82 p o l i t i e s lawofprogress. I t isanapplicationoftheHegeliancos- micethics. I t isevidentthat abelief of thissortwill tendandallthemorecertainlyforbeingunacknowledged toovershadowthehumblerandmorespecificrulesofan ordinarymoralcode.Aswehaveseen,it issoinHegel. Lenininfactadmitsit: "Ourmoralityiswholysubordinated. . ." That is, all theordinarymoralrulescanbe neglected if politicsdemandsit. A dangerousdoctrine, andonemayventuretosaythat ithasprovedharmfulon someoccasions. Quiteapartfromthat,theprincipleofprogressis in- compatiblewithmaterialism.Materialismcanadmitprogressasanempiricalfactgiventhat it hasformulated criteria,whichmustbeethical,tojudgewhetherchanges areprogressiveornot.But itcannotassumethatchange mustbeprogressive,oreventhatchangemustonthewhole beprogressive. (3)"Common-SenseEthics" Otherethicalprinciplesandvaluesarehoweverpresent tothemindsofMarxists,thoughtheyareseldomdiscussed. Theyaretheaimsandprinciplesputforwardinpolitical propaganda,theprincipleswhoseimportancewediscover whenouropponentsfail toobservethem,andtheaims whichweadvanceasrealisableunderasocialistorder. Sucharetheprinciplesof truth, fairdealing,abstention fromtheftorexploitation,thesanctityof life,theequality ofmeninthesensethatthevaluesexperiencedbyhumans aretoberegardedasinprincipleequalirrespectiveofskin. colour,wealth,intelectualatainments,etc.,andthevalues ofphysicalcomfort,health,exerciseoffaculties,art,knowledge,association,etc. In shorttheprinciplesandvalues whichareacknowledgedbyallsensiblemeneverywhere. Theonlyglimmeringrecognitionof this I havefoundin anyMarxistclassicis inLenin,whoremarkedthatthe lawsofsocialbehaviour"havebeenpreachedfor thou- handsofyearsin allsermons",andthat"qualitieslike goodandbad,thoughtheypresupposeasocialrelation,are notreducible to it. Thesequalitieshaveanobjective basis. . . "(quotedbyHeckerin MoscowDialogues). Thus'Marxistethicsis insomeconfusion,self-contradictoryandentangledwithHegelianmystification. It isob- viousthatthetendency(1)abovetodenyethicsaltogether isamistake,andincompatiblewithpolitics. I contend furtherthatalmosteverythingHegelsaidonethicsiseither wrong-orincompatiblewithmaterialism,sothatalmostall thetrendsunder(2)aboveareerrors;andthatthecommon-senseethicsof (3) is thesourceinwhichasound theoryistobefound. Needed:ANon-RelativisticEthic Marxismneeds,asjustificationforitspolitics,anethical theory. I t mustadmitvaluesandobligations.Valuesare neededbecause it aimsat abettersocialorder,and "better"impliesvalues.This issometimesdenied.Marxistauthorscondemntheideathatathingcanbegoodin itself.But if nothingcanbegoodin itself,nothingcan else.Otherwiseweshouldhaveaseriesof eventseachuselessin itselfbutjustifiedasproducingits equalyuselesssuccessors,whichisabsurd.Thingsare BOlicicithatifie eiveb Of coursetheonlythings ;..ic possessingthesequalitiesareexperiences,or,asMoore says,totalitiescontainingexperiences.Thiswordimplies nothingofpassivity:manyof themostvaluableexperi- encesareofactivestriving.Aristotlesaidthatthegreatestgoodistheexerciseof theintellect.Howevermost experiencesprobablyhavesomevalue. I t isgoodjust tobealive. ObligationsalsoareneededbecauseMarxismholdsthat it is insomesenseincumbentupenpeople,oratleastup- onMarxists,toworkfor thebettersocialorder;andof courseMarxistsadmitmanyof theordinarysocialand politicalobligations. rn viewofMarx'sapparentatempt toderiveobligationfrominterest it isworthwhiletoinsist onthispointtoo.Theclearestproofthatobligationcannotbederivedfrominterest istheobligationweall, in- cludingMarxists,admitweowetofuturegenerations.We oughtnottowastenaturalresources,forexample,whose losswillbefeltonlyafterwearedead.Noneofuscan haveanypersonalinterest inwhathappensthen,butthe obligationisundeniable.Thusobligationcannotbereducedtointerest,andsocannotbedenied. ThusMarxismmustadmitvaluesandobligations. I f authorityforthisstatementissought,rememberthatMarx wroteof "thecategoricalimperativetooverthrowallconditionsinwhichmanisadegraded,servile,neglected,con- temptiblebeing." (SelectedEssays, p. 26) Hereboth obligationandvaluesareproclaimed. NexttothecontempttheMarxianclassicsdisplayfor thewholesubject,thegreatestobstacletoacceptanceof valuesandobligations is theethical relativityEngels preached:"Werejecteveryatempttoimposeonusany moraldogmawhatsoeverasaneternal,ultimateandfor everimmutablemorallaw. . .Wemaintain. . . thatall formermoraltheoriesaretheproduct,inthelastanalysis, oftheeconomicstagewhichsocietyhadreachedat that particularepoch.Andassocietyhashithertomovedin class-antagonisms,moralitywasalwaysaclass-morality." (Anti-Duhring,1,9) Ifmorality(sc.ethics) is onlyaclass-morality,what claimhasituponus?None,peoplearetemptedtoanswer, andtheyareright. A relativisticethicsisnoethics.One ofthestandardwaysofdestroyingconfidenceinmoral lawsis toshowthattheydiffer invarioussocialcondi- tions.Thus if aman,invitedto join inworking-class politics,asksthejustificationforrebelionorexpropria- tion,hewillnotbesatisfiedif toldthat it isrightaccordingto"workingclass-morality".That isarbitrary,hewill think.Anygroupcansetupamoralityfor itself.Gangstersdo. Hewantstruemorality. But if heisshown thattheseproposalsarejustifiedbyanapplicationofvalid generalprinciplestothespecialsituation,hisobjectionis overcome. It isusualyoverlookedthatEngelscontinuedthepara- graphquotedabove. In thenextsentenceheforgetsthe dialectic,and,commonsenseresumingitssway,headmits universalethicalprinciples: "That in theprocessthere hasonthewholebeenprogressinmorality,asinallother branchesofhumanknowedge,cannothedoubted."This clearlyimpliessomestandardbywhichtojudge,andthis standardmustbeultimatelyvalid.ThusEngelsagrees wit I h t u is s. notenoughhowevertohavecaughtEngelscon-
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