Dialectical Materialism–Comrades Discuss Negation of the Negation here ♦ History of the Earth and the Future of Communism here ♦
Dialectical Materialism: Comrades Discuss “Negation of the Negation”
Comrades had a lively discussion during the third Zoom meeting of ICWP’s Dialectical Materialism summer project. Afterwards, comrades felt more confident in understanding, applying, and teaching the law of negation of negation.
This law states that development takes place in a three-stage cycle. (1) The original state of the object. (2) Its transformation into its opposite. (3) The transformation of the opposite into its own opposite.
Comrades presented a PowerPoint with good visuals. For example, we can see the law of the negation of the negation in the development of a barley seed. We begin with the original state of the seed. (2) The seed germinates, producing a plant. (3) The stalk dies, leaving as many as thirty seeds.
The brand-new seeds all seem identical to the original. But the new seeds can never be the exact same seed. Some characteristics are kept, and some characteristics are new.
Comrades generated more examples.
“The three laws of dialectics are intertwined. One leads to the other,” said comrade Leslie in El Salvador. “I think that the negation of the negation are infinite processes, as well as the contradictions.”
Negation of the Negation: Human Society and the Goal of Communist Revolution
The earliest human societies used land in common with no private property. Next came the development of class societies that abolished common ownership and created private property. This is true of the capitalist society in which we now exist. The third stage is in the hands of the working class: to abolish all private property with communist revolution.
When we say processes are infinite, we mean they have no end. This sparked some thoughts in a new comrade in Los Angeles.
“Is the negation of the negation an infinite process?” Jancarlo asked. “And if so, will communism be negated?”
Leslie answered this excellent question. “There will always be contradictions and there will always be negations of the negation. They won’t be the same processes, but new ones will always arise.”
Another comrade chimed in that this is why it is important to consider all three laws of Dialectical Materialism to better understand the negation of the negation.
“Quantitative changes lead into qualitative changes because of primary internal contradictions,” explained Perla. “The qualitative changes are the changes taking place in the negation of the negation.
“When we achieve a communist society, we have completely new contradictions to deal with. With property ownership abolished, we will change society with more advanced use of natural resources without worrying about capitalist profit.”
The changes to come after we achieve communism will include changes that will transform human civilization into a far more advanced way of living for the entire working class of the world.
When it comes to dialectical materialism, and the negation of the negation, we preserve something and destroy something. In a genuine communist society, we will destroy private property and preserve our natural human behavior of caring for one another.
The History of the Earth and the Future of Communism
The tipping point was in the 1950s, scientists now say. Radioactive fallout blanketed the Earth. We entered the Anthropocene period. Now, human activity is the main driving force of planetary change.
But humanity is divided into classes. Our massive working class, whose only resource is our ability to work. Versus the tiny capitalist class that exploits our labor and is driving us off a planetary cliff.
Which class will dominate the Anthropocene?
We, and generations before, have lived under the tyranny of wealth. Could that ever change? Could workers take everything – everything! – into our own hands?
Everything changes. Even the bedrock of Planet Earth.
A Short History of Our Planet
Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago as a molten fireball. For half a billion years – the Hadean Eon – its outside slowly cooled.
Some minerals started to form solid but unstable slabs. Slowly, larger fragments formed a thin crust. The quantitative changes in surface temperature transformed the nature of the planet.
A new eon – the Archean – began. Earth’s molten core remained, but something new appeared: the rock record.
Over a billion and a half years, continents began to form. Surface temperatures dropped below water’s boiling point. Oceans appeared. We see the first evidence of microscopic life.
The gradual development of life forms gave rise to the Proterozoic Eon, about 2.5 billion years ago. Blue-green bacteria began making oxygen (photosynthesis) and releasing it into the ocean. Oxygen bonded to iron and other elements, creating minerals like iron oxide. Life was changing the planet’s chemistry.
A tipping point came when photosynthesis released more free oxygen than minerals could absorb. Dissolved oxygen gas filled the oceans. It eventually bubbled out into the atmosphere, allowing many more organisms to evolve and thrive.
Free oxygen reacted with methane, creating carbon dioxide. The atmosphere cooled. This probably caused the first glaciation event around 2.1 billion years ago.
The explosion of life forms marked the start of the Phanerozoic Eon, 541 million years ago.
Our Place in Earth’s History
We live in the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Quaternary started 2.58 million years ago. If the history of the Earth were a day long, the Quaternary would be less than a minute.
Our human species has only existed for a few hundred thousand years— the blink of an eye. But in that time, we’ve strongly influenced the Earth: its ecosystems, its climate, geology, and even its chemistry.
Nuclear fallout is the marker scientists chose for the start of the Anthropocene. But humans have also created over two hundred new minerals. We added metals and plastics to the fossil record.
Two centuries ago, the capitalist industrial revolution started spewing carbon into the atmosphere. Twelve thousand years earlier, the invention of agriculture reshaped ecosystems and even geography.
Human activity has qualitatively changed Earth. We are part of that change.
Communism: The Way Forward
Blue-green bacteria had no idea what effects they were causing. For a long time, humans didn’t either. But (unlike bacteria) we can analyze, learn, imagine, and plan. We can consciously shape the future, within limits of course.
Capitalists plan to maximize profits at the expense of workers and our environment. The biggest capitalists (imperialists) plan for war, even nuclear war, against their competitors.
We cannot leave them in charge of the Anthropocene!
The alternative is communist revolution for workers’ power. Communism will end the profit system. It will empower us, the producers, to decide what to make, and how. To plan for our future, not for the quarterly balance sheet.
To mobilize our labor and resources to limit and repair the damage. To envision and build the world we need on the ashes of the old.
Communism will run on relationships, not on money. We will work for each other and rely on each other. We will overcome the racist, religious, gender, national, and other divisions created by capitalism.
Everything changes. Things change slowly. Then they can reach a tipping point where things change fast.
The small things we most need to do right now are those that build communist relationships. Converse with one more person (or many) about communism. Get Red Flag to one more person (or many). Ask one more (or many) to share it with others.
Join or build a party collective. Or take on one more responsibility for yours.
We can’t always see results from what we do. But these small steps are the bubbles of oxygen that will change our social atmosphere. That will make communist revolution and communist society a reality.
Read about Dialectical Materialism here.
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