Re: [Marxism] Iran and "anti-imperialism"

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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And as a matter of fact ANSWER actually had solidarity protests *for
the *Islamic
Republic and MRZine continually publishes propaganda from that regime.  Bad
left politics gets a little worse than abstentionism.

On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 6:14 PM, S. Artesian wrote:


> abstentionism, which pretends to take no sides, is
> actually taking a side, the side of the Iranian government, the side of the
> status quo, the side of the anti-socialists who are against the fundamental
> needs of socialism for freedom of speech, assembly, association.
>
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Super profits

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Capital Vol. 3, I'll pull the quote after the game for you.


On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Shane Hopkinson wrote:

>
> So this got me thinking about it. Where does this term come from in the
> Marxist vocabulary? Is it from Lenin's 'Imperialism'  or is it just a term
> we use more loosely to mean 'excess' profits rather than being part of the
> technical vocabulary.
 >

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Re: [Marxism] Iran and "anti-imperialism"

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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The choice doesn't lie between B2 bombers and the Islamic Republic.  It's
precisely your stance on the democratic movement in Iran that is
chauvinist--the belief that the Iranian people aren't capable of having a
rights or workers' movement without imperialist subversion--and not Dan's.

On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 8:31 PM, Mikhail Rodsky
wrote:

>
> Because ameriKKKa bombing them would work so much better, right?
>
> Typical chauvinism.
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] The FBI knocked on my door

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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This.

On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 12:02 PM, S. Artesian  wrote:

> Got tell you, I think she's a jerk.


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Re: [Marxism] The FBI knocked on my door

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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I don't see how that's possible since it's not his video, worked
perfectly fine on my end.

On Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 12:49 PM, Bill O'Connor  wrote:

>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fct4LIODoM
>
> Another private one, Louis.


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Re: [Marxism] Is Imperialism a different mode of production?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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I have to go back and read through this discussion, but I have to add
to this point.  Lenin's theory as the locus classicus for dependency
theory drivel left a very poor legacy and it wasn't just the failure
to predict future developments, the period Lenin was writing about,
the "monopolization" era between 1870-1914, featured tremendous
growth, advances in living standards, agriculture and technological
development. So much for that stage of capitalism being reactionary
and decadent.  Lenin read too much Hobson and his theories on
under-consumption were totally disproved by post-war capitalism when
capital was able to tremendously increase the amount of surplus it was
absorbing internally.

On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 6:59 PM, S. Artesian  wrote:

> And one more anyway-- Lou's piece on Argentina is very informative, and it
> goes a long way in showing how weak, uneven, and plain old wrong Lenin's
> take on imperialism is


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Re: [Marxism] IDF faked photos

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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The photographic evidence is of course absurd, but they aren't fake
(though I chose to run with the story on The Activist).  You can tell
by the dates on the image tags that the cameras just weren't
configured with the correct time and date settings.  The activists
aren't denying that there weren't small knives, night vision, etc. on
the boat.

On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 11:12 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:
>
> http://ibnkafkasobiterdicta.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/gaza-flotilla-how-israels-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-fakes-photos-of-seized-weapons/


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Re: [Marxism] Lenin's Tomb on the British vote

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Well, here is the question that divides a lot of the British far-left:
how do you "united the Left?"  Do you focus on building social
movements from below and expect a new formation to come out that that
new terrain over time (or for activists to flood to one of the
existing organizations) or is the task at the moment the a new, united
organization of revolutionary socialists and politically advanced
workers as a prerequisite to meaningful political action (preventing
the futile duplication of efforts and the alphabet soup of sects on
the radical left)?  From the standpoint of an activist in the States,
I'd say that this question is pretty damn relevant for us as well.

On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 9:08 PM, Gary MacLennan
 wrote:
>
> What will be most likely to increase our chances of victory? I don't live in
> the UK so what I say here is more than somewhat gratuitous.  But for a start
> I would try once more to unite the Left, and I say that with a good deal of
> knowledge of what that Herculean task would entail.  But if we could only
> find a way to rediscover the success of the 1930s Popular Front without the
> Stalinism, we might be in with a very real chance.


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Re: [Marxism] New Labour

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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I'd like to hear Brad's (and I guess, Milliband and Panitch's) version
of reality...  despite New Labour's best efforts Labour remains a
party of the working class and not a social liberal party like the
Democratic Party in the US.  The core voting base of the party remains
the urban working class (and their activists are rooted in the working
class).  The same for their finances: though after 1997 they had the
financial backing of some segments of capital-- particularly finance
capital--- Labour is still dependent on trade unions to stay afloat.
The "bourgeois workers party" is riddled with contradictions and I
suppose its easier to just dismiss all of them with sweeping
statements and proclamations of revolutionary purity: "all parties
that seek to manage the capitalist state are parties of capital."

On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 2:29 PM, brad  wrote:

>
> Richard wrote:
>>in the *last analysis* the relationship
> between the Labour Party constitutes an organic connection between party
> and class.  That this is subject to secular deterioration and may
> finally result in a complete severance doesn't alter the fact that in
> the present Labour is a party /of /the working class, based /in/ the
> working class.
> -
> I thought this sort of fantasy was displaced long ago by Milliband and 
> Panitch.


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Re: [Marxism] Lenin's Tomb on the British vote

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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The standpoint that Richard is writing from seems to be 1) what option would
cause the least distress for British workers and 2) how to organize the
protest movement against cut backs, I don't see how either of these
represent an endorsement of the status quo.

On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 5:09 PM, S. Artesian  wrote:

Come on comrade, we are not talking about "acceptance" of links, we are
> talking about reproducing the subjugation of the British working class to
> British capital through the mechanism, the mediation, of the Labor Party.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Lenin's Tomb on the British vote

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do
not make it under self-selected circumstances accepting the organic
links that the Labour Party has to the British working class and the fact
that they are the lesser evil for British workers is empirical fact.

On Sun, May 9, 2010 at 3:38 PM, S. Artesian  wrote:

>
> Geez, that's disappointing.  When push comes to shove, it appears comrade
> Seymour can do no better than run back into Labor's arms.
>
> I wish I could say "unbelievable,"  but it's all too believable.
>
> Exactly how does even a mercilessly critical support of a Lib-Lab coalition
> differ from a popular front?
>
> Guess what, only in that it would be less left-wing; less popular, and more
>  of a front.

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Re: [Marxism] My pick for best movie of 2010 and I have not even seen it!

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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And so the timeless battle between the ironic and the literal mind rages
on...

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 2:10 PM,  wrote:

>  Why read something or see something
> before  you comment on it?
> 
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] On the British election - anything?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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They are encouraging votes, along with the rest of the British left, for
Labour candidates running on a "no cuts, withdrawal" platform.  Other Labour
candidates are getting challenged by TUSC / Respect... the point is to break
people from Labourism, if not completely from Labour in the short-term.

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 2:30 PM, Dan Russell wrote:

> ==
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> ==
>
>
> Vote Labour? What about TSUC/Respect?
> 
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>

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Re: [Marxism] Christopher Hitchens -- An 'Expert' on George Orwell

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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  I remember asking a teacher whether Old Major was Lenin or Marx in
the 8th grade in a not-that-extraordinary public school. Her reply was
that he was a amagalmation of the two. I love how Hitchens thinks he's
breaking some sort of new ground here

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 18, 2010, at 8:37 AM, Jeffrey Thomas Piercy 
wrote:

> ==
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> ==
>
>
> Funny, I always thought that everyone agreed that Old Major
> represented
> both Marx and Lenin. Isn't that what you guys assumed?
>


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[Marxism] The Anatomy of Teabagging

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/the-anatomy-of-teabagging

Some
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)

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Re: [Marxism] An interesting development

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Given that this is an era when even the "real" labor parties of the
world Labour in the UK, the SPD in Germany--- are at best "bourgeois
workers parties" (to use Lenin's parlance) with operative social liberal
politics, one has to question what the point of building a party of this
nature would be.  If the social movements were strong enough to allow for a
social democratic (labor) party to succeed within our SMPD,
Presidential-election system, the neoliberals wouldn't have control of the
Democratic Party to begin with.  Not that even that would make tremendous
difference. I do recognize what a left-of-center national labor party would
mean in the context of American history, but if you build a new party to
manage the capitalist state and you get a capitalist party.  Looking across
the pond at the Labour party, I'm not all that envious.  Looking at the NPA
in France or the Left Bloc in Portugal is a bit more heartening.  The
difference being that these organizations
are explicitly anti-capitalist opposition movements

Also as Doug (Henwood) mentions:

"A NC friend in the know says that, sadly, there may not be much here. The
guy behind the move is Dana Cope, director of the State Employees Assoc. of
North Carolina, who's been steadily drifting to the right. Most recently, he
supported an effort by affluent white families and public school
privatization types to eliminate a school diversity policy in Wake County.
(For more, see .) It's not clear that
national SEIU is putting anything into this - which is important, because NC
has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the U.S. You'd need
something like 70,000 sigs to get on the ballot, which isn't going to happen
without a major, well-funded effort."

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 12:10 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ==
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> ==
>
>
> (I trust the SEIU bureaucracy as far as I can throw it, but this
> is still notable.)
>

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Re: [Marxism] Has John Rees's crew

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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If by the "purity of our ideals" you mean socialism and if by "our actual
impotence" you mean the lack of socialism in the world, then yes, it's a
problem we're all well aware of.

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 1:03 PM, Vladimiro Giacche' wrote:

>
> I'm afraid it's hard to find any socialist society in the world on this
> basis.
> In the past, in the present as well as in the future.
> Sometimes I'm inclined to think that the purity of our ideals is a proxy of
> our actual impotence...
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Has John Rees's crew been reading the Unrepentant Marxist?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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My real bone of contention with the SWP isn't the substance of its politics,
but rather how they pursue those politics Engaging in valuable work from
below in social movements and in "united fronts," but never really broaching
idea of the unity of Marxists, as Marxists, in a Marxist party that would
allow for permanent factions and freedom of discussion and debate and form
the social base for a rejuvenated left.  I remember during my first week of
my first semester at college when I went to an anti-war rally and
was bombarded with Socialist Workers, Revolution! newspapers, even a
Workers' Vanguard or two, the PSL's paper, etc and I had no idea what to
make of all these left-sects even though I knew my politics were vaguely
socialist and I was familiar with the figure of Leon Trotsky (background I
doubt most people have).  What I see (from afar mind you) are a bunch of
groups duplicating each others efforts, a bunch of competiting sects and no
viable revolutionary left.  Why couldn't SPEW, the SPW and the smaller
groupings like the CPGB and Permanent Revolution be in the same party?
 Given freedom of discussion, I have no doubt that a principled line will
win out.  I guess this is the definition of a liquidationist stance, but is
the alternative for groups like the SPW just hovering around the 5, 6
thousand mark until objective conditions allow for an explosion in their
ranks?

On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Richard Seymour <
leninstombb...@googlemail.com> wrote:

>
> Well, Kevin Murphy is a scholar who has worked hard to arrive at his
> understanding of Stalinism, not least with his /Revolution and
> Counterrevolution: Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory/.  I don't
> think him at all batty, regardless of how uncivil he might have been to
> you in the past.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Has John Rees's crew been reading the Unrepentant Marxist?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Not your most original contribution, but it fits quite well with their "hide
behind front groups" and "con the working class towards socialism down the
road with transitional demands" approach to politics.

On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 6:06 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

>  From Rees's "How to start a new left wing group: the rules":
>
> Avoid the words socialist, communist, Marxist, workers and Party when
> coining your group's name. It is the 21st century.
>
> full:
>
> http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/blogs/66-luna17-activist/4573-how-to-start-a-new-left-wing-group-the-rules
>

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[Marxism] my review of Robert Fitch's Solidarity for Sale

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://platypus1917.org/2010/04/08/book-review-robert-fitch-solidarity-for-sale-how-corruption-destroyed-the-labor-movement-and-undermined-america’s-promise/

*ONE HAS TO ADMIRE THEIR PERSISTENCE.* *Labor Notes, *the flagship journal
of the domestic labor Left, professes itself to be “the voice of union
activists who want to put the movement back into the labor
movement.”Though
stylistically about as riveting as the phonebook, for more than three
difficult decades *Labor Notes* has critically observed and recorded
organized labor’s endemic corruption, democratic shortcomings, and gross
ineptitude in organizing workers in the private sector, where today only 7.2
percent of Americans are unionized. In a typically journalistic manner, most
of these problems are blamed on the perfidy of individuals: union staffers
and leaders insufficiently committed to class solidarity and grassroots
participation. Similarly, the striking decline in union strength is
attributed to deindustrialization and the hypermobility of global capital in
the neoliberal age. What is needed, according to this standard *Labor
Notes* narrative,
is new currents within the labor movement to bring to power more dynamic
actors capable of meeting the challenges of the new century. In his new
book *Solidarity for
Sale*
longtime
labor activist Robert Fitch  begs to
differ.

“Corruption,” Fitch argues, “flows from the retarded development of American
unions, which still haven’t broken out of nineteenth-century models of labor
organization” (ix). Modern labor’s rot began at its genesis, Fitch claims.
It derives from the exclusionary craft unionism initiated by the American
Federation of Labor (AFL). A century ago unskilled workers, minorities, and
women were willfully neglected, while mainstream unions opposed even the
most rudimentary social democratic legislation to benefit the wider working
class. The famous AFL president Samuel Gompers even opposed eight-hour
workday legislation on ideological grounds, differentiating the AFL from
European unions that he saw as “espousing an effeminate social welfare
philosophy as well as a primitive egalitarianism” (40). The AFL was
concerned with wages. The mixture of this self-interested “business
unionism” and the conditions in certain sectors of the economy like the
textile industry, where craft unions predominated and employers were
numerically small enough to be cajoled, facilitated the rise of job-control
unionism. This rendered workers subservient to union officials doling out
jobs, which in turn reinforced an insular culture of loyalty predicated upon
fear rather than solidarity. Though defended by many progressives, Fitch
sees this uniquely American development as noxious, making domestic unions
highly susceptible to penetration by organized crime.

Stretches of Fitch’s account read like a crime-noir novel. Questioning the
founding narrative of big labor, a tale that conveniently begins with the
struggle for the eight-hour day and ends with the New Deal, Fitch airs dirty
laundry with the cheek of a muckraking journalist. While such tales of the
corruption and mob-dealings of figures like Sam Parks, Cornelius “Con”
Shea
, Jimmy Hoffa , and Ron
Carey are
not entirely ignored by other members of the labor left, they are typically
consigned to the realm of anecdotal gossip. In Fitch’s narrative, these are
not just the failings of unsavory individuals, but of structurally
compromised institutions.

[]

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Re: [Marxism] Venezuela: Key socialist leader resigns

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Largely agreed on both accounts.  Morales and Chavez are left-nationalists
and are somewhat inchoately offering an alternative to neoliberalism.  I
don't see them as Bonapartist derailers of a revolutionary process like some
on the far left.  A 'left-communist' perspective, but well worth reading:
http://thecommune.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/chavismo.pdf

On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 4:58 PM, Dan  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> I hesitate to give my views on Chavez and Castro. I would prefer to
> tip-toe round such sleeping dogs, lest they wake and start barking.
> I know the moderator has been more than patient with my eccentricities,
> and I can guess that his own leanings are quite different from mine.
> However, I would not like to be kicked out because of my opinions on a
> topic that really concerns only Cuban and Venezuelan workers themselves,
> and not some outsider.
>

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Re: [Marxism] interview with ISO member in haiti

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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And in their view the Cuban system is a bastardization of the word
"socialism" and though it deserves defense from US imperialism, like any
other, it isn't a "worker's state".  The ISO's stance against what
they perceive as "state capitalism" is them "telling the truth about Cuba"
from their perspective.

On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 8:23 PM, Eli Stephens wrote:


> In short, telling the truth about Cuba is defending Cuba and the Cuban
> revolution and the Cuban people from imperialism.
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] The awful truth about Social Democracy

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Social democrats simply can't operate like they were able to during the
'golden age' of capitalism... even if they *wanted to*, even if *"forced"* by
a militant mass movement.  Objective conditions have drastically changed
since the early 70s.

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 3:31 PM, Dan  wrote:

Social Democrats NEVER make good on their electoral promises unless they
> are prompted to do so FROM BELLOW.
>

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Re: [Marxism] A Fake Fight Over Fake Health Care Reform

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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A young British socialist's take on this very question:
http://theactivist.org/blog/copenhagen-protesters-the-media-and-capital .
 There is one problematic part towards the end, but it's an interesting
assessment.

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 3:40 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

The inability of the ruling class in the USA to act on its *long
> term* interests is interesting. Clearly, the damage to the
> environment threatens the ability of the capitalist system to
> reproduce itself but nothing seems to get done to fix the
> problems.

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Re: [Marxism] How US "far left" went off rails on health care

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Some thoughts on a way out of the current impasse (got reprinted by a few
liberal pubs like Commondreams :
http://theactivist.org/blog/a-cloward-piven-strategy-for-single-payer

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Re: [Marxism] I miss Peter Camejo

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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What's the deal with is autobiography?  I thought he had most of the
manuscript for one done and it was awaiting publication, or did I make of
that up?

On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> http://rustbeltradical.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/i-miss-peter-camejo/
>
> 
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[Marxism] on the French Regional Elections

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/on-the-french-regional-elections

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Re: [Marxism] Results for French regional elections

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Some things are slightly off, the FG polled around 5.8 percent, while the
NPA got almost 2.5.  The SP barely got to 29 percent and the Greens' got
12.19 not 13 percent.  http://elections.interieur.gouv.fr/

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:33 PM, David Thorstad  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
>
> http://jimjay.blogspot.com/2010/03/french-regional-elections-see-center.html
>
>
>
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Has Hezbollah shifted left?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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From* Mehdi Kia, cut and paste excuse the formatting:*

There is no doubt that on the international scene Hezbollah has allied
itself with progressive forces (as has the Iranian regime). But to call it
anti-imperialist is to misunderstand what social forces can be truly
anti-imperialist. It is undoubtedly true that Hezbollah provides social
services and security for the Shia poor. But then so do the drug gangs
running the flavelas of Brazil, to name but one.

What I think is missing in this, and many articles relating to the Shia
Islamist movement, is the central role expediency plays in Shia ideology.
This is critical for a minority religion trying to survive in the midst of
Sunni dominance over the centuries. Khomeini crystallised it in his addition
to the constitution of the Islamic Republic when he introduced the concept
of *velayate motlaqeh faqih*, which proclaimed that the supreme leader can
do anything, and bring in any laws, to strengthen “the Islamic government” -
even including the suspension of the fundamentals of religion, such as the
daily prayer, fasting, etc.

In other words what you say and who you ally with should only have one
long-term aim - to consolidate the rule of Islam. It is in this light that
we have to accept Khomeini’s pronouncement in Paris that in the
post-revolutionary regime communists would be free to organise and that the
choice of female attire would be entirely voluntary - only to retract the
latter within three months and the former once the Tudeh had served their
purpose in 1983. This is how we should view Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah’s ‘progressive’ pronouncements.

At its base, the Hezbollah is a top-down, totalitarian movement that splits
the working class of Lebanon along Shia, Sunni and Christian (not to speak
of male-female) lines. Such an organisation is not in any sense
anti-imperialist. Indeed in the long run it will help imperialist domination
on the region - as the Islamic regime has done.

This should not stop us supporting its legitimate opposition to Israeli rule
in the region. But let us spread no illusions over its true historic role -
which is to slow down progress, not aid it.

On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 2:19 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

In his last will and testament in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini
> included a scathing attack on communism: "Islam differs sharply
> from communism. Whereas we respect private property, communism
> advocates the sharing of all things -- including wives and
> homosexuals." [19] In Tehran, communists and other political
> dissidents are summarily executed, and outed homosexuals publicly
> hanged. In Beirut, they walk freely and Hezbollah does not hunt
> them down.  Will Hezbollah ever criticize or break with the
> Islamic Republic and its founder?
>
> full: http://www.zcommunications.org/whither-hezbollah-by-assaf-kfoury
>

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Re: [Marxism] Perry Anderson idiocy on China

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Yes, it's the piece in question.  Anderson's being described with Gramsci's
couplet (well not Gramsci's, but since everyone seems to think
he originated it)

On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 3:21 AM, Einde O'Callaghan wrote:

>
> Ehhhm - in case you didn't notice the piece posted by Louis is actually
> by the very same Gilbert Achcar.
>
> Einde O'Callaghan
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Perry Anderson idiocy on China

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Instrumentalists?  Engels?

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 8:58 PM, brad bauerly  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==
>
>
> ML wrote-
> >The problem is that Marxists see "the State" as a mechanism for one >class
> to dominate the society.
> --
> Which Marxists do this?
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Perry Anderson idiocy on China

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Is it? Anderson's perspective may have seemed out of place, even
"pessimistic", on the heels of Seattle, but I'll still defend Renewals and
would argue that it has been largely vindiciated.  Quoting Elliott's
excellent "Ends in Sight":

A more balanced rejoinder to ‘Renewals’ came from
the French Trotskyist Gilbert Achcar. He took issue
with the ‘crude economic determinism’ on display in
the passage from ‘Renewals’ quoted above, arguing
that Anderson’s historical sense deserted him when,
in an aberrant wagering on the worse, he looked to
‘a slump of inter-war proportions’ to redound to the
benefi t of the left. On the other hand, Achcar noticed
something of a paradox missed by many others: ‘In
reality, Perry Anderson’s editorial expresses profound
pessimism while simultaneously and unmistakably
marking a new radicalization: the editor of NLR
displays a particularly combative mood.’ This
qualifi ed, without altogether cancelling, what was
deemed to be Anderson’s ‘historical pessimism’ – the
stance of someone ‘who has more and more become
a practitioner of the “pessimism of the intellect”
championed by Gramsci’.

Champion of Gramsci though he undoubtedly is,
Anderson would nevertheless dissent here, declining
to subscribe to the Sardinian’s voluntaristic couplet:
‘pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will’. As
we have seen, the posture he commends is one of
‘uncompromising realism’, repudiating the option of
pessimism or optimism, whether of the intellect or
the will, as fallacious.
[...]
The analytical duty to be
discharged, closer in temper to Spinoza’s non ridere, non
lugere neque detestari, sed intelligere (not to ridicule,
not to lament or execrate, but to understand) than
to Gramsci’s ‘pessimism of the intellect’, is accurate
refl ection of the state of the world. But that need not
preclude resistance to it.

Two key questions, then: did ‘Renewals’ broadly
refl ect the trends of contemporary political history
at the time it was written? And has the reaction of
‘resignation’ – even with the qualifi cation: ‘for the
foreseeable future’ – precluded resistance to them?
Given the Deutscherite cast of Anderson’s Marxism
over more than four decades, it would have been surprising
to fi nd him enjoining anything other than ‘a lucid
registration of historical defeat’ as the sole plausible
starting point for what was left of the traditional left
in 2000.

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 4:14 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ==
> Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> ==========
>
>
> Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:
>
> > I'm actually just re-reading Considerations on Western Marxism now. I
> > think Perry's piece was engaging, but that line did catch me by
> > surprise (lower case "c" too)... did he give up on Marxist histography
> > sometime after 1980? Because Arguments Within English Marxism,
> > Considerations and his extended essay on Gramsci from the 1970s are
> > masterpieces. Of his recent stuff I don't know, but I think his
> > Renewals essay from 2000 and his critical coverage of The Age of
> > Extremes have their merits.  I'm far more critical of the recent
> > trajectory of Tariq Ali.
> >
>
> The key to understanding Perry Anderson is his disillusionment
> with socialist revolution and a newly developed interest in
> bourgeois ideology that surfaced in a 2000 NLR article and which
> should explain his nod to the Brookings Institute guy.
>
> This is a good analysis:
>
> Issue 88 of INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISM JOURNAL Published Autumn 2000
>
> The 'historical pessimism' of Perry Anderson
> GILBERT ACHCAR
>

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Re: [Marxism] Perry Anderson idiocy on China

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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I'm actually just re-reading Considerations on Western Marxism now. I
think Perry's piece was engaging, but that line did catch me by
surprise (lower case "c" too)... did he give up on Marxist histography
sometime after 1980? Because Arguments Within English Marxism,
Considerations and his extended essay on Gramsci from the 1970s are
masterpieces. Of his recent stuff I don't know, but I think his
Renewals essay from 2000 and his critical coverage of The Age of
Extremes have their merits.  I'm far more critical of the recent
trajectory of Tariq Ali.

On 3/5/10, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> ineffable ineffable Walter Lippmann was subbed here, who first tried to
>  "explain" China in these terms. Just because a government calls
>  itself Communist, it does not make a communist state. Poor Perry
>  Anderson needs to go through a new members class on Marxism again:
>


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Re: [Marxism] Tuesday FILM--Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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It's a great film, but I can tell from that blurb you didn't entirely "get
it."

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 10:01 PM, Bay Area Socialist Action <
sfsocialistact...@gmail.com> wrote:

> This week's film has been changed: we will show Fresa y Chocolate
> (Strawberry and Chocolate), a Cuban drama that explores some of the ways in
> which Cuban machismo culture has been challenged as a result of the
> revolutionary process in that country.

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[Marxism] Unconventional Wisdom: An Interview With Doug Henwood

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/unconventional-wisdom-an-interview-with-doug-henwood

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Re: [Marxism] Facebook

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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There's high levels of narcissism and voyeurism involved with Facebook, but
as far as activism goes it's an invaluable tool for bringing out college
students to protests and events on campus. Bombard 150 people with an event
invitation, get 40 RSVPs and expect a 20 or show to actually show-up.  It's
not a bad complement to actual flyering.  As far as The Activist.  You
should fan us.  700 people or so have done it already and it would be nice
to get a 1000. It's not bad to show support for an anti-capitalist youth
blog connected to a growing student organization, despite any political
disagreements, right?  Facebook fan pages are decent forums for readership
interaction and advertising.

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[Marxism] [The Activist] ‘Undercover Boss ’: Humanizing Galt

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/undercover-boss-humanizing-galt

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[Marxism] Weekly Worker 804 (11/02/2010) now available at www.cpgb.org.uk

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Weekly Worker 804 - Thursday February 11 2010

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available online at
www.cpgb.org.uk

In this week's issue:

LEFT UNITY SHOULD BE A TOP PRIORITY
Tusc poses the necessity of a Marxist party, not a Labour Party mark
two, writes Peter Manson

LETTERS
Moron Chomsky; Bonobo ideas; Befuddled; Marxist fact; Neo-Stalinism;
Everything; Disservice; Disrepute; Direct justice; Anti-Semitic?; End
detention; Policy demands;

THIRD PROGRAMME OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN
This is the Draft programme of the CPGB as agreed by the Provisional
Central Committee. It will be put before a special conference of CPGB
members before the end of 2010. Comments, suggestions, and criticisms
are welcome
1. Our epoch
2. Capitalism in Britain
3. Immediate demands
4. Character of the revolution
5. Transition to communism
6. The Communist Party

DRAFT RULES
These are the Draft rules of the CPGB as agreed by the Provisional
Central Committee

OIL-SLICK DIVISIONS
International Marxist Tendency has suffered a damaging split. Not a
new phenomenon, notes James Turley

LEFT IN DIE LINKE LOSES ITS BONAPARTE
The resignation of Oskar Lafontaine is a serious blow to the German
left party. Tina Becker reports

LEFT PLATFORM LINES UP WITH MOUSSAVI
The Reesites no longer peddle the line that Iran is a democratic
country. But despite Lindsey German’s resignation from the SWP, their
support for the ‘green movement’, including the butcher Moussavi,
shows that the comrades still have not learned what principled
international solidarity is, says Tina Becker

A REMINDER
The disgraceful role of Campaign Iran, outlined by Tina Becker

RIGHT TO A DIGNIFIED LIFE - RIGHT TO A DIGNIFIED DEATH
The comfort and self-respect of the incurably ill and the dying must
be ensured, writes Eddie Ford

MOTHERHOOD AND APPLE PIE
Laurie McCauley reports on last Saturday’s surprisingly positive
conference of leftwing student activists

SOCIALIST ACTION RELEGATES SOLIDARITY
Tony Greenstein gives his view of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
annual conference

SYMPTOM OF DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT
For recallable MPs on a worker’s wage, writes Jim Moody

SUPPLEMENT OUR INCOME
Robbie Rix asks for some financial support

A PDF version of the paper can be downloaded at
www.cpgb.org.uk/pdf/ww804.pdf

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[Marxism] Immanuel Kant: An Erotic Life

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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http://theactivist.org/blog/immanuel-kant-an-erotic-life

I'll admit there's nothing really new here if you read the *Irish
Times*piece, but there is an explanation of why BHL is my favorite
intellectual,
which I'm convinced the world has been pining for.

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Re: [Marxism] A hiccup from the Cruise Missile left

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Can someone explain to me when these left-neoliberals became "the Left"?

On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 10:10 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_left_fights_itself
>

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Re: [Marxism] Come back Karl

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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Not that I'm unhappy to not get interminable debates about Trotsky and
Stalin's legacy in my inbox, but your choice of language is interesting.
 Isn't the first task to reconstitute a relevant Marxist Left in the West to
acknowledge the reasons for the historic failures of Marxism and the Left's
defeats in the 30s and 60s?  This is especially important if we admit that a
large chunk of these defeats were self-inflicted.

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 11:18 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

>
> Reminder. I set up http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soviet_legacy/ for
> those who want to call attention to ideological poisoning that took
> place 75 years ago.
>
> Marxmail, on the other hand, was established to discuss problems facing
> the left today.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Come back Karl

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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The system collapsed, because of Western bankers and economically it
couldn't have continued for much longer.  Thatcher and Bush both were wary
of any revolutionary ruptures in Eastern Europe and the course of events
didn't suit their model of how the collapse of Stalinism should have
continued.  The system was plagued by its contradictions and collapsed, but
that *doesn't* mean it wasn't a historic defeat for the Left.
 Destalinization didn't occur, but an authoritarian, neoliberal capitalism
took root.  I don't see how the spread of capitalist global hegemony can't
been seen as a defeat for the anticapitalist Left.

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:01 AM, Dogan Gocmen wrote:

> Dogan:
> Well, this was not my claim. I said that the defeat of first socialist
> attempts was also the defeat of the left in general.
> This includes all sections or fractions of the left. However, leftists
> attacking SU they did not cause the defeat but they
>  contributed to that direction.

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Re: [Marxism] Long Live the 5th International!

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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The words that constantly come out of Chavez's mouth are reflective of a
hollow anti-imperialism and the fact that he and Morales are running
left-nationalist popular fronts.  I doubt a union of South American Soviets
were about to pop up before Chavez and co. came around so I'm not
attacking him or the PSUV, but I don't think anyone seriously thinks a new
international can be built around the Bolivarian "Revolution" and the
theoretical ruminations of Castro.  This time around it's just a farce.

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 5:07 AM, Shane Hopkinson wrote:

>
>
> I'm not overly concerned about Chavez' view of any other person - we need
> to be concerned about what he's doing for the working people of Venezuela
> and what (if anything) we can learn from it - not defending everything that
> comes out his mouth.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Long Live the 5th International!

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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I never knew of his correspondence and support for Carlos "The Jackal", who
has turned towards Jihadism while in prison and considers Osama Bin-Ladin an
"anti-imperialist revolutionary".

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Re: [Marxism] Zizek in the Socialist Review (SWP-UK)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

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==


"Fight Club (another masterpiece of the Hollywood left)".  Really... "Fight
Club" a masterpiece?  The left?  I think Richard Seymour was right when he
described it and "American Beauty" as pop-Heideggerian.

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 2:50 PM, Maxwell Clark  wrote:


> An encouraging development. Is Zizek becoming a partisan activist?
> Let's hope so, utopians that we all are. --St. Max
>
> http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11020
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Zizek on the Berlin Wall

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Zizek is entertaining and defends in his own way the idea of revolution and
the continued existence of History in a way that makes him attractive.  His
politics are muddled, but when he's in town I go to listen to him speak for
the anecdotes-- if not all the ideas.  I think upper-middle class grad
students are the cornerstones of his fanbase.  Even though what attracted to
me was the fact that he was willing to defend 1789 and 1917 in a way that
wasn't in vogue in the mainstream--- his analysis of the French Revolution
and his adoration of Saint-Just, the ranting about the imposition of "the
Idea" by the violence and will of a minority and his gross
misrepresentations of Lenin (Louis wrote a good article on this) is a bit
revolting.  Closer to Bruno Bauer than Karl Marx.  This article however was
quite tolerable.

On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 5:52 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> Ernest Leif wrote:
> > I'm never sure what all fuss about Zizek is. He seems to me like the
> > Hipster's Marxist, and a thoroughly obtuse one at that. Maybe someone on
> > this list can explain the fascination with his ideas.
>
> Jeez, I have the same question.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Gore Vidal in the Atlantic

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I think I posted this a while back.  It shows what a vile, revolting prick
he's become (?) in his old age.

On Sat, Oct 31, 2009 at 11:13 AM, David Thorstad  wrote:

> http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200910u/gore-vidal
>

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Re: [Marxism] review of two exhibits on John Brown

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

The reviewer is quoting text from the Richmond exhibit.  It's not explicitly
clear that his is endorsing those views, just showing the contrast between
how the two exhibits dealt with Brown.

On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 12:29 PM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/arts/design/28brown.html?ref=arts
> The review itself is reactionary -- lumping Brown in with the Oklahoma
> City bombers! -- but the article has some good links to exhibit
> samples.
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] John Molyneux on party democracy

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Louis, I haven't read your article so I'm not sure if you mentioned the
context that Molyneux's article is being written in.  Molyneux is a strong
voice in the SWP attacking the (in my opinion, wrongheaded) no-platform
policy BNP policy.  The few months before the SWP conference (now) are
apparently the only times when members can form factions.

On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 5:20 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> In the latest issue of International Socialism, a quarterly put
> out by the British SWP, John Molyneux has an 8600 word article “On
> Party Democracy”  that raises some interesting questions but fails
> to get to the heart of the real problem in self-declared Leninist
 > vanguards like the SWP.

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[Marxism] Foofooraw: The Dialectic of Impotence (an inauguration day story)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://theactivist.org/blog/life-on-the-fringe-an-inauguration-day-story

a bit disjointed and rushed, but the story is completely true.

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[Marxism] Foofooraw: The Dialectic of Impotence (An Inauguration Day Story)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

*[i published this, but probably need to give it a more through
proof-reading--- excuse any typos]
*
*
*
*http://theactivist.org/blog/life-on-the-fringe-an-inauguration-day-story
*
*
*
*2:45 pm: the day before Obama’s inauguration.*  The temperature is well
below zero. I’m more than slightly intoxicated, ruing the poor blood
circulation in my hands and wondering if
Shyneis still in prison,
all the while navigating through checkpoints around the
White House on the way back to my dorm.  I strike up a conversation with,
then give two exchange students from Germany some absolutely awful
directions.  Unable to convince a national guardsman that I’m not an
immediate threat to F and 18th, I’m forced to take a three block detour
through a crowd of people.  I’m no misanthrope, but I was fairly certainly
that most of these people were trying to sell me crap I didn’t want.  I
politely refuse Obama
flairof
every size and shape and put my headphones in to listen to some 80’s
pop
music.  I figure that no one in their right mind would bother someone
looking at the ground, speed walking and blasting
Prince.
*I was right*.  First, I was accosted by some religious types.  Christian
Zionists , to be specific.
“One Jerusalem”, “Obama’s a Muslim”, some ranting about the Second Coming.
I wondered what Berl
Katznelsonwould say.  I
wondered what could have possibly went wrong in a 19-year
old’s life that he would know who Berl Katznelson was?  I thought about the
pretty, now probably hopelessly lost, Germans.  Poor girls.  I gave my
directions with such confidence.  I snap back to consciousness and the
teenage comrade of Israel is still raving. But having just read Christopher
Hitchens’
*God is Not Great *, which
caused me to *reconsider* my lifelong atheism, I was especially polite to my
pasty friend and I grabbed some of his publications.  I knew that their
literature would be “ironical” enough for one of my friends to want to put
in a scrapbook or something.  I took a few more copies.  More for me, less
for them to confuse people prone to confusion with.

Ten steps later, still looking down at the ground, thinking about how great
the word “foofooraw” is, I hear two more magic words that send a warm tingle
down my spine, “Bob Avakian.”  I’d seen copies of the Revolutionary
Communist Party’s (unimaginatively named) *Revolution* newspaper strewn
about the street during the past few days and I had heard strange stories of
encounters with Übermensch. Those whom braved the bitter cold to speak of
their dear leader’s plan to “serve masses and make glorious proletarian
revolution”.  I quickly discard my Starbucks cup and shove my Iphone into my
back pocket.  Yes, an Iphone that cost, a perpetually broke student, 40 some
odd labor hours.  It may seem like a decadent extravagance, but if you’re
among the few that are suddenly compelled to find out the legal status of
Shyne’s case or the definition of “foofooraw”, it’s an absolute necessity.
Now fully de-bourgeoisified, I venture forth to introduce myself to my
comrades.  After a few years on the radical left, I finally found the
elusive *vanguard*.

http://theactivist.org/blog/life-on-the-fringe-an-inauguration-day-story

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Re: [Marxism] self determination for oppressors

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I would be wary of such a "solution" though Louis.  France in 1940 is a good
example of how fast a terribly oppressive people can transformed into an
oppressed group in a flash.  Demographically it's also a different game than
in Algeria and South Africa and I think it does matter--- in terms of how
hard it will be to eradicate Zionism as opposed to those other apartheid
states-- that Israel was created on the basis of “exclusion colonization”,
relying mostly on Jewish labor, as opposed to regular “exploitation
colonization".

One state-solution theorists admit that their triumph would lead to a mass
exodus of a large percentage of the current population of Israel.  This has
serious economic, as well as moral implications. I'm tempted to agree, but I
see it as sort of a cop out.  On paper it's obviously the ideal solution
Zionism was a historical crime littered with an inherent racist ethos.  But
is there any doubt that this solution cannot be solved without the worldwide
return of emancipatory politics as opposed to the current paradigm?

On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> Marv Gandall wrote:
> > It's not possible to conceive of a socialist revolution in
> Palestine/Israel
> > which would not involve the participation of the Jewish masses, and if
> such
> > were to come to pass, the question of a "Jewish state", especially in
> terms
> > of what it has come to represent, would be moot. It's very unlikely that
> > Hebrew-speaking revolutionaries, having shed their blood with
> > Arabic-speaking Palestinians against the Zionists and the Zionist idea,
> > would be asking, if anything, for more than the new state's support for
> the
> > preservation of their language and culture.
>
> But the conflict is not about language and culture. It is about power,
> land, wealth, etc.
>
> And, furthermore, what is so amazing about the Zionist project is its
> inability to think outside the box. South Africa abandoned apartheid but
> did nothing to attack the power, land, and wealth of the white minority.
> A more clever Zionist leadership would abandon the racial basis of the
> state and put the ineffable Abbas in charge of the government. Nothing
> would change, however.
>
> But since the presence of religious zealots in the veins of Israeli
> society prevents this, the inevitable outcome will be like Algeria no
> matter how long it takes. The demographics favor this.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Shlomo Sand reinvents "the Jewish people"

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

"The project to found Israel as a settler state was and still is “a crime”,
said comrade Conrad. But that crime has resulted in the coming into being of
an Israeli Jewish, or Hebrew, nation and a working class solution must
recognise this reality. While comrade Conrad could envisage the necessity of
expelling recent Israeli settlers from the West Bank as part of an agreed
democratic settlement, it was out of the question to talk about uprooting
the Israeli Jewish people as a whole. The Israeli Jewish nation, like any
other, has the right to self-determination, so long as it is not exercised
at the expense of the oppression of other peoples.

The founding of the state of Israel resulted not only in the creation of an
Israeli nation, but a Palestinian nation too. So now there are two mutually
hostile nations contesting the same territory. Of course, if the two nations
were prepared to join together in a democratic, secular state, that would be
an excellent thing, but such a merger could only be achieved on a voluntary
basis and the overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews reject it out of hand.
What is more, the Israeli state is “armed to the teeth and allied to the
US”, the most powerful imperialist country on earth. So how would it be
possible to attain a single state in current circumstances?

Comrade Conrad concluded by saying that we need to approach the whole
question from a different angle - taking the perspective of the Arab
revolution as our starting point. The working class “must win leadership of
the Arab nation” to achieve a democratic solution for the entire Middle
East. A voluntary merger of the Arab peoples under working class hegemony,
having defeated Zionism, would certainly grant the Israeli Jewish nation the
right to self-determination, including the right to form their own state."

http://cpgb.org.uk/worker/789/mapping.php

On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 12:03 PM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

> And the notion that Palestinians SHOULDN'T return
> and that the current colonizers won't accept being a minority, flies
> in the face of a variety of historical examples, from Algeria to South
> Africa and so on. The main lesson of those examples being, of course,
> that the majority will find a way by whatever means it can to assert
> its rights.
> Andy Pollack
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Statement against Government of India ’s planned military offensive in adivasi-popula ted regions

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

At the end of the day, Louis, Americans feeling the pain at the pump don't
complain much about cable news cliches.

Not to get emotionally charged or anything.

Pull back the curtain.


On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 10:41 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:
> > At the end of the day
>
> ARRGGGH
>
> It is bad enough that every single talking head on cable news shows uses
> this phrase (or "throwing somebody under the bus") without us using it.
>
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Anti-Roma racism fuels growth of neofascist party in Hungary

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Far too often is it forgotten that more than a quarter million Roma died out
of a population of 1 million during the Holocaust.

On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 7:36 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

>
> latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-hungary-right11-2009oct11,0,1698369.story
>
> In Hungary, far right is making gains
> The radically nationalist Jobbik party won 15% of the vote in elections
> for EU delegates. The popularity of party leader Gabor Vona, who has
> started a militia, hinges on hostility toward Gypsies.
>

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[Marxism] Weekly Worker 788 (08/10/2009)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Weekly Worker 788 - Thursday October 8 2009

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available on the CPGB
website at www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/788

In this week's issue:

VICTORY TO THE POSTAL WORKERS!
An overwhelming vote for action is expected. Jim Moody gives the background

LETTERS
Military angle; Bottom up; Class act; Smash ’em; Sex and power; Rix
fix; Disaster

LISBON TREATY GETS THROUGH
Ireland’s vote highlights the need for a clear, positive working class
agenda, writes Anne Mc Shane

NEW VISION FOR EUROPE WANTED
James Turley argues that the bourgeoisie is incapable of uniting
Europe on any secure basis

WORK LONGER FOR LESS
The Tory conference gave us a flavour of what a Cameron government
will bring, writes Eddie Ford

ROUGH RIDE FOR SERWOTKA?
Dave Vincent thinks Serwotka’s campaign is utterly economistic

DEMOCRACY OR OLIGARCHY?
Paul Cockshott critiques Mike Macnair’s Revolutionary strategy and
argues for a rethink on the question of a democratic republic

SEARING INDICTMENT OF US CAPITALISM SPOILT BY NOSTALGIA FOR ROOSEVELT’S NEW
DEAL
Jim Creegan reviews Michael Moore’s (director) Capitalism: a love
story 2009 (no UK release date yet)

ENDING OF CPB TRUCE
Dave Lynch expects full ‘vote Labour’ mode

THINK AGAIN
Robbie Rix wants to see some plastic

A PDF version of the paper can be downloaded at
www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/788/788web.pdf

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Re: [Marxism] John Holloway speaking in London this month.

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I freed janitor's closet in the hallway outside my dormroom as an autonomous
space.  I also broke dress code at work **twice** last week.  Consider the
dictatorship of capital over comrades.

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[Marxism] [The Activist] N.W.A.’s Se cond Album, Track Two

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://theactivist.org/blog/n-w-a-s-second-album-track-two

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[Marxism] Weekly Worker 787

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Weekly Worker 787 - Thursday October 1 2009

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available on the CPGB
website at www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/787

In this week’s issue:

ANTI-BNP CLASS-COLLABORATION
The left’s spluttering response to Nick Griffin’s invitation to appear
on Question time reveals a floundering political strategy, argues
James Turley

LETTERS
Confused?; Sex security; Vetting vaccine; Quiet life; Eco-obsession;
Left out; Illuminating; Afghanistan; Language tool

YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP
With the general election now, at most, seven months away, what is
happening with left unity projects? Peter Manson surveys recent
developments

LIONS LED BY DONKEYS
Matthew Cobb, dubbed an anti-communist by the Morning Star, examines
the contradictory role of the French Communist Party during World War
II

THREATS OVER URANIUM ENRICHMENT AID REGIME
Ahmadinejad uses the ‘enemy without’ to justify increased repression,
arrests and the torture of the ‘enemy within’, writes Yassamine Mather

SUCCESS POSES NEW QUESTIONS
With an astonishing 11.9% of the vote at the September 27 national
elections, the German left party Die Linke now has 76 members of
parliament. Tina Becker reports

THE ‘NEW INDIAN’ TIGER
On October 6, the winner of the Man Booker prize will be announced.
All but one of the shortlisted works are ‘historical fiction’. Last
year, however, the winning novel was set in present-day India - The
white tiger by 34-year-old Aravind Adiga. Mike Belbin weighs up its
appeal to UK judges and asks whether or not it does credit to the ‘new
India’ of technological and cultural advance

ROOTED ON CAMPUS
Communist Students have been winning supporters at freshers fairs.
Chris Brandler reports from Manchester

WRITING ON WALL FOR BROWN
Brown’s primary objective at Brighton was to present himself as the
saviour of capitalism, writes Eddie Ford

TREMENDOUS
Robbie Rix gives thanks for payments, even guilty ones

A PDF version of the paper can be downloaded at
www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/787/787web.pdf

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Re: [Marxism] VIDEO: G20 protester snatched by men in military fatiques

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I call bullshit, but I reserve the right to be wrong.

On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 4:46 PM, Pat Costello  wrote:

> like something out of a Matt Damon movie. they throw him in an unmarked car
> and roar off.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8CNa_viKg0&feature=player_embedded
>
>
>
>
>
> 
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[Marxism] Weekly Worker 786 – Thursday Septemb er 24 2009

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

*Weekly Worker 786 – Thursday September 24 2009*

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available on the CPGB
website at www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/786

In this week’s issue:

SEX AND THE HUMAN REVOLUTION
Chris Knight of the Radical Anthropology Group looks at the transition
from ape to human and quantity into quality, plus the importance of
language, counter-dominance and sex in the human story.

LETTERS
Disappointing; Draconian; Age of consent; Youth U-turn; Written out;
What tactic?; Doomed

LEEDS WORKERS ON THE FRONT LINE
If the City Council gets away with impoverishing this group of
workers, it will be encouraged to take the hatchet to others, writes
Jim Moody

ESTABLISHMENT UNITY
James Turley calls for a powerful workers’ movement needs to offer a
real political lead in challenging the power of the capitalists

OPPOSING THE CUTS CONSENSUS
Peter Manson spoke to Labour left MP John McDonnell about next week’s
Labour Party conference, the general election and beyond

LOOKING TO LISBON TO END THE CRISIS
Use the referendum as a platform to call for working class unity in
Europe, demands Anne Mc Shane

MASS PROTESTS RE-IGNITE
Workers in Iran need our support and solidarity

ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE STUNTS AND THE REAL LESSONS OF THE 1930S
Calls for state, local government, and BBC censorship and bans will
inevitably backfire against the workers’ movement, argues Ben Lewis

EXPENSIVE BUNCH OF NOTHING
Imperialism - with the US being the absolute hegemon - threatens to
annihilate civilisation, writes Eddie Ford

SPELLCHECK
Robbie Rix asks for support for a space where leftwingers can have their say

A PDF version of the paper can be downloaded at
www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/786/786web.pdf

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[Marxism] A few anecdotes about class society

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

There is this ridiculous car alarm keeping me up, so I figured I would spend
the last 30 minutes showing some of my friends and the other assorted 60-70
people a day that read my blog that class society does exist.  I think only
like 2-3 leftists read my blog, so this is my audience.  I'm not sure how
much the already conscious would get from this, but as always I welcome
informed comments criticisms.

http://savingcache.com/?p=154

This may be my last post for a while, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to
take a baseball bat to that car, which may or may not have serious legal
implications.

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Re: [Marxism] Germany's Die Linke shows the way for the left

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

What about the Antikapitalistische Linke and the other opposition groups.  I
may be wrong, but I heard they form a fairly sizeable minority within the
party.

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Re: [Marxism] Germany's Die Linke shows the way for the left

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/783/oskarlafontaine.php
Oskar Lafontaine: ‘We want to govern’ The results for the German left party
Die Linke in the August 30 regional elections are impressive, particularly
the 21.3% achieved in the federal state of Saarland. But is this the
beginning of the end for the “party of opposition”? Tina Becker takes a
closer look

Germany’s so-called ‘super Sunday’ on August 30 was not so super for
everybody. The big parties were big losers. Because the parliamentary
elections for the national *Bundestag* are less than a month away (September
27), the elections results in three of the 16 German federal states
(Thuringia, Saxony and Saarland) have been interpreted as a ‘dry run’.

The conservative Christian Democratic Union of chancellor Angela Merkel did
worse than predicted - which means the bad results for the Social Democrats
(SPD) did not stand out quite as much as expected. The fact that the SPD
share of the vote in the east German federal state of Thuringia, for
example, increased from a measly 9.8% to a scarcely less measly 10.4% is
hardly worth celebrating - especially as the lowest ever turnout means that,
in reality, the number of voters remained roughly the same. The only ones
for whom Sunday really was ‘super’ are the smaller parties. The Greens, the
Liberal Democrats (FDP) and Die Linke increased their share of the vote
almost everywhere and are likely to play the kingmaker in the regional
government coalitions that will now be formed.

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Re: [Marxism] Germany's Die Linke shows the way for the left

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Not only was the content of Richard's post dripping with sarcasm he even put
asterisks for extra emphasis.

On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 4:44 PM, Mark Lause  wrote:

> The point is the absurdity of the notion that the German working class has
> repudiated bourgeois politics
>
> ML
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Germany's Die Linke shows the way for the left

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

There is a militant minority in Die Linke that wants to build an
oppositional movement and not be mere left-social democrats.

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[Marxism] Weekly Worker 785 (17/09/09) now available at cpgb.org.uk

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Weekly Worker 785 - Thursday September 17 2009

The latest edition of the Weekly Worker is now available on the CPGB
website at www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/785

In this week's issue:

THE FOUR WAGERS OF LENIN IN 1917
The Bolshevik decision to make revolution was based on four key
predictions, or ‘wagers’, says Lars T Lih: international revolution,
soviet democracy, peasant followership and progress towards socialism.

LETTERS
Consent confusion; No place; Prejudice; No surprise; Safety valve;
Contradiction; Hit first; Prison letter; Free Mahir; Support Sheida

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Some people cannot distinguish a revolutionary alliance from class
collaboration. Peter Manson looks at the South African Communist
Party’s contradictions

REVOLUTION - SEXUAL AND DIGITAL
Eddie Ford sees an advance in Downing Street’s belated apology

FARCICAL AND REACTIONARY
Even by the standards of ‘paedo panic’ hysteria, writes James Turley,
plans to vet 11 million adults who come into regular contact with
children are absurd

LABOUR AND MINI-LABOUR
The Trade Union Congress saw a bit of prime ministerial honesty, a lot
of hot air, but nothing in the way of concrete measures to protect
workers from the effects of the ongoing economic crisis. Phil Ritchie
reports

SALMOND BANKS ON TORIES
The Scottish National Party has called for a referendum on
independence, writes Sarah McDonald. How should the left respond?

APPRECIATION
Robbie Rix urges you to use the now-working button to show it

A PDF version of the paper is available at
www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/785/785web.pdf

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Re: [Marxism] Good books on 'transition from fordism to postfordism' debate?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

*·* *Moishe Postone, "History and Helplessness: Mass Mobilization and
Contemporary Forms of
Anticapitalism"*
* (2006)

*
http://platypus1917.home.comcast.net/~platypus1917/postonemoishe_historyhelplessness.pdf

On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 4:24 AM, Joonas Laine  wrote:


> can anyone recommend good books on the debate about transition from
> fordist to postfordist capitalism that put it in some perspective (also
> globally), preferably with statistical information to make the points,
> instead of merely philosophising about changed perceptions people have
> towards their work etc..?
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] India: An Update from Lalgarh

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Anyone who has been to West Bengal or anywhere in the Red Corridor would 
know that there is little support for the Maoists among the Indian 
working class.  I can't testify to the level of support that they have 
with peasants and among groups suffering from the fractious and uneven 
growth that taken place in India in the past few decades, but they 
cannot win in India.  They don't have vision that will win over or help 
Indian workers.  And Comrade Roy is right to criticize their tactics. 
There is a lot wrong with the CPI-M.  There has historically always been 
a lot wrong with the CPI-M since the 1920s when MN Roy and the talented 
core of their cadre were expelled by Stalin's Cominterm. I just wouldn't 
view these Maoists through rose-colored lenses, especially from afar.  
(I do support the CPN-M in Nepal).

Politicus E. wrote:
> Ragesh Roy wrote:
>
> "my remark was a criticism of Maoist violence in Bengal, and their
> opportunistic alliance with Mamta Banerjee against the CPI(M).. I
> support the CPI(M).. over the last five days, about 15 people
> including CPI(M) cadre have been murdered by these petty criminals who
> dream of bringing revolution to India through cold-blooded murder.."
>
> Comrade Roy, thank you for this clarification.
>
> However, if we are to engage in a debate that consists of an exchange
> "sound-bite" e-mails, then my response is simply to urge you to
> re-consider your support for the CPI(M).
>
> You must surely recognize that the Trinamool is dialectically "a
> rightward negation" of the politics of CPI(M), born in the womb of
> Nandigram and Singur.  Have we forgotten those massacres?  Thus, the
> CPI(M) is itself the party responsible for the emergence of Trinamool
> in the first instance.
>
> By the way, what you refer to as the "ultra-left" is in point of fact
> a heterogenous political formation, contrary to the CPI(M) line.
>
> epoliticus
>
>   



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Re: [Marxism] Query regarding suspicious activity on my blog

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

On my way out sorry for the brevity, but it might be simply a bot.  Send 
me an email with the IP and I'll give it a lookup for you.

Politicus E. wrote:
> Dear comrades:
>
> I have a question that hopefully those comrades who are more internet
> savvy than I might answer.
>
> I recently posted a blog entry entitled "Indian's Favourite Fascist,
> Again."  That blog entry has been exceptionally popular in the sense
> that it has got almost 200 reads, by far the most I have got of any
> piece to date.
>
> But I noticed something peculiar about the pattern of hits.  There is
> an IP address that hits the blog exactly every 30 mins, at the top of
> each hour, and at 30 mins. past the hour.  I cannot determine the
> originating IP address, except that it is from within the U.S.
> perhaps.  I also know that this has been going on for about 24 hours.
> This strikes me as rather strange and I have no hypothesis that can
> account for my observation.
>
> Does something have ideas about what might be the source, and why this
> is happening?
>
> Thanks.
>
>   



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Re: [Marxism] articles from old left journal New Masses online

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

This is excellent.  I always enjoy reading Gold, though by the mixed 
quality of his articles you'd be surprised that he was the talent behind 
/Jews Without Money/.

Ron J wrote:
> http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/nm/newmassesarts.html 
>
>
> 
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>   



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[Marxism] The End of Healthcare History? Let ’s Hope Not

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://theactivist.org/blog/the-end-of-healthcare-history-lets-hope-not

*Jeff Muckensturm is Web Coordinator and grant writer for
Healthcare-NOW!,
an organization fighting for a national, single-payer healthcare system*

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[Marxism] Lars Lih on Lenin, Kautsky, and 1914

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/784/leninkautsky.php

also recommended is his first article from last week:
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/783/index.php

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Re: [Marxism] marxist biographies

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Isaac Deutscher, Maurice Isserman

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 11:51 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> Cliff Conner is a Trotskyist who has specialized in writing biographies:
>
> 1. Jean Paul Marat: Scientist and Revolutionary
>
> 2. Colonel Despard: The Life And Times Of An Anglo-irish Rebel
>
> 3. Arthur O'Connor: The Most Important Irish Revolutionary You May Never
> Have Heard of
>
>
> 
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>

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Re: [Marxism] American CP leader still solidly behind Obama

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

It's not like the Democrats have benefited much from their advocacy.   
They have some convoluted theory that justifies their support for this 
President, which has included the claim that Obama is "perhaps the most 
pro-labor President in U.S. history", in some manifestos that Webb has 
penned.

Jim Farmelant wrote:
>  
> On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:33:41 -0400 Bill O'Connor 
> writes:
>   
>> Louis Proyect  writes:
>>
>> 
>>> http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8960/
>>>   
>> I believe it was Cde. Smith who called the CPUSA the Democratic Pet
>> Sematary.  Revolutionaries to there to be be buried and re-animated 
>> as
>> DNC phone bankers.
>> 
>
> My question is what does the CPUSA get back
> in return for its solid, decades-long support for the DP?
>
> Jim F.
>   



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[Marxism] Worker in a Worker's State by Miklos Haraszti

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Anyone read it?  Thoughts?


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Re: [Marxism] What to do?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_a_New_Workers'_Party  
where that project was at in 2004/2005

Mark Lause wrote:
> What is "the embryo of a campaign"?
>
> Is there a Bullshit Brain Trust somewhere making up these new terms?
> Because, if there is, I think I'd like to work there.  I can come up
> with some really funny and meaningless words myself..
>
> ML
>
> 
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>   



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Re: [Marxism] Marx/Hegel

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I don't see how I could misrepresent since I didn't read, much less 
reply to your post.
But since I befuddled you isn't /materialisme aleatoire/ a 
fundamental rejection of dialectical materialism?  Wasn't a common theme 
of Althusser's works the attempt to rid Marxism of the idealism that 
crept in from Hegelian dialectics.

http://radicalebooks.blogspot.com/2009/06/for-marx-by-louis-althusser.html

Now that I read it (for the first time) I don't see what anyone could 
find objectionable.  Calm down and reply to the right person before you 
post.  I'm fairly certain that I haven't ever misrepresented you since I 
can't recall any an particular incident where I bothered to engage with 
what you thought.
//
Mark Lause wrote:
> No, you misrepresent what I said (again).
>
> The original statement was that Marx stands alone and that people
> shouldn't have to read Hegel to understand Marx.  My argument is that
> people may well get a great deal out of reading Hegel...or
> Gramsci...or Althusser.
>
> Your have once more befuddled me with your assertion that Marxist
> writers don't deal with the dialectical method (particularly the very
> nature of praxis...)
>
> ML
>
> 
> mail.com
>   



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Re: [Marxism] What to do?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Of course not.  But I don't think I got any objections to the broad 
ideas I laid out (regurgitating the ideas of others of course).  How to 
get those building micro-sects or pallin' around with BHO to get 
together and agree to a common program?  Sounds almost impossible.  At 
the very least we need the embryo of a campaign for something like 
this.  One day :)

martin wrote:
> On Sep 7, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Mark Lause wrote:
>
>   
>> The $64,000 question, of course, is how to go about building the
>> organization you're advocating.
>> 
>
> Does this thread ever resolve the question?
>
> martin
>
> 
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>   



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Re: [Marxism] Marx/Hegel

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Many Marxist thinkers don't deal with dialectics, namely Gramsci with his
philosophy of Praxis and Althusser's writings on contradictions in *For Marx
*.

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Re: [Marxism] What to do? [Early morn "Labor Day" thoughts]

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

The same could be said of the Greens, except that primary campaign would
be irrelevant.

But what is the Democratic Party?  Certainly it's largely neoliberal,
bourgeois to
say the least-- perhaps the world's second most enthusiastic major
capitalist party.
But is there not open primaries?  Can a party without dues and with open
primaries even be called a party?

Such an electoral campaign would be important logical step at some point.
An open, democratic, Marxist organization is obviously the more important
and immediate task.

Not that creating a viable party of opposition is *likely* to work, but I
don't see
how it's *possible* through the tactics that have been dominate on the
American left.

Louis Proyect:
Anybody who runs as a Democrat is unlikely to have "openly Marxist" views.

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Re: [Marxism] Good critique of Walter Benn Michaels's NLR article

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I was referring to the LRB article.  I stand corrected.  I still think there
are a few
coherent points in Michael's work, but it probably would be better for
someone
more nuanced and who has less open contempt for contemporary minority and
feminist movement to say it.

On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 11:57 AM, Tyler Zimmer  wrote:

> >
> > No where is this insinuated. I can't understand how anyone could take
> that
> > reading from his article.
> >
>
> From his NLR piece entitled 'Against Diversity':
>
> “In 1947 –seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, sixteen years
> before The Feminine Mystique –the top fifth of American wage-earners made
> 43
> percent of the money earned in the US. Today that same quintile gets 50.5
> percent. The bottom fifth got 5 per cent of total income; today it gets 3.4
> percent. After half a century of anti-racism and feminism, the US today is
> a
> less equal society than was the racist, sexist society of Jim Crow.
> Furthermore, virtually all of the growth in equality has taken place since
> the Civil Rights Act of 1965- which means not only that the struggle
> against
> discrimination have failed to alleviate inequality, but that *they have
> been
> compatible with a radical expansion of it*. Indeed they have *helped to
> enable the increasing gulf* between rich and poor.”
>

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Re: [Marxism] What to do? [Early morn "Labor Day" thoughts]

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I honestly don't think that our energies should be put toward electoral
efforts by third parties.
But there is no doubt that in the long-term a "party of the working class"
is an absolutely necessity.

Now I'm largely paraphrasing Larhs Lih and Mike Macnair, but such a party
would need to be both a vanguard and a mass party.
Kautsky (somewhat infamously) stated the need of the vanguard of the working
class and intellectuals to bring the "good news"
of socialism to workers, a mass party at the same time, because the party of
the working class should be democratic, open
and must clearly articulate its real platform (no modern Trotskyist
hide-behind-a-front-group nonsense).

The early SPD, which Lenin adapted to Russian circumstances (extreme state
repression, illegality) modeled and the Bolsheviks around,
 pioneered rallies, petitions, all things we take for granted this
adapted to the 21st century is an excellent model.
In addition to simple trade unions, workers' clubs, community organizations,
where all created on an openly working class, socialist basis.
The Black Panther Party's efforts (free breakfasts, community centers, etc)
is a more contemporary example of something similar to this.

Basically it would take a mass workers' movement, combined with the "merger"
of the socialist goal with a large chunk of that movement
to build a principled *party of opposition* (one that does not aspire to
ever manage the capitalist state or enter into coalition with capitalist
forces).

I don't think there is much hope in Green Party or Labor Party venture.
This isn't even to mention that due to restrictive electoral laws the 3rd
party
venture is nearly impossible in the United States.  For now building the
embryo of a broad Marxist organization would be a good start.

Maybe it's the naivety of youth, but I don't see why such an organization
couldn't openly run candidates in Democratic primaries on an openly
Marxist, oppositional platform for the sake of not a fantasy to "transform"
or "push the Democrats left", but to reach out to progressive forces that
are unfortunately held up in the Democratic camp?  (Whether we like it or
not they are there.)

*recommended:*

http://radicalebooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/revolutionary-strategy-by-mike-mcnair.html
http://theactivist.org/blog/the-current-relevance-of-an-old-debate
http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1909/power/index.htm

I'm about to start up the BBQ, and I have no time to proof read this.  (and
I haven't put my contacts in yet.)

Apologizes,

Bhaskar

On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Hunter Gray wrote:

>
> But, given the obvious dashing of hopes via the Obama administration and
> its spectacular downward spiral in conjunction with mounting crises on
> virtually every front, this general model, with a social justice
> constituency much, much broader than Labor alone, might now serve as a
> meaningful approach.  If it can develop and maintain some genuinely
> visionary radical positions and, somehow, overcome the oft lack of
> inter-union solidarity, endemic Leftist bickering, the problem of some
> liberal timidity, ego trips -- and other obstacles including co-opting
> efforts by the Democratic "establishment," it just might emerge as a potent,
> highly constructive force. 'Way down the pike, who knows what could develop
> from it in a realistic third-party  sense?
>

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Re: [Marxism] Good critique of Walter Benn Michaels's NLR article

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

This is probably a very valid point.  There should no question that the
immigrant rights movements
and organizing among other marginalized groups should be a primary focus for
Marxists right now.

I despise when people dismiss the White working class as hopelessly
reactionary, but there is no doubt in
 my mind that the embryo of a mass movement would have to start in more
fertile territory.

As far as provocation goes if part of his essay challenged leftists who have
been seeing Obama, Hillary and Condi
as mostly beneficiaries of the upheavals of the New Left and the
post-political left, instead of  neoliberalism ethos.
I think this is fundamentally correct.

I was unaware of his stance on diversity in universities.  It sounds arcane
and reactionary.

On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

>
> Basically he is an intellectual provocateur like Stanley Fish, who
> enjoys stirring things up. I should mention that Living Marxism, the
> magazine put out by the Spiked Online people, had the *same* analysis as
> him and enjoyed the static it generated on the left. Why people should
> take characters like WBM and Frank Furedi seriously is beyond me since
> they don't take their own selves very seriously.
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] Good critique of Walter Benn Michaels's NLR article

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

>
> Well, what he sloppily insinuates about income inequality and New Left
> movements being the cause of it, is easily refutable.
>
>
No where is this insinuated. I can't understand how anyone could take that
reading from his article.

What is stated is the truth that much of the apparent "progress"
for minorities and women have a lot more to do with neoliberalism becoming
the ruling
ideology than it has to do with post-political identity movements.

WBM goes too far and is a bit bombastic in some of his claims-- like that
there "anti-fascism
and feminism aren't inherently left-wing goals"... that's ridiculous, but I
would rather have a return
to "old left" ideology and class than the ineffectual muck we have right
now.

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Re: [Marxism] The Boston Globe on radical films

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975)
 1 Fist

Not a radical movie? That’s the point. When Al Pacino’s bank robber gets
the crowds on his side by shouting “Attica! Attica!’’ he’s proving both
how everything was political by the mid-1970s and how genuine radicalism
had become co-opted by radical chic. In its backhanded way, that one
scene marks the death of the ’60s.

---

The writer of this article might've metioned that the Attica chant actually
happened in real life during this episode.
It wasn't something invented by some dried-up psuedo radical screenwriter.

"Reds" is one of my favorite films.

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Re: [Marxism] U.S. Suspends $30 Million To Honduras

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Actually I'm sorry I linked to yesterday's article.  Here is today's news

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/press-releases/press-releases/imf-may-withold-aid-honduras/

On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 4:15 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara
wrote:

> Reports right now make it seem likely that the IMF is going to withhold
> those funds in the wake of Clinton's announcement.
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/03/imf-honduras-aid-zelaya
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 9:05 AM, Intense Red  wrote:
>
>>
>>   And on the third hand, Democracy Now! reports this morning that the IMF
>> is giving Honduras $150 million, which more than makes up for the loss of
>> the $30 million from the US.
>>
>>

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Re: [Marxism] U.S. Suspends $30 Million To Honduras

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Reports right now make it seem likely that the IMF is going to withhold
those funds in the wake of Clinton's announcement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/sep/03/imf-honduras-aid-zelaya

On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 9:05 AM, Intense Red  wrote:

>
>   And on the third hand, Democracy Now! reports this morning that the IMF
> is giving Honduras $150 million, which more than makes up for the loss of
> the $30 million from the US.
>
>

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[Marxism] U.S. Suspends $30 Million To Honduras

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/world/americas/04honduras.html?em

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Thursday that the
United States would formally suspend nearly $30 million in aid to the
coup-installed government in Honduras. She also suggested for the first
time that the United States might not recognize the country’s elections
this fall if the ousted president was not returned to power by then.

[...]



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Re: [Marxism] Latest BookForum

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Bookforum is great.  They linked to one of my articles a few months ago and
virtually single-handedly doubled our traffic.

Admitedly the double of 150 isn't very much :)

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 11:55 AM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> I already posted a couple of articles from this outstanding magazine but
> there's plenty more. Check:
>
> http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/016_03
>

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[Marxism] nostalgia for a gentler politics

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

My article contains references to hookers, an ad hominem against a Baltimore
Sun writer and various other degrees of awesomeness that made it unsuitable
for publication anywhere else.
http://theactivist.org/blog/nostalgia-for-a-gentler-politics

~ Bhaskar

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Re: [Marxism] Teddy

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

A member of DSA's Boston local wrote a good piece:
http://theactivist.org/blog/kennedys-sins-against-labor
Socialist Worker also ran a good article about RFK around a month ago.
And this one about Ted
http://socialistworker.org/2009/08/28/myth-of-the-liberal-lion
On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 7:28 PM, David Walsh  wrote:

> Anyone know of any reliable exposes of Kennedy's history? I could use some
> ammunition with the Kennedy idolaters here in Boston.
>
> "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade
> of mine."
>
> Che
>
>
>
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Sour -- but grounded -- thoughts on the Kennedys

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

ML wrote:
That complete idiot, Chris Matthews was saying the other day that the
Kennedy brothers "made the civil rights movement." Of course, lots of
these elitist pundits, idolators of officeholders, etc. think that,
but only a prize-winning first class goof to say something so
absolutely stupid and ahistorical on the air.
---
Yes thank you, that bothered me to NO end.  If you caught the start of
Hardball he also called
Machiavelli the greatest English writer of all time.  I kid you not.

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Re: [Marxism] to read?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

Because the bourgeosie has granted the masses Google.
http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=David+Harvey+capital&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
http://davidharvey.org/
On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Jeffrey Thomas Piercy wrote:

> Ralph Johansen wrote:
> > David Harvey, who conducts a most helpful 13-class video course online
> > on Capital volume 1
>
>

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Re: [Marxism] to read?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I haven't read more Hegel than any other undergraduate, but I think the
Grundrisse is more valuable than vol 2 and 3.
That being said I only read excerpts from the latter.
Lenin should be read critically, but his material is an easier read than
Marx and there is a lot less of it.
"What is to be done" "The State and Revolution" "Imperialism" "Left-Wing
Communism"
are all essential reading.  (and this is coming from someone who isn't a
Leninist).
I think the most important Marx is in Vol 1 of Capital and the Economic +
Philosophical Manuscripts, perhaps Gotha.
Think what you want about Platypus, there is a lot of good material here:
http://platypus1917.home.comcast.net/~platypus1917/platypus_nycreadings.html
~ Bhaskar

On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 8:51 PM, guava tree  wrote:

> do people think reading volumes 2&3 of Capital is more valuable than
> reading
> the Grundrisse? Or-- is one's time better spent reading Lenin, or even
> Hegel
> than moving into books Marx didn't have the time to put his finishing
> touches on?
>

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Re: [Marxism] Words (Cuban economy)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

If Cuba pursued an industrial development plan it would have ended up
looking more like
Albania than Japan.
Socialism in one country is impossible, I don't see anything wrong with
Cuba's
general economic policy.
(and actually I'm a fan of the term "bureaucratic collectivist")
On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 4:09 PM, nada  wrote:

>
> Industrialization to some degree is important or you remain poor, a few
> steps away from barbarism. If you combine a socialist mode of production
> with a world wide divisions of labor, the *need* to "Industrialize on
> One Island" goes away. Ideally... "ideally"  this is what COMECON
> was supposed to represent...a non-capitalist zone of development with a
> international, yet equal division of labor. This is still a kind of
> model to follow. If something is wrong with it, do speak up.  For that
> matter, if there is a different model for socialism, that avoids the
> huge social and environmental dislocations caused by industrialization,
> please speak up on this too, please. Sterile denunciations of the
> development of the productive forces is hardly...productive, especially
> on a *Marxist* list.
>
> DW
>
> 
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Re: [Marxism] Words (Cuban economy)

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

When has autarkic state capitalism ever been a formula to
*solve*underdevelopment?

On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 3:50 PM,  wrote:

> Tom Cod wrote:
>
> >Hey, how much heavy industry is there in Cuba.  Don't they still
> >rely on their traditional natural resource: sugar?
> >
> The answer is yes, to Cuba's detriment.
> Cuba's top exports are:
> Sugar and honey 53%
> Nickel  23%
> Fish 6.8%
> Tobacco  5.6%
>
> and they import oil, food, machinery, chemicals.
>
> Fidel once remarked that although Cuba faced
> a severe challenge with the fall of the Soviet
> bloc, at least they didn't have to buy all the
> crap Bulgarian machinery they were obligated to
> formerly. I am not sure where they buy their
> machine tools and trucks from now but these
> figures would seem to indicate the classic
> formula for third world economic
> under development.
>

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Re: [Marxism] Leon Trotsky

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

My recommendation on how best to honor LT's legacy
http://theactivist.org/blog/celebrate-a-legend-the-right-way
One of the ingredients is something you old men probably have lining your
refrigerators.

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara
wrote:

> I'm pretty sure no one else did, so I just wanted to acknowledge that today
> is the old man's death anniversary.
>

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[Marxism] Leon Trotsky

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I'm pretty sure no one else did, so I just wanted to acknowledge that today
is the old man's death anniversary.

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Re: [Marxism] District 9

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

The Bourne Supremacy drove me insane with it, but it didn't too bother me
during District 9.

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 3:02 PM, Louis Proyect  wrote:

> gregoryabut...@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > Apparently, I saw a different "District 9" than Prarie Miller and Armond
> White did!
>
> After seeing Simon Abrams's reference
> (http://extendedcut.blogspot.com/2009/08/255-district-9-2009.html)to the
> "faux-doc style shaky cam" in this  film, I decided to pass on it.
> Furthermore, the directors responsible for foisting this horrible
> technique on the world should all be taken out and horsewhipped. It is
> the most annoying thing in movies next to product placements. It seems
> to be much more egregious in action movies but who knows.

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