[PEN-L:10370] Solinet conference

[Michael Eisenscher]

Solinet has been involved in an innovative form of international organizing
through their web-based conferencing system. They host moderated discussions
on a variety of topics which run about a month each and bring together
people with common interests from different countries. 
It's easy to sign up and get a password so you can 
participate in these things (also free). Check out their website.

Below is the info on an education "seminar" they're hosting in June. 
(posted to [EMAIL PROTECTED] by Len Wilson)
---
This is an invitation to attend a special labour seminar entitled "Education
and Globalization" which will be held on the Solidarity computer conferencing
system (SoliNet) from June 2 to June 27. The seminar will be lead by Larry
Kuehn, the Director of Research and Technology for the British Columbia
Teachers' Federation. Larry has extensive experience working with teacher
unions in Southern Africa and  Latin America as well as North America.
The online seminar will focus on how globalization is having an impact on
public education around the globe. Topics for the seminar include the 
neo-liberal agenda for education, the role of international organizations
in education (e.g., OECD, IMF, World Bank), how technologies of indicator
systems and international testing influence education, and finally, strategies
for challenging the neo-liberal agenda.

Anyone interested in the topics is invited to join the seminar, preferably--but
not necessarily--as a participant in the discussion.

SoliNet is on the Web at:   www.solinet.org

If you have forgotten either your SoliNet username or password or both
(getting old, eh?) please send me an email. (Please do not re-register...
that will make a mess of our membership lists.)

The conference will be called GlobalEd and will be available for joining on
Monday, June 2nd. You will find instructions for joining the conference at
the end of this note.

I'm sure you will find this a fascinating and informative conference. Please
come join us.


Marc Belanger
SoliNet Moderator

*

   INSTRUCTIONS FOR JOINING THE GLOBALED CONFERENCE
 


The conference GlobalEd will be open for participation on Monday, June 2. 
On, or after, that date please do the following to join the conference:

1. Enter the SoliNet conferencing section. You will be in the CONFERENCE LIST
section.

2. Click on JOIN CONFERENCE which you will find in the middle of the top
frame.

3. Click in the little box beside the name of the conferences you want to
join: GlobalEd

4. Click on JOIN at the bottom of the page.

 You will be told you have joined the conference.


5. Click on JOINED CONFERENCES WITH UNREAD MESSAGES in the top box.


6. Enter the conference by clicking on the name of the conference: GlobalEd.

[PEN-L:10369] Fwd: scary politics

[MScoleman]

The following is a truly frightening example of why gender roles are
reproduced so strongly from one generation to the next.  maggie coleman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

>I thought I would share this with you. It is unbelievable!
>
>-- 
>Stefanie Schmidt
>Economist
>Milken Institute for Job & Capital Formation
>1250 Fourth Street
>Santa Monica, California 90401
>e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>phone:   (310)998-2684
>
>
>
>FUROR ERUPTS IN BRIGHAM CITY SCHOOLS
>
>A.P.  (Brigham City, Utah) -- The Brigham City School Board met in an 
>emergency session yesterday with the city council to consider
>allegations 
>that the school district's youngest charges were being inculcated with a 
>pro-gay ideology and same-sex marriage.
>
>The issue arose after scores of parents complained that children in the 
>kindergarten class at Brigham Elementary were being led in a game which 
>mimicked same-sex marriages.  At issue was the game "The Farmer in the
>Dell."
>
>Renee Mott, the accused kindergarten teacher, explained: "The class is 
>way over-balanced with girls.  I mean, we have lots more girls than
>boys. 
>Sometimes it just happens that way, it's just chance.  So when we play 
>Farmer in the Dell, sometimes I let a girl go first, so that everybody 
>gets a turn."
>
>The problem arises with the next line of the children's song: "the
>farmer 
>takes a wife." The girl-farmer would often choose another little girl to 
>join her in the circle as the "farmer's wife."
>
>"This is just setting a bad example to our young and impressionable 
>children," said Jared Day, whose child is in the class.  "If you don't 
>stand up for family values, this country is going to go right down the 
>toilet."
>
>"It's upsetting the natural order of things," concurred Lisa Perkins, 
>"and it's upsetting me, too." "It's like dragging those innocent
>children 
>down into a ditch.  It's an outrage that we can't protect our own 
>children from that sort of filth," said her husband, Wayne Perkins.
>
>"I know these things may happen in other places," said Janabell Millett. 
>"But this is Brigham City.  We can't let that kind of pollution into our 
>town.  And into the kindergarten, no less!"
>
>The extent of the furor over this issue can be gauged by the number of 
>town citizens who have got involved -- far more than just the parents of 
>students in the kindergarten class.  At the extraordinary joint session 
>of the School Board and the city council, over 200 parents and others 
>showed up to voice concerns, and petitions were submitted with hundreds 
>of names.
>
>"Somebody told us about this in Relief Society last Sunday," said Filene 
>Dunnbody, referring to the Mormon women's weekly church meeting.  "We 
>started the petition right then and there.  We just knew we had to take 
>action; we were all so mad about those poor little children.  After we 
>got everyone in Relief Society to sign, we took it over to the men's 
>quorums and they were glad to sign on, too.  Even some of the youth
>signed."
>
>It was rumored that Mormon churches in neighboring towns were gearing up 
>to bus in hundreds more parents to the next School Board meeting, should 
>the issue not find an immediate resolution.
>
>Parents in Brigham City have organized an action committee, and have 
>stated that they will sue the school board and the kindergarten teacher 
>personally for psychic damage to their children.  They have asked a BYU 
>Law School professor to represent them in the case, and have already 
>drafted a law for the State legislature which would ban all play acting 
>of same-sex marriage in the public schools.
>
>When kindergarten teacher Renee Mott testified to the combined school 
>board and town council that the situation had come about entirely 
>innocently, her explanation was met with pronounced scepticism.
>
>"I just wanted all the children to have a turn," she concluded, visibly 
>shaken.
>
>"I don't care how "innocent" this thing started," responded LeClare 
>Moffatt, speaking for the combined council.  "If not all the students
>get 
>a turn, that's just too bad.  There are more important issues at stake
>here."
>
>"The farmer has to be a boy," concurred Mayor Tom Merrill.  "A boy gets 
>picked first.  That's the way we always played the game, and that's the 
>way it should be played.  You might as well get used to it."
>
>The extraordinary joint session of parents and school board dismissed 
>after reaching a tentative solution.  Regardless of class sex ratios, 
>boys would be picked first.  However, in the interests of fairness, the 
>position of "the Cheese" would be reserved for a girl.  At the end of
>the 
>game, the children sing "the Cheese stands alone, the cheese stands 
>alone.  Hi ho the dairy-O, the cheese stands alone."
>
>"That should be enough to make anyone happy," concluded school board 
>president Jack Peterson.
>
> C.  K.  Woodworth,A.P. remote correspondent
>-

>NO

[PEN-L:10368] Re: Working Assets & Labor

[MScoleman]

Sprint is nonunion and has vigorously opposed the unionization of Sprint
workers.
maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]

In a message dated 97-05-27 14:27:23 EDT, you write:
>Doesn't WALD use Sprint as their main carrier, and isn't Sprint a known
>union-busting company?
>
>Doug
>
>--
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>250 W 85 St
>New York NY 10024-3217 USA
>+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
>email: 
>web: 

[PEN-L:10367] Re: Working Assets & Labor

[Michael Hoover]

> Doesn't WALD use Sprint as their main carrier, and isn't Sprint a known
> union-busting company?
> Doug

yes to both questions...as I recall, Sprint fired a mostly Latina
workforce at a Spanish-language branch in San Fransisco one week 
prior to a certification election that the union (CWA?) was likely 
to win...this incident dates back to '93 or '94...NLRB hearings were
initiated, I think Sprint was on the defensive for a time, but I 
don't remember whether or not there was a final judgment on the
matter (either for or against the company)...when I spoke to a WALD
rep about this a few years ago, I was told that WA was aware of and
monitoring the situation...ahh, the trials and tribulations of 
"progressive" (oops - "socially responsible") consumerism...Michael

[PEN-L:10366] Re: Working Assets & Labor

[Nathan Henderson-James]

Wojtek Solowski wrote:

>To all who use Workings Assets (WALD) as their long distance phone company.
>
>As you know WALD has program funding nonprofit organisations working for
>progressive causes.  However, they are yet to provide funding to any
>organization defending workers' rights in this country.

Actually WALD has given two grants to ACORN, an organization fundamentally
committed to low-income workers rights.  This committment can be seen in
our living wage, jobs, and corporate accountability cmapaigns as well as
our ground-breaking and cutting edge work organizing workfare recipients.
To date we have nearly 10,000 signed authorization cards from workfare
workers in New York and Los Angeles, a number the is larger than all other
workfare organizing efforts combined.  (Despite the AFL's recent
committment to organizing workfare workers no AFL-CIO affiliated
International or Local has yet signed up any workfare recipients.)

>Any WALD customer has a right to nominate a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit to their
>funding program.  I recently exercised that right by nominating Jobs with
>Justice.  I urge any WALD custemore to do the same -- write them a letter
>demanding that they fund an organization that is explictly devoted to
>protecting labour rights and economic democracy at home.

One of the stumbling blocks to funding organizations dedicated to economic
democracy and workers rights, like unions and community organizations, is
that many of them do not have 501(c)(3) designations because those
designations effectively prohibit any kind of direct action or political
activity.  Whcih is one of the reasons that WALD's list is top-heavy with
policy and advocacy organizations and "safe" environmental organizations.

Nathan Henderson-James

_
Nathan Henderson-James, Research Coordinator
ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   202-547-2500 voice   202-546-2483 fax
  http://www.acorn.org/community
**
  "It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty will be charged to
dangers, real or imagined, from abroad."
--James Madison
**
This Week in History: 5/30/1741: 35 blacks and whites are executed in NYC
for planning a slave revolt.

[PEN-L:10365] Re: Working Assets & Labor

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 11:22 AM 5/27/97 -0700, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
>>To all who use Workings Assets (WALD) as their long distance phone company.
>>
>>As you know WALD has program funding nonprofit organisations working for
>>progressive causes.  However, they are yet to provide funding to any
>>organization defending workers' rights in this country.
>
>Doesn't WALD use Sprint as their main carrier, and isn't Sprint a known
>union-busting company?


That is true, and I've written to WALD on that issue with little effect.  We
may say that WALD is not particularly labour-friendly, but neither are
scores of other "progressive" organisations, inlcuding Pacifica, or for that
matter, other carriers like ATT or MCI.  

However, while ATT, MCI and other do not make any claims to serving any
causes, let alone progressive ones, WALD does.  Consequently, little people
like myself have a bit more leverege to demand that WALD lives up to its
promises.

But for the record, I am not that naive to believe that you can change the
nature of capitalism by devoting 1 or 2% of the proceeds to charity.

regards,

wojtek sokolowski 
institute for policy studies
johns hopkins university
baltimore, md 21218
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
voice: (410) 516-4056
fax:   (410) 516-8233

[PEN-L:10364] re: more planning and democracy

[Tom Walker]

Maximum Sawicky wrote,

>The only thing you missed was Max Headroom.

No relation, I presume?


Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^
knoW Ware Communications  |
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA   |  "Only in mediocre art [and in spreadsheets]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |does life unfold as fate."
(604) 669-3286|
^^
 The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm

[PEN-L:10363] Black Man's Burden

[Louis N Proyect]

Our Marxist knowledge of Africa is underdeveloped. There is far too little
coverage in left journals and discussion on the Internet tends to revolve
around advanced capitalist countries. Exceptions are made for Asia and
Latin America occasionally but much more attention should be paid to
Africa, especially in light of the overthrow of the imperialist servant
Mobutu. 

I visited Africa briefly in late 1989 as part of a delegation from a group
called Tecnica to set up a volunteer technical assistance program for the
exiled ANC. Eventually volunteers went to work for the ANC, SWAPO and the
governments of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Our model for assistance
was work done in Sandinista Nicaragua, a place in which I had spent some
time as volunteer coordinator and computer programmer. 

My involvement with Nicaragua and Central American politics in general led
me into a fairly intensive program of research into the region. The
authors and journals I found helpful are probably familiar to many of you:
Carlos Vilas, George Black, Robert Armstrong, NACLA, etc. 

Now I am trying to fill in the gaps in my understanding about Africa, an
area that I am convinced will have greater importance for the left in
years to come. It may be premature to make such a claim, but I suspect
that the long, reactionary period that we have been passing through over
the past twenty years or so may be coming to end. Recent votes in England
and France are one such sign, while another is the growing ability of the
African masses to remove vestiges of colonial rule from their homelands.

One of the Africa scholars I do have some familiarity with is Basil
Davidson, a name I'm sure that rings a bell for many of you since he is
the author of more than twenty books on the subject. I just finished his
1992 "Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State". It is
an extremely perceptive view of the crisis Africa had been passing
through, including the onset of the death throes of Mobutu's regime. One
of the greatest values of the book is that it places Africa's difficulties
in a historical materialist context. Davidson anchors much of his analysis
in the work of younger Marxist scholars of the region and for this reason
alone, the bibliography is a good place to start to do further reading on
the region.

In the chapter titled "The Black Man's Burden" Davidson presents solid
evidence that the modernization project of post WWII African nationalists
fell into many of the same traps that were the undoing of Soviet rulers. 
Whether the Soviet model itself was articulated as a goal, such as in
Mozambique, or rejected as in Mobutu's Zaire, African societies faced
identical problems, especially the conflict between city and countryside.
When you combine these problems with the colonial legacy, it comes as
little surprise that Africa has suffered so greatly in recent years. 

One of the particular liabilities of the colonial past is that regional
trade patterns predated the colonial frontiers that the new African states
inherited when they gained independence and acted against them. If you,
for example, regarded the borderlines of newly independent Guinea as a
basis for national development, what would you do if the trade axis had
not been within the frontiers of Guinea, but extended from Dakar, Senegal
on the west to Monrovia, Liberia on the east? As an analogy, think of what
it would mean to have divided the United States into separate states where
coal and iron ore were extracted in two separate states, while being
smelted and processed into steel in a third. 

What would have happened is just what has happened in Africa. The
"informal" economy grew apace. Trade flowed naturally across national
borders even when it was banned by a centralizing state. At a certain
point, smuggling becomes normal. When this happens, tax revenues disappear
and the state becomes impoverished. Social spending for education, health
and infrastructure development dries up. 

Another problem is that the new African states, while based on the
parliamentary forms of the colonial powers that granted them independence,
lacked the mature class formations that would have made electoral politics
meaningful. The working class was only an embryonic formation. The petty
producers--shopkeepers, farmers, etc.--while greater in number had failed
to develop the national consciousness of their counterparts in 19th
century England or France. Finally, the big bourgeoisie was never
permitted to develop since colonialism had no use for it. Party politics
therefore lacked a class basis and became patronage machines geared to
what Davidson calls "kinship corporations" or what is more familiarly
known as "tribes". Elections took place in order to allocate the spoils
among the various kinship based entities. When elections could not provide
an acceptable result to all parties, civil war and dictatorship soon
followed.

The biggest problem was identical to that of the former Sovi

[PEN-L:10362] re: more planning and democracy

[Max B. Sawicky]

> From:  [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tom Walker)
> Subject:   [PEN-L:10356] re: more planning and democracy

> First, I want to confirm that I'm every bit as TV-deprived as Jim Devine. My
> last TV went on the fritz during the 1973 coup in Chile and I decided not to
> get it fixed to spare myself apoplexy. My knowledge of the Partridge Family
> is strictly from hearsay and supermarket tabloids.  .  .  .

The only thing you missed was Max Headroom.

MBS

 

[PEN-L:10361] Re: Umbrage

[Tom Walker]

Paul Phillips made several good points,

1. The NDP has tried to campaign on good solid issues -- jobs, health care,
day care and social programs.  

2. It is the media and the right wing politicians that have hijacked the
election campaign . . 

3.  The NDP's decision to accept that the Liberal's are highly likely to be
returned is based on good solid electoral strategy.

4.  No the Canadian welfare state, such as it is, is no utopia. . . but they
were still headed in the right direction, which we can't say now.

But is "campaigning on good solid issues" what elections are about in 1990s
North America? Does the NDP think there has been a "big misunderstanding"
that has led to high unemployment and cuts in social programs?

Where did these "media and the right wing politicians" suddenly come from?
Weren't they there all along? Hasn't anyone in the NDP ever read Noam
Chomsky? In the Beatrix Potter tale, Jemima Puddleduck was shocked to
discover that the foxy whiskered gentleman was a fox.

I could accept that the decision to concede the Liberal victory may be good
solid (if narrow) electoral strategy, based on very limited objectives.
Whether or not those limited objectives (a few more seats, parliamentary
status as a party) are "worth it" is debatable.

Whether or not the Canadian welfare state was "headed in the right
direction" in the 1970s depends also on whether or not social programs were
institutionalized in a way that would help or hinder their defense and
extension. I know It's heretical to "attack social programs" but when I look
at the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, for example, I see: 1. a regressive tax
structure 2. a "market-based" program designed to achieve generational
transfers while expressly AVOIDING transfers from upper to lower income earners.

These features weren't accidental, the rationale for them is very openly
spelled out in the contemporary debates -- including the political
rationale, which may be crudely stated as "divide and rule". Instead of
"headed in the right direction", I would call 1970s social programs
"designed to be dismantled".

But let's let hear from Alexa herself,

"Some people whose usual concern is how corporations can make more profits
have a new worry. They're worried about the collapse of vital services to
people -- a collapse in Canada engineered by the Federal Liberal government
and mean-spirited provincial administrations like those of Mike Harris in
Ontario and Ralph Klein of Alberta."

"These are not converts to the NDP cause. They're people who recognize that
a damaged social safety net is a threat to the market economy they love so
dearly."

"Neo-conservativism is giving the market economy an ugly face," writes
Toroto Star economics editor David Crane. He recently described the Harris
government's cut to health care, education and social assistance [as] a
'kind of social thuggery.'"

"And, Crane points out, "it doesn't even make economic sense."

McDonough meanders on like that for several more paragraphs, citing Charles
Handy on _Reinventing the Future_ and mentioning the "hopelessness Canadians
are feeling about their own future" before coming to the following
resounding conclusion:

"In the really effective market economy, business people need social harmony
as much as workers and consumers need it. It's time big businesses' hireling
in Ottawa, the Federal Liberals, showed that understanding. It's time Canada
once again became a society at ease with itself."

To call the above a "mixed message" is probably to give it too much credit
as a message. This isn't even social democrats offering to be better
managers of capitalism, this is social democrats offering to be the
conscience of "big businesses' hireling" so that the hireling will better
manage capitalism. Huh?

ven-tril-o-quism (ven tril'uh kwiz uhm) also (
 -kwee)  n. 
  1.  the art or practice of speaking with 
   little or no lip movement so that the 
   voice does not appear to come from the 
   speaker but from another source.


Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^
knoW Ware Communications  |
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA   |  "Only in mediocre art [and in spreadsheets]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |does life unfold as fate."
(604) 669-3286|
^^
 The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm

[PEN-L:10360] Re: Working Assets & Labor

[Doug Henwood]

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:

>To all who use Workings Assets (WALD) as their long distance phone company.
>
>As you know WALD has program funding nonprofit organisations working for
>progressive causes.  However, they are yet to provide funding to any
>organization defending workers' rights in this country.

Doesn't WALD use Sprint as their main carrier, and isn't Sprint a known
union-busting company?

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: 
web: 

[PEN-L:10359] re: more planning and democracy

[William S. Lear]

Just wanted to add my two-cents' worth of confusion.

On Tue, May 27, 1997 at 10:40:01 (-0700) Tom Walker writes:
>Bill Lear wrote,
>
>>I don't remember ever advocating anything resembling a
>>dictatorship of the proletariat, and would reject it in principle.
>
>So, we have two diametrically opposed positions on the dictatorship of the
>proletariat (d of p), each advocating "democratic planning"(dp). My point,
>then, is simply that there is no point talking about dp unless we squarely
>address the issue of the d of p. Otherwise dp is just a tower of babel (tb).
>Or, to express the idea mathematically: d of p - dp = tb. ;-)

I should have added a warning to all my posts---I am (nearly) a
complete neophyte on this topic (economics).  I have not read Marx,
except in tiny snippets, and so I reacted to "dictatorship of the
proletariat" negatively on the grounds that I reject a "dictatorship"
in any form.  Jim Devine says that what this really boils down to is a
"workers' democracy (a workers' state)", in which there will be only
one class of people (workers---I think I got this right, right?).
Anyway, I don't have a problem with this, in principle, as long as we
include, e.g., "managers" as among the "workers".


Bill

[PEN-L:10358] Working Assets & Labor

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

To all who use Workings Assets (WALD) as their long distance phone company.

As you know WALD has program funding nonprofit organisations working for
progressive causes.  However, they are yet to provide funding to any
organization defending workers' rights in this country.  To my knowledge,
they have been funding mainly organizations that save whales, plant trees
for peace  and kindred hippe causes.  I am by no means suggestiong that
these causes are not important, all I am saying that workers' right in this
cauntry are an endangered species that can become extinct even before the
spotted owl.

Any WALD customer has a right to nominate a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit to their
funding program.  I recently exercised that right by nominating Jobs with
Justice.  I urge any WALD custemore to do the same -- write them a letter
demanding that they fund an organization that is explictly devoted to
protecting labour rights and economic democracy at home.

A copy of my letter to WALD follows.






Donations Manager
Working Assets
701 Montgomery St. 4th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111

Dear Sir or Madam,

I hereby nominate Jobs with Justice for your funding program.  Jobs with
Justice is a nation-wide, 501 (c) (3) organization working in the area of
workers' rights and economic justice.  Its national office is located at 501
3rd St. NW, Washington, DC 20001. 

I am forwarding a copy of this letter to JwJ's national office with a
request to send the required documentation to you.  In all likelihood, that
documentation will not reach your office before the May 31 deadline.
Nonetheless, I strongly urge you to consider Jobs with Justice for possible
inclusion in your funding program.  To my knowledge, Working Assets has not
yet supported any organization specifically devoted to defending workers'
rights and economic democracy in the US.  Given the dismal state of workers'
rights in this country that are further eroded by concerted corporate
efforts, this omission is simply unacceptable.

Sincerely,



S. Wojciech Sokolowski
wojtek sokolowski 
institute for policy studies
johns hopkins university
baltimore, md 21218
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
voice: (410) 516-4056
fax:   (410) 516-8233

[PEN-L:10357] For Canadians -- Reform site

[D Shniad]

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Billie C. Carroll)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Reform Watch website
Date: 26 May 1997 15:12:27 GMT

Hi Sid

If you are not already aware of it, there is now an online version of the
Reform Watch newsletter,  distributed for several years by Murray Dobbin.  It
also has quotes and profiles of Reformers,  as well as policy analysis by
issue. You can access the site at:

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/refwatch/

Good reference materials to counter Reform's whitewashing rhetoric. 



in solidarity,
Billie

[PEN-L:10356] re: more planning and democracy

[Tom Walker]

First, I want to confirm that I'm every bit as TV-deprived as Jim Devine. My
last TV went on the fritz during the 1973 coup in Chile and I decided not to
get it fixed to spare myself apoplexy. My knowledge of the Partridge Family
is strictly from hearsay and supermarket tabloids.

Second, I want to clear up Jim's confusion about whether it is he or I who
is confused. It is clear from Jim's comments about the Dictatorship of the
Proletariat that he knows what he's talking about (because I agree with
him). Therefore, neither of us is confused.

JD wrote,

>-- we can't have "democratic planning" without the expropriation of the
>means of production from the capitalist class and the abolition of the
>latter (as a class). You need socialism, not social democracy. 
>
>-- we can't have "democratic planning" or the expropriation of the M of P
>without the D of P. 

But Jim's democratic planning is clearly not the same as Bill Lear's
democratic planning.

Bill Lear wrote,

>I don't remember ever advocating anything resembling a
>dictatorship of the proletariat, and would reject it in principle.

So, we have two diametrically opposed positions on the dictatorship of the
proletariat (d of p), each advocating "democratic planning"(dp). My point,
then, is simply that there is no point talking about dp unless we squarely
address the issue of the d of p. Otherwise dp is just a tower of babel (tb).
Or, to express the idea mathematically: d of p - dp = tb. ;-)

I have one further, perhaps controversial remark on this topic. Not only
would the d of p be necessary (in a technical sense) for the appropriation
of the means of production during the transition from capitalism to
socialism, the d of p would also be necessary as a *persuasive term* to
mobilize the working class to struggle for socialism. Anyone who doesn't
think the latter puts socialism at a rhetorical disadvantage is welcome to
spend the rest of their life haranguing workers at the factory gates,
peddling copies of some stalinoid sectlet's jargon-crammed rag.

To sum up the forks in the path to socialism, so far:

1. reject the dictatorship of the proletariat on principle.
2. embrace the dictatorship of the proletariat but be discrete.
3. embrace the dictatorship of the proletariat and trumpet it loudly.

I happen to think there is a fourth option but I don't want to add more
confusion until people are perfectly clear about what they're already
confused about.


Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^
knoW Ware Communications  |
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA   |  "Only in mediocre art [and in spreadsheets]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |does life unfold as fate."
(604) 669-3286|
^^
 The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm

[PEN-L:10355] Re: Tom Walker's pronouncements

[Tom Walker]

I wrote,

>>. . . I'll bet a lot of the
>>people who've said they're "concerned about the deficit" wouldn't know a
>>deficit from a left-handed sky hook.

And Anders Schneiderman agreed,

>That's certainly true this side of the border.  If you asked most folks in
>the U.S. whether Clinton has reduced the deficit, they'd probably say
>no--at least, that's what I recollect from polls and from talking to
>ex-Perotistas.  Here, the balanced budget is obviously a symbol for a
>larger disenchantment with government (and, often, for racist feelings
>about welfare, as Greenberg's work demonstrated).

Even David Stockman, Reagan's "supply side" budget director, didn't realize
what a budget was until after his "education" -- as chronicled in William
Greider's classic Atlantic Monthly report.


Regards, 

Tom Walker
^^
knoW Ware Communications  |
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA   |  "Only in mediocre art [and in spreadsheets]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |does life unfold as fate."
(604) 669-3286|
^^
 The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm

[PEN-L:10354] NZ jobs site

[D Shniad]

> Subject: The Jobs Research Website Launched Today
> Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 12:50:46 +
> From: "vivian Hutchinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Reply-To: "The Jobs Research Website" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "The Jobs Research Website" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 
> T H E   J O B S  R E S E A R C H   W E B S I T E
> -
> a New Zealand - based internet resource for employment action ... Check it out 
> !
> 
> http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/
> 
> WEBSITE LAUNCHED TODAY
> The Jobs Research Trust is pleased to announce the launch
> of their internet resource called the Jobs Research Website. This
> new internet resource will continue our purpose of developing and
> distributing information that  will help our communities create
> more jobs and reduce unemployment  and poverty in New Zealand.
> It will continue to provide essential information on jobs,
> employment,  unemployment, the future of work, and related
> economic and education issues.
> 
> The main project of the Jobs Research Trust -- producing the Jobs
> Letter every 2-3 weeks -- has already become a critical resource
> for the large range of people involved in the employment issue in
> New Zealand -- community welfare workers, training providers,
> careers advisers, educators, employers and the business
> community, employment activists, government departments, and
> local and national politicians.
> 
> The new Website is freely available to all internet users, and
> will contain :
> 
> * the back issues of the Jobs Letter's diaries, articles and
> features
> 
> * associated key papers and articles on employment action in NZ
> and the world
> 
> * links to other internet resources on employment issues and the
> future of work
> 
> * our "Statistics that Matter" feature in an expanded format, and
> with historical trends (still under construction)
> 
> * full keyword search capacities across the whole database
> (still under construction)
> 
> NEW ON THE JOBS WEBSITE
> Take a look at these recent Jobs Letter features now freely
> available on the Jobs Research Website.
> 
> *Microcredit -- from Grameen to Washington.
> An overview of the Feb 1997 Washington Summit dedicated to
> expanding the programme that lends money to poor people so that
> they can start small businesses and improve their lives.
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl05510.htm
> 
> * Ensuring Basic Economic Security.
> Futurework co-ordinator Sally Lerner calls for a serious look at
> new mechanisms to allocate work and distribute income.
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl05410.htm
> 
> *World Trade, Jobs and the Environment
> Kevin Watkins of OXFAM argues that behind the 'dense fog' of
> trade jargon, the environment, our rights as consumers,
> employment standards and the livelihoods of the world's poorest
> people are under attack.
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl05310.htm
> 
> *The ILO Jobs Report
> The Jobs Letter Editors give an edited summary of the 1996-
> 97 ILO report on world employment trends.
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl05210.htm
> 
> *Governments, Community Organisations and Civil Society.
> Garth Nowland-Foreman of Christchurch looks at the challenges
> facing voluntary organisations in New Zealand in the 1990s.
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/jbl05110.htm
> 
> REFERENCES AVAILABLE FOR JOBS LETTER ITEMS
> In response to requests from researchers in the employment
> field, our internet website will contain annotated source
> references for all the items contained in our Jobs Letters
> .. a feature which the Jobs Letter format does not have
> the room for, but will make our information much more
> useful to the many researchers and writers
> who regularly use our information.
> 
> REGISTER FOR EMAIL ANNOUNCEMENTS OF WEBSITE
> UPDATES
> if you want to be kept informed of developments and updates to
> the Jobs Research Website, we will be sending out an email
> newsletter every 4-6 weeks with new links to information and
> features. We will also include pointers to other material on the
> internet which we have found relevant to our own research and
> projects in the employment field in New Zealand.
> 
> You can register for these free announcements by visiting the
> registration page on our website at
> 
>   http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/register.htm
> 
> LATEST JOBS LETTER MATERIAL STILL ONLY BY
> SUBSCRIPTION
> While the Jobs Research Website will be freely available to all
> internet users, we will not be placing the most recent (three
> months) copies of the Jobs Letter on the archive. These will
> continue to be available only to subscribers, and to preserve our
> income base for the Jobs Letter -- subscriptions pay our bills.
> 
> EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE JOBS
> LETTER
> The new subscription details for the Jobs Letter are :
> The regular (4-6 page, posted) Jobs Letter costs
> $NZ112.50 incl GST for

[PEN-L:10353] Re: Virtual History (fwd)

[D Shniad]

> D Shniad,
> 
> Don't blame the new technology on the reactionary content of virtual
> history. The traditional media were just as bad.
> 
> Actually, the new media presents for the first time a realistic opportunity
> for alternative histories. While digital media (or what is called CBT in
> the corporate world) must be very well done if it is to be effective, which
> costs money, it costs on the order of $4 to reproduce CD ROM disks. With
> a bit of cooperation, it would not be all that difficult to produce US
> history, West Civ. or World History from a labor perspective and then
> distribute it to schools at a fraction of the cost of hard cover texts.
> 
> My own interest is in a web interface for educational purposes. There's
> actually a good deal less self-contained distance learning education
> that uses that means, but a year or two from now we will see a significant
> percentage of higher education carried out in this way (for better or
> worse, I'll admit). Once an on-line resource is created (not child's play
> if it is to be effective), it is almost costless to distribute the world
> over, and it can be constantly updated and improved.
> 
> There's always been room for a dramatically different and vigorous
> working-class perspective on history, but there have been constraints
> on putting it forward as an alternative. Current economic trends are
> about to create a window of opportunity.
> 
> 
>  Haines Brown
> 
> Hartford Web Publishing
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 

[PEN-L:10352] Newspaper striker welcomes march on Detroit (fwd)

[D Shniad]

> Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 19:40:03 -0500
> Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> From: Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject:  Newspaper striker welcomes march on Detroit
> 
> [Editor's Note: The following is the text of a speech given at a
> gathering of Detroit newspaper strikers and supporters on March 1,
> 1997. The gathering was sponsored by ACOSS (Action Coalition of
> Strikers and Supporters). June 20 and 21, 1997 are the dates for
> the mobilization for Action! Motown '97, in support of the Detroit
> newspaper workers who have been on strike since July 1995. For
> more information on Action! Motown '97, call 313-961-4480 or visit
> the Acoss web site at: http://members. aol.com/actmotown]
> 
> 
> 
> By Daymon J. Hartley
> 
> DETROIT -- Good afternoon, fellow locked-out workers and
> supporters. Let me remind you: This is a war. And in this war
> we've suffered many casualties.
> 
> More than 70 strikers have suffered serious injuries including
> brain damage. Four strikers died prematurely -- undoubtedly from
> the stress of our struggle. Sister Sue Wozniak. Brother Art
> Robbins. Brother Gerald Janish. Brother Ron Gates.
> 
> We're tired. We're frustrated. We've faced so many crises. And our
> belief in the American Dream has become a nightmare. But we are a
> relentless group. And we refuse to let the sacrifices our brothers
> and sisters have made be in vain.
> 
> We're facing a new crisis today. We're struggling now with an
> unconditional offer to return to work. An offer that was made
> against the will and without the democratic input of most
> strikers.
> 
> Have no doubt, it was a surrender on the part of some of our
> international leaders. I don't know about you, but I haven't
> surrendered yet. I have, however, turned my energies to fighting
> on a new front. Make no mistake, I'm not here to cheerlead or to
> put a happy face on our situation. Because this is a crisis. And
> within this crisis, we will face new opportunities and new
> dangers. The trick is for us to recognize and seize the
> opportunities and to lessen the dangers. Many of us knew 20 months
> ago that 2,000 strikers and their families could never defeat two
> multibillion-dollar corporations and their many corporate allies
> at their own game.
> 
> They will always have more money to fight with. But we will always
> have more people.
> 
> The only way we can win now or ever could win is by surrounding
> ourselves with the people and the power of the entire labor
> movement.
> 
> Finally, we've got a chance to do that. The labor leaders in
> Washington have answered our call for a national labor march.
> Maybe it was their idea of a consolation prize. But nevertheless,
> on June 20 and 21, we will have the opportunity to bring thousands
> of unionists and other fair-minded people to Detroit to do what we
> should have done -- what some of us tried to do -- right from the
> beginning of this strike. I'll leave the details of that strategy
> up to your imagination! We now have the chance -- and the AFL-
> CIO's resources -- to show these corporations -- and the entire
> corporate class -- that if they mess with one of us, they mess
> with all of us.
> 
> This march gives us the chance to mobilize the thousands and
> hundreds of thousands of supporters we know we have locally,
> nationally and even internationally. Yes, we now have the
> potential to energize all of labor and make up for PATCO, Staley,
> Caterpillar and all the other brutal defeats we have suffered for
> far too long.
> 
> You know, some people don't like it when you bring up those
> blemishes on the labor movement. But I refuse to forget those
> defeats and all the defeats and blows we've suffered during this
> strike. Because I believe that famous philosopher who once said,
> "Those who forget the past are condemned to relive it." I don't
> know about you, but I don't care to relive too much of the past 20
> months. We've hurt these companies. They have hurt us. And worst
> of all, we've hurt ourselves.
> 
> Indeed, we in Detroit and really all of labor are in a crisis. But
> now is not the time to wallow. It's not the time to throw in the
> towel. It's time to mobilize. It's time to energize. Finally, our
> chance, the working person's chance to take back the streets, the
> corporations and, let's say it, it's time for the working person
> to take back this country.
> 
> In those famous words, if not now, when? When we will get another
> opportunity like this? And if not here, where will we take a stand
> against a corporate class that is determined to destroy this
> country's working class?
> 
> 
> No Contract, No Peace! Shut down Motown!
> 
> **
> This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition),
> Vol. 24 No. 6 / June, 1997; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL
> 60654, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or WWW:
> 
>  http://www.mcs.com/~jdav/le

[PEN-L:10351] Umbrage

[PHILLPS]

I apologize if I offended Tom by my somewhat immoderate response
to his posting.  For Sid's benefit, I will quote the original comment
that prompted my frustrated response.
>Here in Canada, the social-democratic NDP abstains from even its own
>social-democratic, electoral politics in a vain attempt to be seen
>as a voice of moderation.  The NDP appeal in the current election
>coes down to nostalgia for the 1970s -- a presumably brighter,
>happier, more innocent time.  If you liked the Partridge Family,
>you'll love the NDP.  The PF was "wholesome" psychedelia without
>drugs.  The NDP is wholesome Keynesianism without fiscal crises.
>
>And there's the social democratic dilemma in a nutshell: it's not
>simply that social-democratic policy prescriptions are
>objectionable, it's that in order to be palatable to the
>"mainstream" they always have to be repackaged as even more
>innocuous than they are.  Social democratic policies can
>never be innocuous enough, at least until they are completely
>vapid -- at which point, they are readily dismissed by "the
>mainstream" as vapid.

Now Ken and Bill have responded to much of this and I don't want
to repeat what has been said.  But let me summarize my objections.
1. The NDP has tried to campaign on good solid issues -- jobs, health
  care, day care and social programs.  It is the media and the
  right wing politicians that have hijacked the election campaign
  to stress "national unity" as a way of deflecting attention from
  the NDP's critique of the right-wing, deficit obsessed neoliberal
  program they are all advancing.  As Alexa pointed out in frustration
  when she had a press conference of health care policy, they kept
(that is the media kept) asking her about Manning's extremist,
  anti-Quebec views and ignoring the issue of health care.

2.  The NDP's decision to accept that the Liberal's are highly
  likely to be returned is based on good solid electoral
  strategy.  In the last election, the NDP was sandbagged by
  voters combining behind the Liberals to get rid of the hated
  conservatives.  The Liberals ran as the left -- but when in
  power, they governed from the right (as they usually did) but
  to a more extreme right because of the lack of a left opposition.
  In this election, if voters are worried that the two extreme
right parties (Conservatives and/or Reform) are going to win,
  then voters will again desert the NDP for the Liberals, allowing
  again for a centre right Liberal government pressured only
from the extreme right with no even social democratic left
  influence in protecting the welfare state -- the erosion of
  which under the Liberals is the cause of rising poverty,
  particularly of children, the rise of a 2-tier health
  system, the decline in the social wage, etc. etc.

  No the Canadian welfare state, such as it is, is no utopia,
no partridge family psychedelia, and the 70s no golden age,
but they were still headed in the right direction, which we
can't say now.

Paul Phillips,
Economics,
University of Manitoba

[PEN-L:10350] Free market or corporate welfare?

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

On the front page of the May 19 issue of the NYT there is an article on
Pataki's plan to give companies free pollution credits.  The pollution
credits are being described as "a free market innovation created by the
Federal Clean Air Act of 1990, are generated by agencies and companies that
keep their polluting emissions below Gov't limits."

It seems that NYT is lying (again).  To my understanding, a "free market
solution" would require agancies and companies to purchase clean air and
water from their legal owner -- the public -- at market prices i.e. pay to
the local communities the price they charge for polluting emissions.  But
what the NYT describes as "free market" seems to be a handout corporations
receive free of charge for meeting some arbitrary quota set by the Gov't. 

It seems that for NYT, as well as other corporate media, "free market"
involves double standards: welfare state for the rich, and cut-throat
competiton for the poor. 
wojtek sokolowski 
institute for policy studies
johns hopkins university
baltimore, md 21218
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
voice: (410) 516-4056
fax:   (410) 516-8233

[PEN-L:10349] more planning and democracy

[James Devine]

Max titled his missive on this subject "The Plan Boss, the Plan" as an
effort to introduce some humor. I am not humor-impaired, but it took me a
couple of days to get it. The problem is that I'm TV-deprived, especially
with respect to the 1970s and early 1980s. I never saw the "Brady Bunch,"
"the Partridge Family," or "Fantasy Island." It is to the last that Max
refers: there's a little fellow, whose name I've forgotten, who yells "The
Plane, Boss, the Plane!" To which his boss, a mathematician if my memory
serves me well, responds: "The Hyperplane, Underling, the Hyperplane!"

Humor aside, I am a bit confused by Tom Walker's comments. First he comes
off somewhat nihilistic, knocking the role of reason. Then, in another
missive, he's criticizing those in favor of "democratic planning"
(including me?) for not advocating the expropriation of the means of
production and the dictator- ship of the proletariat. I'll assume that it's
I who's the confused one rather than it being Tom, since I don't have
copies of his messages here to figure them out. But let me make one thing
perfectly clear (to quote old Nix, the late US Prez):

-- we can't have "democratic planning" without the expropriation of the
means of production from the capitalist class and the abolition of the
latter (as a class). You need socialism, not social democracy. 

-- we can't have "democratic planning" or the expropriation of the M of P
without the D of P. 

Oops, that's two things made perfectly clear. On the D of P (as the Maoists
used to call the dictatorship of the proletariat), exhaustive research by
Hal Draper and, somewhat independently, by Richard Hunt indicates that when
Marx used the phrase "the D of P," it basically meant workers' democracy (a
workers' state), since he viewed _all_ states as dictatorships. (The word
"dictatorship" did not have its nasty 20th century meaning as yet. Later
Marxists, as Draper documents, changed the meaning of the phrase "D of P.")
That state, like all states, is repressive, especially toward efforts to
re-establish capitalism. To my mind, it should also repress efforts to
create new classes (such as the CP-centered class of bureaucrats in the old
USSR). 

Anyway, in my discussion of the ins and outs of democratic planning, I was
assuming that the expropriators had indeed been expropriated and by a mass
movement of self-organized democratic grass-roots organizations (in short,
workers' democracy) rather than by some elite that claims to be acting "in
the name of the proletariat" without being held responsible by the folks
they claim to represent. Again, I was discussing a transitional kind of
planning, one that would work to allow workers to control the economy they
officially own and to allow a certain amount of normalcy in order to start
the building of a complete democratically-planned economy. Further, as I
said before, I am not presenting "recipes for the kitchens of the future"
as much as ideas to be considered by workers when (and if) they take power.


Anway, let's get back to Max: He is >>still utterly unconvinced, at any
rate, of the following, which is what I think we have been arguing about:

>>* that democracy facilitates planning (which is different from the
proposition that whatever planning we have *ought* to be informed by
democratic participation);<<

For your consideration, one way to organize planning that would allow
democracy to facilitate it: 

1) democratic control over the enterprise helps keep the managers honest
and also promotes morale and thus productivity. The former (say, embodied
in the ability to fire managers) encourages the rank and file to trust the
managers in their dealings with the planners. The latter encourages
production, which makes the planning process easier (as opposed to the
"economics of scarcity" which reigned under the old USSR's planning
scheme).

2) in addition to various generally-accepted rules and regulations which
would apply to all enterprises in order to encourage the communication of
accurate information to the planners, it seems reasonable to presume that a
representative of the planners (and local government, feminists, environ-
mentalists, etc.) would be on the "board of directors" of each enterprise.
The co-op would have the right to appeal the decision of who would be
appointed to the board of directors if they didn't like who they got.

3) complementary to (2): groups of co-ops would elect (and have the right
to recall) delegates to the planning board; in addition, all individuals
would vote to elect the at-large members of the planning board. These too,
would be subject to recall. 

4) parts (2) and (3) together recall the phenomenon of "interlocking
directorates" that allow capitalists to work together. (This interlocking
includes the government.) In order for this to work for the proletariat, we
also need to have a basic consensus in society. That can't be presumed in
the abstract. But we're not going to see an expropriation of the M o

[PEN-L:10348] Job

[Terrence Mc Donough]

Dublin City University has a 3 year contract position in Enterprise 
Development.  This is really an economics position.  They are looking 
for a PhD in economics who can teach a course on the economics of 
entrepreneurship.  If interested, email
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Terry McDonough

[PEN-L:10347] FW: Daily Report

[Richardson_D]

BLS DAILY REPORT, FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1997:

Analysts at BLS say the latest figurs show no major varieations from 
their initial finding that the experimental CPI is rising about 0.25 
percentage point less than the official CPI.  Patrick Jackman, BLS 
economist, said it is too soon to interpret what the figures on the 
major components of the experimental CPI (Food, housing, etc.) 
indicate about which types of goods and services will be appropriate 
for the geometric mean method and which will not.  "We are not going 
to have a clue until some of the tests we have put forth are in.  It 
will probably be August or September before we fan say (how different 
components are affected), he said (Daily Labor Report, page D-3).

The Employment and Training Administration reports that new claims for 
unemployment insurance benefits rose by 5,000 during the week of May 
17 to an estimated 322,000, seasonally adjusted (Daily Labor Report, 
page D-1).  __The Washington Post (page G2 and G8) says the Labor 
Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits rose less than 
expected last week, leaving the overall tally in a range that still 
indicates a strong job market. __The New York Times (page C6) carries 
an AP story that says that many analysts had expected an increase of 
about 6,000 last week. __The Wall Street Journal (page A10) reports 
that the 4-week moving average for claims -- a key barometer of 
labor-market conditions -- since it smooths out weekly fluctuations, 
rose 750 to 333,250.  Analysts said this level, though just slightly 
below the 15-week high, is still consistent with a relatively tight 
labor market.

The earnings gap between the rich and the poor has stopped widening, 
says The New York Times (page C1).  Over the last 18 months, wages at 
the low end of the spectrum have picked up.  Today they are rising 
significantly faster than the inflation rate -- faster, percentage 
terms, than the pay of middle-income Americans.  For all their lack of 
skill, low wage workers are in great demand today.  The higher wages, 
in turn, are helping to draw into the labor force more black women, 
older man, immigrants, teenagers, and Hispanic Americans.  In the last 
year, the labor force -- people working or seeking work -- has grown 
by 2.7 million, the largest annual gain in over a decade and more than 
twice the increase in the working-age population.  The surge of new 
workers, particularly at the low end, tends to keep wages from rising 
faster than they already are, and helps to explain why inflation has 
remained at a mild 3 percent a year or less.
Graphs the illustrate the article include in their credits BLS.

The Clinton administration yesterday officially launched FedStats, an 
Internet service that links computer users to statistics from more 
than 70 federal web sites.  The new World Wide Web page -- found at 
www.fedstats.gov -- provides an A to Z listing of topics.  Among the 
information you can find through the Fedstats Web site is "According 
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:  The percentage of wage and salary 
workers belonging to a union declined again in 1996, to 14.5 percent 
(The Washington Post, page A27).