dialectic

Marxism, Hegel and the Philosophical Foundations of Social Revolution Is Hegel really necessary?  This is a question of which Hegel himself was acutely aware. Other philosophers before him, from Greek antiquity to the French Revolution, had tried to describe the human condition and the ways in which we understand it. Hegel was the first to argue that the attempt itself was mistaken, as it presupposed a point outside the human condition from which that condition might be described. [i] Against this, he insisted on the need constantly to locate all thought, including his own, within the context of the historical development of the condition it seeks to understand. The unprecedented task which he set himself was to describe reality and our experience of it in such a way that the inner necessity of its historical development could demonstrate the necessity of his own description. But that conclusive demonstration of the necessity of his own account of human reality was to elude Hegel. ...

  Three Questions facing Progressive Forces at UWC The University of the Western Cape has committed itself to working for a non-racial democratic South Africa. That commitment is itself the outcome of struggles waged by students at UWC, almost since its first establishment. More fundamentally still, that commitment is the outcome of the larger struggles waged by the oppressed masses in SA, particularly in the years since 1976, for the right to take their destinies into their own hands. The democratic struggle, with which we need fully to identify ourselves, has recently had severe blows inflicted upon it by the state. At the same time, the state finds itself in crisis, and is devoid of a policy with which to address the questions of the day. As its crisis deepens, so too it will intensify its attack on the liberation movement, and on the oppressed people of South Africa. The illusions of "reform" have been shattered. As the character and demands of the struggle change, so we ...