[Marxism-Thaxis] Soviet Cultural Psychology
CB: On another list some said: :All human activity, from the moment we wake until we sleep, is the domain of inquiry ( of political economy) ^ CB: This is a somewhat interesting if side point ,no ? Political economy is not concerned with the major fraction of human life which is sleeping. To sleep , perchance to dream. Political economy is a very social realm. The natural individual realm is sleep, independent from the social, society, which indeed is the domain of inquiry of poltical economy A natural domain of inquiry ( unit of analysis ? smile) of psychology is sleeping humans, dreams, specifically, thinking while asleep. ___ 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] US Secret Police
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/surveillance-shocker-sprint-received-8-million-law Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year News Update by Kevin Bankston This October, Chris Soghoian - computer security researcher, oft-times journalist, and current technical consultant for the FTC's privacy protection office - attended a closed-door conference called ISS World. ISS World - the ISS is for Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception, Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Gathering - is where law enforcement and intelligence agencies consult with telco representatives and surveillance equipment manufacturers about the state of electronic surveillance technology and practice. Armed with a tape recorder, Soghoian went to the conference looking for information about the scope of the government's surveillance practices in the US. What Soghoian uncovered, as he reported on his blog this morning, is more shocking and frightening than anyone could have ever expected At the ISS conference, Soghoian taped astonishing comments by Paul Taylor, Sprint/Nextel's Manager of Electronic Surveillance. In complaining about the volume of requests that Sprint receives from law enforcement, Taylor noted a shocking number of requests that Sprint had received in the past year for precise GPS (Global Positioning System) location data revealing the location and movements of Sprint's customers. That number? EIGHT MILLION. Sprint received over 8 million requests for its customers' information in the past 13 months. That doesn't count requests for basic identification and billing information, or wiretapping requests, or requests to monitor who is calling who, or even requests for less-precise location data based on which cell phone towers a cell phone was in contact with. That's just GPS. And, that's not including legal requests from civil litigants, or from foreign intelligence investigators. That's just law enforcement. And, that's not counting the few other major cell phone carriers like ATT, Verizon and T-Mobile. That's just Sprint. Here's what Taylor had to say; the audio clip is here and we are also mirroring a zip file from Soghoian containing other related mp3 recordings and documents. [M]y major concern is the volume of requests. We have a lot of things that are automated but that's just scratching the surface. One of the things, like with our GPS tool. We turned it on the web interface for law enforcement about one year ago last month, and we just passed 8 million requests. So there is no way on earth my team could have handled 8 million requests from law enforcement, just for GPS alone. So the tool has just really caught on fire with law enforcement. They also love that it is extremely inexpensive to operate and easy, so, just the sheer volume of requests they anticipate us automating other features, and I just don't know how we'll handle the millions and millions of requests that are going to come in. Eight million would have been a shocking number even if it had included every single legal request to every single carrier for every single type of customer information; that Sprint alone received eight million requests just from law enforcement only for GPS data is absolutely mind-boggling. We have long warned that cell phone tracking poses a threat to locational privacy, and EFF has been fighting in the courts for years to ensure that the government only tracks a cell phone's location when it has a search warrant based on probable case. EFF has also complained before that a dangerous level of secrecy surrounds law enforcement's communications surveillance practices like a dense fog, and that without stronger laws requiring detailed reporting about how the government is using its surveillance powers, the lack of accountability when it comes to the government's access to information through third-party phone and Internet service providers will necessarily breed abuse. But we never expected such huge numbers to be lurking in that fog. Now that the fact is out that law enforcement is rooting through such vast amounts of location data, it raises profoundly important questions that law enforcement and the telcos must answer: How many innocent Americans have had their cell phone data handed over to law enforcement? How can the government justify obtaining so much information on so many people, and how can the telcos justify handing it over? How did the number get so large? Is the government doing massive dragnet sweeps to identify every single cell phone that was in a particular area at a particular time? Is the government getting location information for entire communities of interest by asking not only for their target's location, but also for the location of every person who talked to the target, and every person who talked to them? Does the number only include requests to track phones in real-time, or does it include requests for
[Marxism-Thaxis] Historical discussion of East Asian history
raghu : Subject: [Pen-l] China as 'AMERICA?S HEAD SERVANT'? Excellent article that traces the post-WW2 history of Asia's export-driven growth: http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=articleview=2809 (via Yves Smith: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/12/the-china-decoupling-myth.html ) --snip The story of the rapid postwar rise of Japan and the four Tigers—South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore—is well known, and need not be repeated here. But if their dynamic ascent can be attributed to the role of their centralized authorities in directing precious resources to strategic industrial sectors, it is equally important to recognize that it was the Cold War geopolitics of East Asia that made developmental states possible there in the first place. What was being fought during the Cold War period in East Asia was actually a hot war. Communist China’s support for guerrillas and its involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars had led the region into a permanent state of emergency, and Washington regarded East Asia as the most vulnerable link in its strategy for containing Communism. Considering its key Asian allies—Japan and the four Tigers—too important to fail, it provided them with abundant financial and military aid to jump-start and direct industrial growth, while also keeping American and European markets wide open to Asian manufactured goods. This access to Western markets constituted a further advantage that other developing countries did not enjoy, and without which it is unimaginable that the Asian economies would have had such success. Viewed in this light, the rapid economic growth of East Asia was far from a ‘miracle’. The us engineered it as part of an effort to create subordinate and prosperous bulwarks against Communism in the Asia-Pacific region. These economies were never meant to challenge American geopolitical and geo-economic interests; instead they were subservient clients helping Washington to realize its designs in the region. [...] Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the 90s, the prc’s market reforms turned it into a latecoming Asian Tiger. Many predicted that it would be uniquely capable of breaking away from Asia’s twin dependence on the us because of its geopolitical autonomy and exceptional demographic and economic size. But so far China has not freed itself from the servitude of providing America with cheap credit and low-cost imports. Worse, the intensity of the prc’s export-led and private-consumption-repressing growth model has made its market and financial dependence on the us even greater than that of its predecessors. If we compare the most important aspects of China’s political economy with those of its neighbours at a similar stage of development, we find that the Chinese model is largely a replication in extreme form of earlier East Asian growth. ___ 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] Afghani Marxist; history figure
Mohammad Najibullah If only Dr. N had been able to fight off the US contras in Afghanistan. CB Dr. Najibullah نجيب الله President of Afghanistan In office September 30, 1987 – April 16, 1992 Prime Minister Sultan Ali Keshtmand Mohammad Hasan Sharq Sultan Ali Keshtmand Fazal Haq Khaliqyar Preceded by Haji Mohammad Chamkani Succeeded by Abdul Rahim Hatef (Acting) Born August 1947 Kabul, Afghanistan Died September 28, 1996 Kabul, Afghanistan Political party People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan History of Afghanistan This article is part of a series Timeline Pre-Islamic Period Islamic Conquest Saffarids Ghaznavids Ghurids Timurids Mughals Hotaki dynasty Durrani Empire Emirate of Afghanistan Kingdom of Afghanistan Republic of Afghanistan Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Afghanistan since 1992 Afghan Civil War 1979–1989 1989–1992 1992–1996 1996–2001 2001–present Afghanistan Portal v • d • e Najibullah (Pashto: نجيب الله), originally just Najib, (August 6, 1947 – September 27, 1996) was the fourth and last President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is also considered the second President of the Republic of Afghanistan. Contents [hide] 1 Early years 2 Political career 3 President of the Republic (November 1986 - April 1992) 3.1 Soviet withdrawal and Civil War 3.2 Downfall 4 Death 4.1 International reaction 5 References 6 External links [edit] Early years Najibullah was born in August 1947 to the Ahmadzai sub-tribe of the Ghilzai Pashtun tribe. Though born in Kabul, his ancestral village was located between the towns of Said Karam and Gardēz in Paktia Province. He was educated at Habibia High School and Kabul University, where he graduated with a doctor degree in medicine in 1975. [edit] Political career In 1965 Najibullah joined the Parcham faction of the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and in 1977 joined the Central Committee. In 1978 the PDPA took power in Afghanistan, with Najibullah a member of the ruling Revolutionary Council. However, the Khalq faction of the PDPA gained supremacy over his own Parcham faction, and after a brief stint as ambassador in Iran, he was dismissed from government and went into exile in Europe. He returned to Kabul after the Soviet intervention in 1979. In 1980, he was appointed the head of KHAD, the secret police. In 1981 he was promoted to full membership in the Politburo. On May 4, 1986, Babrak Karmal resigned as secretary general of the PDPA and was replaced by Dr. Najibullah. Karmal retained the presidency for a while, but power had shifted to Najibullah. [edit] President of the Republic (November 1986 - April 1992) In November 1986, Najibullah was elected president and a new constitution was adopted. Some of the innovations incorporated into the constitution were a multi-party political system, freedom of expression, and an Islamic legal system presided over by an independent judiciary. In September he set up the National Compromise Commission to contact counter-revolutionaries in order to complete the Saur Revolution in its new phase. Allegedly some 40,000 rebels were contacted. In this way, Najibullah had stabilized his political position enough to begin matching Moscow's moves toward withdrawal. On July 20, 1987, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country was announced. It was also during his Administration that the peak of the fighting came in 1985-86. The Soviet forces launched their largest and most effective assaults on the Mujahideen supply lines adjacent to Pakistan. Major campaigns had also forced the mujahedeen back to defensive positions near Herat and Kandahar. Najibullah made an expanded reconciliation offer to the resistance in July 1987, including twenty seats in State (formerly Revolutionary) Council, twelve ministries and a possible prime ministership and Afghanistan's status as an Islamic non-aligned state. Military, police, and security powers were not mentioned, and the offer still fell far short of what even the moderate mujahedeen parties would accept. Najibullah then reorganized his government to face the mujahedeen alone. A new constitution took effect in November, 1987. The name of the country was reverted to the Republic of Afghanistan, the State Council was replaced by a National Assembly for which multiple parties could freely compete. Mir Hussein Sharq, a non-party politician, was named Prime Minister. On June 7, 1988, President Najibullah addressed the UN General Assembly in request of support for a peace solution of the crisis in Afghanistan. [edit] Soviet withdrawal and Civil War With Afghanistan's mujihadeen rejecting offers of
[Marxism-Thaxis] Bailout prediction
CeJ jannuzi ] The Financial Times wrote months ago that the bailout was $ 11 trillion; That's in committments--it looks like the US government just took over AIG's! So far spent were a couple 1 trillion dollar plus 'packages'--which, btw, included more funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. If you want to say there has been some profound shift, I guess you could say it's that the US government is now the world's largest private equity firm. ^ CB: That would be public equity bureau. ^^^ If you want to argue about public vs. private, I would have to say that capitalist governments and capitalist capitalism, it all goes together. You aren't going to get socialism from Obama. Which brings me to a conclusion of sorts. It's all those teabag party people and paleoconservatives and Palin Repugs who are blowing up the cost of the bailouts, so they can pin that tail on the Obama donkey. But don't you think the US government has been leveraging from a long time ago? Otherwise we wouldn't be looking at national debt figures like 14 trillion dollars. CJ ^^^ CB: At least since 1918, finance capitalism, state-monopoly capitalism. SOME TRENDS IN STATE-MONOPOLY CAPITALISM G. SOKOLNIKOV LENIN studied the basic tendencies and laws governing the development of world imperialism and formulated the proposition that the epoch of imperialism was also one in which monopoly capitalism grew into state-monopoly capitalism. This objective process at the highest stage of capitalism must inevitably lake place through combining the colossal power of capitalism with the colossal power of the state into a single mechanism,1 as a result of which the state is merging more and more with the all-powerful capitalist associations.2 Lenin's great achievement was that, in observing and studying the system of state-monopoly capitalism in embryo, he gave scientific proof that the close union between the private monopolies and the capitalist state was bound to grow even closer and projected the main trends of its development. Present-day imperialism, which is trying to adapt itself to the conditions of the struggle between the two systems and to the demands of the scientific and technological revolution has some new features, says the document Tasks at the Present Stage of the Struggle Against Imperialism and United Action of the Communist and Workers' Parties and All Anti-Imperialist Forces, adopted by the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in Moscow. It stresses that the state-monopoly character of jcontemporary capitalism is becoming ever more pronounced. It resorts ever more extensively to such instruments as state-stimulated monopolistic concentration of production and capital, redistribution by the state of an increasing proportion of the national income, allocation of war contracts to the monopolies, government financing of industrial development and research programmes, the drawing up of economic development programmes on a country-wide scale, the policy of imperialist integration and new forms of capital export. State-monopoly capitalism has become the bourgeoisie's principal instrument of further enrichment. It is no exaggeration to say that today the state, in alliance with the monopolies and in their interests, has intruded into every sphere and sector of the economy. But this, far from changing, has actually helped to accentuate the essence of capitalism, and its highest stage, imperialism: notwithstanding the ever growing socialisation of the intricate economic machinery, the decisive means of production remain in the hands of the monopolies. There are many forms and methods of state interference in the capitalist economy. I want to look at those which command the closest attention. First, there are the latest developments in regulating and programming economic development, state control of research and development, and active state interference in the external economic ties of the imperialist countries. It is there that the contradictory tendencies in the economic development of contemporary imperialism are most vividly reflected. REGULATION AND PROGRAMMING UNDER the impact of the scientific and technological revolution and a number of other factors, long-range and current, postwar economic development in the capitalist countries has been relatively high. But it has been extremely uneven, with recurring cyclical and structural crises, recessions and snags. Thus, from 1951 to 1968 industrial output in the 1 V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 24, Moscow, 1964. p. 403. 2 V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 25, Moscow, 1964, p. 383. page 30 SOME TRENDS IN STATE-MONOPOLY CAPITALISM 31 capitalist world increased by 160 per cent; in the United States, by 120 per cent; West Germany, 260 per cent; France, 160 per cent;
[Marxism-Thaxis] New Academia.edu feature for Marxism-Thaxis
Dear Marxism-Thaxis members, I wanted to tell the list about a new feature on Academia.edu. Academia.edu launched 12 months ago and now helps 300,000 academics a month answer the question 'who's researching what?' There are already 298 people on Academia.edu with Marxism as a research interest. We have built a dedicated page on Academia.edu for the Marxism-Thaxis mailing list: http://lists.academia.edu/See-members-of-Marxism-Thaxis This page will show you fellow members already on Academia.edu. You can see their papers, research interests, and other information. Visit the link below, sign up with Academia.edu, and see who else from Marxism-Thaxis is on Academia.edu. http://lists.academia.edu/See-members-of-Marxism-Thaxis Richard Dr. Richard Price, post-doc, Philosophy Dept, Oxford University. Founder of Academia.edu ___ 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] Soviet Cultural Psychology
In American psychology I recall social psychology. It would seem tp correspond to some extent to prioritizing the social in human individual thought, but don't count on it in the bourgeois academy. Also, national character studies in anthropology are a type of cultural psychology. CB National character: a psycho-social perspective By Alex Inkeles, Daniel J. Levinson http://books.google.com/books?id=ln9i8WGFS0YCdq=national+characterprintsec=frontcoversource=bllots=wBAQ12ab49sig=vd__KVXMxOQvp-AWVsU86PMkPQwhl=enei=lFYdS5zAG4ri8AbOguzXAwsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=11ved=0CDwQ6AEwCg#v=onepageq=f=false National character studies National character studies is a defunct anthropological focus that made broad and often flawed generalizations when studying cultural behavior as a means of justifying the concept of modal personality traits. That is, recognizing and applying behavioral patterns unanimously to citizens within a culture as a result of those citizens being born and or raised there. In short, stereotyping. A good example of the logical fallacies this method produces is found in Ruth Benedict's book The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, where she had studied Japanese culture during wartime. She characterized the Empire of Japan as having a preoccupation with aesthetics and militarism. This book was a good example of Boasian anthropology founded by Franz Boas (of whom Benedict was a student). While it was the first to introduce a scientific method to anthropology, it had not yet developed adequate and recurrently verifiable data collection methods. [edit] See also Nationalism Margaret Mead Cultural determinism [edit] References Homayun Sidky (2004). Perspectives on culture: a critical introduction to theory in cultural anthropology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 174–8. ISBN 0-13-093134-9. [edit] External links Terracciano A, Abdel-Khalek AM, Adám N, et al. (Oct 2005). National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures. Science 310 (5745): 96–100. doi:10.1126/science.1117199. PMID 16210536. This article relating to anthropology is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/11/10-piercing-insights-into-human-nature.php http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mead/oneworld-char.html SUBSECTIONS: National Character - Technology Social Change Margaret Mead As a Cultural Commentator Learning to Live in One World National Character When Mead and Bateson returned to the United States in 1939, she was pregnant with their daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson, who was born that December. In this period, the couple prepared their Balinese materials for publication and began using their professional skills to assist the Allied war effort in the U.S. They contributed their expertise as social scientists to groups that applied the behavioral sciences to such issues as problems of morale in wartime. Early in 1942, Mead went to Washington, D.C., to head the National Research Council's Committee on Food Habits. This committee applied anthropological methods to problems of food distribution and preparation in war-affected countries. Also as part of the war effort, in 1942 Mead published And Keep Your Powder Dry, a book on American national character. During World War II, anthropologists used the techniques they had developed in small-scale societies to analyze the national character of so-called complex societies. By gathering information from immigrants to the United States, as well as from published sources and films, they studied culture at a distance. Such research was used to guide government and military policy, to further cooperation among wartime allies, and to plan for a postwar world. Similar studies continued after the war with the Research in Contemporary Cultures project, which was led by Mead after Ruth Benedict's death in 1948. Schedule for Margaret Mead's December 10-13, 1942, visit to the Menninger Clinic. Typescript with handwritten notes by Dr. Karl Menninger. Manuscript Division (221b) Menninger Schedule, December 1942 In 1942, Mead began a professional association with the Menninger Clinic--an innovative mental health facility in Topeka, Kansas--which lasted the rest of her career. This schedule shows the topics she was to address during her first visit: Balinese culture; character structure and international cooperation; and wartime food problems. Arranging her trip, Mead wrote: In planning a schedule for me please realise that the only thing I will resent is not being used. I want to fill the time as full as possible. Demanding a full schedule was characteristic of Mead, who planned trips to include a maximum number of events, including not only lectures, seminars, and interviews, but also visits with family and friends. Lineage During World War II, Mead also began consciously articulating influences on her intellectual development. In this appendix for the never-completed Learning to
[Marxism-Thaxis] Bailout prediction
State monopoly capitalism Communism portal v • d • e The theory of state monopoly capitalism was initially a Marxist doctrine popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into monopoly capitalism, but he did not publish any extensive theory about the topic. The term refers to an environment where the state intervenes in the economy to protect large monopolistic or oligopolistic businesses from competition by smaller firms[1]. Stamocap theory aims to define the final historical stage of capitalism following monopoly capitalism, consistent with Lenin's definition of the characteristics of imperialism in his short pamphlet of the same name. Occasionally the stamocap concept also appears in neo-Trotskyist theories of state capitalism as well as in libertarian anti-state theories. The analysis made is usually identical in its main features, but very different political conclusions are drawn from it. Contents [hide] 1 The main thesis 2 Versions of the theory 3 Political implication 4 Neo-Trotskyist theory 5 Market Anarchism 6 Eurocommunism 7 Criticism 8 See also 9 Some references 10 More References [edit] The main thesis The main Marxist-Leninist thesis is that big business, having achieved a monopoly or cartel position in most markets of importance, fuses with the government apparatus. A kind of financial oligarchy or conglomerate therefore results, whereby government officials aim to provide the social and legal framework within which giant corporations can operate most effectively. This is a close partnership between big business and government, and it is argued that the aim is to integrate labor-unions completely in that partnership. [edit] Versions of the theory Different versions of this idea were elaborated by economists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (e.g. Eugen Varga), East Germany's Socialist Unity Party, France's Parti Communiste Francais (e.g. Paul Boccara), the Communist Party of Great Britain (e.g. Ben Fine and Laurence Harris), and the American Communist Party of the USA (e.g. Victor Perlo). One of the most prominent examples of Stamocap is modern day Singapore (Stamocap) compared to Hong Kong (individual capitalism). [edit] Political implication “ Ever since monopoly capital took over the world, it has kept the greater part of humanity in poverty, dividing all the profits among the group of the most powerful countries. The standard of living in those countries is based on the extreme poverty of our countries. ” — Che Guevara, 1965 [2] The strategic political implication of stamocap theory for Marxist-Leninists, towards the end of the Stalin era and afterwards, was that the labour movement should form a people's democratic alliance under the leadership of the Communist Party with the progressive middle classes and small business, against the state and big business (called monopoly for short). Sometimes this alliance was also called the anti-monopoly alliance. [edit] Neo-Trotskyist theory In neo-Trotskyist theory, however, such an alliance was rejected as being based either on a false strategy of popular fronts, or on political opportunism, said to be incompatible either with a permanent revolution or with the principle of independent working class political action. The state in Soviet-type societies was redefined by the neo-Trotskyists as being also state-monopoly capitalist. There was no difference between the West and the East in this regard. Consequently, some kind of anti-bureaucratic revolution was said to be required, but different Trotskyist groups quarreled about what form such a revolution would need to take, or could take. Some Trotskyists believed the anti-bureaucratic revolution would happen spontaneously, inevitably and naturally, others believed it needed to be organised - the aim being to establish a society owned and operated by the working class. According to the neo-Trotskyists, the Communist Party could not play its leading role, because it did not represent the interests of the working class. [edit] Market Anarchism Market anarchists typically criticize Neoliberal forces for inconsistent or hypocritical application of Neoliberal theory regarding Stamocap; that in those inconsistencies exist the basis of continued selective state guaranteed privileges for the plutocratic neoliberal elite[3]. Generally, they envision a more consistently pro-market revolt would necessarily be a more petty bourgeois affair. [edit] Eurocommunism The stamocap concept was to a large extent either modified or abandoned in the era of eurocommunism, because it came to be believed that the state apparatus could be reformed to reflect the interests of the working majority. In other words, the fusion between the state and big business postulated earlier was not so tight, that it could not be undone by a mass movement from below, under the leadership of the Communist Party (or its central committee).
[Marxism-Thaxis] Economic downturn quiets labor unions
Economic downturn quiets labor unions By Stephen Dinan Tuesday, November 3, 2009 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/03/economic-downturn-quiets-labor-unions/ Labor peace has broken out across the country, and all it took was the nastiest recession since the end of World War II to spawn it. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show major work stoppages — defined as those when 1,000 workers or more go on strike or are locked out — dropped 95 percent this year compared with last year and are at their lowest level since the government began keeping a tally in the 1940s. It is the economy. Right now, people are just desperately holding onto their jobs, said Charles B. Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University. Labor unions have been in decline for decades as a percentage of the work force and have been losing power over that time, but they had hoped an Obama presidency could help them recover lost ground. For now, though, it appears that test will have to wait until after the economy rebounds and employers and employees are ready to start sparring again. I think you can say that everybody's anxious to keep labor peace right now with the economy being where it is and employment where it is, said Gordon Pavy, the AFL-CIO's director of collective bargaining. Previous recessions saw drops in work stoppages, but nothing like the complete halt of this current recession. From November 2008 through May, BLS didn't record a single major work stoppage, and since May, there have been just three. Altogether, just 73,500 workdays have been lost to major stoppages through September. In the first nine months of 2008, there had been 14 major strikes or lockouts, costing 1.4 million workdays. Mr. Pavy said not to draw long-term conclusions about the health of collective bargaining from these numbers. He said stoppages go in cycles and part of the explanation for the current drop is that there aren't many big contracts up this year. He also said most of the big stoppages usually occur in manufacturing, such as the automobile industry. But workers at General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC agreed to no-strike clauses through 2015 as part of the government bailout. Another complication is that unions are doing best among government workers at the federal, state and local levels, where 36.8 percent are unionized, according to BLS statistics for 2008. In the private sector, just 7.6 percent are. Indeed, unions in 2008 experienced a rare overall membership uptick, primarily because of an increase in public-sector unionization. However, many government employees, such as police and firefighters, are prevented from striking because they are deemed essential public safety employees. Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation, which defends workers' freedom not to join unions, said unions' tactics have changed as well. He said members want to shy away from confrontational stoppages, and the organizers have listened. As a result, picket lines more often are for unions trying to get new businesses organized and add new members, rather than lines of workers on strike against an employer. There's basically zero incentive for unions maybe to call these types of strikes over wages and things like that. That just means they're not going to collect dues if the workers go out on strike, versus the way to keep the ATM paying is workers keep working, Mr. Semmens said. Mr. Craver also sees a broader trend in underlying balances of power. The numbers bear it out: In the 1970s, more than 250 million workdays were lost to work stoppages. That dropped to less than 120 million work days in the 1980s, about 46 million in the 1990s, and to about 37 million nearing the end of this decade. What it really demonstrates to me is the tremendous shift in power from what used to be the power unions had, and the workers, to the power of the employer, Mr. Craver said. He said that balance-of-power debate is spilling into Congress in the fight over the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill unions have deemed their top priority because it would make it easier for unions to form. ___ 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] It’s time to talk day
It’s time to talk day http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=smenu=76twindow=Defaultmad=Nosdetail=8081wpage=1skeyword=sidate=ccat=ccatm=restate=restatus=reoption=retype=repmin=repmax=rebed=rebath=subname=pform=sc=1070hn=michigancitizenhe=.com The numbers don’t lie — one in two teens report that they have been personally victimized by controlling behaviors from a boyfriend or girlfriend. On Dec. 3, Americans nationwide will be participating in It’s Time to Talk Day, a day dedicated to speaking about issues most prefer not to discuss, domestic violence and teen dating abuse. Many are reluctant to speak out due to fear and stigma — It’s Time to Talk Day, sponsored by Liz Claiborne Inc., provides a national platform to discuss these issues in the open and out of the shadows. I am working with the National Foundation for Women Legislators and MADE (Moms and Dads for Education) to ensure that all young people are educated about the devastating consequences of teen dating violence and abuse. MADE, a nationwide coalition of parents, teachers and concerned citizens advocating for every middle school and high school in the country to teach curricula on teen dating violence and abuse, is participating in It’s Time to Talk Day by urging all schools in Michigan to teach the nationally recognized Love Is Not Abuse Curriculum. Because digital dating abuse is increasingly a problem for youth — nearly one in three teens in a relationship say their partners have used texting to control and harass them at all hours of the night — the Love Is Not Abuse curriculum is being officially re-launched on Dec. 3 with a section on digital abuse. Dating violence is at epidemic proportions, resulting in thousands of preventable deaths. We all have a responsibility to do our part to end this vicious cycle. I hope you will do your part to end relationship violence and will participate in It’s Time to Talk Day events by talking to the youth in your life about dating violence and by joining the MADE coalition. Visit www.loveisnotabuse.com/made. Senator Martha G. Scott senmsc...@senate.michigan.gov P.O. Box 30036, Lansing, MI 48909 Senator Scott represents the 2nd Senate District, which includes areas of Detroit and the cities of Hamtramck, Harper Woods, Highland Park and all of the Grosse Pointes. She serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Visit her online at www.senate.mi/gov/scott. ___ 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] Is we or is we ain't (was Re: Marxism-Thaxis Digest, Vol 74, Issue 3)
I re-titled this since I was the one who mistakenly gave it the 'digest' title. CB:Is we is or is we ain't in recession ? Unemployment is 10% ! The working class is in depression. The bourgeoisie are recovering. Officially, according to the bourgeois economists, US and Japan, among many other countries, are officially in recession, as they define the term. Unemployment in the US? Just take the official figure and double it in order to get some idea. And even the reported stats on 'underemployed' are misleading. In the US, the reported figures are something like: people registering at state employment services offices and accepting part-time work while saying they are still seeking full-time work. Since these offices only handle a fraction of the actual workforce, I'm not sure what to make of their counts except to say they are undercounts and misleadingly used in order, well, to mislead. In terms of the working class, we are in a time in which there are wars, repression, health care and income crises while capital has over-production and, to put it non-technically, weak profits and either an inability or less desire to borrow money (unless they are stabilizing borrowing in order to cover short-term debt that is due). Repressive politically and socially, a lack of expansion in the economy. America's working class seems to have one glimpse of transcendence: belief that they are the holy warriors and progenitors of the holy American empire and its mission to rule the world in the name of all that is holy American. Of course as an everday phenomenon for many that means tuning into American-produced TV or going to see an American-produced movie, most of which re-inforce that view. And what group of people elsewhere in the world understand that mentality and exploit it? The rulers of Britain and Israel. And a few NATO allies, like Denmark and the Netherlands. CJ -- Japan Higher Education Outlook http://japanheo.blogspot.com/ We are Feral Cats http://wearechikineko.blogspot.com/ ___ 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
