I don't have the text in front of me so I can't compare it to the question,
but perhaps the 'until now' phrase simply refers to tradition? It's the old
line from Lenin, Mao, and the Gang of Four: revolution's greatest enemy is
not the bourgeoisie itself but the habits of mind created and reproduced by
the capitalist order -- "hourly, daily, and on a mass scale" as Lenin puts
it somewhere.
-- John
----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Smith <dls216@xxxxxxx>
To: <foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 1999 4:19 PM
Subject: Revolutionary Action:"Until Now"
> Greetings all:
>
> I've just finished reading the dialogue "Revolutionary
> Action: 'Until Now'," reprinted in _Language, Counter-Memory,
> Practice_ and am having trouble interpreting the last
> statement by Foucault. In response to an interlocutor's
> statments about "the fundamental contradiction of revolutionary
> action," Foucault replies:
>
> What strikes me in your argument is that it takes the form
> "until now." However, a revolutionary undertaking is directed
> not only against the present but against the rule of "until
> now" (p. 233).
>
> Would anyone mind unpacking that a bit for me? I must admit,
> somewhat sheepishly, that I find it a bit cryptic -
> especially in response to the passage that precedes it.
> Did something get lost in translation, or I am missing
> something?
>
> thanks,
> dan
>
but perhaps the 'until now' phrase simply refers to tradition? It's the old
line from Lenin, Mao, and the Gang of Four: revolution's greatest enemy is
not the bourgeoisie itself but the habits of mind created and reproduced by
the capitalist order -- "hourly, daily, and on a mass scale" as Lenin puts
it somewhere.
-- John
----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Smith <dls216@xxxxxxx>
To: <foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 1999 4:19 PM
Subject: Revolutionary Action:"Until Now"
> Greetings all:
>
> I've just finished reading the dialogue "Revolutionary
> Action: 'Until Now'," reprinted in _Language, Counter-Memory,
> Practice_ and am having trouble interpreting the last
> statement by Foucault. In response to an interlocutor's
> statments about "the fundamental contradiction of revolutionary
> action," Foucault replies:
>
> What strikes me in your argument is that it takes the form
> "until now." However, a revolutionary undertaking is directed
> not only against the present but against the rule of "until
> now" (p. 233).
>
> Would anyone mind unpacking that a bit for me? I must admit,
> somewhat sheepishly, that I find it a bit cryptic -
> especially in response to the passage that precedes it.
> Did something get lost in translation, or I am missing
> something?
>
> thanks,
> dan
>