 1>3 0+c;ellan5 o-. cit.2 and -. B0A 0,icolaus5 o-. cit.2. 8A L !hesis 122 Situationist International 0&evie. o# the American Section2 ,o. 15 o-. cit.5 -. >1. 8A L ?rederic/ $ngels5 Socialism ;topian and Scientific5 Part III. See also< Larl +ar) and ?rederic/ $ngels5 Selected /or%s in Three Volumes5 Progress Pu'lishers5 0+osco.5 1FB025 --. 1>>71>@. 0!he same statement a--ears almost ver'atim in ?rederic/ $ngels5 Anti-2uhring, Herr 2uhring1s Revolution in Science 0,e. World Pa-er'ac/s5 ,e. Jor/25 --. 303730>2. I'id.5 --. 3>73@. 8A L

&((endi$
Pream'le !o !he ?ounding Agreements o# ?O& OU&S$;%$SK ouncil #or 9enerali6ed Sel#7+anagement We have .o/en u- to discover that our lives are 'ecoming unliva'le. ?rom 'oring5 meaningless (o's to the humiliation o# .aiting endlessly in lines5 at des/s and counters to receive our share o# survival5 #rom -rison7li/e schools to re-etitious5 mindless 1entertainment51 #rom desolate and crime7ridden streets to the sti#ling isolation o# home5 our days are a treadmill on .hich .e run #aster and #aster (ust to /ee- the same -ace. ;i/e the immense ma(ority o# the -o-ulation5 .e have no control over the use to .hich our lives are -ut< .e are -eo-le .ho have nothing to sell 'ut our ca-acity to .or/. We have come together 'ecause .e can no longer tolerate the .ay .e are #orced to e)ist5 .e can no longer tolerate 'eing s4uee6ed dry o# our energies5 'eing used u- and thro.n a.ay5 only to create a .orld that gro.s more alien and ugly every day. !he system o# a-ital5 .hether in its 1Western1 -rivate cor-orate or 1$astern1 state7'ureaucratic #orm5 .as 'rutal and e)-loitative even during its ascent< no.5 .here it is in decay5 it -oisons air and .ater5 -roduces goods and services o# deteriorating 4uality5 and is less and less a'le to em-loy us even to its o.n advantage. Its logic o# accumulation and com-etition leads ine)ora'ly to.ard its o.n colla-se. $ven as it lin/s all the -eo-le o# the .orld together in one vast net.or/ o# -roduction and consum-tion5 it isolates us #rom each other: even as it stimulates greater and greater advances in technology and -roductive -o.er5 it #inds itsel# inca-a'le o# -utting them to use< even as it multi-lies the -ossi'ilities #or human sel#7reali6ation5 .e #ind ourselves strangled in layers o# guilt5 #ear and sel#7 contem-t. 8ut it is .e ourselves 7 our strength5 our intelligence5 our creativity5 our -assions 7 that are the greatest -roductive -o.er o# all. It is .e .ho -roduce and re-roduce the .orld as it is5 in the image o# a-ital: it is .e .ho rein#orce in each other the conditioning o# #amily5 school5 church and media5 the conditioning that /ee-s us slaves. When .e decide together to end our misery5 to ta/e our lives into our o.n hands5 .e can recreate the .orld the .ay .e .ant it. !he technical resources and .orld.ide -roductive net.or/ develo-ed under the old system give us the means< the crisis and continuing colla-se o# that system give us the chance and the urgent need. !he ruling ideologies o# the .orld su-er-o.ers5 .ith their interloc/ing sets o# lies5 o##er us only the #alse choice o# 1 ommunism1 versus 1 a-italism.1 8ut in the history o# revolution during this century 0&ussia5 1F0@: 9ermany5 1F1F720: S-ain5 1F3A73B: =ungary5 1F@A2 .e have discovered the general

#orm through .hich .e can ta/e 'ac/ -o.er over our o.n lives< .or/ers3 councils. At their highest moments5 these councils .ere -o-ular assem'lies in .or/-laces and communities5 (oined together 'y means o# strictly mandated delegates .ho carried out decisions already made 'y their assem'lies and .ho could 'e recalled 'y them at any time. !he councils organi6ed their o.n de#ense and restarted -roduction under their o.n management. 8y no.5 through a system o# councils at the local5 regional5 and glo'al level5 using modern telecommunications and data -rocessing5 .e can coordinate and -lan .orld -roduction as .ell as 'e #ree to sha-e our o.n immediate environment. Any com-romise .ith 'ureaucracy and o##icial hierarchy5 anything short o# the total -o.er o# .or/ers3 councils5 can only re-roduce misery and alienation in a ne. #orm5 as a good loo/ at the so7called 1 ommunist1 countries .ill sho.. ?or this reason5 no -olitical -arty can re-resent the revolutionary movement or sei6e -o.er 1on its 'ehal#51 since this .ould 'e sim-ly a change o# ruling classes5 not their a'olition. !he -lan o# the #reely associated -roducers is in a'solute o--osition to the dictatorial Plan o# state and cor-orate -roduction. Only all o# us together can decide .hat is 'est #or us. ?or these reasons5 .e call u-on you and u-on all the hundreds o# millions li/e you and us5 to (oin us in the revolutionary trans#ormation o# every as-ect o# li#e. We .ant to a'olish the system o# .age and salaried la'or5 o# commodity e)change7value and o# -ro#it5 o# cor-orate and 'ureaucratic -o.er. We .ant to decide the nature and conditions o# everything .e do5 to manage all social li#e collectively and democratically. We .ant to end the division o# mental #rom manual .or/ and o# 1#ree1 time #rom .or/ time5 'y 'ringing into -lay all o# our a'ilities #or en(oya'le creative activity. We .ant the .hole .orld to 'e our conscious sel#7creation5 so that our days are #ull o# .onder5 learning5 and -leasure. ,othing less. In setting do.n this minimum -rogram5 .e are not trying to im-ose an ideal on reality5 nor are .e alone in .anting .hat .e .ant. Our ideas are already in everyone3s minds5 consciously or unconsciously5 'ecause they are nothing 'ut an e)-ression o# the real movement that e)ists all over the -lanet. 8ut in order to .in5 this movement must /no. itsel#5 its aims5 and its enemies5 as never 'e#ore. We do not s-ea/ #or this movement5 'ut #or ourselves as o# it. We recogni6e no ause over and a'ove ourselves. 8ut our selves are already social< the .hole human race -roduces the li#e o# each one o# its mem'ers5 no. more than ever 'e#ore. Our aim is sim-ly to ma/e this -rocess conscious #or the #irst time5 to give to the -roduction o# human li#e the imaginative intensity o# a .or/ o# art. It is in this s-irit that .e call u-on you to organi6e5 as .e are doing5 .here you .or/ and .here you live5 to 'egin -lanning the .ay .e can run society together5 to de#end yourselves against the dee-ening misery that is 'eing im-osed on all o# us. We call u-on you to assault actively the lies5 the sel#7 dece-tions 'orn o# #ear5 that /ee- everyone #ro6en in -lace .hile the .orld is #alling a-art around us. We call u-on you to lin/ u- .ith us and .ith others .ho are doing the same thing. A'ove all5 .e call u-on you to ta/e yourselves and your desires seriously5 to reali6e your o.n -o.er to master your o.n lives. It is no. or never. I# .e are to have a #uture5 .e ourselves must 'e that #uture. ?O& OU&S$;%$SK ?e'ruary 1A5 1FB>

Indicia For Ourselves The !ight to )e *reedy

O%O Poetry Series 8oo/ One< Raoul Vaneigem Selected /or%s 8=>?-8=B= 0UST>.F@2 8oo/ !.o< 2ora .arsden D The 'reed4oman and the "goist %olume One 01F1171F1>2 0UST>.F@2 8oo/ !hree< & /as Robot 'y $rnest +ann 0UST>.F@2 8oo/ ?our< 2ora .arsden D The 'reed4oman and the "goist %olume !.o 01F1@71F1F2 0USTF.F@2 8oo/ ?ive< The Right to $e )reed# 'y ?or Ourselves 0?ree2 O%O !revor 8la/e P. O. 8o) 2321 Portland O& FB20E USA ovo12B.com