In his 1961 masterpiece, Marx's Concept of Man, Erich Fromm did his best to dispel the abysmal ignorance and willful blindness that attend Marx's reception in the West, East, North, and South. Re-reading this book after many years, I marvel at its clarity and depth of--dare I say it? Religious feeling.
Fromm expounded the Ancient Near Eastern prophetic Messianism at the heart of Marx's philosophy--a cliche observation today, and yet one that appears never to have been adequately appreciated. For had it been adequately appreciated, those for whom the prophetic tradition remains a transcultural and transhistorical revolutionary movement would be reading, discussing, and attempting to apply Marx's teachings in an effort to turn back the fascistic tide of nativism and tribalism that have poisoned politics and religion throughout the world for at least the past half century.
But, of course, those for whom the Ancient Near Eastern prophetic tradition has been a vital impetus for radical politics have always been few and far between.
One thinks, for example, of William Blake and of the Blakean Norman O. Brown.
And then one recalls the Archons at the helm.
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