[Marxism-Thaxis] A play about Stalin
I have just completed the first draft of a play about Stalin, the result of over 12 years of research. Though some scenes have been imagined, as far as possible I have gone to published sources for reports of what happened or what was said at the time. At present it is far too long for theatrical performance, but my purpose in mentioning it here is to encourage criticism, however hostile (since I imagine it will provoke hostility, since it does not portray its subject as the devil incarnate; nevertheless I have tried to paint him warts and all). The script can be read at http://www.karldallas.com/stalinplay.pdf. --- Go well. Karl Dallas Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/karldallas Want to help the people of Palestine? Then follow http://www.twitter.com/bradfordvp and http://www.twitter.com/dpalestine ___ 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] Calhoun
Nietszche ain't got nothin on John C. Calhoun. Charles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun Slavery Calhoun was shaped by his own father, Patrick Calhoun, a prosperous backcountry planter who supported the Revolutionary War but opposed ratification of the federal Constitution. The father was a staunch slaveholder who taught his son that one's standing in society depended not merely on one's commitment to the ideal of popular self-government but also on the ownership of a substantial number of slaves. Flourishing in a world in which slaveholding was a badge of civilization, Calhoun saw little reason to question its morality as an adult; he never visited Europe. Calhoun had seen in his own state how the spread of slavery into the back country improved public morals by ridding the countryside of the shiftless poor whites who had once terrorized the law abiding middle class. Calhoun believed that slavery instilled in the white who remained a code of honor that blunted the disruptive potential of private gain and fostered the civic-mindedness that lay near the core of the republican creed. From such a standpoint, the expansion of slavery into the backcountry decreased the likelihood for social conflict and postponed the declension when money would become the only measure of self worth, as had happened in New England. Calhoun was thus firmly convinced that slavery was the key to the success of the American dream.[27] On February 6, 1837, John C. Calhoun took the floor of the Senate to declare that slavery was a positive good. Senator William Rives of Virginia had referred to slavery as an evil that might become a lesser evil in some circumstances. Calhoun believed that conceded too much to the abolitionists: I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good—a positive good... I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other. A year later in the Senate (January 10, 1838), Calhoun repeated this defense of slavery as a positive good: Many in the South once believed that it was a moral and political evil; that folly and delusion are gone; we see it now in its true light, and regard it as the most safe and stable basis for free institutions in the world. Calhoun rejected the belief of Southern moderates such as Henry Clay that all Americans could agree on the opinion and feeling that slavery was wrong, although they might disagree on the most practicable way to respond to that great wrong. Calhoun's constitutional ideas acted as a viable conservative alternative to Northern appeals to democracy, majority rule, and natural rights.[28] ___ 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] Scope and Limits of Theory
On 7/13/10, waistli...@aol.com waistli...@aol.com wrote: In a message dated 7/12/2010 11:11:52 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, _cb31...@gmail.com_ (mailto:cb31...@gmail.com) writes: In the context of _What is to be done_, I think Lenin's revolutionary theory is a synonym for Marxism. More specifcally, a revolutionary movement had to be based on a concrete assessment of the classes and class struggle, relative strengths and levels of class consciousness in 1903 Russia. So, Lenin's reference to theory is not so sexy there. Comment Sure, but this pretty general. One cannot effectively combat and/or defeat their class opponent based on a general theory. A concrete assessment of contending forces means formulating a line of march and doctrine of combat. CB: Like More specifcally, a revolutionary movement had to be based on a concrete assessment of the classes and class struggle, relative strengths and levels of class consciousness in ...Global Village World Wide Web of Labor 2000,2010, 2017.. peaceful circle of social fora and fauna without military component like in China a while ago. ^ In China the theory of political revolution or insurrection was based on a military doctrine of standing armies, winning the peasant masses to the cause of revolution and against imperial control of China. In Russia the doctrine of political revolution - insurrection, was based on the party of a new type rather than building an army. In America we are discovering the form of our third political revolution. Mao’s theory of political revolution had more to do with doctrines dealing with the art of war, rather than anything specific to Marxism. Actually, Lenin’s concept of a party of a new type has more to do with doctrine of insurrection, than anything specific to the writings of Marx, although Engels calls insurrection an art. We - where I grew up, say science knows and doctrine does. Marxism as the study of the science of society change - in general, is different from that aspect of Marxism focused on doctrine of combat. WL. ___ 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] Calhoun
On Jul 16, 2010, at 8:35 AM, c b wrote: ... I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other... In his masterwork American Political Traditions Richard Hofstedter entitled the chapter on Calhoun The Marx of the Master Class. Shane Mage All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire for all things, as goods are for gold and gold for goods. Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr, 90 ___ 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] Calhoun
On 7/16/10, Shane Mage wrote: On Jul 16, 2010, at 8:35 AM, c b wrote: ... I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other... In his masterwork American Political Traditions Richard Hofstedter entitled the chapter on Calhoun The Marx of the Master Class. ^ CB: Yes, I saw that in the reference section of the wikipedia note. I was just in Charleston ,South Carolina and saw John C.s crypt. Shane Mage All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire for all things, as goods are for gold and gold for goods. Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr, 90 ^ All things are matter and their mode of existence is exchange - John Heinrich ___ 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] Calhoun
On 7/16/10, Shane Mage shm...@pipeline.com wrote: On Jul 16, 2010, at 8:35 AM, c b wrote: ... I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other... In his masterwork American Political Traditions Richard Hofstedter entitled the chapter on Calhoun The Marx of the Master Class. Shane Mage CB: Given Calhoun's intellectual prominence in the debates on the nature of society in the first half of the 19th Century, and the explicit class analysis concepts he uses, it seems ,again, likely that Lincoln was familiar with _The Manifesto of the Communist Party_. All things are an equal exchange for fire and fire for all things, as goods are for gold and gold for goods. Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr, 90 ___ 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
