Re: [Marxism] Tariq Ali: Obama, president of cant
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This is the apotheosis of the pessismism of the ultra-left, Tariq Ali's stock in trade George Anthony Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Comintern (The Stalinist-Hoxhaist World Party)
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Concerning Mao, let's not forget murdering over 70 million people. Correct idea? Correct practice? Correct dialectic? According to Chang and Halliday, Mao would add to the 5-year plans, 5-year repression plans, claiming on the eve of each new red terror that 5% (or 10% or 20%) of the Chinese population was reactionary and had to be eliminated. When party officials told him that taking away 60% of peasants' crops would result in mass starvation (38 million people died during the great leap forward and the cultural revolution), he would scream : You cannot obey my orders because of your conscience ? What nonsense ! Conscience is anti-Marxist. Marxism is brutality ! Brutality and more brutality ! or People will not obey us because they love us ! They will obey us because they are terrified of us ! or Teenagers must become accustomed to brutality. They must become the most brutal element in our society.. etc. Correct idea? Correct practice? Correct dialectic? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Why Defame Cuba? A Congregant’s Pl ea to Rev. Jeremiah Wright
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/why-defame-cuba-congregant%E2%80%99s-plea-rev-jeremiah-wright Why Defame Cuba? A Congregant’s Plea to Rev. Jeremiah Wright by Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture Lots of unexpected names turned up as signatories to a letter charging the Cuban government with systematic discrimination against Blacks. Among those who committed the foul injustice against Cuba, and shamed themselves, was Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor. A fellow member of the United Church of Christ asks, respectfully, that the minister explain himself. Why Defame Cuba? A Congregant’s Plea to Rev. Jeremiah Wright by Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture Ms. Nkrumah-Ture, a long-time activist and a member of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC, wrote the following letter to Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago. Rev Wright is, of course, the former pastor to Barack Obama and one of 60 African American signatories to a recent letter [1] charging the Cuban government with systematic racism against the island nation’s Black and mixed race population. Rev. Wright had visited Ms. Nkrumah-Ture’s church just the week before. – The Editors “I pray you will do the right thing and demand that your name be removed from that awful letter.” Dear Rev. Wright: Praise the Lord and welcome to Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ! Many thanks to you for being in revival with us this week! I am writing to you because I am very concerned about issues of social justice, in this country and throughout the world. When I first joined PCUCC, under the bold and courageous leadership of Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister and Sis. Rev. Rebecca West, Associate Minister, I was so excited and quickly joined the Board of Social Action, the social justice ministry here. I was especially excited to be a member of the United Church of Christ, the most progressive Christian denomination in the U.S. When I read its website, I saw they were very involved in various issues of social justice that I too had been involved in for many years, effecting the people of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Pacific Islands; racism, women’s rights and reproductive justice, health care, environmental justice, immigrant rights, unions, nuclear weapons, etc. Which brings me to why I am writing this letter and I hope you will clarify something for me. (clip) Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Norman Finkelstein interviewed on the Goldstone report
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/finkelstein150410.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] British secret police infiltrated Ted Grant's group
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/14/undercover-policeman-infiltrated-violent-activists Undercover policeman reveals how he infiltrated UK's violent activists For four years, Officer A lived a secret life among anti-racist activists as they fought brutal battles with the police and the BNP. Here he tells of the terrifying life he led, the psychological burden it placed on him and his growing fears that the work of his unit could threaten legitimate protest * Tony Thompson * The Observer, Sunday 14 March 2010 Hear Officer A talk about his secret life among anti-racist activists as they fought brutal battles with the police and the BNP Link to this video An officer from a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police has given a chilling account of how he spent years working undercover among anti-racist groups in Britain, during which he routinely engaged in violence against members of the public and uniformed police officers to maintain his cover. During his tour of duty, the man – known only as Officer A – also had sexual relations with at least two of his female targets as a way of obtaining intelligence. So convincing was he in his covert role that he quickly rose to become branch secretary of a leading anti-racist organisation that was believed to be a front for Labour's Militant tendency. My role was to provide intelligence about protests and demonstrations, particularly those that had the potential to become violent, he said. In doing so, the campaigns I was associated with lost much of their effectiveness, a factor that ultimately hastened their demise. His deployment, which lasted from 1993 to 1997, ended amid fears that his presence and role within groups protesting about black deaths in police custody and bungled investigations into racist murders would be revealed during the public inquiry by Sir William Macpherson into the death of south London teenager Stephen Lawrence. His decision to tell his story to the Observer provides the most detailed account of the shadowy and controversial police unit that has provided intelligence from within political and protest movements for more than four decades. He believes the public should be able to make an informed decision about whether such covert activities are necessary, given their potential to curtail legitimate protest movements. Officer A – with a long ponytail, angry persona and willingness to be educated in the finer points of Trotskyist ideology – was never suspected by those he befriended of being a member of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a secret unit within Special Branch, whose job is to prevent violent public disorder on the streets of the capital. Known as the hairies due to the fact that its members do not have to abide by usual police regulations about their appearance, the unit consists of 10 full-time undercover operatives who are given new identities, and provided with flats, vehicles and cover jobs while working in the field for up to five years at a time. The unit has been credited with preventing bloodshed on numerous occasions by using intelligence to pre-empt potentially violent situations. Unlike regular undercover officers, members of the SDS do not have to gather evidence with a view to prosecuting their targets. This enables them to witness and even engage in criminal activity without fear of disciplinary action or compromising a subsequent court case. Officer A joined the SDS in 1993 after two years in Special Branch. It was a time of heightened tension between the extreme left and right and almost every weekend saw clashes between the likes of the Anti-Nazi League, Youth Against Racism, the British National party and the National Front. The SDS is believed to have infiltrated all such organisations. During Officer A's time undercover, all 10 covert SDS operatives would meet to share intelligence about forthcoming demonstrations. The information was used to plan police responses to counter the threat of the demonstration getting out of control. A key success for Officer A came just two weeks into his deployment during a demonstration against the BNP-run bookshop in Welling, south-east London. His intelligence revealed that the protest was to be far larger than thought and that a particularly violent faction was planning to storm the bookshop and set fire to it. As a result of intelligence provided by Officer A, police leave was cancelled for that weekend and, despite violent clashes, the operation was deemed to be a success for the Met. The then commissioner, Sir Paul Condon, met the members of the SDS to thank them. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
Re: [Marxism] Maoism
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 4/15/2010 7:42 AM, Dan wrote:If by Maoism you mean adherence to Mao's doctrines and practices, then Maoism is NOT Marxism or Communism. It is a great leap backwards to a feudal economy. To be sure, there is no more fetichism of the commodity, because commodity production ceases to exist. You will know full well that x' amount of your labour-time is due to the State and only x is given back to you to enable you to reproduce your labour. No more mystification created by commodity-production to veil the true source of value, i.e. the labour power of society as a whole. You know from bitter experience that your labour is commensurable with any other labour. You see the social relationship between each producer in clear, undisguised form. But you are not living in a society of free producers as Marx imagines in chap. 1, section 4, of Capital vol. 1. You are living in an despotic mode of production. All your energies are geared towards not getting shot and this means you will produce quite a lot of surplus-value above the socially necessary labour time required to reproduce your labour power. This surplus-value will be used by the PArty for its own purpouses, mostly on bulding A-bombs (the cost of developping nuclear weapons in China was staggering) and enlarging the army. Of course, I for one would soon be bludgeoned to death by a gang of PAarty thugs, together with my wife and two young children. I just can't keep my mouth shut. Maoism isn't Marxism per se, it's a version of Marxism-Leninism reinterpreted and adapted to the context of post-colonial, semi-feudal China, governed by a strong central government. Also, Maoism once served as a uniting ideology for the overthrow of foreign control of China and a rejection of bourgeois nationalism as personified in Chan Kai-shek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Kai-shek The social, political and economic systems that arose out of the communist victory in China and their revolution cannot be fairly characterized as communist in the sense that Marx and others envisioned it, I agree. But whatever their system is or was, it appears to be turning into full blown capitalism before our very eyes. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea Party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == In my community (Sussex and Warren Counties of New Jersey) there are people who express sympathies with the Tea Party in our churches, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Most of them have never thought about politics much before. Our antiwar committee has a very strong religious component, and within that context, we interact often with people who express support for the Tea Party movement, but in reality don't really agree with the cynical liars who are leading it. Ron Paul's opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars presents us with a genuine opportunity to reach out to them and engage them in activity in opposition to the wars. I recognize all the problems with Dr. Paul's politics, but we're not reaching out to him, we're reaching out to people who are listening to him. And we have a persuasive message. Furthermore, I don't agree all the time with the 9/11 truth maniacs, but without these maniacs we wouldn't HAVE an antiwar committee in our area. We're able to discuss our differences as friends, neighbors, and collaborators in the peace movement and then get together to organize a vigil or charter a bus to a national demonstration. Building a movement at the grassroots level by definition means getting your hands dirty. And unless we build an antiwar movement from the grassroots upwards, it's not going to mean a damned thing. BTW: I don't give a shred of credence to the 9/11 Commission. Something's being covered up; I don't know that the 9/11 Truthers have the answers (I suspect not), but there's more than reasonable doubt. Tom On Apr 15, 2010, at 10:31 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == You don't START with the misguided ones who wander into the Tea Party. You start by expanding the ranks of newly-radicalizing workers and others, and create a bigger, broader pole of attraction, which minimizes the attractiveness of the Tea Party. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea Party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I think Andy makes a good point. These Tea Party folk are nasty. I was handing out single-payer flyers at a Dem sponsored healthcare rally in CT. The Dems organized no marshals and the Tea Party counter demo was so aggressive and confrontational the socialists who attended quickly assembled a marshaling team to create a boundary that divide the rally from the counter protest. These tea party folk were vile thugs and while I may engage in a conversation with rank and file tea party people, I have no interest in building a movement alongside their racist, homophobic, and anti immigrant program. In solidarity, Hutch Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Climate and Capitalism, April 15, 2010
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM An online journal focusing on capitalism, climate change, and the ecosocialist alternative. April 15, 2010 PRICING EMISSIONS IS THE WRONG SOLUTION http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2114 “The greenhouse gas problem is not a pollution problem, and if you apply pollution thinking you will come up with bad policies.” A critique of Paul Krugman’s NYT article. CAN CAPITALISM FIX THE CLIMATE? http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2112 On April 3, a columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald criticized socialists in the climate emergency movement, citing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and frequent CC contributor Simon Butler as people who just don’t understand that “Climate is not a class issue.” This is Simon’s response … VIDEO: BOLIVIA’S AMBASSADOR ON THE PEOPLE’S CLIMATE SUMMIT http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2077 Bolivian Ambassador to the U.N., Pablo Solon, evaluates the Copenhagen fiasco and invites individuals, governments and NGOs to Cochabamba, April 20 to 22, 2010, for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth. + Recent articles AFTER HURRICANE, CUBA BUILDS GREEN HOMES http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2050 BOLIVIA REJECTS U.S. BLACKMAIL ON COPENHAGEN ACCORD http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=2043 THE BILLIONAIRES WHO FINANCE CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIAL http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=1991 AFTER COPENHAGEN: HOW CAN WE SAVE THE WORLD? http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=1926 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Obama echoes Petraeus
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == In a front-page article in today's Times (excerpts below), Obama echoes recent statements by Gen. Petraeus, VP Biden and others about how Israel's intransigence is threatening our interests in the war against Arabs and Muslims. This is another reason to firmly oppose alliances with right-wingers supposedly against war, who love this America First approach. See the last third of my article at: http://www.socialistaction.org/pollack76.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html?src=mv News Analysis Obama Speech Signals a U.S. Shift on Middle East Published: April 14, 2010 WASHINGTON — It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement. When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests. This shift, described by administration officials who did not want to be quoted by name when discussing internal discussions, is driving the White House’s urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal. It increases the likelihood that Mr. Obama, frustrated by the inability of the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to terms, will offer his own proposed parameters for an eventual Palestinian state. Mr. Obama said conflicts like the one in the Middle East ended up “costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure” — drawing an explicit link between the Israeli-Palestinian strife and the safety of American soldiers as they battle Islamic extremism and terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Mr. Obama’s words reverberated through diplomatic circles in large part because they echoed those of Gen. David H. Petraeus, the military commander overseeing America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent Congressional testimony, the general said that the lack of progress in the Middle East created a hostile environment for the United States. He has denied reports that he was suggesting that soldiers were being put in harm’s way by American support for Israel. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea Party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Again, people are arbitrarily smudging people who say in the polls, for example, that they sympathize with the concerns of the tea partiers and the tea partiers themselves. I'd suspect that I've spent more time talking to the latter than the bulk of the people on this list, and I certainly give my blessing to anyone who wants to waste their time with them. Most are politically retarded and morally blighted...to the point where rationality no longer works well. The most one can hope for is that they will see people on the Left as human beings rather than the moral equivalent of large fetuses who may be morally aborted after-the-fact Personally, I spend most of my time talking to Obama supporters who are disillusioned or becoming disillusioned. It's a different set of problems, but we usually start off on a common ground. Louis is right, of course. Until there's a mass movement (which Code Pink and kindred groups has shown very little real interest in building), this is all still in the realm of hot air.,.. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Again, the deliberate smudging of actual tea partiers and people who answer a poll saying they share the concerns of tea partiers. Is this vagary being introduced on purpose...or for a reason? ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks’s “The Pacific”
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == HBO’s The Pacific is the latest installment in an ongoing project launched by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks to pay tribute to what newscaster Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation”, in other words the combat forces whose victories in Europe and Asia helped propel the U.S. to the status of number one imperial power. In keeping with a proper post-Vietnam sensibility, Hollywood liberals such as Spielberg and Hanks would never dream of churning out the kind of flag-waving propaganda that was made during WWII, some of which involved Communist Party members. For example, the 1945 Back to Bataan starring John Wayne is filled with blood-curdling anti-Japanese racism despite being having a screenplay written by Ben Barzman, a Communist, and directed by Edward Dmytryk, another Communist (who would go on to name names.) read full review: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/stephen-spielberg-and-tom-hankss-the-pacific/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks’s “The Pacific”
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Ben Barzman's son is John Barzman, whom many of us knew in the SWP. The elder Barzman was blacklisted during the McCarthy period (the story I heard is that Lucille Ball ratted him out--can anyone confirm or deny?), and moved to France, where he spent the rest of his career. Those who know John know that he speaks French not only fluently but without any trace of an American accent. Tom On Apr 15, 2010, at 3:26 PM, Louis Proyect wrote: Hollywood liberals such as Spielberg and Hanks would never dream of churning out the kind of flag-waving propaganda that was made during WWII, some of which involved Communist Party members. For example, the 1945 Back to Bataan starring John Wayne is filled with blood-curdling anti-Japanese racism despite being having a screenplay written by Ben Barzman, a Communist, and directed by Edward Dmytryk, another Communist (who would go on to name names.) read full review: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/stephen-spielberg-and- tom-hankss-the-pacific/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/ marxism/biastg%40embarqmail.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Long live the AK-47
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.marxist.com/venezuela-the-people-in-arms.htm Venezuela: The People in arms Written by Alan Woods in Caracas Thursday, 15 April 2010 Alan Woods in Caracas describes the mood of the masses on the April 13 celebrations of the 8th anniversary of the failed right-wing coup. This time, as well as the usual red shirts, there was a massive display of the people’s militia clad in camouflage green, and carrying Russian-made AK-47s, a clear warning to the reactionary oligarchy that the masses are prepared to fight any attempt to turn the clock back. Eight years ago today something occurred that has no precedent in the history of Latin America. The reactionary coup of 11 April, in which the Venezuelan oligarchy, in collaboration with the US Embassy and the CIA, overthrew the democratically elected government, was defeated by a spontaneous uprising of the masses. On that day history was made. Ordinary men and women came onto the streets, risking their lives to defend the Bolivarian Revolution. With no party, no leadership and no clear perspectives other than to defeat the coup, the workers, peasants, and revolutionary youth, women and men, young and old, marched in their thousands to the gates of the Miraflores Palace to demand the release of President Chávez. The soldiers went over to the side of the people, and the coup collapsed. These heroic events can only be compared to Barcelona in July 1936, when the workers, armed with old hunting rifles, clubs and anything they could lay their hands on, stormed the barracks and smashed the fascist reactionaries. If anybody doubts that this was a genuine revolution, they have only to study the events of April 2002. In past years these events have been turned into a celebration of the Revolution. The Bolivar Avenue in downtown Caracas was a sea of red shirts and waving banners. But this year the scene was quite different to what I remember. Instead of a sea of red Bolivar Avenue was filled to overflowing with a sea of camouflage green. This was the Day of the People’s Militia – a demonstration of the power of a people in arms. As you walked along the Avenue the files of militiamen and militiawomen (there were many women also in uniform) seemed to have no end. Here once again one could sense the unconquerable power of the masses. But now there was a different element. Here were thousands upon thousands of workers from the factories, peasants from the villages, and young kids from the schools and colleges, expressing their willingness to fight, arms in hand, to defend the Revolution against enemies – both external and internal. Under a blazing sun, the people massed – the usual red shirts of the chavistas alongside the green-clad militia. Along the Avenue the loudspeakers blared out revolutionary slogans: against imperialism, against the bourgeoisie, for the Revolution, for socialism, and for Chávez: “The Right is still preparing another 11 April, but now the People have arms! Long live the Bolivarian Revolution! Long live the Armed People! Long live President Chávez!” People climbed trees and lampposts to get a better view and to display placards with militant slogans, while some made a quick profit selling hats, tee-shirts and cold drinks (which were much in demand). There was a deafening roar of music – Latin American rhythms with revolutionary words, interrupted by chants and slogans. The militia was organized by groups that showed their origins: young teenagers from the schools and peasants with straw hats and tractors with Belarus written on the side. To the rear, the militia was unarmed, but as one approached the head of the demonstration, everyone was holding a Russian-made AK-47, that most versatile and effective weapon, light and easy to use. In recent years Chávez has bought large quantities of these weapons from Russia. Washington and its hired media have made a tremendous fuss, alleging that these guns are destined for the FARC guerrillas in Colombia. Now everyone can see what they are really intended for. As they wait for the arrival of the President, the militias stand listlessly, or sit on the ground to eat a sandwich. Some rest on their rifles, and one or two even had the muzzle of their AK-47s resting on their boot – a somewhat risky practice, one would have thought. In fact a professional drill sergeant would doubtless have a heart attack, looking at these half-trained civilians with guns. But this impression would be entirely false. These militias are the lineal descendants of the Cuban guerrillas, of the militias that fought Franco in the Spanish Civil War, of the workers´ militias that overthrew the Tsar in Russia in 1917, and if we go even further back in
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea Party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Paul Buhle? Wonderful. No surprise there, with his penchant for authentic Americanism. Another fine example of leftist incompetence. Andrew's comments are dead on the mark. - Original Message - From: Andrew Pollack acpolla...@gmail.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea Party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Apr 15, 2010, at 10:31 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote: In contrast, Code Pink -- and Kevin Zeese and Paul Buhle etc. etc. -- START by sucking up to the Tea Party (and 9/11 truth maniacs) If you start by sucking up to 9/11 false maniacs like Obama you'll end--exactly where you belong. Shane Mage The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed. Joe Stack (1956-2010) Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Science and the public
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Found on the web, and worth a read: (same applies in Britain - but, not, I thinl, in the rest of Europe) Paddy http://apling.freeservers.com Fear of Science Will Kill Us - Michael Specter, CNN, April 13, 2010. Watch video at http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/13/specter.denying.science/ American denialism threatens many areas of scientific progress, including the widespread fear of vaccines and the useless trust placed in the vast majority of dietary supplements quickly come to mind. It doesn't seem to matter how often vaccines are proved safe or supplements are shown to offer nothing of value. When people don't like facts, they ignore them. Nowhere is that unwillingness to accept the truth more evident than in the mindlessly destructive war that has been raging between the proponents of organic food and those who believe that genetically engineered products must play a role in feeding the growing population of the Earth. This is a divide that shouldn't exist. All the food we eat -- every grain of rice and kernel of corn -- has been genetically modified. None of it was here before mankind learned to cultivate crops. The question isn't whether our food has been modified, but how. I wrote Denialism because it has become increasingly clear that this struggle threatens progress for us all. Denialists replace the open-minded skepticism of science with the inflexible certainty of ideological commitment. It isn't hard to find evidence: the ruinous attempts to wish away the human impact on climate change, for example. The signature denialists of our time, of course, are those who refuse to acknowledge the indisputable facts of evolution. Nowhere has the screaming been louder, however, than in the fight over how we grow our food. If you are brave enough to set a Google Alert for the phrases genetically modified food and organic food, you will quickly see what I mean. The anxiety is certainly understandable. When it comes to food -- the way we produce it and particularly the way we consume it -- we have a lot to worry about. One third of American children are overweight or obese; for adults, the numbers are higher. Our addiction to mindless consumption has made millions sick and costs this country billions of dollars. The financial toll comes in terms of time lost at work and money spent treating and supporting people with diabetes, heart disease and many cancers, who, had they followed a better diet, would never have fallen ill. Nonetheless, better eating habits have nothing specific to do with organic food, which provides no nutritional advantage over more conventionally raised products. Opponents of genetically modified food constantly argue that it is unsafe. There has, however, never been a single documented case of a human killed by eating genetically modified food. If every American swallowed two aspirin right now, hundreds of us would die today. Does that mean we ought to ban aspirin? Of course not. It simply means that there are risks and benefits associated with everything we do and with every decision we make. When people say they prefer organic food, what they often seem to mean is they don't want their food tainted with pesticides and their meat shot full of hormones or antibiotics. Many object to the way a few companies -- Monsanto is the most famous of them -- control so many of the seeds we grow. Those are all legitimate complaints, but none of them have anything to do with science or the way we move genes around in plants to make them grow taller or withstand drought or too much sun. They are issues of politics and law. When we confuse them with issues of science, we threaten the lives of the world's poorest people. We are doing that now. By 2050, we are going to have 9 billion people to feed, a huge increase over today's 6.8 billion. It's not a figure about which there is much dispute. To feed that many will require nearly 50 percent more food than we produce now. It's not enough to simply say we waste food and consume too many calories, so that if we distributed it more intelligently everyone could eat just fine. Not in sub-Saharan Africa, where drought is nearly permanent. Many of those people subsist on cassava, the basic potato-like staple in the region. It lacks most protein, nutrients and vitamins. You cannot survive for long without them, so a team of international scientists funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is engineering vitamins and micronutrients into cassava. They are engineering success into a failed crop. It will save and prolong many lives; that is farming and genetic modification at their best. Who could be opposed to that? --- Michael Specter is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Denialism: How Irrational
Re: [Marxism] Climategate Researchers Largely Cleared
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == And we are far from knowing what causes changes in climate. In both climate and cancer, predictions are fraught with our relative ignorance. Most predictions prove false - and we only have to wait and see Paddy http://apling.freeservers.com -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+e.c.apling=btinternet@lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+e.c.apling=btinternet@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Les Schaffer Sent: 15 April 2010 9:13 PM To: e.c.apl...@btinternet.com Subject: Re: [Marxism] Climategate Researchers Largely Cleared == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 4/10/10 10:52 AM, Shawn Redden wrote: Lots of things cause cancer, Louis. In fact, it's the greatest public health crisis we face. And ironically, this one EASILY shown to be created by those who poison the biosphere. i have a colleague who is an epidemiologist and i have been working with him (writing software) on a large and long running study of a specific cancer, one of MANY epidemiology studies he has done. he tells me its virtually impossible to prove something causes a specific cancer. what he does say is that cigarette manufacturers and chemical plant operators etc can NOT prove XXX does NOT cause cancer. here are some recent comments he made: Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == ABSOLUTELY Paddy http://apling.freeservers.com -Original Message- From: marxism-bounces+e.c.apling=btinternet@lists.econ.utah.edu [mailto:marxism-bounces+e.c.apling=btinternet@lists.econ.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Jason Matthes Sent: 15 April 2010 9:58 PM To: e.c.apl...@btinternet.com Subject: Re: [Marxism] Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America There is ABSOLUTELY no chance of fascists coming to power in Britain by electoral means in the immediate future I believe it's the same in America. I think American fascism will come about by the government continually increasing their power in the name of defending freedom. Quite an interesting concept, defending freedom by taking it away. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Ixnay
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == with the Tralin-Stotsky stuff... NOW. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Ixnay
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == OK... - Original Message - From: Louis Proyect l...@panix.com To: David Schanoes sartes...@earthlink.net Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 6:42 PM Subject: [Marxism] Ixnay == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == with the Tralin-Stotsky stuff... NOW. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/sartesian%40earthlink.net Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Arizona: Community Demands Answers from Obama Administration
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == For Immediate Release Contact: Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373 Press conference and Protest Community Demands Answers from Obama Administration Thursday, April 15, 2010 2:30pm Tucson Federal Building Arizona-- In an unprecedented fashion, today more than 800 ICE agents descended on our communities across the state, spreading fear and panic. Working together with U.S. Marshals, Sheriff and other local law enforcement, they terrorized families and businesses alike. “The scene this morning on the south-side of Tucson was one of massive show of force, with dozens of agents, police vehicles, and weapons, assaulting our community in a fashion never seen before in Tucson, Arizona. This action clearly demonstrates what we have predicted, that we would all be living in a police state here in Arizona. How can the Obama administration permit these actions while espousing a commitment to ‘change’?” stated Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos. “We demand an immediate response from the President and Secretary Janet Napolitano, as this community is already scrambling from the Jim Crow-type laws coming from the extremists in the Arizona legislature.” she continued. In NYC for a series of presentations about the border and immigration, Derechos Humanos Co-Chair Isabel Garcia faced off against Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce on CNN this morning, calling on the country to begin to properly frame the issue of migration as an issue of economic and political policies, not as an issue of law enforcement or security. “We have permitted Arizona to be the engine for the creation of laws and politicians that will impact every person living in this country,” stated Garcia, “with copy-cat legislation appearing across the states.” “It is time that we stand firm with the border communities in demanding real reform, not the principles outlined by Senators Schumer and Graham,” stated Rafael Samanez of Vamos Unidos in New York City. “We can see how Arizona in particular has been used as the 'canary in the mines' in order to diminish all of our rights,” he continued, “as we can now see these policies impacting all of us across the country.” There will be a protest to follow today’s press conference, with a diverse group representing the Tucson community and our demands for answers from the Obama Administration as well as immediate halt to the criminalization of immigrant and migrant communities across the country. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == S. Artesian writes: These people are not the terrified impoverished frightened petit-bourgeoisie, caught between the rock and the hard place in the economy. These goons are an organized group of country-club thugs. Nonsense. They definitely are serving the interests of the country-club set, and the powers behind the throne who are organizing the events like cross-country bus tours may be part of that set, but the shock troops of the Tea Party are nothing of the sort. The New York Times article this morning claims that a poll says they are wealthier than the general public, but please note that that is based on a telephone poll of people in general, not on a survey of the people actually showing up at Tea Party events. And even with that claim (undocumented by any data; are they 1% wealthier or 100% wealthier? No clue), we still read in that same article: 55 percent are concerned that someone in their household will be out of a job in the next year. And more than two-thirds say the recession has been difficult or caused hardship and major life changes. That doesn't sound much like the country-club set to me. For sure the Tea Party movement doesn't include very many blacks or Latinos, which probably ensures that they are wealthier than the general public from that fact alone, but make no mistake, the majority of the shock troops are working class people being misled into acting against their own interests. Is Code Pink on the right track? I seriously doubt it. But largely that's because countering the decades-long brainwashing of these folks by FOX News and, not to give FOX too much credit, the rest of the corporate media as well, is going to take a lot more than just Code Pink trying to make nice. Eli Stephens Left I on the News http://lefti.blogspot.com _ Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_2 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Climategate Researchers Largely Cleared
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == At 6:06 PM -0400 4/15/10, Mark Lause wrote: Well, if we don't know what causes climate change... Since you assert this as truth, allow me to flip this question around: what makes you certain that carbon exploitation is the principal cause of climate change? Secondly, I'm unclear what anyone who believes your assertion as truth should DO about this horrific crisis that threatens to destroy the world. Comrade Proyect is spot on when he says our energies, concerning environmental issues, should be in offering support and solidarity to the Ecuadorian struggle against Chevron and similar campaigns. Perhaps I'm missing the connection, but I'm unclear, honestly, what this matter has to do with 'climate change'. It is, at best, a tertiary issue. what makes the na-sayers so positive that it doesn't have to do with capitalist industry? Just for the record, I have continually said that the REAL problem we ought be facing as socialists is the capitalist attack on our ecosystem - i.e. environmental justice - rather than glorified weather forecasts. I have long criticized 'climate changers' in part because the term itself is slimy and inchoate. It means exactly what anyone wants it to mean - buying new light bulbs, buying a bike, buying retrofitted windows, buying hybrid vehicles, buying garden tools, buying solar panels, buying ... buying ... buying ... Now obviously some - the Al Gores of the world - prefer it that way because it eviscerates class (and with it the notion of corporate culpability). To a lot of others, though, I just don't get the Copenhagen Club's appeal. Perhaps you can enlighten me, Comrade Lause, because the closest association I have to the term is 'underdevelopment'. Solidarity, Shawn Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Mark writes: Again, people are arbitrarily smudging people who say in the polls, for example, that they sympathize with the concerns of the tea partiers and the tea partiers themselves. Then he says: Most are politically retarded and morally blighted...to the point where rationality no longer works well. The most one can hope for is that they will see people on the Left as human beings rather than the moral equivalent of large fetuses who may be morally aborted after-the-fact... And you base this on the few people that you have personally talked with. Holy fuckin pot calling the kettle black. I am not disputing your view that most are not coherent in their politics- cut the budget but keep medicare, social security, defense spending and tax cuts- just your methodology and position of critique. Brad Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == You made a complete mosh of what I wrote. If you did this on purpose, you are dishonest. If you did it because you're having trouble with English, please get remedial help. Until then, you are a complete waste of electrons. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Imperialist hybris
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Louis Proyect escribió: http://www.marxist.com/venezuela-the-people-in-arms.htm Venezuela: The People in arms Written by Alan Woods in Caracas Thursday, 15 April 2010 Eight years ago today something occurred that has no precedent in the history of Latin America. The reactionary coup of 11 April, in which the Venezuelan oligarchy, in collaboration with the US Embassy and the CIA, overthrew the democratically elected government, was defeated by a spontaneous uprising of the masses. Alan Woods only shows how far can imperialist hybris go. The 13 April, 2002 events in Caracas have had most important precedents. One was the popular uprising of 1952 in Bolivia. During that uprising the whole old army was disbanded and a new army arose. The other one, which resembles the uprising in Caracas almost in the details, was that of the Argentinean people in 16-17 October, 1945. Woods should have the humility with which David Harvey could address an audience in Buenos Aires, starting by a mention to his speaking in English, and immediately afterwards saying that he was, at that moment and in that place, cultural imperialism. And Harvey does not claim to be a Trotskyist. Woods should have read something by Trotsky on Latin America. But of course, he is a Marxist of the master nation. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Mark makes THE critical point. Hello, Ms. Jones, I'm from the NYT and are you upset with the way the US Congress has been performing? You are? Well, can I ask you, do you think that the government has damaged the American economy and the American people by its bailout of the Wall Street investment banks? You do? And do you think, the bonuses paid out to bankers, and the salaries paid to top corporate executives have had a negative impact? You do? May I ask you, have you ever attended a rally or other event sponsored by or associated with the Tea Party movement? You haven't? Would you consider attending such an event, or picketing Barack Obama if he came to speak in your city? You wouldn't? OK, Thanks, good-bye. Johnny, write her down as being sympathetic no, make that sharing the goals of the Tea Party movement and get me Paul Buhle. . - Original Message - From: Mark Lause markala...@gmail.com Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Code Pink extends olive branch to fascist Tea party
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == As Artesian indicates with his example, most polls nowadays are about pushing to get newsworthy responses. What the poll tells me is that the left, such as it is, is simply invisible in terms of the wider circles of the discontented. And, of course, it isn't going to become more visible because people have decided to implement an orientation to undefined legions of anonymous people on somebody else's phone This is pure and simple consumerist crap. The liberals are on about this now, partly because they are trying to develop a counterposturing to the GOP's posturing. We need to stop getting sidetracked by moral suasion and the appeals to ruling class reason and morality. What did all the civil disobedience and petitions and letter writing do over the health care issue? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This, despite the fact that the majority had rather sane positions on the subject. But that majority was never mobilized. Instead of appealing to the reason and morality of the masters, we should have been establishing a more public presence with demonstrations, independent election campaigns, more vigorous activism. Above all, don't get distracted by P.T. Barnum holding a sign saying This way to the egress. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] disturbing
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This comes from the Telegraph, so most of the article can be dismissed outright. But at its core is troubling news. Yes, we've heard it all before ... unless we haven't. http://tinyurl.com/y6eztkn Fears that war between Israel and Hizbollah is 'imminent' King Abdullah of Jordan has warned the US that there were fears in Lebanon that a war between Israel and Hizbollah was imminent amid high tensions in the region. By Alex Spillius in Washington, Richard Spencer and Adrian Blomfield Published: 7:37PM BST 15 Apr 2010 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The Anatomy of Teabagging
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://theactivist.org/blog/the-anatomy-of-teabagging http://theactivist.org/blog/the-anatomy-of-teabaggingSome still-in-formation thoughts on the Tea Party Movement and fascism. (I wrote this in the presence of one of my friends who does some work with ANSWER here in DC, so feel free to ignore that one observation) Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Anatomy of Teabagging
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The observations are interesting, but the essence of the approach confounds the tea partiers as an activist force in the streets with what people are saying to the pollster. It's not the anatomy of a sheep, so to speak, but that of a picture of someone who once thought they saw a sheep ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Sudan: US backs election farce | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == By *Kerryn Williams* April 15, 2010 -- Hailed as the first “competitive”, “open”, “multi-party” elections in Sudan in 24 years, there was little free, fair or open about the national poll that began on April 11, boycotted by the major opposition parties. The holding of democratic elections was a key component of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a two-decade civil war between the Sudanese government in Khartoum — ruled by the National Congress Party (NCP, formerly the National Islamic Front) since it took power in a 1989 miliary coup — and the South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). /Al Midan/ reported that on April 12, opposition spokesperson Farooq Abu Issa told a media conference at the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) headquarters in Khartoum that the elections had become little more than “silly games”. He said opposition warnings that the elections would be fraudulent had been ignored and described the poll as a “crime against Sudan and its people” that would not help establish democracy. He said the involvement of US officials — who have defended the legitimacy of the elections — in Sudan’s domestic affairs was unacceptable. Sudanese Communist Party representative Siddiq Yusuf said the NCP had used its majority in the government to prevent reforms to democratise the electoral process, instead pushing through its harsh security measures and other undemocratic legislation. Umma Party spokesperson Mariam al Mahdi called for the elections to be annulled. Full article at http://links.org.au/node/1625 * Subscribe free to Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373 You can also follow Links on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LinksSocialism Or join the Links Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10865397643 Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] From NZ, a strange tale of Satanism, neo-Nazism, and bureaucratic stupidity
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2010/04/has-kerry-nazi-cast-spell-or-are-our.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wolves were the first communists, or why canines taught hominids how to be social
And here we see the co-evolution of gesturing. Humans have gestures, wolves have gestures, but wolves do not understand human gestures. However, dogs do. The example of the dingo is most illuminating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingo#Social_behavior Other forms of communication During observations, growling made up 65% of the observed vocalizations. It was always used in an agonistic context, as well as for dominance and reactively as a defence sound. Similar to many other domestic dogs, a reactive usage of defensive growling could only be observed rarely or not at all. Growling very often occurs in combination with other sounds, and was observed almost exclusively in swooshing noises (similar to barking). Mix-sounds, mostly growl-mixes, are mostly emitted in an agonistic context.[15] During observations in Germany, there was a sound found among Australian dingoes which the observers called Schrappen. It was only observed in an agonistic context, mostly as a defence against obtrusive pups or for defending resources. It was described as a bite intention, where the receiver is never touched or hurt. Only a silent, but significant, clashing of the teeth could be heard.[15] Aside from vocal communication, dingoes communicate like all domestic dogs via scent marking specific objects (e.g. spinifex) or places (waters, trails, hunting grounds, etc.) using chemical signals from their urine, feces, and scent glands. Males scent-mark more frequently than females, especially during the mating season. They also scent-rub whereby a dog rolls on its neck, shoulders, or back on something that is usually associated with food or the scent markings of other dogs.[4] Unlike wolves, dingoes can react to social cues and gestures from humans. [ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] On the arbitrary vs. motivated in human communication
Oops, forgot the most interesting part of the discussion, the border collies: http://www.bordercollierescue.org/advice/Content/UniCommands.html ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wolves were the first communists, or why canines taught hominids how to be social
This is an absolutely fascinating page about wolves and other wolf-like canines. What strikes me most when reading it, is that the sheer utter success of the wolves and coyotes in being top-predator in all the places that humans eventually got to. It also shows me I know very little about wolves, but they are a fascinating group of beings to co-evolve with. It seems most likely that the coy-dogs of E. US are not coyote-dog mixes but red wolf-dog mixes, although the coyote is hybridizing with red wolves. I like the story of a coyote who made a point with a dog owner: he attacked the guys shepherd and didn't kill him, but left him 'emasculated'. http://hal_macgregor.tripod.com/kennel/wolves.html CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wolves were the first communists, or why canines taught hominids how to be social
Tie these two sets of information together, and we might be able to theorize some plausible scenarios for Neanderthal extinction. When you look at Neanderthal vs. Cro Magnon, you have to ask why in particular Cro Magnon survives and carries on the human line, but Neanderthals go extinct. One expert on Neanderthals and Cro Magnons argues that Cro Magnons mastered fires, burnt woodlands (hunting in which Neanderthals were better at) which created at least pockets of plains, which were better for herds of animals to be hunted (and then later managed and hunted, and then later domesticated). This seems plausible because we know that MesoAmericans and AmerIndians did this--creating areas for larger buffalo populations. They later got the horse when the Spaniards brought them, so before this they would have had to hunt buffalos on foot with dogs. Another point: burning woodlands drives the wolves off the land (even if they adapt to prairie they lose their social cohesiveness and live in smaller numbers) but perhaps helps turn them into dogs? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal Additionally, Neanderthals evidently had little long-term planning when securing food. French caves show almost no salmon bones during Neanderthal occupancy but large numbers during Cro-Magnon occupancy. In contrast, Cro-Magnons planned for salmon runs months ahead of time, getting enough people together at just the right time and place to catch a lot of fish. Neanderthals appear to have had little to no social organization beyond the immediate family unit. Why Neanderthal psychology was different from the modern humans that they coexisted with for millennia is not known.[36] Due to the paucity of symbolism that Neanderthal artifacts show, Neanderthal language probably did not deal much with a verbal future tense, again restricting Neanderthal exploitation of resources. Cro-Magnon people had a much better standard of living than the hardscrabble existence available to Neanderthals. With better language skills and bigger social groups, a better psychological repertoire, and better planning, Cro-Magnon people, living alongside the Neanderthals on the same land, outclassed them in terms of life span, population, available spare time (as shown by Cro-Magnon art), physical health and lower rate of injury, infant mortality, comfort, quality of life, and food procurement. The advantages held by Cro-Magnon people let them by this time to thrive in worse climatic conditions than their Neanderthal counterparts. As weather worsened about 30,000 years ago, Jordan notes it would have taken only one or two thousand years of inferior Neanderthal skills to cause them to go extinct, in light of better Cro-Magnon performance in all these areas.[36] About 55,000 years ago, the weather began to fluctuate wildly from extreme cold conditions to mild cold and back in a matter of a few decades. Neanderthal bodies were well suited for survival in cold climate- their barrel chests and stocky limbs stored body heat better than the Cro-Magnons. However the rapid fluctuations of weather caused ecological changes that the Neanderthals could not adapt to. The weather changes were so rapid that within a lifetime the plants and animals that one had grown up would be replaced by completely different plants and animals. Neanderthal's ambush techniques would have failed as grasslands replaced trees. A large number of Neanderthals would have died during these fluctuations which maximized about 30,000 years ago. [102] Studies on Neanderthal body structures have shown than they needed more energy to survive than the Cro-Magnon man. Their energy needs were up to 350 calories more per day compared to the Cro-Magnon man. When food became scarce this calorie for survival difference played a major role in Neanderthal extinction. [102] Jordan states the Chatelperronian tool tradition suggests Neanderthals were making some attempts at advancement, as Chatelperronian tools are only associated with Neanderthal remains. It appears this tradition was connected to social contact with Cro-Magnons of some sort. There were some items of personal decoration found at these sites, but these are inferior to contemporary Cro-Magnon items of personal decoration and arguably were made more by imitation than by a spirit of original creativity. At the same time, Neanderthal stone tools were sometimes finished well enough to show some aesthetic sense.[36] As Jordan notes: A natural sympathy for the underdog and the disadvantaged lends a sad poignancy to the fate of the Neanderthal folk, however it came about.[3 http://www.swampfox.demon.co.uk/utlah/Articles/origins1.html Paxton then takes this theory another step forward. By using carbon dating and other anthropological techniques it is known that mankind itself was undergoing a radical evolutionary change during the same period that dogs were being domesticated. We now know that there were actually two separate bipedal ape species
[Marxism-Thaxis] A little march on Wall Street, finally
A visit at the end of the month of April would be close to May Day. CB A critical terrain of struggle http://peoplesworld.org/a-critical-terrain-of-struggle/ by: Sam Webb April 14 2010 tags: economy, banks, financial reform, labor The AFL-CIO and its new president, Richard Trumka, are going to spend a day on Wall Street at the end of this month. Trumka, along with 10,000 trade unionists and their supporters, are expected to gather in Lower Manhattan where the wheels of the financial industry turn. As you might guess, this isn't a sightseeing trip. Labor visits Wall Street in a bullish mood. It is demanding more than cosmetic changes dressed up as real reform. Don't expect President Trumka to ring the bell that begins the Stock Exchange trading day, but it is likely he will wring a few necks, in a figurative sense. Not everyone on Wall Street is planning to welcome its visitors. Kathryn S. Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, for example, said that labor's action and economic plan are unfortunate. She went on to say, This is a time when Americans should be pulling together ... Demonizing Wall Street diminishes us in the eyes of the world. Hello! Wall Street, in case you don't know, Ms. Wylde, demonized and diminished itself in the eyes of the world. There is nothing that Trumka can say that will do further damage to the Street's reputation. It has already been done and it was self-inflicted. Furthermore, in insisting that Americans should be pulling together, she badly misreads the public mood. Ordinary people could care less about making nice to the engineers of this massive crisis that has left millions without jobs, homes and income. What Americans are demanding is that these financial schemers and firms be held accountable for their misdeeds of the past and be regulated in the future. The financial manipulators should be glad that that is all that is on the people's agenda so far. They are lucky to retain their parasitic wealth, remain in charge of our financial institutions, and escape jail time for grand larceny on a scale that is unprecedented. Next time they won't be so fortunate. Be that as it may, the immediate point of contention is financial regulation - will it be light or tough? Should hedge and private equity funds be regulated? Should the derivative market be tightly policed and transparent? Should capital requirements be increased to cut down exposure to risk? Should taxpayers' money bail out mega-banks and their shareholders and bondholders? Should the oversight power of the Federal Reserve be expanded? Should a consumer financial protection agency be independent? Should the ratings agencies be overhauled? Not surprisingly, the financial institutions prefer light regulation, while the coalition opposing Wall Street, while not completely of one mind, favors stronger regulation. In a larger sense, from the standpoint of the top layers of financial institutions - Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo - the current legislative struggle over financial regulation is but one battle, although a crucial one, in an ongoing struggle to fully restore themselves to the preeminent position in the global economy that they occupied for the past three decades. They like being captain of the ship, and the logic of the capitalism (its unending and competitive chase for more and more profits) pressures them in this direction too. After sitting at the pinnacle of power, seeing their wealth exponentially multiply, and shaping the dynamics and contours of the world economy, they are not about to yield, or even slightly lessen, their power and privileged position without a fight. Call the financial czars whatever you like, but they are well aware of their class interests. What is more, they are mindful of the fact that the New Deal regulations hemmed them in for roughly four decades. Admittedly none of these fat cats starved, but during that period they did not enjoy the nearly unchallenged political and economic sway that they were able to grab in the Reagan-Clinton-Bush era. Thus the stakes are high. Whatever the outcome of the legislative fight over financial reform, the struggle to curb and eventually eliminate the power of finance capital will go on, and its outcome will have a major impact on the politics and economics of our nation. If finance capital has its way, the prospects of working people are bleak - not to mention the probability of another deep crisis increases. If, on the other hand, the power of finance capital is progressively curbed in the course of successive and contentious struggles, the future of the multi-racial working class and its allies is far brighter. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] End game: Part 4 on the Communist Internationals (UAW unions in real time)
End game The political battles waged by Marx and Engels to give the First International an outlook and program independent of all ideology of the propertied classes has been outlined and preserved as part of the Soviet Legacy in Marx and the Trade Unions. Marx and the Trade Unions, by A. Lozovsky (pseudo, Dridzo, Solomon Abranovich) issued by International Publishers dated March 14, 1933 Moscow, captures every fundamental political struggle Marx conducted in the First International. It has been more than twenty years since I have had the occasion and need to restudy this wonderful text. Issued under the rising curve of Soviet power, this text contains all the historical and theoretical errors of the period in which it was issued. This period can be called the era of Marxism-Leninism. A historical era is historical precisely because no one in the era can discern their error. This is so because the social process has not attained a degree of development to bring froth the new distinct features of the entire process. Specifically, the means of production does not move in contradiction with the relations of production but rather antagonism. The contradiction that is means of production and relations of production is the internal drive and impulse establishing the self movement of society as development of the mode of production. The mode of production is driven through successive quantitative boundaries of development. The quality that is being developed quantitatively was industrialism. Today, the industrial revolution has given way to the post industrial revolution and a new quality of means of production. The appearance of this new quality of productive forces brings to antagonism - not contradiction, the society founded on industrialism. The historical error is the conception of the class struggle of the proletariat as contradiction. The bourgeoisie and proletariat are birthed in contradiction as the unity of a production relations or social relations of production. These new classes - bourgeoisie and proletariat, are simultaneously birthed in antagonism with feudalism and all the old classes (old production relations) marking feudalism as distinct property relation or the landed property relations, or a specific social system (mode of production). Under the feudal system the serf could not overthrow the nobility because together them constituted the building blocks of the mode of production. What was and is required to displace a mode of production, is a qualitative development of means of production, creating new classes and new relations of production. Capitalist/industrial society, as a mode of production is no different in its historical evolution as a mode of production. During the various boundaries of development of the industrial system and capitalism the proletariat at the front of the curve of development did not and could not overthrow capital in the advanced countries until the means of production began evolution in antagonism with the relations of production. At the back of the curve of industrial development it was possible to impose a communist regime on society during the leap from agriculture to industry. Such was the case with the Russian October Revolution. This distinct law was not formulated and articulated until the mid and late 1980’s by a small section of the American communist movement. Reality Check The decay of industrial unionism is no where more striking than in the state of Michigan and the historic Detroit nexus of automotive production. The practical activity of the proletarian movement in America demanded a revisiting of this text. The post industrial revolution is the environment and context for the decay of industrial trade unionism in the same way that the rising industrial revolution was the context for the decay of craft unionism as the cutting edge of the early trade union movement. What is different today is that the struggle of the workers is spontaneously leaping outside the boundary of the trade union movement. A glance at the membership numbers of the auto workers union is instructive. (Note: These figures are for total membership rather than auto workers only. Air plane workers and agricultural implement workers are included in the early years. After the 1980 service workers are included. A real break down of all the numbers and category of workers would be revealing. At this point I do not have such information. There are roughly 90 - 100, 000 active UAW auto workers. And falling.) UAW Average Annual Dues Paying Membership 1936 through 2008 1936 27,058 1976 1,358,364 1937 231,8941977 1,440,988 1938 144,097 1978 1,499,425 1939 155,845 1979 1,527,858 1940 246,038 1980
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Wolves were the first communists, or why canines taught hominids how to be social
On 4/14/10, Carrol Cox cb...@ilstu.edu wrote: I like a speculation by the aughor of The Monkey in the Mirror (I forget his name just now) as to the origin of language. First, he assumes (which seems right to me) that the cpacity for language was a spandrel, not a trait in itself seleced for. Then he tells the story of a tropp of monkeys who lived by a beach, most of their food was sandy. Some infants begin washing it in the surf, and after a time the whole monkey tribe was washing their food. It was a pure invention rather than an evolved trait, and it was an invention of the young. Then he notes that Neanderthals and humans shared the earth for about 60k years, but suddenly in Europe, over a 5k period, the Neanderthals disappeared 40k years ago: at the same time that symbolic as well as playful cave paintings appeared. His sdpeculation: language was invented by children; probably invented several times in different places before at some point it caught on among adults, at which point it would have become species-wide almost instantly. The idea of language as an invention emerging from play (which is a kind of ritual) makes a lot of sense. For the most part language would have been no selective advantage, and perhaps a handicap, for ealry paleolithic life. They only needed signals, not symbols. (We are still apt to use signals rather than symbols or discourse in emergency situations.) And there have been reports of children ignored by the adults developing their own language among themselves: it's a real possibility. Carrol ^^^ CB: My speculative story is that language and symboling was invented by mothers to communicate with their children, toys and such. On Carrol's discussion of the relationship of language to human adaptation and natural selective advantage, I'd say that language , culture and symbolling were _the_ major adaptive advantage for the human species _especially_ in its earliest years. Language may have arisen as a spandrel, but it very early on became selected for, i.e. gave enormous adaptive advantage over those species in a similar niche who did not have language. On the idea that the early humans only needed signs and in emergencies, their behavior in non-emergency and pre-emergency situations are just as important to adaptation and selective advantage as behavior in emergencies. Emergencies would be largely avoiding falling prey to predators. But in the role of predator-hunter and food gatherer, hunter-gatherer-forager, planning is critical, not reaction to ermergencies. And language would give great advantage in planning. Overall, all human labor including in that of the earliest humans is enhanced enormously by its _social_ nature. Language, myths, stories about ancestors hunting and gathering expands this social nature back generations. A hunting and gathering group of humans has its ancestors hunting and gathering with them because of language, myth, kinship systems, and this makes it highly social. The great sociality is an enormous adaptive advantage compared to species that do not have this sociality. The great enhancement of sociality that language and culture give bestows and enormous adaptive advantage on humans, from the beginning of the species. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Part 1 on the Communist Internationals
In a message dated 4/12/2010 5:53:09 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, _editor_revdem@ indiatimes. com_ (_mailto:editor_ (mailto:editor) _ _rev...@indiatime_ (mailto:rev...@indiatime) s.com) writes: Speech by Mátyás Rákosi, General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party at the Meeting of the Central Committee, 17 May 1946 Date: 05/17/1946 Source: Archives of the Institute for Political History (AIPH), Budapest, 274. f. 2/34 Description: Speech by Mátyás Rákosi, General Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party at the Meeting of the Central Committee, 17 May 1946. “When we arranged the third International, I remember the trouble we went to show that we wanted a centralized, strong International with executive powers, similar to how Marx imagined the International in 1864, and not just the sorting office and so on that the second International became before the First World War. And this was the catastrophe of the third International. Because instead of every country looking separately for the conditions for revolution, and not trying the impossible task of centralizing and directing the whole movement, it directed it from the center. The result was that the parties gave up independent politics, continually looked in the direction of the center, and waited for its instructions. This view led the comrades to announce the discontinuation of the third International. And afterwards, now that the International has been discontinued, the parties are coming forth one after the other to say how the existence of the International limited their progress, e.g. most recently we heard from our Yugoslav comrades how much such a central institution held them back, which, unaware of local conditions, sometimes demanded quite the opposite of what they needed. So such an International can no longer be established. On the contrary, the International should be such that it does not hinder the progress of individual parties, that it provides a means for individual parties to execute the tasks leading to the liberation of the proletariat, bearing local circumstances in mind. I should immediately say that as far as this is concerned, the new International cannot be compared to the previous ones. This will not be an organizing body; its task will be to compose, to help in making objections, to communicate the good or bad experiences of one country's communist party to that of another country, that they should learn from their neighbors' experiences and losses. This will undoubtedly be very useful, as not just us, but communist parties the world over are beginning to feel that without the exchange of experiences and objections they cannot produce adequate plans on international questions.” Comment 64 years after Rakosi speech for the formation of a new Communist International, one “unrepentant Marxist” and moderator of Marxism List echo’s the same sentiment in a lengthy six part series on the Four Communists Internationals. (quote) “In this, the third installment of a series of articles on attempts to build workers or socialist internationals, I am going to discuss the Comintern but within a narrow historical and geographical framework, namely the German revolution of the early 1920s. It will be my goal, as it was in an article written about 10 years ago titled The Comintern and German Communism, to debunk the notion of a wise and efficacious Comintern. As opposed to mainstream Trotskyist opinion, I do not view the Comintern prior to Stalin’s rise to power as a model to emulate. Looking back in particular at the role of Lenin and Trotsky, not to speak of outright rascals like Karl Radek and Bela Kun, the only conclusion that sensible people can be left with is that the German Communist Party would have been much better off if the Comintern had simply left it alone. (end quote) A Marxist unraveling of any social process involves a couple of things, namely approach and method. Although approach and method of inquiry becomes a uniform outlook for Marxists, the young comrades familiarizing themselves with Marx method are to understand that it is obligatory to always place things in their environment and context. Before attempting to capture the dialectic of the self movement of a thing, anything, the environment which is acting upon the context of class struggle, organization and the individual has to be described because it is the environment and its intimate interactive connection with living processes that sets the condition for development, change and the leap from one qualitative stage to the next. What is fundamental in the environment that everyone loves to call “the class struggle” is the material power of productive forces and their ceaseless changes. By productive forces is meant “means of production” + human beings. “Means of production” are in turn “productive forces
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Praxis interpreters of Marxism
I certainly quote all those often. Charles On 4/14/10, Ralph Dumain rdum...@autodidactproject.org wrote: I'm in a rush right now, but the main inspirations for my perspective come from: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htmIntroduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, February, 1844. Thesis 3 of http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htmTheses on Feuerbach, 1845 http://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/marxsci1.htmlPrivate Property and Communism from the Economic-Philosophical Manuscriptshttp://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/marxsci1.html of Karl Marx (1844) Marx of course made key statements on praxis from the doctoral dissertation Epicurean notebooks of 1841 through The German Ideology and Theses on Feuerbach (1945). At 01:57 PM 4/14/2010, c b wrote: On 4/14/10, Ralph Dumain rdum...@autodidactproject.org wrote: Syntactic ambiguity or ineptitude on my part. I meant: . . . nor is attempting to deny Marx's materialism necessary in order to develop the concept of praxis. ^^^ CB: Yes. Do you derive praxis from Marx's phrase practical-critical activity in the first Thesis on Feuerbach ? The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism that of Feuerbach included is that the thing, reality, sensuousness, is conceived only in the form of the object or of contemplation, but not as sensuous human activity, practice, not subjectively. Hence, in contradistinction to materialism, the active side was developed abstractly by idealism which, of course, does not know real, sensuous activity as such. Feuerbach wants sensuous objects, really distinct from the thought objects, but he does not conceive human activity itself as objective activity. Hence, in The Essence of Christianity, he regards the theoretical attitude as the only genuinely human attitude, while practice is conceived and fixed only in its dirty-judaical manifestation. Hence he does not grasp the significance of “revolutionary”, of “practical-critical”, activity. ^^^ At 01:40 PM 4/14/2010, c b wrote: It's not necessary to develop the concept of praxis ? On 4/14/10, Ralph Dumain rdum...@autodidactproject.org wrote: Here is where I would agree with Hillel-Rubin as against Robinson, Dunayevskaya, and many others. Trying to play off Marx's advocacy of naturalism as a transcendence of both idealism and materialism is the bogus ploy here. But note please that praxis philosophers do not all go for this gambit, nor is it necessary to develop the concept of praxis. See also my review: http://www.autodidactproject.org/my/ruben-dh-2.htmlReview of David-Hillel Rubin, http://www.autodidactproject.org/my/ruben-dh-2.htmlMarxism and Materialism: A Study in Marxist Theory of Knowledge ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Praxis interpreters of Marxism
But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. -- Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right To have one basis for life and another for science is apriori a lie. -- Private Property and Communism from the Economic-Philosophical Manuscripts of Karl Marx (1844) At 09:20 AM 4/15/2010, c b wrote: I certainly quote all those often. Charles On 4/14/10, Ralph Dumain rdum...@autodidactproject.org wrote: I'm in a rush right now, but the main inspirations for my perspective come from: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htmIntroduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right, in Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, February, 1844. Thesis 3 of http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htmTheses on Feuerbach, 1845 http://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/marxsci1.htmlPrivate Property and Communism from the Economic-Philosophical Manuscriptshttp://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/marxsci1.html of Karl Marx (1844) Marx of course made key statements on praxis from the doctoral dissertation Epicurean notebooks of 1841 through The German Ideology and Theses on Feuerbach (1945). ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Guy Robinson: blog (4)
There is at least one surviving blog by Guy Robinson: Guy's Philosophical Nuggets http://dalkeyguy.blogspot.com/ Among other things, his correspondence with Thomas Kuhn can be found here. As is usual for all reactionary philosophies, Robinson's bugbear is Descartes and the Enlightenment. For an advocate of dialectics, there is no dialectical thinking here. See Robinson's first post: http://dalkeyguy.blogspot.com/2007/11/questioning-questions-1-we-need-to-ask.htmlQuestioning the Qestions Now look at this: http://dalkeyguy.blogspot.com/2007/12/reconstructing-science.htmlReconstructing Science Here, in lukewarm support for Meera Nanda's hardcore anti-pomo anti-subjectivist approach to science, Robinson reveals his philosophical bankruptcy. Yet at the same time we can find deeply problematic Galileo's image of 'The Book of Nature' in which the sciences are already 'written in mathematical symbols'. Equally problematic is the picture of scientific progress as the approach to some ultimate and final truth. That view of a truth standing above and outside of all of humanity, human interests, human practices and human languages has a pretty clearly theological character that ought to ring some alarm bells amongst Marxists. It is not that we have to find some via media between the 'realist' and the 'anti-realist'. We have to see that both positions are incoherent and unintelligible. Wrong! It is neither Marxist nor helpful to picture scientific progress in the way Meera Nanda wants to, as 'increase in truthfulness', that is, as an approach to to some (presumably unattainable) ideal, an 'ultimate truth'. I have criticized this 'approach' model of progress elsewhere (also in Philosophy and Mystification - ch.11, 'On Misunderstanding Science'). Here I will say only that it is both undialectical and un-Marxist, and that we can make sense neither of the ideal nor of the notion of approaching it. (It has its political counterpart in the utopian socialisms that were roundly and rightly criticized by Marx and Engels.) Drivel! You can read the rest of Robinson's amalgam of sense and nonsense for yourself. But this can serve as evidence of the worthlessness of Wittgensteinian Marxism. Scientific Realism and the correspondence theory of truth are correct; their opposites are wrong. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
