1. Dialectics Method to our Madness
2015
A short introduction to Marxist Dialectics

2. Method to our Madness Method and Framework Dialectical Principles
Dialectical Patterns
Dialectical Categories
Practical Application
Summary

3. The Method and Framework

4. The dialectical method
It’s the Method
The scientific method
Developing theories based on observation of reality, experimentation with reality, and testing theories against reality
The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry consists of the systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
The dialectical method
Developing theories based on observation of and participation in real struggles and testing theories against reality
Using proven patterns of process and change to understand natural, social, economic, and political change
Testing those understandings against reality (the unity of theory and practice)
Applying scientific approaches to the study of social and political processes, and testing those theories through action: “Philosophers have hitherto sought to understand the world. The point, however, is to change it.”

5. What a method is and is not
The scientific method is not scientific knowledge itself, it is the path to more deeply understanding reality, and confirming theory through rigorous practice (experimentation).
In the same way, the dialectical method is not dialectical understanding itself; it is the path to get there, and confirmation in practice. It offers a method, a process, to reaching deeper knowledge about any subject.
Like the scientific method, the dialectical method doesn’t tell us what results we will find, what the specifics of each process are—that cannot be predetermined. Dialectics is not a schema into which we force reality, it is a way of looking at the patterns of reality to discover deep truth.

6. The “laws” of dialectics are not laws to be obeyed; they are ways of taking apart a process and discovering the key elements of it.
They are ways of searching for patterns in reality, not the reality itself. They are patterns to look for in all processes, not knowledge about the specifics of each process.
Dialectics can help us predict that there will be certain patterns within each process, but cannot predict what the details of those patterns are.

7. The Dialectical Method: 1st Take
Base theories on the real world, and test them against the real world
Break things into their component parts, examine the parts, then put them back together
Scale Matters—processes work differently at different scales and times

8. More Dialectical Method
Figure out what the tipping points are and what leads up to them
What are the essential, crucial internal aspects of the process?
Understand the history of a process, and the history of its interactions with other processes
Knowledge changes like everything else—no “ultimate, final” knowledge

9. Discussion Questions
Can dialectics be learned separate from practical political work?
Can practical political work by itself lead to deep theoretical understanding?
Is it practical to stop work and go through this long involved method?

10. Principles Patterns (Laws) Categories
This method is based on three elements of dialectics:
Principles
Patterns (Laws)
Categories
We will look at each of these in turn, spending the most time on the Patterns.

11. The Principles

12. Dialectical Principles
Processes are affected by their environment, and in turn affect their environment
Everything is always changing, no matter how it looks on the surface
Time, place and circumstance matter—what is the stage of growing, maturing or dying
The world is not a bunch of things, solid and unchanging, it is a complex of processes
There are observable patterns to how change happens
Some change is linear (quantitative)—in a straight line—and some is non-linear (qualitative)—it zigs, zags, and leaps

13. Dialectical Principles
Everything is connected, and engages in reciprocal action. All processes are impacted by their environment and in turn affect their environment
Change is the only constant
Time, place and circumstance matter
The world is a complex of processes
Processes must be understood in their history and in connection to other processes

14. Questions?
Do these principles help you think about your work in a different way? Are they applicable to your work?

15. The Patterns

16. Dialectical Patterns (Laws)
Quantitative changes accumulate and lead to qualitative changes
Changes are driven by the contradictions within processes—the unity and struggle of opposites
No end to development and change; all qualitative leaps lead to new unity and struggle

17. 1. Quantity into Quality Water Elections
Heat accumulates until 212 degrees F, at which point a transformation to steam takes place
Cold accumulates until 32 degrees F, at which point freezing begins, another tipping point
Elections
With 50% plus one votes, cast one at a time, one side wins, and that is definitely a new quality: “Elections have consequences.”

18. Quantity into Quality Union Campaigns Writing a book
Cards collected, one at a time or a few at a time, until enough are gathered to call for an election, a new stage of struggle
Again 50% plus one brings a new quality, either a victorious union or a defeated one
Writing a book
Concept leads to draft/outline leads to writing one page at a time, leads to chapters, leads to completed draft leads to revisions, leads to completed book—several transformations along the way resulting in a new quality that didn’t exist before

19. 2. Contradiction—the unity and struggle of opposites
The essence of dialectics
The unity is “temporary”—the struggle is constant
Unity = relative stability, order
Struggle = instability, the chaos at the edges of orderly systems, where change comes from
Quantitative changes are the result of the ongoing struggle of opposites, the measure of the “slow” accumulation of smaller changes

20. 3. Continuous Development (The Negation of the Negation)
No end to development and change
No permanent resolution of all contradictions
Patterns repeat, sometimes on a “higher” level
Every new synthesis contains its own contradictions, which drive change in new directions

21. Discussion Question
What are some tipping points in struggle (qualitative leaps) you have experienced?

22. The Method, Again

23. to reach understanding: The Method Take 2 (a simplified version of Lenin’s Sixteen Steps)
Break something into its component pieces
Learn the contradictions within each piece that drives change
Learn the quantitative and qualitative aspects of each piece, and their history
Put the thing back together with deeper understanding

24. Keep on keepin’ On . . .
Figure out the history of the whole, and what quantitative aspects lead to qualitative tipping points
Figure out which aspects are crucial, necessary, and which are less so
Figure out the connections with other processes, and the history of those connections
Search for what is new and growing, and what is driving current change

25. There is no end!
This whole process of understanding something in its complexity and contradiction is a never-ending task.
Why?
Because everything is connected to everything else, and
Because everything is always changing!

26. The Categories

27. Dialectical Categories
These are different ways of looking at a process, different ways of examining a process to reach deeper knowledge and understanding
Like the patterns, the categories are not something to apply in a mechanical fashion, they are challenges to think about any process in new and varied ways
Deeper understanding results from looking at a process from multiple vantage points

28. Dialectical Categories
Appearance and Essence
Form and Content
Internal and External
Chance and Necessity
Individual and Universal
Possibility and Reality
Primary and Secondary Contradictions
What stage is a process in—being born, maturing, dying?
Just a start There are more—these are just tools to help us think in the round

29. How Do We Apply This?

30. The Method Take 3:
We can think of the dialectical method as asking a detailed series of questions to help us decide on tactics and strategy

31. How militant and democratic is the union local?
For example, in deciding whether or not to call for a strike vote, you might ask about the union:
How militant and democratic is the union local?
How big is the strike fund?
What are the crucial issues, and are people ready to fight on those issues?
Does the local have the support of the national union?
Is the union leadership united around the key issues?
Has the local made strike preparations—picket captains, flyers, picket schedules?
How clear are the issues to union members?
Has the union been growing in numbers? Strength? Understanding? Is there a shop steward structure? Is it functioning well?
But that’s not all!

32. Questions, continued . . .
You might ask about the company:
What is the history of labor relations of this company and union local?
What are the economic trends that impact the industry? The particular company?
How important are these issues to the company?
Is the company likely to bring in strikebreakers?
Does the company have a large reserve fund, or are there important cyclical sales considerations?
About the public and government:
Is there significant public support?
How clear are the issues to the public?
How will the police react? What have they done in other strike situations?
But that’s not all!

33. Questions, continued . . .
How is the media likely to cover the strike?
Has the local solicited solidarity from other unions? From Jobs with Justice? From local churches?
What is the history of public reaction to other strikes in the area recently?
Are there other big campaigns or demonstrations coming up? Will they offer support or compete for attention?

34. In other words --
Only after careful consideration of all the major factors—the specific balance of forces, the history, what stage things are at, in detail—can an appropriate decision be made
The Method, again!

35. Discussion Question
What factors go into figuring out the main balance of forces in the US? (not what our conclusions are, but how do we reach those conclusions?)

36. To sum up the Dialectical Method, yet again: Take 4
The real world is our starting point (materialism)
Look at processes in their connections and interactions (dialectical principles)
Understanding requires identifying the quantitative and qualitative aspects of a process, the tipping points, and the history (dialectical patterns)
Work through multiple views of a process (dialectical categories)
The real world is the ending point also—testing theories in practice (the unity of theory and practice)