POLITICS AND THE MATERIALISTIC NEEDS

The partisans in charge of solving the population’s material lack as a prerequisite to face the consciousness formation, political criteria, revolutionary passion, are based on the following paragraph from “Engels speech at the grave of Karl Marx”. Engels said:

“Just as Darwin discovered the law of development or organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; that therefore the production of the immediate material means, and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch, form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto been the case”.

First of all, based on the partial interpretation of ideas outlined there, they deduce that Revolution must satisfy the material needs of the individuals, then, spirituality and consciousness follow spontaneously. Thus the “Good Life” is just a material conception, and politics and spirituality must await the satisfaction of their appetites.

It is essential to refute this position, to do so depend the direction of Revolution and the result of future challenges. Let’s see.

Primarily, it is evident that Engels’ words referred to society, and economical development of humanity. That is worth to mention, that humanity (human species) did not do politics until they reached certain productive level of material goods and certain development of the means of production. i.e., since the social classes appeared.

From this development, the class struggle, the State, politics and the effort to lead society arise. Before that, there was no reason for politics.

The evolution of the productive force, the means of production and relations of production decide the history of mankind, which Marx describes as the history class struggle, i.e. politics.

A mechanic and dogmatic view of Marxism supports exclusively the class struggles in material development, and discards the decisive role of consciousness and spirituality. It condemn the poor countries to perpetual domination, and the poor, the hungry, and the dispossessed do not participate in politics and they do not compete with the power of the expropriating classes until they have satisfied their needs, i.e. that way never!

Revolution and Cuban Revolution already showed it, it is to build the goods with consciousness, and never think that material goods will construct automatically the Revolutionary consciousness.

Finally, we can say that only the people with a high level of Revolutionary Consciousness could fully conquer the material satisfaction. The opposite is impossible.

With Chávez all, without him nothing!!