Chris Balfour Turns his original error into a complete devation rom Varkem in his rebiv to 5. Cohen's article (Red Weekly 5). Three points glare out: 1. The supposed fact that the male working class as the to step clues and pornography, a boste a spocificelly human" lie, supracies) trait. Lenin pointed out that the working class spontaneoush: gravitates to bourgeois ideology, being utterly enmesh ed in a bourgeois society. If anything, pop, T.V. and cinema have made this pervasive influence af bourg sols willos even stronger, 2. What is bourgeois morality? it is an outgrawth of commodity exchange, The ruling class lee the T.V. interview with Hobin Day? views Lambion's actions right or wong' — as a pert of free sexuality. and there have been attempts to defend Lambion's right to some Trecoom an pur pa mosive ago, and conoctaton of vale sure bourgeois see as in:
identify free sexuslity as the right to bay who you like, just as free speech is the right to buy the newspoper you like, The worst thing about Balfour's two articles is that they lend strength to an easy identi. fication of different corjunctural phenomena, 18.g. the abortion law repest demand and the porn boorn) as all pert of the same permissive movement. Though his subjective intent is towards revolutionary sexual freedom, the objective result is to identily the perTessive bourceois morslit di the richt to buy what you like with the revolutionary communist Tight to 3. As walk as beirg unrevolutionary and aupracless. his artices are ahistorical Vinet misterial factors. Tusco the conomons tor the nacuret numin instinct Oral Iraie cse to porn and prostitutes? What are the factors that result in men buying women, rather tan vomen Duverg menevery nos cernssiveness ex Rod Woekly 29 June 1973 Pago 6 a bourgeois attempt to realise more profif on capital, and to hell with "morality'.
Steve Cohen's letter is erroneous on one point here, The capitalists don't now all preach epressive sexual morality to the working class. heir ocology 15 in a state of flux on the question. The long-term bourgeois need for a stable family unit, to give respectable male workers plus the extra of a reserve female labour force, is in direct contradiction to the short term pursuit of profit among some individual capitalists - precisely those who own the media and thereby: manipulate the ideology most strongly. This, plus the ideological impasse of the petit bourgeoisie in their current economic problems, leads to a highly unstable and contradictory situation, not a monolithic repres sive morality, although | think the ruling class is about to close ranks on this question.
Incidentally, Chris Balfour does make ane excellent point about the split in fantasy worlds, at the and of his reply. But even this is moe complex today, reTechny various Tantasies out out by different vested Comrade Roy misunderstands me. Other readers must shared with other classes, does by no aneans prove it is judge whether the fault for this misunderstanding lies wth himar with mo 1 never suggested that a taste for pornography etc. was а зреспсну numen trans, lor argue that sexuality was a basic part of being human", In this sanse sex Now Ava lable Critique No. 1 A new left wing journal of Soviet studies and socialist theary Advisory Editorial Board:
Ernest Mandel Peter Sedwick, Paul Sweezy Convener Editorial Board: HH 1 estin No. 1 contains articles on Workers" Control in Czechoslovakia/Towards a Political Economy or the USsH/Historiography of the Russiem Revolation PLUS reviews, survey of current events, and origing translations Annual Subterption 80p Single issue 40г 31 Cleveden Road infraciass (part of the raw material dut of which class dassesl.
As I sid, 'the functioning of cless society demands the por petual suoordination or mes numan wars to ane needs of class domination', It is this which produces the forms of sexuality specific to capitalist society: the split betweon male and famale sexuality, the insertion of relations of domination and subjection into interests of 'social order". Those phenomena which Comrade Roy thinks 1 attribute to 'human instinct", are precisely those which I sid were caused by the subordination and distortion of those instincts by capitalist society.
Comrade Roy suggests that 1 am ahistorical in mv analysis. But my original article was precisely an attempt to explain an histarical problem: the changing attitude of the ruling ciase to the sexual exploits of its members. For example, Lond Palmerston who, Test as toreign secretary and than as Pra insisier dominated British bourgeois politics until his death in 1865, lived openly with his mistress for thirty yaars, until the danth of her hushind made it bosphla fo them to marry. Yet today an incident that would hardly hava ranked as intarasting gowip in the mid. 19th contury, provolcos a governmontal crish. My original article is the only attempt to explain this historical phanomenon so far.
Contrast this with the approach of Comrade Cohen, who appears to think that working class sexuatity hasn't changed for a hundred yours. Comrade Roy's 'historical' explanation in terms of commodity exthe Tirst tensycers of the Left Opposition