One of the reasons that people get into such crisis and carry out such acts is that the sense of history is so weak in capitalist especially US capitalist society. When I was in my teens and into my early twenties I was in continual mental crisis. I could not figure out who I was or what I was. I was a terrible mess. Then I had a bit of luck. I was living near the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. It was 1969 and the uprising of the people of the Bogside area took place. I was drawn to this like a magnet and became a member of the Bogside Defense Association which for a while ran this area which was closed off behind barricades from the cops and the state apparatus. It became known as Free Derry.
In the course of this uprising ideas exploded like wildfire. Everybody was reading newspapers and discussing politics and all kinds of ideas. Not only that but the ideas of scientific socialism also made their way into the area. Here is where the issue of history and our mental and psychological state comes in. I came in contact with scientific socialist, Marxist ideas. I learned that there was such a thing as history which was more than this king or queen died or this pope or emperor ruled. I learned that there was a time of primitive communism, followed by a time of slavery, followed by a time of feudalism, followed by a time of capitalism, and I also learnt that these periods had their beginning their middle and their end. I learnt about history in a real materialist way. I learnt that I was living in the period of the death agony of capitalism, of wars and slaughter and environmental destruction, that is towards the end of capitalism. I learnt about classes and I learnt about what class I was in. This explained so much about the personal. It allowed me to find my bearings.
But most importantly I also learnt not only of the existence of the working class but also its role. I learnt of rising after rising of the working class in the past centuries to attempt to move on to the next stage of history which if we are successful will be socialism. It was like a light opened in my head. For the first time I knew where I was in history. I was in the period of the death agony of capitalism and the period of the struggle to move on to socialism. And from this I knew the role I should play, I knew that I should spend my life trying to move humanity on to this new phase of history, that is democratic socialism.
There are many factors involved in the crisis in society and the crises in peoples heads. But a major one is the lack of or weakness of a sense of history. Capitalism strives to keep this so. After all if people get to know that there were all these phases of history one following the other then it will become evident that capitalism is just another phase of history and some new phase will follow this also. History is a revolutionary and threatening concept to capitalism. So they seek to keep people in ignorance and believing nonsense and in pessimism and despair. Nothing can be done. Nothing can be changed. Wall Street and the military industrial complex and despair are forever. Capitalism is bad for our health and also our mental health. It is a purveyor of pessimism and depression and despair. Just keep shopping, keep working, and keep your mouth shut. A recipe for an unhappy, at the very least life.
But capitalism's dirty propaganda war is under threat. See the rise of the 99% movement and the movements world wide. Capitalism's dirty lying propaganda war is under attack. History shows that time after time the oppressed class, in the present historical period this is the working class, rises again and again to its feet to try and change the world. This is the period we live in now. The period of movements of the working class trying to change the world. Of course this is drawn out, mainly because of the refusal to lead of the leaders of the workers organizations, of course it is confused and for the same reason. It is a protracted process in history. After all it took capitalism centuries to establish its dominance over feudalism in the world. The working class have been struggling to establish its dominance now for well over a century.
The important element in this for all of our mental and psychological health is to see what period we are living in and not only to see this but to see our role in it. The evidence that capitalism provides to our senses everyday is that it is a failed and rotten and decaying and historically outdated system, the evidence tells us it must be changed. If we are to be healthy in our minds we must not deny this evidence. If we do so then we have to find ways to kill this evidence. This takes all sorts of forms, all sorts of addictions and madness and mental imbalances. Essential to a healthy mind is to understand what period in history we live in and to take our place in the struggle to move society on to the new period of history which is beckoning, which is struggling to be born. This is what I understand is meant by a sense of history and understanding that such a sense of history is essential to the healthy evolution of the human species and to us individually. It is not a cure all for everything but it is an essential foundation for finding our place in the world.
Just a detail to underline what I am saying. The US is the number one economic power in the world. It has around 5% of the worlds population. But it has around 25% of the worlds prisoners. Is this not a sign that capitalism even in the country where it is strongest, in fact especially in the country where it is strongest, is a sick and rotten and historically out dated system. For all our sakes it must be ended.
Sean
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