Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Chris Hedges: the USA needs a few good communists
Chris Hedges spent too much time at the Harvard Divinity School. And I don't care for his characterization of Marx. On 05/31/2010 09:47 AM, Jim Farmelant wrote: > > This Country Needs a Few Good Communists > http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_country_needs_a_few_good_communi > sts_20100531/ > Posted on May 31, 2010 > > By Chris Hedges > > The witch hunts against communists in the United States were used to > silence socialists, anarchists, pacifists and all those who defied the > abuses of capitalism. Those “anti-Red” actions were devastating blows to > the political health of the country. The communists spoke the language > of class war. They understood that Wall Street, along with corporations > such as British Petroleum, is the enemy. They offered a broad social > vision which allowed even the non-communist left to employ a vocabulary > that made sense of the destructive impulses of capitalism. But once the > Communist Party, along with other radical movements, was eradicated as a > social and political force, once the liberal class took > government-imposed loyalty oaths and collaborated in the witch hunts for > phantom communist agents, we were robbed of the ability to make sense of > our struggle. We became fearful, timid and ineffectual. We lost our > voice and became part of the corporate structure we should have been > dismantling. > > Hope in this age of bankrupt capitalism will come with the return of the > language of class conflict. It does not mean we have to agree with Karl > Marx, who advocated violence and whose worship of the state as a utopian > mechanism led to another form of enslavement of the working class, but > we have to speak in the vocabulary Marx employed. We have to grasp, as > Marx did, that corporations are not concerned with the common good. They > exploit, pollute, impoverish, repress, kill and lie to make money. They > throw poor families out of homes, let the uninsured die, wage useless > wars to make profits, poison and pollute the ecosystem, slash social > assistance programs, gut public education, trash the global economy, > loot the U.S. Treasury and crush all popular movements that seek justice > for working men and women. They worship only money and power. And, as > Marx knew, unfettered capitalism is a revolutionary force that consumes > greater and greater numbers of human lives until it finally consumes > itself. The nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico is the perfect metaphor for > the corporate state. It is the same nightmare seen in postindustrial > pockets from the old mill towns in New England to the abandoned steel > mills in Ohio. It is a nightmare that Iraqis, Pakistanis and Afghans, > mourning their dead, live each day. > > Capitalism was once viewed in America as a system that had to be fought. > But capitalism is no longer challenged. And so, even as Wall Street > steals billions of taxpayer dollars and the Gulf of Mexico is turned > into a toxic swamp, we do not know what to do or say. We decry the > excesses of capitalism without demanding a dismantling of the corporate > state. The liberal class has a misguided loyalty, illustrated by > environmental groups that have refused to excoriate the Obama White > House over the ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Liberals > bow before a Democratic Party that ignores them and does the bidding of > corporations. The reflexive deference to the Democrats by the liberal > class is the result of cowardice and fear. It is also the result of an > infantile understanding of the mechanisms of power. The divide is not > between Republican and Democrat. It is a divide between the corporate > state and the citizen. It is a divide between capitalists and workers. > And, for all the failings of the communists, they got it. > > Unions, organizations formerly steeped in the doctrine of class warfare > and filled with those who sought broad social and political rights for > the working class, have been transformed into domesticated partners of > the capitalist class. They have been reduced to simple bartering tools. > The social demands of unions early in the 20th century that gave the > working class weekends off, the right to strike, the eight-hour day and > Social Security have been abandoned. Universities, especially in > political science and economics departments, parrot the discredited > ideology of unregulated capitalism and have no new ideas. Artistic > expression, along with most religious worship, is largely self-absorbed > narcissism. The Democratic Party and the press have become corporate > servants. The loss of radicals within the labor movement, the Democratic > Party, the arts, the church and the universities has obliterated one of > the most important counterweights to the corporate state. And the > purging of those radicals has left us unable to make sense of what is > happening to us. > > The fear of communism, like the fear of Islamic terrorism, has resulted > in the steady suspension of ci
[Marxism-Thaxis] Chris Hedges: the USA needs a few good communists
This Country Needs a Few Good Communists http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_country_needs_a_few_good_communi sts_20100531/ Posted on May 31, 2010 By Chris Hedges The witch hunts against communists in the United States were used to silence socialists, anarchists, pacifists and all those who defied the abuses of capitalism. Those anti-Red actions were devastating blows to the political health of the country. The communists spoke the language of class war. They understood that Wall Street, along with corporations such as British Petroleum, is the enemy. They offered a broad social vision which allowed even the non-communist left to employ a vocabulary that made sense of the destructive impulses of capitalism. But once the Communist Party, along with other radical movements, was eradicated as a social and political force, once the liberal class took government-imposed loyalty oaths and collaborated in the witch hunts for phantom communist agents, we were robbed of the ability to make sense of our struggle. We became fearful, timid and ineffectual. We lost our voice and became part of the corporate structure we should have been dismantling. Hope in this age of bankrupt capitalism will come with the return of the language of class conflict. It does not mean we have to agree with Karl Marx, who advocated violence and whose worship of the state as a utopian mechanism led to another form of enslavement of the working class, but we have to speak in the vocabulary Marx employed. We have to grasp, as Marx did, that corporations are not concerned with the common good. They exploit, pollute, impoverish, repress, kill and lie to make money. They throw poor families out of homes, let the uninsured die, wage useless wars to make profits, poison and pollute the ecosystem, slash social assistance programs, gut public education, trash the global economy, loot the U.S. Treasury and crush all popular movements that seek justice for working men and women. They worship only money and power. And, as Marx knew, unfettered capitalism is a revolutionary force that consumes greater and greater numbers of human lives until it finally consumes itself. The nightmare in the Gulf of Mexico is the perfect metaphor for the corporate state. It is the same nightmare seen in postindustrial pockets from the old mill towns in New England to the abandoned steel mills in Ohio. It is a nightmare that Iraqis, Pakistanis and Afghans, mourning their dead, live each day. Capitalism was once viewed in America as a system that had to be fought. But capitalism is no longer challenged. And so, even as Wall Street steals billions of taxpayer dollars and the Gulf of Mexico is turned into a toxic swamp, we do not know what to do or say. We decry the excesses of capitalism without demanding a dismantling of the corporate state. The liberal class has a misguided loyalty, illustrated by environmental groups that have refused to excoriate the Obama White House over the ecological catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Liberals bow before a Democratic Party that ignores them and does the bidding of corporations. The reflexive deference to the Democrats by the liberal class is the result of cowardice and fear. It is also the result of an infantile understanding of the mechanisms of power. The divide is not between Republican and Democrat. It is a divide between the corporate state and the citizen. It is a divide between capitalists and workers. And, for all the failings of the communists, they got it. Unions, organizations formerly steeped in the doctrine of class warfare and filled with those who sought broad social and political rights for the working class, have been transformed into domesticated partners of the capitalist class. They have been reduced to simple bartering tools. The social demands of unions early in the 20th century that gave the working class weekends off, the right to strike, the eight-hour day and Social Security have been abandoned. Universities, especially in political science and economics departments, parrot the discredited ideology of unregulated capitalism and have no new ideas. Artistic expression, along with most religious worship, is largely self-absorbed narcissism. The Democratic Party and the press have become corporate servants. The loss of radicals within the labor movement, the Democratic Party, the arts, the church and the universities has obliterated one of the most important counterweights to the corporate state. And the purging of those radicals has left us unable to make sense of what is happening to us. The fear of communism, like the fear of Islamic terrorism, has resulted in the steady suspension of civil liberties, including freedom of speech, habeas corpus and the right to organize, values the liberal class claims to support. It was the orchestration of fear that permitted the capitalist class to ram through the Taft-Hartley Act in 1948
