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16

Toward a materialist theory of revenge

3
terms
7
notes

Haiven, M. (2020). Toward a materialist theory of revenge. In Haiven, M. Revenge Capitalism: The Ghosts of Empire, the Demons of Capital, and the Settling of Unpayable Debts. Pluto Press, pp. 16-43

16

[...] such systems project vengefulness onto those whom they oppress and exploit precisely to hide their patterns of systemic revenge [...]

—p.16 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

[...] such systems project vengefulness onto those whom they oppress and exploit precisely to hide their patterns of systemic revenge [...]

—p.16 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago
19

It does not occur to any Communist to wish to revenge himself upon individuals, or to believe that, in general, the single bourgeois can act otherwise, under existing circumstances, than he does act [...] Communism, rests directly upon the irresponsibility of the individual. Thus the more [...] workers absorb communistic ideas, the more superfluous becomes their present bitterness, which, should it continue so violent as at present, could accomplish nothing; and the more their action against the bourgeoisie will lose its savage cruelty.

in the condition of the working class in england (written 1845)

—p.19 by Friedrich Engels 3 years, 2 months ago

It does not occur to any Communist to wish to revenge himself upon individuals, or to believe that, in general, the single bourgeois can act otherwise, under existing circumstances, than he does act [...] Communism, rests directly upon the irresponsibility of the individual. Thus the more [...] workers absorb communistic ideas, the more superfluous becomes their present bitterness, which, should it continue so violent as at present, could accomplish nothing; and the more their action against the bourgeoisie will lose its savage cruelty.

in the condition of the working class in england (written 1845)

—p.19 by Friedrich Engels 3 years, 2 months ago

(adjective) keen, sharp / (adjective) vigorously effective and articulate / (adjective) caustic / (adjective) sharply perceptive; penetrating / (adjective) clear-cut, distinct

19

full of trenchant fury and vengeful promises

—p.19 by Max Haiven
notable
3 years, 2 months ago

full of trenchant fury and vengeful promises

—p.19 by Max Haiven
notable
3 years, 2 months ago

(verb) to wear off the skin of; abrade / (verb) to censure scathingly

19

Marx's excoriating analysis of the bourgeois response to the Paris Commune

—p.19 by Max Haiven
notable
3 years, 2 months ago

Marx's excoriating analysis of the bourgeois response to the Paris Commune

—p.19 by Max Haiven
notable
3 years, 2 months ago
20

[...] The primary act of vengeance is always that of the oppressor against the oppressed, but this vengeance is presented by the oppressor as the legitimate, legal, and even benevolent, in this case the business of the East India Company. Even more profoundly, this vengeance is endemic to the system itself, so normalized and routine that it becomes invisible, at least to the abusers. The economy of revenge only becomes visible when its typically one-way flows are reversed. [...] the punishment always already comes before the crime.

—p.20 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

[...] The primary act of vengeance is always that of the oppressor against the oppressed, but this vengeance is presented by the oppressor as the legitimate, legal, and even benevolent, in this case the business of the East India Company. Even more profoundly, this vengeance is endemic to the system itself, so normalized and routine that it becomes invisible, at least to the abusers. The economy of revenge only becomes visible when its typically one-way flows are reversed. [...] the punishment always already comes before the crime.

—p.20 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago
25

[...] cities built - literally and figuratively, materially and culturally - by the collaborative, coperative labors of citizens are expropriated from those citizens thanks to increased housing costs; on the other, this stripping is facilitated by, and helps reproduce, finance capital. [...]

—p.25 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

[...] cities built - literally and figuratively, materially and culturally - by the collaborative, coperative labors of citizens are expropriated from those citizens thanks to increased housing costs; on the other, this stripping is facilitated by, and helps reproduce, finance capital. [...]

—p.25 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

(adjective) characterized by abundance; copious / (adjective) generous in amount, extent, or spirit / (adjective) being full and well developed / (adjective) aesthetically, morally, or generally offensive / (adjective) exceeding the bounds of good taste; overdone / (adjective) excessively complimentary or flattering; effusive

28

a fulsome pornographic bouquet of neopatriarchal tropes

thought there was a negative connotation but not really i guess

—p.28 by Max Haiven
confirm
3 years, 2 months ago

a fulsome pornographic bouquet of neopatriarchal tropes

thought there was a negative connotation but not really i guess

—p.28 by Max Haiven
confirm
3 years, 2 months ago
32

[...] for Marx, a transformative revenge is the task of the industrial proletariat who have the historically unique possibility of avenging not only the crimes enacted upon them, but the crimes of capitalist history leading up to the present. Their capacity to elevate revenge from isolated acts of violence to a transformative, truly revolutionary movement stems from their unique structural and systemic position as, we might say, the necessary targets of truly capitalist vengeance, which is to say that the violence they endured was endemic (rather than incidental) to the economic logic of the system itself. [...]

reading marx through benjamin

—p.32 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

[...] for Marx, a transformative revenge is the task of the industrial proletariat who have the historically unique possibility of avenging not only the crimes enacted upon them, but the crimes of capitalist history leading up to the present. Their capacity to elevate revenge from isolated acts of violence to a transformative, truly revolutionary movement stems from their unique structural and systemic position as, we might say, the necessary targets of truly capitalist vengeance, which is to say that the violence they endured was endemic (rather than incidental) to the economic logic of the system itself. [...]

reading marx through benjamin

—p.32 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago
40

Fanon, for similar reasons to Marx and Engels, is distrustful of revenge. He offers the following: "Racialism and hatred and resentment - a 'legitimate desire for revenge' - cannot sustain a war of liberation ... hatred alone cannot draw up a program." Revenge here is legitimate, but not strategic - it is not morally wrong but rather insufficient for generating a movement of liberation that can sustain itself. [...]

—p.40 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

Fanon, for similar reasons to Marx and Engels, is distrustful of revenge. He offers the following: "Racialism and hatred and resentment - a 'legitimate desire for revenge' - cannot sustain a war of liberation ... hatred alone cannot draw up a program." Revenge here is legitimate, but not strategic - it is not morally wrong but rather insufficient for generating a movement of liberation that can sustain itself. [...]

—p.40 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago
42

To return to Fanon, the signature maneuver of the oppressed has always been to blame the oppressed for the dissonance between the propounded ideology of normalcy and the actuality of constant oppressive violence, to insist that it is the oppressed who are responsible for the turmoil of their lives, and to render anti-colonial violence, rather than colonialism itself, barbaric. [...]

—p.42 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago

To return to Fanon, the signature maneuver of the oppressed has always been to blame the oppressed for the dissonance between the propounded ideology of normalcy and the actuality of constant oppressive violence, to insist that it is the oppressed who are responsible for the turmoil of their lives, and to render anti-colonial violence, rather than colonialism itself, barbaric. [...]

—p.42 by Max Haiven 3 years, 2 months ago