The Death of the Death of the Subject

In: Historical materialism: research in critical marxist theory, Band 12, Heft 3, S. 147-168

Abstract

A symposium paper on Moishe Postone's Time, Labor and Social Domination that focuses on its attempt to base its critique of "traditional Marxism" in the assertion that Marx's logic demonstrates the fundamental relation of the working class to capitalism as opposed to its negative embodiment. First, Postone's critique of "traditional Marxism" & the "metaphysics of labor" is considered, followed by interrogations of his attempt to incorporate the worker as subject in Capital & of his overall perspective on the significance of Hegelian dialectics for Marx. In light of the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, Postone's critique of "traditional Marxism" may seem as archaic as its object in rejecting the subject of resistance. 15 References. K. Coddon