[Marxism] Great articles over at nonsite.org: Against Ultraleftism
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * I didn't care for the nonsite articles. Adolph Reed gets more strident in his class-only analysis as he gets older and more irrelevant. He specializes along with his acolytes in branding those who disagree as ultraleftists. He actually redbaited those of us who said the the labor bureaucracy sold out the workers, including U of Wisconsin grad students who spearheaded the labor revolt in Wisconsin a few years ago. You seldom find an article attacking the "ultra leftists" (basically anyone not all in for Sanders and anyone who grasps that racism has a life at least partially independent of class) who does not kiss Reed's ass. The article at nonsite by Peter Dorman attacking Naomi Klein is truly dreadful, a shitty piece of that misses the forest for the trees. When Reed or Dorman or any or the other anti-"ultra leftists" writes something on a par with Klein or many others like her or for that matter any number of "ultra leftists," I'll pay homage. Bur for now, no thanks to their superfi cial and hectoring "think" pieces. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Great articles over at nonsite.org: Against Ultraleftism
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 5/26/16 6:50 PM, Douglas Medina wrote: Louis, I think it's useful to draw a line of distinction between the Sanders campaign and the Democratic Party. Many people on this list I am sure share the sentiment: "fuck the Democratic Party!" I am squarely in that camp. The Sanders campaign, on the other hand, has done what the left has not been able to do in a very long time, probably since the 1960s. Namely, shift the terms of political debate in a new direction that points to the federal government as a force for improving people's lives through concrete public policies. Two of those policies are government funded higher education at public universities and health care--the main pieces in his platform. If Sanders did not run as a Democrat, he would not be getting the national attention he has gotten thus far. Yes, every generation especially in a period of crisis such outliers surface. I have been swamped by other reading/writing projects but I hope to get back to "Campaign of the Century" at some point, a really fantastic book on the Upton Sinclair EPIC campaign. A life-long socialist, Sinclair ran as a Democrat feeling that FDR was "something different". Both the Trump and Sanders campaign reflect the frustration of ordinary people with business as usual. They have to be understood dialectically. Both are deeply resented by the parties in whose name they run but at the same time function as their pressure valves. The McGovern campaign was something along those lines as the introduction of superdelegates in his aftermath reflects. In any case, I have written two articles already in the guise of Sanders announcing his run as an independent so I feel a but put off by the nonsite editorial claiming that this is "ultraleft". I am a lot of terrible things but ultraleftism is not one of them. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Great articles over at nonsite.org: Against Ultraleftism
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Louis, I think it's useful to draw a line of distinction between the Sanders campaign and the Democratic Party. Many people on this list I am sure share the sentiment: "fuck the Democratic Party!" I am squarely in that camp. The Sanders campaign, on the other hand, has done what the left has not been able to do in a very long time, probably since the 1960s. Namely, shift the terms of political debate in a new direction that points to the federal government as a force for improving people's lives through concrete public policies. Two of those policies are government funded higher education at public universities and health care--the main pieces in his platform. If Sanders did not run as a Democrat, he would not be getting the national attention he has gotten thus far. The way that the Sanders candidacy has brought these issues to the forefront at the national level is proof that there's a potential constituency in the US that is ripe for organizing against elite rule. (After all, the way I see it, our goal is to engage in a struggle to take over the state.) Looking at the final Democratic Party primary vote count in the Bronx, where I live, for example, I think is instructive. Over 41,000 people voted for an old, white, Jewish, self-identified socialist (whatever one thinks of that), from Vermont! The organizer in me sees 41,000 people I can have a conversation with about American politics and what it means to act in solidarity to bring about social change for the better. In struggle, Douglas> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Great articles over at nonsite.org: Against Ultraleftism > To: djm...@hotmail.com; marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu > From: l...@panix.com > Date: Thu, 26 May 2016 16:44:53 -0400 > > On 5/26/16 4:35 PM, Douglas Medina via Marxism wrote: > > Introduction to Against Ultraleftism: > > http://nonsite.org/editorial/introduction-to-against-the-ultraleftists > > > I don't think this article is so great. It was co-written by Adolph > Reed, Walter Benn Michaels and Todd Cronan. It states: > > "Our little group of papers, however, is more directed toward what it > still makes sense to call the ultraleft: from those who think that > Sanders should never have run as a Democrat to those who, disdaining > electoral politics, don’t care who runs as what, from those who think > that socialism is insufficiently attentive to the particularities of a > universe of paramecially fissioning identities to those who sign up for > TIDAL under the impression that corporate mass culture is revolutionary > popular culture. Maybe the most impressive of all are the ones who spend > their time analyzing Breaking Bad or Beyoncé videos while waiting for > the rate of profit to finally bottom out; when it gets low enough, they > hope, horizontal organizing—it’s the Mass Strike, Elizabeth!—will happen." > > Well, I don't think that Sanders should have run as a Democrat. That > position is not particularly ultraleft. It is consistent with what Green > Party leaders argue, hardly capable of being mistaken for the Spartacist > League. > > In terms of "paramecially fissioning identities", that's obviously > something that either Michaels or Reed cooked up or maybe they coined > the term collectively. It is basically their way of saying that the left > should be based on class and not those "divisive" identity issues like > affirmative action or reparations. You could have heard the same thing > from Gus Hull on how feminism and Black Nationalism are diversions from > the class struggle but at least he wouldn't have phrased it as if it > were a plenary talk at the ALA. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
[Marxism] Great articles over at nonsite.org: Against Ultraleftism
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Introduction to Against Ultraleftism: http://nonsite.org/editorial/introduction-to-against-the-ultraleftists Class Struggle in Brazil: http://nonsite.org/editorial/class-struggle-in-brazil On Ascending A High Mountain (Lenin): http://nonsite.org/editorial/on-ascending-a-high-mountain The Climate Movement Needs to Get Radical, but What Does that Mean? http://nonsite.org/editorial/the-climate-movement-needs-to-get-radical-but-what-does-that-mean Douglas _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
