askchapo

It just means an analysis that's not sufficiently dialectical. They neglect the dialectical part of dialectical materialism. In terms of politics, they fall for the exact opposite of Great Man Theory, the exact opposite being the idea that humans are completely powerless against the force of history and that humanity is destined to be cast adrift against structural forces beyond their control. They take that quote from Marx about man not making history of his own choosing and erroneously invert it to say that history makes man. They neglect the fact that history is ultimately made through human effort, which means history is at least forged through human will, sacrifice, and ingenuity.

Humanity itself is guided by its consciousness. After all, the working class will not liberated itself until it recognized that it itself constitutes a class and that it must strive to act within its own class interest. Revolutionaries are supposed to awaken the spark within the working masses so that its consciousness changes and workers go from a class in itself to a class for itself. And through their qualitative shift in consciousness, the working class can embrace a liberatory politics and seize control of their own collective destinies through the overthrow of the bourgeoisie. The drivers of history will now drive history entirely on their own terms.