Re: [Marxism] Trimmers meet Truckers
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Whatever way the election goes, there won't be too much bud to trim come November. Trust me, trimmers know there's a deadline at this time of year. Although must dispensaries I've been to seem to operate on the fringes of the law, I have been to a couple that offer fulltime employment with benefits, outfitting their workers in uniforms, etc. This is in Northern California, but while living in Orange County, the local weekly reported on an owner of a dispensary purchasing equipment in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that manufactured THC-enhanced Listerine strips. It hasn't whittled down to large-scale agribusiness, but that's certainly the direction marijuana is headed, at least in California. Oakland just passed legislation allowing 4 commercial farms: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15566683 Nothing specific in that article should be taken for face value...$3500 for a pound of indoor weed, sold in bulkthat might fly in the Bay. After hearing about this situation in Oakland, I'm of the opinion that NORML and pro-pot lobbyists should be encouraging a model like the California vineyards. For example, 20 years ago Amador County (western foothills of California Sierras) had no wine industry--today it is booming. A correctional facility and small town tourism were the main sources of employment--and the wineries have added dramatically to tourism revenue. In northern California counties like Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, etc., where logging, fishing and pretty much all industry has cut back, people have been growing substantial amounts of marijuana to make and supplement income for generations now. This area is able to grow some of the best herb in the world--and if Amsterdam can make money off pot tourism, it would be nice for it to happen in my backyard (not literally). If pot becomes legal, I would like to see people with some acreage make some money and able to compete with big corporations. It seems likely that marijuana smokers will shy away from mass-produced marijuana, just as wine drinkers shy away from mass-produced wines like 'Carlo Rossi.' Time will tell--and looks like Oakland may be the test waters. Despite commercial growers, as long as any legislation allows individuals to harvest their own plants, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. The worst scenario is one couldn't grow weed for much profit. On 9/22/10, MARGARET WYLES kaliy...@wildblue.net wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 9/22/10, Greg McDonald gregm...@gmail.com wrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9IBM2CO0.htm I have a good friend in Oakland who works as a trimmer part time for a medical marijuana dispensary across the bay that grosses 20k on a daily basis. He's quick, so he makes double the going rate. Let's be serious for a moment. Once it's 'legal,' big corporations will swoop in and grow operations will be like any other agricultural enterprise in California, complete with migrant workers working faster and more better for less. Tell your friend to make as much money as he can until the party's over, as early as November. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/kaliyuga%40wildblue.net Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/mason.akhnaten%40gmail.com 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] Trimmers meet Truckers
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 2:03 AM, Mason Akhnaten mason.akhna...@gmail.com wrote: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15566683 Nothing specific in that article should be taken for face value...$3500 for a pound of indoor weed, sold in bulkthat might fly in the Bay. After hearing about this situation in Oakland, I'm of the opinion that NORML and pro-pot lobbyists should be encouraging a model like the California vineyards. For example, 20 years ago Amador County (western foothills of California Sierras) had no wine industry--today it is booming. A correctional facility and small town tourism were the main sources of employment--and the wineries have added dramatically to tourism revenue. In northern California counties like Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt, etc., where logging, fishing and pretty much all industry has cut back, people have been growing substantial amounts of marijuana to make and supplement income for generations now. This area is able to grow some of the best herb in the world--and if Amsterdam can make money off pot tourism, it would be nice for it to happen in my backyard (not literally). If pot becomes legal, I would like to see people with some acreage make some money and able to compete with big corporations. It seems likely that marijuana smokers will shy away from mass-produced marijuana, just as wine drinkers shy away from mass-produced wines like 'Carlo Rossi.' Time will tell--and looks like Oakland may be the test waters. Despite commercial growers, as long as any legislation allows individuals to harvest their own plants, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. The worst scenario is one couldn't grow weed for much profit. Well, $3,500 a lb. is still ridiculously overpriced. In the Bay the average price for top shelf is around 3K, still outrageous. Trust me, small and even medium-sized growers will still be able to make a sizable profit even when competing with the big operations, mainly because they have their agro-techno savvy down, and I don't think the big operations will be indoor anyway. It will probably be mainly outdoor sativa. And everyone knows the best bud is indoor hydroponic indica, even counting your kick ass sativa/indica blends, which offer a unique head buzz and full body meltdown. Nah, the dispensaries and other mom and pop shops will still be around, and there is also the added dimension of a full line of exotic baked goods, not to mention a dozen varieties of hash, etc. I think you're right. Most picky consumers will still want their primo indoor hydroponic bud, and with legalization the price will come down, which is a good thing all around. Plus lots of people will be growing their own indoors anyway, not to mention your run-of-the-mill back porch outdoor potted plants. Back in the day my friend and I would sneer at the overpriced indoor hydroponic, which has held the same retail market street price since the 1980's--$400 to $450 an ounce, $100 to $125 for a quarter. We might have purchased a $20 gram every now and then for personal consumption but we always chose to move decent mexican and jamaican which we could get for $1200 to $1500 a lb. It would be nice to see the indoor come down to around 2K a lb. 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] God, materialism and the Bible; The 'poof' conception
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == But in those six days, POOF! he created some dude named Adam and THEN did major surgery, extracted a rib, and made Eve so we'd all be around now. Millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions believe that, or as close to as makes no difference. How many list members believe the bit about God, Adam and Eve? I suspect less than one percent. Comment There is no Adam and Eve in Genesis 1 or THE STORY OF CREATION or what is the same, the narrative of creation and emergence. Marx materialism means treating historical literature in the era/epoch in which it was written. Engels wrote somewhere that materialism must change its form with every epoch making discovery. What if Six days of creation simply means six cycles, and is a very ancient materialist conception of what today we call evolutionary change? Surely you are not arguing against a cycles creation narrative. What if the seventh day of rest means creation as we know it comes to an end and evolves on its own basis? This is posed against the idea and narrative that God was lazy and tired. Man could not have appeared on the first day or cycle in the earth's formation or before water and separation, then algae and plant life. The creatures of/in the sea as a species, predates the arrival of man/women. Our species had to come on the sixth day or cycle outlined and all research I have run across seems to confirm this. Genesis 1 strikes me as an ancient materialist conception of Organic matter in motion. I always found this passage from the creation narrative fascinating: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Divide water from water means to my mind sea water from fresh drinking water. Such a separation had to take place as precondition for a species living off fresh water. Every time visiting Niagara Falls, I am in awe. Then again, purple mountains . . . .fuvk me all the way up. It's like wow. The earth really does belong to God, the most high, however you understand the meaning of that which calls creation into existence. How one understands the rib story in Genesis 2 depends on study and a materialist or non-materialist framework. What is certain is that Adam and Eve of Genesis 2 do not appear in Genesis 1. The Man and women of Genesis 1 come forth as a biological unity on the Sixth Day being created - emerge, simultaneously. Man is not created first and woman second in Genesis 1. The whole thing about the rib appears much later, Genesis 2. You seem to collapse historical boundaries, and might want to reread the actual narrative. As I understand it, the name Adam (Genesis 2) is related to soil or earth and later the word clay to imply the shaping of things. Adam as name can be roughly translated of the soil or of the earth or earthling or male earthling. Eve would become mother as name or female of the earth. Genesis 2 has a great opening line defying the ability of Hollywood's best screen writers: [1] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. [2] And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Finished. Rested. The great cycle of creation is set in place. This is an ancient materialist conception. American Indian lore calls this the first coming. Eddie Harris called it Silver cycles. Pharaoh Sanders spoke of the creator has a master plan. Horace Silver called it Song for My Father. Miles in typical fashion blew it as So What. Finished. Rested. Genesis 2 describes the relationship of the man/women unity to that which had been created. In this creation story a man is formed from the soil residing in a garden. For the moment, in the garden, rules are set and dude can eat anything except that from a certain tree. The dude in Genesis 2 goes on to become a tiller of the earth in Genesis 3, with all its implications for instrument and tool development. Genesis 2 is a different creation story. Man and women in Genesis 1 are not driven to become tillers, and apparently live in metabolic unity with the earth. They gather. That is to say the conception called the hunter-gatherer society is backwards. We gather first as fundamental and later, much later, become gatherers and hunters. There is much cryptic symbolic imagery in Genesis 2, and mention of Gold. Yea . . . . Gold. In some translations God states, the gold is mine, and gives Adam dominion - not subjugation and exploitation, of the earth and the things in it. These are not stories of poof but concise narrative of process. Genesis 3 is the story
[Marxism] Lewis Lapham on capitalism: let it die
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Thursday, Sep 23, 2010 10:01 ET War Room Lewis Lapham on the end of capitalism By Lynn Parramore This is the second installment of The Influencers, a six-part interview series that Lynn Parramore, the editor of New Deal 2.0 and a media fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, is conducting for Salon. She talked to Lewis Lapham, the former longtime editor of Harper’s and the founder of Lapham’s Quarterly, about the nature of American-style capitalism — its beginning, its historical manifestation and, possibly, its end. Q: Historically, what do you see as the dominant characteristics of America? A: It’s faith in the spirit and mechanics and moral value of capitalism. It is a country of expectant millionaires. You have the notions of risk, of labor put to a productive use, deferred pleasure — ideas that come out of our Puritan ancestry. And Puritans, by the way, were also venture capitalists. The plantation in Plymouth, and then in Massachusetts Bay, was intended to bring money to its investors in London. Capitalism is the promise — it’s the bet on the future. It’s the hope of a new beginning over the next ridge of mountains, around the next bend in the river. It gives the common man a chance. That’s in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The original wording was: life, liberty and property. But happiness and property were almost synonymous in the Calvinist mind! Q: Capitalism, as you mention, is future-oriented. Do you think it relies on historical amnesia? A: Well, there’s a new book called Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism, by the eminent historian Joyce Appleby. And her argument — and I think it’s probably true — is that capitalism is an historical phenomenon. It’s not a given. It’s not human nature. It arises at the end of the 16th century in Holland, but then is developed over the next four centuries for the most part in England and America. It’s had a life span of four centuries. Prior to, let’s say, the 16th century, you had warrior kings who disdained commerce. Commerce existed from the very beginning — you have trading going on in Islam, in the Indian Ocean, in China … this goes back thousands of years. But the hope of the government is stability, hierarchy, order, degree. People knew the stations to which they belonged, to which they were born. Until 1600, 80 percent of the people in England lived on farms, and there was no question of improving their stature. There was no place for their surplus labor to go until you begin to develop commercial venture, trade and so on. But 18th- and 19th-century European imperialism is a dynamic of private enterprise rather than state enterprise. The Roman legions are in the service of the Roman so-called Republic, or Empire. But the East India Company is acting on behalf of its principal owners and stockholders and, to a certain extent, of the sailors. It’s evolving toward our present sense of venture capital. The capitalist idea is to turn loot to a productive purpose — to yoke it to the wheels of industry. And this, of course, comes along, during the four centuries [17th century to present] with a steeply rising curve of scientific discovery and technological advance, so you get to the steam engine, the railroad, the iron smelter, the telephone, the radio, the TV, the Internet. We shape our tools, and our tools shape us. And by that shaping us, they shape our attitudes, our moral sense, our sense of self-interest. Competition is the spirit elixir of capitalism. This is not true in the more traditional society where the emphasis is on community, hierarchy, order, where people are terrified of starvation. Q: Do you think history makes us uncomfortable because it diminishes our sense of our own individual importance? Or the potency of our individual will? A: I think the opposite. I think history is comforting because it reminds us that our situation, our circumstance, is not new. Other people have experienced far worse sets of circumstance than we confront at the moment. The world has, for all intents and purposes, come to an end many, many times. But people carry on. People are always terrified of change. The idea was to try to keep everything just the way it was … not to let the strings become untuned. Capitalism untunes all the strings. Capitalism is, as Appleby says, a relentless revolution. Joseph Schumpeter, the columnist, in 1942 defined capitalism as creative annihilation — it wipes out entire industries. There’s always a momentum for something new. A new way of doing something, a new way of making something. Again the tools shaping and reshaping us, which is what’s happening today with communications, with the Internet.
Re: [Marxism] Lewis Lapham on capitalism: let it die
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 9/23/2010 10:21 AM, Louis Proyect wrote: Thursday, Sep 23, 2010 10:01 ET War Room Lewis Lapham on the end of capitalism By Lynn Parramore the url for this: http://www.salon.com/news/great_recession/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/09/23/lynn_parramore_lewis_lapham 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 Economy is not coming Back
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 09/23/2010 02:56 PM, Dan wrote: Yes, I miss Sartesian's incisive commentary on this list. And his immersion in Marx's take on things. I found I often (perhaps more often than not) disagreed with Sartesian's more contentious points of view, but I almost always valued them and his ability to argue for them. I would like it if the moderator would offer to make some kind of rapprochement with Mister S.A.. I think the list is weaker for his absence. 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] God, materialism and the Bible
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Lüko wrote : The whole Old Testament is the triumph of private property and patriarchy over the old, more egalitarian society. The old testament contains many, many stratas, written at very different stages, in extremely varied circumstances. It is a complex document that cannot be easily resumed as the triumph of private property and patriarchy. In fact, at its core, there is a certain tilting of the Old Testament towards pastoralism, visible in the importance given to sheep and the fact that Jews had to pay compensation for the lives of their sons by sacrificing lambs (redemption through lamb sacrifice) in exchange for a son : Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal. And every first male thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem. and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the LORD slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. Hence the tradition of redeeming a male son with the sacrifice of a lamb, which in modern judaism is merely symbolical. This equivalence between lamb and first male son is thus deeply present in Judaism and by extension Christianity (Jesus is the lamb of God sent to reddeem through his blood the sins of mankind).. It goes back to very old practices among the pastoral tribes that would later be amalgamted within the so-called Israelites. Of course, the Old Testament then goes on to give a spurious explanation for such practices through the imaginary history of the flight from Egypt, a narrative that provides an explanation for daubing the door of the dwelling with lamb-blood (to ward of the spirit of the Lord who comes looking for the first-born child), celebrating PAssover (bitter herbs, lambs business, because of the great hast to escape the PAhroah's army) and quite a few other, otherwise unexplainable elements in Jewish folklore (ritual cleanliness for example). The Old Testament thus contains a lot of evidence regarding the original nature of the various Jewish tribes that came to Palestine from the 2nd millenium BC onward : they were pastoralists, whose mythology was overwhelmingly centered around sheep-rearing and for whom the lamb-conception season (easter) was of primordial importance. No triumph of agriculture, but a very slow, and begrudging transition from pastoral nomadism to settled cultivation. The redeeming through a lamb instead of the sacrifice of a human babe, the symbolical equivalence of lamb and male chile, the notion of sacrifice (remember Isaac) is common to many pastoralist societies around the globe. That it left an imprint so profound (through the idea of redemption and eventually to that of Christ's sacrifice) in later re-writings of the Old Testament myths (6th to 3rd century BC, when the inhabitants of Palestine were agriculturists and no longer nomads), is proof enough of the persistence of Pastoral and nomadic motives in the OT. So I wouldn't say that the OT is the triumph of Private property over Pastoralism (which is quite Patriarchal by the way, the head of the family being in complete control !), but rather the re-interpretation, over several centuries, of Palestinian mythology and it's re-fitting into an agriculturist society. Two millenia of lamb/first-born son redemption (equivalence) symbolism still stubbornly refusing to adapt to new conditions. Right into the 1century BC (or 20th century AD for that matter). What more proof do you need that mythological/symbolical structures are incredibly resistant to change, and persist long after the mode of production that gave rise to them has ceesed to exist. The old concepts they contain are still operative, even though the actual content has long-ago vanished. And are still capable of being incorporated (even create) new beliefs. 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] China Miéville
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == IT seems my last post on China Miéville (an old French Hugenot surname BTW) has not come thorugh to this lsit. Anyway I'm a big fan. What is also very intersting in Miéville's Science-Fiction stories, is the Marxist realism he posits, the fact that alien races can co-exist when they are being exploited, but that they have great difficulties in coordinating their response to exploitation. That when alien races really start building an Utopia, it is because they are at the periphery of the system (Iron Council), but that in the centre, in the world of New Crobuzon, identity takes over, and alien races co-exist (remarkable description of certain neighbourhoods being predomintently Kepri, or Human, or Voydanoi, etc...) without really acknowledging each other (except when there is an external war against a new alien race or when there is a strike). Miéville is the first Science-Fiction/Fantasy author to really describe an imaginary society on the basis of a Capitalist modes of production. Everything is a commodity and all the traditional elements of SF/Fantasy must fit into the Commodity production society. Which means that Magic (Thaumaturgy) is used to control the population, alien races are exploited and Monsters are used to justify repression. References are often made in many discussions to the relationship of actually occuring versus possible outcomes , a way of incorporating elements of Dialectical Materialism within descriptions of pure chaos. The concept of Torque, the element that accounts for the discrepency between our world and that of Bas LAg give an intersting twist to the series. Miéville is truely a MArxist Science-Fiction authour, not just because he says so (or because of his political allegiances), but because his writings show a very deep familiarity with Marx. A familiarity that then informs the description of the imaginary world of Bas Lag and his telling preoccupation with the relations of production. Again, Miéville is a must read. Clever, fast-paced and yet meditative. 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] China Miéville
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Since the original posting on China Miéville's interview does not seem to have reached the list, I am forced to explain that my comments on Miéville's writings are an answer to Louis' posting of a link to an interview of Miéville for his new book which I haven't read but which has already received a lot of critical acclaim. Going so far as entering him for the Booker prize, no less. I'm trying to follow the list's discussions on different topics, includings Louis Proyect's original post on China Miéville. 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 Economy is not coming Back
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == On 9/23/10 6:53 PM, Jeffrey Thomas Piercy wrote: I found I often (perhaps more often than not) disagreed with Sartesian's more contentious points of view, but I almost always valued them and his ability to argue for them. I would like it if the moderator would offer to make some kind of rapprochement with Mister S.A.. I think the list is weaker for his absence. Actually S. Artesian unsubbed in anger after I unsubbed Dan Koechlin and Angelus Novus. Since they were resubbed, I am not sure where his head is at. My guess he will be back when he feels like it. 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] China Miéville
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Dan wrote: Since the original posting on China Miéville's interview does not seem to have reached the list, it did not reach for good reason. when you replied to the post, you replied to the entire marxmail digest you were reading, which was a whole 45 kB of data and luckily over our size limit. here is your reply, sans digest: I am a great fan of China Miéville's. Read Perdido Street Station in six days, The Scar in five and Iron Council in four. Great mix of sword and sorcery, hard science-fiction and, well, 'the hundreds of years of business cycles that had come and gone, leaving ugly buildings on the outskirts of New Crobuzon. A bit annoyed sometimes by his continual use of a few chosen adjectives. Desultory being the most irritating : desultory this and desultory that every ten page or so, variegated being another. And then there are the fiften other adjectives (per volume) that I had never come across before and conscientiously looked up in the dictionary (xeric means arid and anile means like a feeble old woman). But the story-telling is wonderfull. And Miéville's narrative is very pessimistic in terms of the difficulties Socialism encounters in the real world. None of his books ends well, despite the great hopes and efforts and sacrifices put into saving mankind by the various characters. It's all pretty depressing actually, and yet they fight on. One would expect more optimism' in a self-described Socialist science-fiction author. But this just illuminates Miéville's greatness, in my humble opinion, Or rather, his interest in MArx's way of seeing things. Nothing Utopian. Even the attempts at Utopia (Iron Council) encounter problems created by the ever-changing changes in circumstances. Everything is every changing in his world and yet the powerfull manage to retain control. They are the villains, and yet they are not that easily defeated. Something very singular, interesting about his treatement of Science-Fiction. Anyway, great writer. Must read. 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] China Miéville
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Best Bourgeois Media Story Ever: Pope's astronomer says he would baptise an alien if it asked him An alien – 'no matter how many tentacles it has' – could have a soul, says pope's astronomer http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/17/pope-astronomer-baptise-aliens?CMP=twt_gu 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] French General Strike, 23/09/10
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Sorry Lee for replying to the whole digest. Email clients are easy enough to operate, but one get's confused with the innumerable options. Anyway, responding to email exercises my mind in otherwise dull suroundings. Today, French General Strike which resulted in blocking the A11 freeway where I live [6 milllion euros a day according to a comrade who works for the French tax office, mainly Renault, Auchan, Decathlon, etc... ]. The problem being that the A11 freeway is mainly connected to production zones (Renault), which can simply slow down production when the freeway is blocked for a day or two. IT's the big supermarkets on the A11 from Le Mans to Rennes or Nantes that really cause the riot police to come out. BLocking all possibilities for supermarket consumption represents a loss of revenue of over ... 5 million euros a day when one takes into account the loss of consumption revenue associated with Rennes (3 million euros) and Nantes (2 million euros). Weird thing is blocking production zones only draws apathy, blocking the big super-markets around major cities creates incredible anger. Weird ? No, just the logic of things. But it is easier to block the production zones than the consumption zones, because of the existence of city ring-roads which enable consumers to reach the super-market car-parks. Where they are greated by hostile strikers. But the super-markets still function. Was on strike all day, blocked the ring-road and was rewarded by the trade-unions calling upon Sarkozy to listen to the people (instead of telling the people to make Sarkozy listen). I'm sure Sarkozy was listening. It's all nonsensne, most French trade unions being led by the French Socialist Party and Parti de Gauche/Communist Party, which are only out to get votes for the March elections but who would have enacted EXACTLY the same budget-cuts had they been in power. Actually, I KNOW they would... because the last Socialist Party in Government in France (2001) resulted in the de-indexation of wages on inflation, the legalization of the right to fire over 500 employees at once, complete pay freeezes for all public sector employees, and enormous tax-cuts for the rich. The NPA are also getting on my nerves, but enough said about them. They control many of the trade-union positions, many town-councillors positions, their ambition is to replace the old historic French CP(Now, Parti de Gauche) and Socialist Party. The NPA is too interested in taking control of other organizations to really build it's own organization. Anyway, it's all depressing, any way you look at it. 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] Thanks
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == ... for the kind remarks, and the expressions of support, urgings to return, etc. etc. I'm sure that there's at least an equal number of list members who were/are just as happy to never hear from me agian... and that's fine too. The moderator is correct. I left when Dan and Angelus were, IMO, unfairly unsubbed. They were re-upped, as the moderator-- undermining his own carefully cultivated curmudgeonly persona-- is inclined to do with almost everyone. I might have re-upped, but then the Roman Polanski thing surfaced again... and well-- let's not get into that again. So, yeah Waistline is right, I didn't roll over. I've been working with my friend Loren Goldner on Insurgent Notes- at http://insurgentnotes.com, preparing issue 2 where I try to do some exploration of the impact of fixed capital on the valorisation process. And working on something for issue 3-- Wrestling with Rent. Am I the only one out there who doesn't buy completely Marx's analysis of rent-- not that he's wrong,-- he's certainly not wrong about Ricardo's confusion of cost-price and value-- but that Marx seems to have missed out on the historical metamorphosis of capitalism and landed property-- that he apparently even missed out on what is known as the Agricultural Revolution in England, from about 1750-1850, in that he, Marx, seems to agree at different points with Ricardo's analysis of rent that in agriculture less fertile land is always brought into production, that in agriculture excess surplus value is garnered by the dearer production rather than the cheaper production, that demand will always exceed supply, that successive application of capital produce declining returns [in output, not value] in agriculture? You look at the agricultural revolution in England and you see that successive applications of capital yield increased productivity; that the big increases in productivity and output are not based on dramatic expansions of agricultural area, but on increases in yields, on improved techiques of rotation-- the Norfolk four course, convertible husbandry, the use of horses in place of oxen. What after all, is the planting of turnips for winter feed for cattle, the planting of clover for nitrogen restoration if not successive applications of capital increasing yields? It seems to me that Marx has stepped outside the immanent critique of capital, the intrinsic contradictions of capital in his explanation of this process, and as such he misses the function of rent in accumulation, in the transformation of, in particular, English agriculture-- and that what Marx is describing, particularly regarding the increased agricultural prices, and agricultural rents in England of the Napoleonic War period, is only part of the process, and a part that takes place during the dislocation of English society by... among other things, the industrial revolution? That the rents and the prices amount to 1) a not-quite-so-primitive accumulation, driving wages down, and reapportioning that to the bourgeoisie, the capitalist farmers, and the landlords 2) preparing the ground for the subsequent improvements that leads to the collapse of prices around 1817, the consolidation of farms into bigger units 3) the driving out of the smaller producers... in typically capitalist fashion? Why am I interest in this? Because I think the concept of rent [and monopoly which is supposed to utilize rent for the siphoning off of value] has been inappropriately applied to advanced capitalism ever since the notions of modern imperialism got floated out there; that the notion of rentier capitalism is fundamentally incorrect, and worse; and is used inappropriately to explain the price of oil, in that the rent paid to the the mideast producers is based on a claim that the highest price, least efficient producer sets the market-- that least efficient producer being the US. I don't think that's what's going on at oil. I think the price doesn't include rent keeping the high cost producer in business, but actually offsets the overproduction brought about by the increased capital investment in oil production. Anyway, so that's where I am... perplexed by what I see as Marx's oscillations on rent-- when he's endorsing Ricardo's analysis, and yet, recognizing that conditions of landed property that claim rent are historical conditions that capital transforms and undermines. Anybody with an insight into this better, or different [neither of which should be too hard] than mine-- I'd love to hear it. I mean I've never been so perplexed reading Marx, and so irritated at his analysis which seems to me to be based on scarcity rather than the accumulation and distribution of value over the sectors of
Re: [Marxism] Thanks
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Well, it's good to hear from you and I'm glad this rent issue you're exploring doesn't actually involve your own rent; the last thing we need is to see you out on the street for Chrissake. When Marx fell behind on his rent in London and the landlord came around to collect, his daughter would answer the door with Mr. Marx ain't here! With the economic crisis deepening, evictions and foreclosures will be increasing. I remember reading about how the CP went around in the 30s helping families who were on the street with their furniture and belongings. The old 3 Day Notice to Pay or Quit, a real motherfucker. On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 7:46 PM, S. Artesian sartes...@earthlink.netwrote: == Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == And working on something for issue 3-- Wrestling with Rent. Am I the only one out there who doesn't buy completely Marx's analysis of rent-- not that he's wrong,-- he's certainly not wrong . . . 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] Thanks
== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. == Bay Area tenant resources: http://www.evictiondefense.org/ http://www.evictiondefense.org/http://www.thclinic.org/ http://www.evictiondefense.org/ 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-Thaxis] Fwd: Health care -- reformed
-- Forwarded message -- From: Bill Richardson richb...@umich.edu Date: Wed, Sep 22, 2010 at 7:32 PM Subject: Health care -- reformed To: WolverBill Richardson richb...@umich.edu FYI, Bill [image: Organizing for America] Hi folks -- This week marks the six-month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, and many important provisions are beginning to take effect. Starting tomorrow, every American will be covered by a Patient's Bill of Rights that ends many of the insurance industry's most harmful practices. This morning, the White House launched a new website to help translate what this means for Americans. The site includes an interactive map linking to stories of people in all 50 states whose lives are being changed for the better by the Affordable Care Act, as well as a video of the President making a surprise phone call to the first person to enroll in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. It's a moving reminder of the meaningful change that this legislation makes in the lives of Americans everywhere. It's also a great resource to show how reform is improving state health insurance systems throughout the country. Let's make sure we're putting it to good use from now until Election Day. Check out the site here: *http://my.barackobama.com/HCReformedhttp://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c10ebb/506254cf/bd0c96a9/11880857/317263337/VEsH/ * Thanks, Lynda Lynda Tran National Press Secretary Organizing for America P.S. -- Here are the latest discussion points about the Affordable Care Act and the positive changes it's making. Check them out, and distribute them to folks in your community to make sure everyone has the facts: *http://my.barackobama.com/ACADiscussionPointshttp://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c10ebb/506254cf/bd0c96a9/11880856/317263337/VEsE/ * Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to: richb...@umich.edu Update Address / Emailhttp://my.barackobama.com/page/content/change_info?cons_id=2464581email1=richb...@umich.edu| Unsubscribehttp://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c10ebb/506254cf/bd0c96a9/11880851/317263337/VEsF/ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] The Angry Rich
The Angry Rich By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: September 19, 2010 The Angry Rich http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1 Readers shared their thoughts on this article. * Read All Comments (1319) ? No, I?m not talking about the Tea Partiers. I?m talking about the rich. These are terrible times for many people in this country. Poverty, especially acute poverty, has soared in the economic slump; millions of people have lost their homes. Young people can?t find jobs; laid-off 50-somethings fear that they?ll never work again. Yet if you want to find real political rage ? the kind of rage that makes people compare President Obama to Hitler, or accuse him of treason ? you won?t find it among these suffering Americans. You?ll find it instead among the very privileged, people who don?t have to worry about losing their jobs, their homes, or their health insurance, but who are outraged, outraged, at the thought of paying modestly higher taxes. The rage of the rich has been building ever since Mr. Obama took office. At first, however, it was largely confined to Wall Street. Thus when New York magazine published an article titled ?The Wail Of the 1%,? it was talking about financial wheeler-dealers whose firms had been bailed out with taxpayer funds, but were furious at suggestions that the price of these bailouts should include temporary limits on bonuses. When the billionaire Stephen Schwarzman compared an Obama proposal to the Nazi invasion of Poland, the proposal in question would have closed a tax loophole that specifically benefits fund managers like him. Now, however, as decision time looms for the fate of the Bush tax cuts ? will top tax rates go back to Clinton-era levels? ? the rage of the rich has broadened, and also in some ways changed its character. For one thing, craziness has gone mainstream. It?s one thing when a billionaire rants at a dinner event. It?s another when Forbes magazine runs a cover story alleging that the president of the United States is deliberately trying to bring America down as part of his Kenyan, ?anticolonialist? agenda, that ?the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s.? When it comes to defending the interests of the rich, it seems, the normal rules of civilized (and rational) discourse no longer apply. At the same time, self-pity among the privileged has become acceptable, even fashionable. Tax-cut advocates used to pretend that they were mainly concerned about helping typical American families. Even tax breaks for the rich were justified in terms of trickle-down economics, the claim that lower taxes at the top would make the economy stronger for everyone. These days, however, tax-cutters are hardly even trying to make the trickle-down case. Yes, Republicans are pushing the line that raising taxes at the top would hurt small businesses, but their hearts don?t really seem in it. Instead, it has become common to hear vehement denials that people making $400,000 or $500,000 a year are rich. I mean, look at the expenses of people in that income class ? the property taxes they have to pay on their expensive houses, the cost of sending their kids to elite private schools, and so on. Why, they can barely make ends meet. And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: it?s their money, and they have the right to keep it. ?Taxes are what we pay for civilized society,? said Oliver Wendell Holmes ? but that was a long time ago. The spectacle of high-income Americans, the world?s luckiest people, wallowing in self-pity and self-righteousness would be funny, except for one thing: they may well get their way. Never mind the $700 billion price tag for extending the high-end tax breaks: virtually all Republicans and some Democrats are rushing to the aid of the oppressed affluent. You see, the rich are different from you and me: they have more influence. It?s partly a matter of campaign contributions, but it?s also a matter of social pressure, since politicians spend a lot of time hanging out with the wealthy. So when the rich face the prospect of paying an extra 3 or 4 percent of their income in taxes, politicians feel their pain ? feel it much more acutely, it?s clear, than they feel the pain of families who are losing their jobs, their houses, and their hopes. And when the tax fight is over, one way or another, you can be sure that the people currently defending the incomes of the elite will go back to demanding cuts in Social Security and aid to the unemployed. America must make hard choices, they?ll say; we all have to be willing to make sacrifices. But when they say ?we,? they mean ?you.? Sacrifice is for the little people. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fidel Castro Blasts Ahmadinejad As Anti-Semitic
More and more Fidel looks to be irrelevant on this particular issue. Perhaps he could relate better with the PLO under Arafat. Of course I would have to wade into the transcript of a long speech (translated of course) in order to see if he addresses Palestine or the fact that it's the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not Iran. A's repeated point has been to say that one can not use the Holocaust as an excuse for al Nakba or European Zionist Jews colonizing Palestine. And al Nakba denial is worse because the calamity is still unfolding. Israeli leadership treats for peace with the near-powerless PA while trying to consolidate greater Israel. For example: http://noticeable.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/president-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-full-text-speech-durban-review-conference-20-april-2009/ excerpt: After the Second World War, by exploiting the holocaust and under the pretext of protecting the Jews they made a nation homeless with military expeditions and invasion. They transferred various groups of people from America, Europe and other countries to this land. They established a completely racist government in the occupied Palestinian territories. And in fact, under the pretext of making up for damages resulting from racism in Europe, they established the most aggressive, racist country in another territory, i.e. Palestine. The Security Council endorsed this usurper regime and for 60 years constantly defended it and let it commit any kind of crime. Worse than this is that some Western governments and America are committed to support genocidal racists while others condemn the bombardment of innocent human beings, the occupation of their land and the disasters that took place in Gaza. Even before they kept silent, not responding to all the crimes of that regime, and supported it. Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, what has been the source of recent wars such as the Americans’ attack on Iraq or the wide military expedition in Afghanistan? Has it been anything else than the selfishness of the American government of the time and the pressures by those in possession of wealth and power to expand influence and hegemony, support weapon manufacturers, destroy a great culture that is thousands of years old, destroying possible and potentials risks by the countries of the region against the occupying Quds regime, and looting the energy resources of the Iraqi people? In fact why were one million people dead and injured and a few million people forced to leave their homeland? Why were hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage inflicted on the Iraqi people and hundreds of billions of dollars of costs for the military invasion imposed on the American people and America’s allies? Was attacking Iraq not orchestrated by the Zionists and their allies in the previous ruling government of America which was on the one hand in power and on the other the owner of arms manufacturing companies? ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fidel Castro Blasts Ahmadinejad As Anti-Semitic
Zionism is and has been racism , and Fidel Castro knows it , has proved he knows it by leading Cuba to vote for the UN resolution declaring it and numerous other state form expressions of that knowledge. And of course on anti-imperialism and anti-US imperialism in general he is an opponent non pareil. His way in the anti-Zionist, anti-imperalist, anti-colonialist movement worldwide. So, Castro has the credentials to do criticism-self-criticism within the post-non-aligned and national liberation movements or network. On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 8:46 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: More and more Fidel looks to be irrelevant on this particular issue. Perhaps he could relate better with the PLO under Arafat. Of course I would have to wade into the transcript of a long speech (translated of course) in order to see if he addresses Palestine or the fact that it's the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, and not Iran. A's repeated point has been to say that one can not use the Holocaust as an excuse for al Nakba or European Zionist Jews colonizing Palestine. And al Nakba denial is worse because the calamity is still unfolding. Israeli leadership treats for peace with the near-powerless PA while trying to consolidate greater Israel. For example: http://noticeable.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/president-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-full-text-speech-durban-review-conference-20-april-2009/ excerpt: After the Second World War, by exploiting the holocaust and under the pretext of protecting the Jews they made a nation homeless with military expeditions and invasion. They transferred various groups of people from America, Europe and other countries to this land. They established a completely racist government in the occupied Palestinian territories. And in fact, under the pretext of making up for damages resulting from racism in Europe, they established the most aggressive, racist country in another territory, i.e. Palestine. The Security Council endorsed this usurper regime and for 60 years constantly defended it and let it commit any kind of crime. Worse than this is that some Western governments and America are committed to support genocidal racists while others condemn the bombardment of innocent human beings, the occupation of their land and the disasters that took place in Gaza. Even before they kept silent, not responding to all the crimes of that regime, and supported it. Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, what has been the source of recent wars such as the Americans’ attack on Iraq or the wide military expedition in Afghanistan? Has it been anything else than the selfishness of the American government of the time and the pressures by those in possession of wealth and power to expand influence and hegemony, support weapon manufacturers, destroy a great culture that is thousands of years old, destroying possible and potentials risks by the countries of the region against the occupying Quds regime, and looting the energy resources of the Iraqi people? In fact why were one million people dead and injured and a few million people forced to leave their homeland? Why were hundreds of billions of dollars worth of damage inflicted on the Iraqi people and hundreds of billions of dollars of costs for the military invasion imposed on the American people and America’s allies? Was attacking Iraq not orchestrated by the Zionists and their allies in the previous ruling government of America which was on the one hand in power and on the other the owner of arms manufacturing companies? ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
Right now they seem to be the best way to mess up the Repugnican Party-- a sort of reverse George Will strategy, if you will (I think it was he who first put out the idea of a permanent, united Republican majority in power). I always said the Repugs were more fractious and class-divided than the Democrats. The warpig administration of Obama-Emanuel couldn't give a toss about the 10% of the US populace that is anti-war and hates both parties. If they vote at all, it will be during presidential elections for the least bad warpig. But look how useful the teabaggers are: they will keep black and Hispanic (non-Cuban) voters voting 100% plus for Obama and his warpig Demoncrats. And if the teabaggers split the Repugs (while attracting racist, xenophobic independents still searching for their lost Ross Perot), it will help keep a reasonably unpopular Obama in office for a second term. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the biggest supporters of the teabaggers in key races is Rahmbo E and his bagmen. CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/27372 o-called Tea Party Party ineligible for the ballot Michigan Democrats Told Their Fake Tea Party Is Illegal By Warner Todd Huston Monday, September 6, 2010 The Michigan Supreme Court has made the final decision eliminating the fraudulent “Tea Party” Party from the 2010 elections. Two of Michigan’s Democrat appointed justices joined its small three Republican appointed contingent to declare the so-called “Tea Party” Party ineligible for the ballot. For months various Democrats and union members have been trying to create a new political party in Michigan misleadingly named the “Tea Party” Party. 23 candidates had been slated from this Democrat dirty trick effort in order to confuse voters into imagining that they are voting for candidates that actually support Tea Party movement ideals. The scandal has caused at least one Democrat to be thrown out of his party position and has now been unmasked as a fraud by the courts. No actual Tea Party groups in Michigan had any connection with the effort and all had no idea who was running the fake Tea Party campaign. Some of the supposed candidates for this fake “Tea Party” group were not told they were candidates, at least one has never registered to vote in Michigan, and another has lived out of state for years and was also not aware he was being offered as a candidate for office. This was nothing but an illicit Democrat dirty trick effort meant to destroy the integrity of the elections. The leader of the Democrat Party in Michigan claims he knew nothing about this dirty trick campaign but since some of his minions ere involved in planning this fake Tea Party thing I’d say anyone that believes that no one in the Democrat Party was behind this vote fraud is rather foolish to believe so. In any case, it is over. The fake Tea Party is done. Previous coverage: * Fake Michigan Tea Party Acting Spoiler for Republicans? * Fake Mich. ‘Tea Party’: Another Example of How Democrats Fight Dirty On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 9:03 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: Right now they seem to be the best way to mess up the Repugnican Party-- a sort of reverse George Will strategy, if you will (I think it was he who first put out the idea of a permanent, united Republican majority in power). I always said the Repugs were more fractious and class-divided than the Democrats. The warpig administration of Obama-Emanuel couldn't give a toss about the 10% of the US populace that is anti-war and hates both parties. If they vote at all, it will be during presidential elections for the least bad warpig. But look how useful the teabaggers are: they will keep black and Hispanic (non-Cuban) voters voting 100% plus for Obama and his warpig Demoncrats. And if the teabaggers split the Repugs (while attracting racist, xenophobic independents still searching for their lost Ross Perot), it will help keep a reasonably unpopular Obama in office for a second term. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the biggest supporters of the teabaggers in key races is Rahmbo E and his bagmen. CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
. But look how useful the teabaggers are: they will keep black and Hispanic (non-Cuban) voters voting 100% plus for Obama and his warpig Demoncrats. CB: Sotomeyer on the Supreme Court and suing Arizona for its racist anti-immigrant law didn't hurt. Like Obama has done anything that would make Black people stop voting for him. What planet are you on ? ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fidel Castro Blasts Ahmadinejad As Anti-Semitic
Maybe he simply needs to shut up and stop giving interviews to Atlantic bloggers? They are the very sort who have accused Castro of being anti-semitic too. I don't think we need to review Castro's credentials. But he is at the end of his life, and not really in power anymore. He can't really do much of anything. I'm not really sure this Atlantic piece is nothing more than a bunch of lies concocted by the Atlantic zionist, since it uses so little actual quoted material. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-to-ahmadinejad-stop-slandering-the-jews/62566/ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
Like Obama has done anything that would make Black people stop voting for him. What planet are you on ? I don't know, dye his hair green? The point is to keep black voters voting in large numbers for a warpig demoncratic government that doesn't give a shit about them. Or haven't you noticed? What planet are you from? It isn't like they would vote mainstream Repugnican, they simply wouldn't vote. CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] C.L.R. James: A Biographical Introduction
C.L.R. James: A Biographical Introduction http://www.mclemee.com/id84.html American Visions, April/May 1996 C.L.R. James' The Black Jacobins, first published in 1938, was a forbidden book in South Africa until the recent dismantling of apartheid. It's not hard to see why. James researched his account of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian slave uprising with meticulous care. It remains a masterpiece of historical scholarship, but the book was designed to be a weapon for revolutionary combat. James wrote it while active in the International African Service Bureau -- the organization founded by his childhood friend George Padmore, the godfather of Pan-Africanism. By narrating the first successful slave revolt in history, he meant to provide a tool kit of ideas and information for future liberation movements. Apartheid's censors knew what they were doing when they banned the book. Yet The Black Jacobins did find readers in South Africa. Copies were scarce and the potential audience was large, so people had to improvise. One circle of activists typed up key passages and distributed them in carbon copies. Another group tore James' thick book into clusters of a few pages, to be circulated a little at a time. Members would study each fragment closely and then pass it on to the next eager reader. They doubtless memorized large parts of the book this way, while waiting for the next installment to reach them. Few writers ever find their work treated with such passionate intensity. Naturally, James was pleased to learn about his South African readers. The very ingenuity and seriousness with which they handled the book were proofs of a lesson James sought to teach, over and over again, throughout his work: In their efforts to free themselves, to reshape their world into a more livable place, people display a creative drive that now and then directs history into new courses. After his death in London in 1989, tributes to James came from all corners of the African diaspora, and beyond. It is evidence of the scope of his life and work that, over the past half-dozen years, new books by and about James have been pouring off the presses. And what an extraordinary range of ideas and experiences they represent. James produced fiction, political pamphlets, sports writing, detailed works of history, philosophical essays and untold thousands of deeply thoughtful letters. He lived in Trinidad, England and the United States and traveled throughout Europe and Africa, and each place left its mark in his work. Paul Robeson and Richard Wright were his friends; he discussed politics with Leon Trotsky and Martin Luther King; he had close, at times stormy, relationships with Eric Williams and Kwame Nkrumah, who would later become the leaders of Trinidad and Ghana, respectively. James' writing moved with grace and brilliance among the most diverse topics, finding links between the game of cricket and Aristotle's Poetics, and weaving together connections among Shakespeare's plays, Lenin's politics and the problems facing developing countries. To read James is an exercise in rediscovering the world -- and an invitation not only to reinterpret it, but also to change it. Born in Trinidad in 1901, Cyril Lionel Robert James grew up thinking of himself as a black Englishman. His father was a schoolmaster; his mother, a great reader of British novels. A precocious boy, James picked up the books as she finished them By the age of 10, he had decided to become a writer. The young Nello (as he was nicknamed) also played cricket, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of the game's history. Although something of a rebel -- he spent as much time as possible on the playing field, to his parents' disgust -- James absorbed much of the Victorian spirit. Trinidad's population was mostly black, and his rare brushes with white racism left no real scars. Indeed, prejudice struck James as a violation of the best qualities of English culture: It just wasn't cricket. Only gradually did politics come to occupy his attention. While teaching at Queen's Royal College (Trinidad's leading educational institution), James concentrated on writing fiction and, it seems, on reading everything. By his 20s he was among the most prominent literary figures on the island. When one of his short stories received some attention abroad, James decided to try to make his way in the world as a writer. And so, in 1932, he departed for London. The British intellectual, as he later put it, was going to England. More than 6 feet tall and strikingly handsome, widely read and well-spoken, James made quite an impression on the literary people he met in London. He soon found work reporting on cricket for the Manchester Guardian, and his essay presenting The Case for West Indian Self-Government was published in a series edited by Leonard and Virginia Woolf. Yet in those years, James later recalled, his strictly literary ambitions disappeared. Politics took command.
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fidel Castro Blasts Ahmadinejad As Anti-Semitic
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 9:29 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: Maybe he simply needs to shut up and stop giving interviews to Atlantic bloggers? They are the very sort who have accused Castro of being anti-semitic too. ^ CB: Gee I wonder whether he knows that (smile) As to whose usin who, my moneys on Fidez ^ I don't think we need to review Castro's credentials. But he is at the end of his life, and not really in power anymore. He can't really do much of anything. CB: Yeah right. Sort of like Deng Chou Ping. I bet he has no influence whatsoever over the Cuban society and state. He's a retired strongman (smile) I'm not really sure this Atlantic piece is nothing more than a bunch of lies concocted by the Atlantic zionist, since it uses so little actual quoted material. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/09/fidel-to-ahmadinejad-stop-slandering-the-jews/62566/ CB: More like a clever propaganda move by Yo Boy. ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
On Thu, Sep 23, 2010 at 9:34 AM, CeJ jann...@gmail.com wrote: Like Obama has done anything that would make Black people stop voting for him. What planet are you on ? I don't know, dye his hair green? The point is to keep black voters voting in large numbers for a warpig demoncratic government that doesn't give a shit about them. Or haven't you noticed? What planet are you from? It isn't like they would vote mainstream Repugnican, they simply wouldn't vote. CJ CB: The vast majority of Black people never vote. Those who do vote understand exactly what Obama is going through. All of these Black people ,including me, are very observant earthly beings, know white people like the back of our hands. Oh you know them better than us ? uhhhuuuhu ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] Bill Clinton goes out stumping for Obama
ast Updated: September 23. 2010 1:00AM Bill Clinton goes out stumping for Obama Former president's 'all upside' is in big demand by hopefuls Jim Rutenberg and Kate Zernike / New York Times He was against him before he was for him. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton was often at angry odds with the man who defeated his wife. Advertisement Quantcast Now, in the final weeks of the 2010 midterm campaign, Clinton is stumping hard to help his onetime foe -- and has emerged as one of the most important defenders of President Barack Obama's congressional majorities. Some candidates are asking for his help on the campaign trail, rather than the president's. Even though Clinton insisted this week that he was only peripherally and fleetingly back in politics, he has been headlining rallies and fundraisers across the country to buck up the depressed party faithful. They shouldn't take this lying down, Clinton said during a meeting with reporters and editors of the New York Times. Blaming Republican policies for digging the deep hole the economy is in, he said the Democrats needed to plead with voters for more time to turn things around. Clinton professes more interest in pressing humanitarian problems like clearing rubble in earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince -- the stuff of his day job at his Clinton Global Initiative charitable organization -- than monitoring turnout projections in Portsmouth, N.H. Whatever his feelings about Obama in 2008, Clinton is clearly feeling the president's strain. Most of the things they're saying about him they said about me, so I'm much more sympathetic to him than most people, he said. And when you get in there, if you're an earnest policy wonk like he is and I was, it's hard to believe there are people who really don't want you to do your job. In the past two weeks he has campaigned for candidates in Ohio, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, with plans to appear in Massachusetts and California in the days ahead. He has been a guest on the Daily Show, Meet the Press and Fox News Channel. He's welcome anywhere in the country, said Gov. Edward G. Rendell, D-Pa., who spent a day campaigning with Clinton around Philadelphia last week. He's all upside and no downside. From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100923/POLITICS03/9230351/1022/Bill-Clinton-goes-out-stumping-for-Obama#ixzz10MOwJiNP ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
[Marxism-Thaxis] C.L.R. James: A Biographical Introduction
What happened? Over the next dozen years or so, James quit writing under his own name, and he stopped lecturing in public. He stayed on in the United States until 1953, when, at the height of McCarthyism, he was thrown out of the country. In the meantime, he lived underground. He published countless articles and pamphlets under a variety of pseudonyms. He became, in short, a professional revolutionary. Early during his visit, James had traveled to Mexico to talk with Leon Trotsky. In the course of their discussions, he began to apply some of the insights from The Black Jacobins to the situation of African-Americans. Contrary to what many white radicals thought, James believed that the Negro represents potentially the most revolutionary section of the population, and he argued that black struggles did not require the leadership of the white labor movement. Over the following decade, while active in various leftist organizations, James worked out the implications of this idea. For several months in 1941 and '42, he helped organize a mostly black group of sharecroppers in Missouri as they prepared to go on strike. He spent hours listening to industrial workers throughout the country. He studied American history and culture. And he wrote scores of articles for Marxist journals. Along the way, James became friends with Richard Wright. He also began to write a play about Harriet Tubman, which he hoped might interest Ethel Waters. But for the most part, James moved in the world of radical politics, developing his own interpretation of Marxism. Gradually breaking with Trotskyism, he began a close study of philosophy -- especially Hegel's vast and complex Science of Logic. A small circle of activists and intellectuals formed around him, called the Johnson-Forest Tendency. (Johnson was James' most frequent pseudonym). Only during the past decade have scholars begun to appreciate the brilliance of James' theoretical work from this period. His Notes on Dialectics (1948) and American Civilization (1950) circulated in typewritten copies, while State Capitalism and World Revolution (1950) and his study of Herman Melville, Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways (1953), appeared in small editions that few readers ever saw. (In recent years, they have all been published and are available from bookstores.) These works project a bold vision of the drive of ordinary people to abolish exploitation-and to create a world where, in a phrase from Lenin that James liked, every cook can govern. In time James` activities won the attentions of the FBI. Declared a subversive and undesirable alien, James was arrested in 1952 and jailed for several weeks on Ellis Island. After being released, he delivered a well-received series of lectures at Columbia University in the spring of 1953. But that summer, his appeal for U.S. citizenship turned down, James returned to London. James' forced departure from the United States was a turning point in his career. He had always been a cosmopolitan thinker, yet throughout the second half of his life, James became an ever more profoundly international figure. He moved among Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, writing, speaking and organizing like a revolutionary elder statesman-without-a-state. In 1957, he met with Martin Luther King in London to discuss the Montgomery bus boycott. When his former student Eric Williams became the prime minister of Trinidad, James returned there to edit a newspaper and lecture. Younger African and West Indian intellectuals rediscovered his work. And during the late 1960s, when university students began demanding courses in black studies, U.S. authorities allowed him back into the country to teach. Throughout the 1970s, he lectured on numerous campuses, and for several years he was a professor at the University of the District of Columbia (then called Federal City College). James remained a prolific writer well into his 80s, but the last book-length manuscript that he completed was Beyond a Boundary (1963). Considered one of the best books on the game of cricket ever publishedand so gracefully written that even baseball-centric Americans can read it with pleasure -- it limned a picture of life in Trinidad during the early years of the 20th century. Perhaps remembering his friend Richard Wright's harrowing childhood in Black Boy, James creates an almost idyllic image of the world in which he grew up. Boundary's treatment of the island's black middle class is at once critical and affectionate. My grandfather went to church every Sunday morning at eleven o'clock, James writes, wearing in the broiling sun a frock-coat, striped trousers and top hat, with his walking stick in hand, surrounded by his family, the underwear of the women crackling with starch. Respectability was not an ideal, it was an armour. Revolutionary though he might be, James always remained something of a Victorian gentleman. Yet, eminently respectable as he was in his personal manners, his
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Fidel Castro Blasts Ahmadinejad As Anti-Semitic
CB: Yeah right. Sort of like Deng Chou Ping. I bet he has no influence whatsoever over the Cuban society and state. He's a retired strongman (smile) I didn't know Fidel is a pile of ashes talking to your ancestors Charles. I do know when I go into my favorite Egyptian cafe in Kuala Lumpur (Arab ex-pat community is big there), they all talk about A. and Ch. but if you say Castro, they say, 'Who?' Another big difference is that these guys are plurastically leading large populated countries, while Castro was always at best, without the third world movement pretensions, the leader of a micro-state. I think I had a good point that the world Castro could relate to was Arafat and the PLO. Don't get me wrong, Arafat was one of my heroes, as is Castro. CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Teabaggers: A Demoncratic Plot?
CB: The vast majority of Black people never vote. Those who do vote understand exactly what Obama is going through. All of these Black people ,including me, are very observant earthly beings, know white people like the back of our hands. Oh you know them better than us ? uhhhuuuhu And back to my original point: the last presidential election, they did. As did some of that 10% of America who hate the imperium (black, white, whatever). And so black people understand Obama's need to give carte blanche to the warpigs and manage a health care plan that reflates the heathcare bubble while making 80 million Americans have no health care. The rest of your statement is just racialist metaphysics. But my African genes cry out so to communicate with you better. Someday we might break you of such sloppy thinking habits CB. CB ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
Re: [Marxism-Thaxis] Bill Clinton goes out stumping for Obama
Well the first black president goes stumping for the second black president. Bill does have better moves on the dance floor than the cool thin yellow one, though. Clinton simply backed his wife to the bitter end of the Democratic primaries, and neither of them could believe that a relatively obscure mixed race dude hiding out in Chicago could beat their NY state strategy to get to the White House. Hilary should have gone back to her Illinois roots. Clinton is out to help shore up the waning support for the beleaugered one in upper working class, lower middle class Demoncratia (it's the tanking economy dude). The fact that his visage in the media will make the teabag types go ballistic can only help. I just wish he would get with Tony Blair and keep the ME peace process going! That and, with Bill Gates, solve world poverty. CJ ___ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
