What L. Roberts writes about "our" socio-economic system is totally
accurate. I, who as a scholar and broadcaster in the field, read the
Soviet press from 1940 for the half-century until that system collapsed,
have to tell him that it did report precisely the kind of thing he
posted to vividly. Therefore the end of the USSR has to be understood in
terms of a much broader range of issues (never mind the fact that well
over a third of the Soviet population was still using one-holers when
Gorbachev was forced out). Above all, it is necessary to ask oneself
why, despite the fact that the living standard has dropped by more than
half, no party desirous of instituting socialism in any form has been
able to win a majority of the electorate, even when the fullest
allowance is made for vote-stealing and corruption.
William Mandel
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> I have always wanted to shoot a documentary about life under capitalism; that
> is it not LEAVE IT TO BEAVER or the COSBY show. This film would show
> homeless families, the degradation at the welfare office, the neighborhoods
> that look bombed out, the closed factories, the folks standing on street
> corners, the filled emergency rooms, the slum housing. One of the things
> that used to bother me the most was the bars on the windows when I went to
> pick up my food stamps, like we were criminals.
========================================================
My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999),
was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social
sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the
American
people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing
the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious
movements: labor, student, peace with the USSR, civil rights South and
North, civil
liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee,
the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee
with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website,
http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON
PACIFICA),
with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist
movement,
although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife,
Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in
the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The
book
is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed
copy,
send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611
========================================================
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