Re: [Marxism] Bolivia's Army Declares itself Socialist
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Yeah, right--socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist-- so much so that I'm sure the generals are withdrawing all troops and support from MINUSTAH, and other UN missions. What a crock of.shit. What's next? NATO declares itself Leninist? Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Bolivia's Army Declares itself Socialist
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/11/bolivia-military-socialist-antiimperialist.html Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The new Nixon
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Watergate was of course a bagatelle - a pale imitation (...) of what the government was doing to blacks & communists. And the Democrats did then destroy a health care program clearly "better than Obama's (which sucks)." Nevertheless the Nixon administration was the most liberal since WWII (not of course because of Nixon's own views). On 11/20/10 5:56 PM, Jay Moore wrote: > I wouldn't go too far in lauding Tricky Dick for his support for health > care legislation in the early 1970s and being better than Obama's (which > sucks). If I remember correctly, that was offered to the Dems as a > backroom deal, if they would agree to drop the Watergate investigation. > Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The new Nixon
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I wouldn't go too far in lauding Tricky Dick for his support for health care legislation in the early 1970s and being better than Obama's (which sucks). If I remember correctly, that was offered to the Dems as a backroom deal, if they would agree to drop the Watergate investigation. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] From H-Labor: New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour & Syndicalism
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == - Original Message - From: "Seth Wigderson" To: Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 12:50 PM Subject: New book: New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour & Syndicalism From: David Berry New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism: The Individual, the National and the Transnational Editors: David Berry and Constance Bantman Date Of Publication: Oct 2010 Isbn13: 978-1-4438-2393-7 Isbn: 1-4438-2393-7 This collection presents exciting new research on the history of anarchist movements and their relation to organised labour, notably revolutionary syndicalism. Bringing together internationally acknowledged authorities as well as younger researchers, all specialists in their field, it ranges across Europe and from the late nineteenth century to the beginnings of the Cold War. National histories are revisited through transnational perspectives—on Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland or Europe as a whole—evidencing a great wealth of cross-border interactions and reciprocal influences between regions and countries. Emphasis is also placed on individual activist itineraries—whether of renowned figures such as Errico Malatesta or of lesser-known yet equally fascinating characters, whose trajectories offer fresh perspectives on the complex interplay of regional and national political cultures, evolving political ideologies, activist networks and the individual. The volume will be of interest to specialists working on the history of anarchism and/or trade unionism as well as the political or social history of the countries concerned; but it will also be useful to students and the general reader looking for discussion of the most recent thinking on the historiography of labour and anarchist movements or those wanting a comprehensive overview of the history of syndicalism. CONTENTS Introduction: New Perspectives on Anarchism, Labour and Syndicalism: The Individual, the National and the Transnational Constance Bantman and David Berry Part I. The Syndicalist Family Chapter One Uneasy Family: Revolutionary Syndicalism in Europe from the Charte d’Amiens to World War I Wayne Thorpe Part II. Militants Chapter Two From Gustav Schmidt to Gus Smith: A Tale of Labour Integration (Hull, 1878-1913) Yann Béliard Chapter Three The Rooted Cosmopolitan: Errico Malatesta, Syndicalism, Transnationalism and the International Labour Movement Carl Levy Chapter Four Internationalism in the Border Triangle: Alfons Pilarski and Upper Silesian Anarcho-syndicalism during the Interwar Years Dieter Nelles Chapter Five Mission Impossible: Ángel Pestaña’s Encounter as CNT Delegate with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1920 Reiner Tosstorff Part III. Movements Chapter Six The 1896 London Congress: Epilogue or Prologue? Davide Turcato Chapter Seven From Trade Unionism to Syndicalisme Révolutionnaire to Syndicalism: The British Origins of French Syndicalism Constance Bantman Chapter Eight Polish Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism in the Twentieth Century Rafał Chwedoruk Chapter Nine How and Why the French Anarchists Rallied to the CGT-FO (1947–1950) Guillaume Davranche Part IV. Interpretations Chapter Ten Analysing Revolutionary Syndicalism: The Importance of Community Bert Altena Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] “This is absolutely a surrender for labor”
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == This is the campaign strategy rather than the battle. We've been backing up and losing ground to "save jobs" for decades. ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I don't know what power "the left" has to protect Assange in this country. Where's the European movement on this? ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The new Nixon
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Jim Farmelant writes: > http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/10/22/anderson-cooper-co > mpares-obama-nixon-spotlights-declining-approval-r > > At least Nixon's ideas concerning national health care > and welfare reform were more progressive than Obama's. There was revenue sharing with the states, as well. If Obama did that, as I believe Carroll pointed out a while back, he could a least be as liberal as Nixon. I applaud this blending together of the two main American bourgeois parties, the less light between them, the better, I say. -- In Solidarity, Billy O'Connor Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Topic thread sequence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 11/20/10 2:50 PM, Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > Thank you Louis, Les and Manuel > I would be interested to know if there is > another option for Yahoo? not if you receive the digest version of marxmail. yahoo will not separate the digest into components (last i looked). if you are willing to receive the one-email-per-post from marxmail, then you will have your threads back. Les Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Topic thread sequence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == > Les replied: "if digest readers (those who do NOT want a > steady stream of emails into their INBOX) want a more > convenient and threaded way to read marxmail" > FYI, those who use hotmail or gmail accounts have the > ability to keep threaded discussions with their latest > updates. In hotmail. go to Options/Reading email/scroll down > and enable "conversation view". In Gmail, go to > Settings/General/ and scroll down to "conversations" and > enable. I am sure there are similar options in other webmail > or browser apps. I would be interested to hear about them if > some of you have a moment (always seem to get queries from > students and friends about these issues).thanks, > Manuel Thank you Louis, Les and Manuel I would be interested to know if there is another option for Yahoo? On my SciFi list serves I also have the option (in the digest) to webpost my reply to the list. Jon Louis p.s.@ Manuel My mother was a Barrera from Galvestion. I have a lost cousin named Manny!~) Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] The Keynesian Revival: a Marxian Critique
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I think the proposal below reflects theoretical lacunae that led to syndicalism on the one hand and utopianism on the other, 'tho lessons on the art of proletarian solidarity building were gleaned from both. For capitalist surplus value to be transformed into socialist social value*, State power remains necessary to tax a portion for the general welfare or human societal services the most "productive" proletariat (exchangers of their labor power for the means to reproduce it) may not consider essential, certainty not in the early stages of unconscious transition, especially where labor is "slicing and dicing, manufacturing, packaging and delivering loans to sell lenders. As the president said, when running in March 2008, when the measure of our Gross Domestic PRODUCT is more determined by the sales of derivatives than steel I beams, you know something is wrong. Or words to that effect which persuaded me the man understands. Some of us might have preferred production of commodities we deem more humanizing, or more free time instead of triple over time in exchange for lay offs and declining union memberships, but we did not have state power nor determine use value. Limiting our understanding of surplus value to the context of the exploitation of labor to extract maximum growth in what we can see today may as well be called "privatized monetized world average surplus time, social surplus, or social value" and learning to explain it only in the context of organizing industrial workers' wages and projected sale prices of the products of their particular industry, was a function of the historic mode of production in which we organized and the form in which data were available to us. However it blinded us to fully utilizing what Marx and Engels bequeathed us to strive(much less stride) toward socialism. In mho that is, and based of course on my limited practice. I thought of going back and changing "our" "us" and "we" to "I my and me" so as to not appear to be speaking FOR others, but it is my opinion from the practice of all other, and far better than I, organizers I've observed. * definition of social surplus: "difference between world average time we workers add to products of same kind minus that that others put in what we have to pay for to work another day" cf: www.peggydobbins.net/dwellingintents/epilogue.HTML to tune of Solidarity On Nov 20, 2010, at 12:50 PM, Greg McDonald wrote: > > > > Instead of their typical capitalist structures that split employers > from employees, a post-capitalist structure would position workers as, > collectively, their enterprise's own board of directors -- Marx's > "associated workers." The era of capitalist employers (e.g., corporate > boards selected by and responsible to major private shareholders) > would then have come to an historic end. The capitalist class > structure of production would have been superseded by such a > collectivization of surplus appropriation inside enterprises (Wolff > 2010). > > For example, consider enterprises newly structured such that the > workers produce outputs in the usual way Mondays through Thursdays, > but on Fridays, assembled in both plenaries and subgroups, they make > decisions previously taken by boards of directors selected by (major) > shareholders. That is, the workers democratically decide what, where, > and how to produce and how to distribute their realized surpluses. > They decide when and how to expand and contract. But they do not do > that alone. They enter into co-respective power-sharing agreements > with the local and regional communities where their physical > production facilities are located. The workers participate in the > residential communities’ decision-making processes and vice-versa.[8]" > Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == I agree with Johansen 1000%. Assange is a hero, likely a martyr, thanks to the left as well as mainstream media failure to rally, really rally, to protect him. Nothing probably reveals the nadir of the liberal capitalist epoch so much as what the presumed opponents of censorship have let happen to Assange Peggy Powell Dobbins Sociology as an Art Form www.peggydobbins.net On Nov 19, 2010, at 11:58 PM, Ralph Johansen < > > Here's a guy who has worked incessantly and against all odds to bring up > these materials which outdo anything anyone has done since another very > courageous person, Dan Ellsberg, brought us the Pentagon Papers. Assange > has done this at serious risk of assassination, being chased all over > the globe, eluding the many agents capable of doing him in, fearing for > his life, also risking almost certain destruction of his credibility and > reputation, which is now taking place in spades, while American > journalists largely ignore what he has done and minimize its import, > while like NYT's John Burns playing up the smear. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The Keynesian Revival: a Marxian Critique
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.rdwolff.com/content/keynesian-revival-marxian-critique "Marxian theory emphasizes how employers’ decisions about distributing the surpluses are significantly influenced by the struggles between producers and appropriators of surpluses inside capitalist enterprises as well as by the competitive struggles among them. Hence Marxian theory suggests the internal transformation of enterprise structures. Instead of their typical capitalist structures that split employers from employees, a post-capitalist structure would position workers as, collectively, their enterprise's own board of directors -- Marx's "associated workers." The era of capitalist employers (e.g., corporate boards selected by and responsible to major private shareholders) would then have come to an historic end. The capitalist class structure of production would have been superseded by such a collectivization of surplus appropriation inside enterprises (Wolff 2010). For example, consider enterprises newly structured such that the workers produce outputs in the usual way Mondays through Thursdays, but on Fridays, assembled in both plenaries and subgroups, they make decisions previously taken by boards of directors selected by (major) shareholders. That is, the workers democratically decide what, where, and how to produce and how to distribute their realized surpluses. They decide when and how to expand and contract. But they do not do that alone. They enter into co-respective power-sharing agreements with the local and regional communities where their physical production facilities are located. The workers participate in the residential communities’ decision-making processes and vice-versa.[8]" Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Topic thread sequence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Les replied: "if digest readers (those who do NOT want a steady stream of emails into their INBOX) want a more convenient and threaded way to read marxmail" FYI, those who use hotmail or gmail accounts have the ability to keep threaded discussions with their latest updates. In hotmail. go to Options/Reading email/scroll down and enable "conversation view". In Gmail, go to Settings/General/ and scroll down to "conversations" and enable. I am sure there are similar options in other webmail or browser apps. I would be interested to hear about them if some of you have a moment (always seem to get queries from students and friends about these issues).thanks, Manuel Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Delta union defeat
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == full: _http://www.themilitant.com/2010/7444/744402.html_ (http://www.themilitant.com/2010/7444/744402.html) Airline workers campaign for unionization at Delta (front page) BY FRANK FORRESTAL MINNEAPOLIS—In the first of four votes at Delta Airlines, the fight for a union among flight attendants narrowly lost. The vote was 9,216 for and 9,544 against. More than 93 percent of flight attendants from the combined workforces of Delta and Northwest Airlines voted in the election that ended November 3. A day after the union loss at Delta, some 3,000 fleet and passenger service workers at Piedmont Airlines voted by a 2 to 1 margin to join the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The union won the election in spite of “Piedmont and parent company US Airways using every anti-union trick in the book,” said a statement from the CWA following the vote. The next three votes at Delta will determine if workers are to be represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM). About 14,000 fleet service (baggage and cargo) workers will be voting through November 18. Approximately 600 stock clerk and supply attendants are voting through November 22, and another 16,500 passenger service (ticket and reservation) agents are voting through December 7. The IAM has been holding rallies at several hubs to counter the company’s antiunion campaign and to get out the union vote. With the defeat of the organizing drive by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), union members are stepping up their work. In a phone interview, Marty Knaeble, a baggage handler at Delta Airlines from the Detroit area, said, “Since the flight attendants’ vote was so close, we need to make every effort to get workers to cast their vote for the union. The stakes are huge. We need the union to protect our livelihoods and jobs.” Totaling more than 50,000 workers, the Delta union elections are the largest to take place in more than five decades in the United States. The second biggest carrier in the country, Delta Airlines has been the least organized of the major airlines. In 2008 Delta’s largely nonunionized workforce merged with Northwest’s unionized workforce. Before the merger Delta had 33,915 nonunion workers compared to 16,723 union workers at Northwest. This was the third time the flight attendants’ union has lost an election at Delta. However, unlike the previous votes this one was extremely close. It follows years of cuts and rule changes by the airlines that have deeply affected workers’ lives. The election was the first in the airline industry where a union is recognized if a majority of the votes cast are in favor. In the past, workers in the airlines and on the railroads who didn’t vote were counted as “no” votes. Delta and other airlines lobbied heavily against the ruling by the federal government’s National Mediation Board that went into effect in July, reversing the 70-year-old practice guiding union elections in those industries. Workers at airlines and railroads now vote under the same rules as workers at other companies. Under the old rules, the union victory at Piedmont would have been declared a defeat because 1,200 workers who didn’t vote would have automatically been counted as voting against the union. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Union destroyed at Delta
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == full: _http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2029589&nid=111_ (http://www.wtop.com/?sid=2029589&nid=111) November 18, 2010 - 4:07pm stories from the motley foolTop 10 New Buys Of The Money Masters General Motors IPO: How Much Cash For This Clunker? Don't Get Blindsided By These Chinese Companies The Washington Redskins: Stupid Is As Stupid Does Sirius XM's Fab Move By JOSHUA FREED AP Airlines Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Unions lost their second big vote at Delta Air Lines on Thursday, with fleet service workers rejecting the union that had represented the same group at Northwest Airlines. The voting by 13,104 baggage handlers and other fleet service workers ended with 52.5 percent of them voting for no union, according the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that runs airline union elections. Delta is mostly non-union except its pilots. But labor got a foot in the door when Delta absorbed heavily unionized Northwest in 2008. The election that ended Thursday was to see whether the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would represent the combined workers, or none of them. Roughly 5,000 of those Delta workers had come from Northwest. The IAM is also aiming to represent some 16,500 customer service workers such as gate agents and ticket-sellers. Voting for that group, which includes roughly 5,000 from Northwest, ends Dec. 7. Voting for about 700 stock and stores clerks ends Monday. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA narrowly lost its bid to represent about 20,000 Delta workers earlier this month. The AFA has claimed that Delta interfered in the voting, which Delta denied. Union spokeswoman Corey Caldwell said the union expects to file its allegations with the mediation board next week. Delta said it would make pay and work rules the same for workers who came from Delta and their colleagues who came from Northwest once it knows whether the IAM will challenge the election. IAM spokesman Joseph Tiberi said the union is "investigating allegations from Delta workers of illegal election interference," but didn't say whether it would file to challenge the outcome. Delta had mounted an extensive campaign that unions said was aimed at encouraging votes against representation. The airline said that Thursday's result means that votes covering some 40,000 workers have rejected union representation. Also on Thursday, the pilot union at Delta elected Detroit-based 767 captain Tim O'Malley as chairman of its Master Executive Council. O'Malley has worked for Delta since 1990, and was a F-4 pilot in the Air Force. O'Malley and other new officers for the Delta branch of the Air Line Pilots Association begin their new roles Jan. 1. O'Malley replaces outgoing chairman Lee Moak, who was elected ALPA president last month. Shares of Atlanta-based Delta rose 46 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $13.67 in afternoon trading, with most of the gain coming before the vote result was announced. (Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) By JOSHUA FREED AP Airlines Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Unions lost their second big vote at Delta Air Lines on Thursday, with fleet service workers rejecting the union that had represented the same group at Northwest Airlines. The voting by 13,104 baggage handlers and other fleet service workers ended with 52.5 percent of them voting for no union, according the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that runs airline union elections. Delta is mostly non-union except its pilots. But labor got a foot in the door when Delta absorbed heavily unionized Northwest in 2008. The election that ended Thursday was to see whether the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would represent the combined workers, or none of them. Roughly 5,000 of those Delta workers had come from Northwest. The IAM is also aiming to represent some 16,500 customer service workers such as gate agents and ticket-sellers. Voting for that group, which includes roughly 5,000 from Northwest, ends Dec. 7. Voting for about 700 stock and stores clerks ends Monday. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA narrowly lost its bid to represent about 20,000 Delta workers earlier this month. The AFA has claimed that Delta interfered in the voting, which Delta denied. Union spokeswoman Corey Caldwell said the union expects to file its allegations with the mediation board next week. Delta said it would make pay and work rules the same for workers who came from Delta and their colleagues who came from Northwest once it knows whether the IAM wi
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == > The timing of the charges make their motivation fairly transparent. Exactly. How many times do we have to see this done? Does the former Marine Scott Ritter really like young women with taught bottoms -- even if they might be under the legal age? I would guess so. Was Elliot Spitzer really using hookers? Yup, it seems so. But one would be a fool to think that Ritter's arrest right at the critical time before the Iraq war when he was being routinely seen on the mainstream corporate mass media espousing questioning or anti-invasion views as an unimpeachable expert was merely coincidental. Similarly, do we really think Spitzer's arrest at the beginning of the financial crisis and the fact that his record on financial issues and views likely would've boosted his political power also a coincidence? These are simply political hits; takedowns using the law to do the timely elimination of political opponents. -- "At all times throughout history, the ideology of the ruling class is the ruling ideology." -- Karl Marx Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] “This is absolutely a surrender for labor”
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == NY Times November 19, 2010 Unions Yield on Wage Scales to Preserve Jobs By LOUIS UCHITELLE MILWAUKEE — Organized [sic] labor appears to be losing an important battle in the Great Recession. Even at manufacturing companies that are profitable, union workers are reluctantly agreeing to tiered contracts that create two levels of pay. In years past, two-tiered systems were used to drive down costs in hard times, but mainly at companies already in trouble. And those arrangements, at the insistence of the unions, were designed, in most cases, to expire in a few years. Now, the managers of some marquee companies are aiming to make this concession permanent. If they are successful, their contracts could become blueprints for other companies in other cities, extending a wage system that would be a startling retreat for labor. Though union officials said they could not readily supply data on the practice, managers have been trying to achieve this for 30 years, with limited results. The recent auto crisis brought a two-tier system to General Motors and Chrysler. Delphi, the big parts maker, also has one now. Caterpillar, back in 2006, signed such a contract with the United Automobile Workers. The arrangement was a fairly common means of shrinking labor costs in the recession of the early 1980s. At the end of the contracts, however, wages generally snapped back up to a single tier. At G.M., Chrysler, Delphi and Caterpillar, the wages will not be snapping back. Nor will that happen for workers at three big manufacturers here in southeastern Wisconsin — where 15 percent of the work force is in manufacturing, a bigger proportion than any other state. These employers — Harley-Davidson, Mercury Marine and Kohler — have all but succeeded in the last year or so in erecting two-tier systems that could last well into a recovery. “This is absolutely a surrender for labor,” said Mike Masik Sr., the union leader at Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle maker, not even trying to paper over the defeat. His union recently accepted a new contract that freezes wages for existing workers for most of its seven years, lowers pay for new hires, dilutes benefits and brings temporary workers to the assembly line at even lower pay and no benefits whenever there is a rise in demand for Harley’s roaring bikes. When the proposal was put to a vote recently, Harley’s blue-collar employees, most of whom belong to the powerful United Steelworkers, approved it by a decisive 53 percent to 47 percent. Just up the highway, Mercury Marine, which makes outboard motors and marine engines, has a similar agreement with its factory workers. And the Kohler Company, another manufacturing giant in southeastern Wisconsin, famed for its gleaming bathroom fixtures, is negotiating a contract using Harley’s pact as a template and, so far, getting much of its way. “The simple economic fact is that we overproduced and now we have to burn off the excess,” Matthew S. Levatich, president and chief operating officer of Harley-Davidson, said in an interview, speaking in effect for all three manufacturers. “You could say,” he added, “that the new contract is a recognition of this truth on the part of our workers.” Nowhere else in the country has quite so tough a contract emerged at companies that are profitable, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. says. “Management clearly has the upper hand in negotiations because of the employment situation,” Milwaukee’s mayor, Tom Barrett, said. Mr. Barrett ran as the Democratic candidate for governor in the Nov. 2 election, losing to Scott Walker, a Republican in a state that usually votes Democratic. In interviews, several blue-collar workers said they had voted Democratic in 2008 and switched to Republican this time — mimicking the blue-collar political shift throughout the Midwest — because the Obama administration, in their view, had failed so far to help them. The breakthrough labor agreements reflect this antipathy. They capitalize on a particularly difficult set of circumstances for blue-collar workers. In response to falling demand, the big manufacturers here have cut production and laid off thousands of employees. Many people lost jobs that had paid $22 an hour or more. Few can get work that pays as well, if they can get steady work at all, given an unemployment rate of nearly 8 percent in the area. That makes holding a job a higher priority than holding the line on pay and benefits, much less pushing for improvements, Mr. Masik said. Increasing the pressure, Harley-Davidson and Mercury Marine, a unit of the Brunswick Corporation, publicly declared that they would move factory operations to lower-cost American cities — Stillwater, Okla., for example, or Kansas City, Mo
Re: [Marxism] The new Nixon
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Sat, 20 Nov 2010 10:23:42 -0500 Louis Proyect writes: > > > Anderson Cooper Compares Obama to Nixon, Spotlights Declining > Approval > Ratings > > full: > http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/10/22/anderson-cooper-co mpares-obama-nixon-spotlights-declining-approval-r > > --- > > At least Nixon's ideas concerning national health care and welfare reform were more progressive than Obama's. Jim Farmelant http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant www.foxymath.com Learn or Review Basic Math Refinance Now 3.4% FIXED $160,000 Mortgage: $547/mo. No Hidden Fees. No SSN Req. Get 4 Quotes! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4ce7ee353e74f7082dm03vuc Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] The new Nixon
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Anderson Cooper Compares Obama to Nixon, Spotlights Declining Approval Ratings full: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2009/10/22/anderson-cooper-compares-obama-nixon-spotlights-declining-approval-r --- Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast Asia President Richard M. Nixon April 30, 1970 Good evening my fellow Americans: Ten days ago, in my report to the Nation on Vietnam, I announced a decision to withdraw an additional 150,000 Americans from Vietnam over the next year. I said then that I was making that decision despite our concern over increased enemy activity in Laos, in Cambodia, and in South Vietnam. At that time, I warned that if I concluded that increased enemy activity in any of these areas endangered the lives of Americans remaining in Vietnam, I would not hesitate to take strong and effective measures to deal with that situation. Despite that warning, North Vietnam has increased its military aggression in all these areas, and particularly in Cambodia. After full consultation with the National Security Council, Ambassador Bunker, General Abrams, and my other advisers, I have concluded that the actions of the enemy in the last 10 days clearly endanger the lives of Americans who are in Vietnam now and would constitute an unacceptable risk to those who will be there after withdrawal of another 150,000. To protect our men who are in Vietnam and to guarantee the continued success of our withdrawal and Vietnamization programs, I have concluded that the time has come for action. full: http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/nixon430.htm --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/19/AR2010111906268.html U.S. wants to widen area in Pakistan where it can operate drones By Greg Miller Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, November 20, 2010; 12:25 AM ISLAMABAD - The United States has renewed pressure on Pakistan to expand the areas where CIA drones can operate inside the country, reflecting concern that the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan is being undermined by insurgents' continued ability to take sanctuary across the border, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. The U.S. appeal has focused on the area surrounding the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban leadership is thought to be based. But the request also seeks to expand the boundaries for drone strikes in the tribal areas, which have been targeted in 101 attacks this year, the officials said. Pakistan has rejected the request, officials said. Instead, the country has agreed to more modest measures, including an expanded CIA presence in Quetta, where the agency and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate have established teams seeking to locate and capture senior members of the Taliban. The disagreement over the scope of the drone program underscores broader tensions between the United States and Pakistan, wary allies that are increasingly pointing fingers at one another over the rising levels of insurgent violence on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border. Senior Pakistani officials expressed resentment over what they described as misplaced U.S. pressure to do more, saying the United States has not controlled the Afghan side of the border, is preoccupied by arbitrary military deadlines and has little regard for Pakistan's internal security problems. "You expect us to open the skies for anything that you can fly," said a high-ranking Pakistani intelligence official, who described the Quetta request as an affront to Pakistani sovereignty. "In which country can you do that?" U.S. officials confirmed the request for expanded drone flights. They cited concern that Quetta functions not only as a sanctuary for Taliban leaders but also as a base for sending money, recruits and explosives to Taliban forces inside Afghanistan. "If they understand our side, they know the patience is running out," a senior NATO military official said. The CIA's drone campaign in Pakistan has accelerated dramatically in recent months, with 47 attacks recorded since the beginning of September, according to The Long War Journal, a Web site that tracks the strikes. By contrast, there were 45 strikes in the first five years of the drone program. But Pakistan places strict boundaries on where CIA drones can fly. The unmanned aircraft may patrol designated flight "boxes" over the country's tribal belt but not other provinces, including Baluchistan, which encompasses Quetta. "They want to increase the size of the boxes, they want to relocate the boxes," a second Pakistani intelligence official said of the latest U.S. requests. "I don't think we are going to go any further." He and others spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the clan
Re: [Marxism] Topic thread sequence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Louis Proyect wrote: > > Okay, you are talking about the menu for the digest. Les Schaffer will > have a look at this when he gets a chance. ah, ok, i wasn't clear what he was referring to i'll check to see if there are ways to organize the digest... i am guessing not. there ARE email apps that will allow you to read the articles as if they were a (virtual) folder. unfortunately, they are not mainstream application. if digest readers (those who do NOT want a steady stream of emails into their INBOX) want a more convenient and threaded way to read marxmail, i still highly recommend the web-based gmane.org: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.politics.marxism.marxmail here is a screenshot showing you how it looks in the browser, the Actions menu allows for replying to a post, etc: http://www.marxmail.org/gmane.png Les Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Topic thread sequence
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 11/20/10 2:12 AM, Jon Louis Mann wrote: > > I'm aware mail is sent in the order rec'd. > No offense intended; just a request. > This is what I meant by menu, perhaps I > should have said table of contents. > > 4. Topic thread sequence (Jon Louis Mann) > 5. Re: All together now... (Mark Lause) > 6. Re: A new spectre haunts the WSJ, (S. Artesian) > 7. Re: De Facto Support for Zionism: Not (S. Artesian) > 8. Re: A new spectre haunts the WSJ (S. Artesian) > 9. Re: Topic thread sequence (Louis Proyect) >10. On 1st day of 3-day protest, Guardian article: 'The school >of Latin America's dictators' (Ralph Johansen) >11. FWD: The IEA Annual Report: A Dire Picture of Energy Supply >and Demand: comments (DW) >12. French scandals (Dan) >13. Re: Topic thread sequence (Carrol Cox) Okay, you are talking about the menu for the digest. Les Schaffer will have a look at this when he gets a chance. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Ireland: A Colony Once Again
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Guest Post: Ireland: A Colony Once Again http://rustbeltradical.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/ireland-a-colony-once-again/ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Taibbi: How Can We Expect Wall St. Thieves to Stop Stealing Unless We Throw Them in Prison?
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == > Taibbi: How Can We Expect Wall St. Thieves to Stop Stealing Unless We Throw > Them in Prison? By David Sirota > http://www.alternet.org/story/148916/taibbi%3A_how_can_we_expect_wall_st._thieves_to_stop_stealing_unless_we_throw_them_in_prison > > With financial fraud now so sophisticated and pervasive, we clearly need > zero-tolerance solutions to change Wall Street's culture. > > *November 18, 2010* | > > > > Often, the most provocative ideas arise after swigs of whiskey. This is > especially true when a *Rolling Stone* reporter is around -- and, as I > recently learned, it's all but guaranteed when that Rolling Stoner is Matt > Taibbi, aka the heir to the magazine's gonzo throne. > > I had the chance to hang with Taibbi last week after he spoke to a Denver > audience about his new book, "Griftopia," which argues that Wall Street's > bubble-bailout cycle has been one of the greatest -- and least prosecuted -- > crimes in history. His presentation was serendipitously timed, coming the > same week as a local Bonfire of the Vanities-esque scandal was underscoring > the speculator class's privilege. In Colorado's own Bonfire of the Rockies, > a local prosecutor had just reduced hit-and-run charges against a fund > manager because the prosecutor said a felony would have "serious job > implications" for the Sherman McCoy in question. > > Over drinks in my living room, Taibbi and I pondered the financial Masters > of the Universe and their maddening infallibility. I asked him why they > never fear facing legal consequences. Do they believe they're untouchable? > Or do they know law enforcement won't pursue them? > > "They're not afraid because other than Bernie Madoff, when was the last > time someone on Wall Street faced any real punishment?" he responded. "Sure, > a few go to jail once in a while, but they're usually out in a few months > and then on the speaking circuit. That's not exactly a deterrent against bad > behavior that's making you millions." > > Deterrence -- it's the vaunted idea behind "tough on crime" sentences for > violent offenses. Lock the door, throw away the key, and the theory says > that heinous acts will be prevented. > > However, things haven't worked out that way because the toughest "tough on > crime" policies are most focused on crimes of passion, derangement and > destitution -- crimes that are often not calculated and therefore not > deterrable. This is probably one of the reasons why the murder rate has been > higher in death penalty states than in non-death penalty states, leading > most criminologists to conclude that capital punishment does not hinder > conventional homicide. > > But what about crimes of economic homicide? These are the opposite of > crimes of passion. When, say, a speculator securitizes bad mortgages and > peddles them to pension funds as safe investments, that fraud involves > exactly the kind of calculation that might be deterred via the prospect of > harsh punishment. > > "What if a bank CEO was given life without parole?" I asked Taibbi. "What > if instead of country club jail, one of these guys was shown experiencing > prison like a regular convict? That would have to stop some of the worst > stuff, right?" > > "Right, and go a step further," Taibbi countered. "How about putting a few > of them in the electric chair? Are you telling me Goldman Sachs execs aren't > then going to change?" > > We both busted out laughing -- and hard. Not at the truth behind the > theorizing, but at the idea that any of it would actually happen today. In > 2005, Washington couldn't even pass a post-Enron proposal to hold CEOs > legally liable for their companies' corporate tax fraud. So the notion that > the same money-dominated capital will now subject CEOs to anything remotely > "tough on crime" is, well, far-fetched. > > And yet, the hypothetical is compelling, isn't it? That's because it > highlights how our society misapplies deterrence -- and how it might apply > the concept more successfully. > > The necessity of such a criminal justice shift should be obvious. With > financial fraud now so sophisticated and pervasive, we clearly need > zero-tolerance solutions to change Wall Street's culture. Indeed, without > true shock-and-awe deterrence, most regulatory reform will likely be an > ineffectual thumb in the economic dike -- just as the thieves desire. > > > > Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] 1 MILLION pounds of Food on 3 acres. 10, 000 fish, 500 yards of compost
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9CCxdkOng&feature=player_embedded Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Sweden Issues Arrest Warrant for WikiLeaks' Assange
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == The presumption of innocence seems a reasonable starting point for any accuserd person, though rape is a singular crime in terms of the ability of the accused to hide behind that presumption when the authorities permit it. I don't know Assange or anybody else I've only seen on TV...and I've not been following him personally or his case all that closely. I do know that people don't become transformed in an instantaneous bolt from the blue...in a Saul-like conversion to being a serial rapist. It's not as though Assange hasn't been under someone's microscope for some time...and a particularly high resolution one at that.. The timing of the charges make their motivation fairly transparent. The "journalistic" personalities that constitute that community in the US are going to go after this sort of thing like red meat not particularly because of the government's encouragement of it, but because Assange has been doing precisely what they don't do.. Then, too, those TV personalities who see treating women this way as a matter of entitlement would be particularly resentful of tthe idea that a rival would do wo without going the TV and corporate route It all just stinks. And that's all we actually know or can know about it at this point... ML Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
