A Different Wretched of the Earth!

Fanon in Context

"The National Liberation Front (FNL) uprising presented nationalist groups with the question of whether to adopt armed revolt as the main course of action. ...

On the political front, the FLN worked to persuade — and to coerce — the Algerian masses to support the aims of the Independence movement through contributions. FLN-influenced labour unions, professional associations, and students' and women's organizations were created to lead opinion in diverse segments of the population but here too violent coercion was widely used. Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist from Martinique who became the FLN's leading political theorist, provided a sophisticated intellectual justification for the use of violence in achieving national liberation. He stated that only through violence could an oppressed people attain human status. …"

Click on comments for more info or visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerian_War

Frantz Fanon

The Thousand Threads and Obama's Economic Advisors

Great posts and comments everyone! Really fun to read.

More food for thought on Obama's economic advisors, who are all from the same neoliberal camp of the Clinton years, and formulated the policies that got us in this financial crisis: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/us/politics/24rubin.html?_r=1&hp

Also, if you want to learn more about how despicable a human being Lawrence Summers is (Obama's new Senior White House Economic Advisor), check out this memo he wrote as Chief Economist of the World Bank arguing that we should send our toxic waste to poor countries (you might also have heard about his sexist comments as president of Harvard):

DATE: December 12, 1991
TO: Distribution
FR: Lawrence H. SummersSubject: GEP

'Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Least Developed Countries]? I can think of three reasons:

1) The measurements of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. From this point of view a given amount of health impairing pollution should be done in the country with the lowest cost, which will be the country with the lowest wages. I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.

2) The costs of pollution are likely to be non-linear as the initial increments of pollution probably have very low cost. I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City. Only the lamentable facts that so much pollution is generated by non-tradable industries (transport, electrical generation) and that the unit transport costs of solid waste are so high prevent world welfare enhancing trade in air pollution and waste.

3) The demand for a clean environment for aesthetic and health reasons is likely to have very high income elasticity. The concern over an agent that causes a one in a million change in the odds of prostate cancer is obviously going to be much higher in a country where people survive to get prostate cancer than in a country where under 5 mortality is 200 per thousand. Also, much of the concern over industrial atmosphere discharge is about visibility impairing particulates. These discharges may have very little direct health impact. Clearly trade in goods that embody aesthetic pollution concerns could be welfare enhancing. While production is mobile the consumption of pretty air is a non-tradable.

The problem with the arguments against all of these proposals for more pollution in LDCs (intrinsic rights to certain goods, moral reasons, social concerns, lack of adequate markets, etc.) could be turned around and used more or less effectively against every Bank proposal for liberalization.

Theory Barocks Assignment

In this short paper I will discuss Lenin's response to Barack Obama's presidential victory. It will discuss that although Barack's victory marks a new chapter in terms of his ethnicity, his policies will still gaurd the interests of the capitalist class since he is still a member of this class. I will also provide my own take on the situation.

Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg was a revolutionary leader with ideas similar to Lenin. Though they agreed in theory on the creation of a communist society, they differed somewhat on the path to achieve this.

The revolutionary visions of Rosa Luxemberg

The revolutionary Marxist, Rosa Luxemberg had a vision to bring Socialism to the people when they needed it. Surrounded by a bourgeois lifestyle, she aimed to bring the working class up to her level, and give them a livable life. Unfortunately, Rosa encountered multiple Marxists who held different views, such as Vladimir Lenin. She was ultimately killed for her persistence.

Rosa Luxemburg's Fight for Revolution

In this blog, I've discussed Rosa Luxemburg's idea of revolution and compared her with other theorists.

Will Obama bring the U.S. closer to socialism?

Obama is planning to govern from the center-right of his party.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/politics/22assess.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1

Is Obama connected to the state with a thosuand threads?

Lenin and I would argue that, with the election of Barack Obama as president, we are not really changing the system because the capitalist state is linked to the bourgeois class by a “thousand threads,” and it is difficult to destroy this connection.

Lenin on Obama

Lenin would think that Obama’s victory does not mean a victory for the under class because he has now become part of the state. The state is an organ of class rule and the oppression of the underclass that creates order by moderating the collision between the two classes. The state works for the benefit of the capitalist system through keeping the underclass in control. Despite his background as being one from the underclass, since he is now part of the state Obama no longer represents the underclass because of the ‘1000th threads’ that still remains between the state and the capitalists.

Lenin's view of Obama

Lenin would say that Barack Obama is just a player in the capitalistic state and will be unable to make any real changes because there are too many threads tying the state with the capitalist class (373). Obama’s victory has been touted as change for the future, but Lenin believes the change the people want will never come from the state.

Theory BAROCKS!!!

This post discusses what Lenin would say about Obama's presidency

Lenin and Obama

Following Obama’s victory, Lenin (1975) would argue that a new President who promises to bring change, will fail to replace capitalism with socialism, and instead a violent revolution is needed (315, 325). The relationship between the state and capitalist class is not only exemplified by the succession of capitalist presidents, but more importantly there is an institutionalized relationship where the capitalist class is connected and works with the state (319). Although the “thousand threads” remain today, Obama’s victory not only contradicts Lenin’s belief of a succession of capitalist Presidents, but also encourages a solidified working class that may be able to break the “thousand threads” and revolt.

Lenin: "Obama and his capitalist tendencies"

Lenin and Obama,

In this essay, I will argue that Obama's "working class" victory (in regards to his election) is just an example of the shell through which parliamentary democracy protects the Capitalists.

Thousand Threads Remain

In my short essay, I discuss how Obama's victory will not change our capitalist system. The thousand threads remain and will continue to conduct the actual business of the system.

Baracks Assignment

In this short essay, I discuss the relationship between Barack Obama and the capitalist class.

Theory Barocks

This short essay argues that Lenin would view Obama’s victory as a successful effort by the state in fooling the common people, when in fact Obama could be representative of the proletariat dictatorship.

The "Revolutionary" Question

In this mini-essay, I argue that, according to Lenin, Obama is simply not revolutionary. Yet, from a Gramscian perspective, Obama's victory may prefigure a war of movement with revolutionary possibilities.

Lenin says...

The victory of Barack Obama has definitely brightened many people, but Lenin argues that his victory does not promise any changes to working class because elections can never deliver a working class a political control (342).

Lenin on Obama

Lenin on Obama's Victory

According to Lenin, as Obama was elected to the presidency of a capitalist state, the proletariat’s reality will not change, since exploitation and oppression will remain in place. However, I argue that some improvements in society will occur, as Obama is committed to a more regulated capitalism. Nonetheless, more in depth changes can only come about if an organized movement develops from Obama’s support base.

Obama and Lenin

Although many of us are pleased by Obama's victory, this essay proves that Lenin would believe that Americans are being exploited and therefore, Obama should give up his powers and the working class should embark on a revolution.

What would Lenin say about Obama's Victory....

“Change has come to America.” This has been the message that the media has promoted and associated Barack Obama’s victory with; a message that Vladimir Lenin would too be proud to announce. In this short essay I will discuss what Lenin tell/suggest Obama after his winning presidential election.....

Lenin vs Obama

Lenin and Obama have many of the same ideas in regards to creating equality and the oppression of workers which is demonstrated through Lenin's the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. However, Lenin's goal to abolish the state completely directly conflicts with Obama's role as president. Even though their views are very similar, their ultimate goals do not coincide.

Revolutionary Transitions: Luxemburg and Lenin

In this short essay, I discuss how the Luxemburg's disagreement with the German Social Democratic Party leadership relates to Marx's theory of the destruction of capitalism and the differs from Lenin's theory of revolution.

Luxemburg & Lenin

Rosa Luxemburg is a Revolutionary Marxist who says what she feels is right, even if her ideas are different from her colleagues.

Lenin believes that Obama’s.....

Lenin thinks Obama's victory does not destroy the "thousand threads" and the capitalist state, but his platform will help the working class organize class struggle. I think Obama receiving campaign fund from the workers obligates him to grant workers succesions, which allow for workers' social mobility in a capitalist state.

what would lenin say

Many people are very happy about Obama’s victory, saying that “change has come” to America. Lenin would disagree. He would state that real change is not possible without smashing the capitalist state that we are in. That is not possible to establish with one person or with the president; it can only be established by the socialist revolution, where the workers take control over the state (26-27). By destroying capitalism, a dictatorship by the workers, called socialism, would be put into place, followed by a withering away of that state. With this withering away, communism would come into play; the real change.

Obama and Lenin

Lenin would support some of Obama's views like redistributing wealth, however, he would believe that Obama's ideology was not extreme enough to lead to communism.

Traditional vs. Organic

   Alan Keyes                Angela Davis

Traditional vs. Organic

          

     F. Scott Fitzgerald                  June Jordan

Thousand Threads Connected to Congress Too?

Check out this interesting NY Times article on former Senator Phil Gramm's involvement with the banking deregulation that got us into this mess, the huge amount of campaign financing he got from Wall Street, and his subsequent post-Senate career making presumably millions of dollars out of the loopholes he helped to create: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/business/economy/17gramm.html?_r=1&em

Thousand threads can be pretty clear in legislature too! Think this puts any dent in Lenin's theory that parliamentary democracy is the best shell for capitalism because it obscures the thousand threads?

Gramsci on Luxemburg

Did anyone check out the rather deprecating--though slightly appreciative--comments by Gramsci on "Rosa's little book?" (233). I'm curious what those of you who saw the movie think of this. He seems to basically be pegging Luxemburg as an economic determinist in her 1905 book The General Strike. With his often-used military analogy, Gramsci seems to be arguing that the "heavy artillery" of economic crises alone will not create the revolution--organization and ideological concentration of the "troops" are still necessary and this won't come "in a flash" like Luxemburg seems to think they will. He calls this idea of inevitable crises leading to revolution "historical mysticism." Do you think Luxemburg still held the postion Gramsci accuses her by 1919 after WW1?

Sounds like a Gramsci Studybreak!

Enjoy Gramsci Melodic, a Pittsburg-based art-pop rock band made up of a bunch of almost middle-aged dudes who sing about ex-girlfriends and insomnia (who knew?). Brought to you by youtube randomness.

Jeopardy Question: Class in Itself

Question: The five things that create the Class in itself.
What are:
1. Dependence on Capital
2. Deskilling/Degradation
3. Despotism
4. Homogenization of the Working Class
5. Polarization

These can be found in the Communist Manifesto p.478-480

Good job at today's Jeopardy guys!

Luxemburg meets Burawoy

Professor Burawoy will show the film, Rosa Luxemburg, today at 6.30p.m. in Barrows 402. The film is a fascinating docudrama of German socialism as well as a compelling portrait of the tragic life of one of the great socialist theoreticians and leaders of the 20th Century.

Vida de Gramsci

yay for today's debate!!!

Hey guys! I just wanted to say today's debate was awesome!! yay!

1981 PATCO Strike

Hey all,

I found this article/audio from the NPR website about the 1981 Air Traffic Controllers strike. Barowoy, a couple of lectures ago, talked about this definitive moment for labor relations in the United States: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5604656.

Kropotkin's Letter to Lenin

In preparation of the debate on Monday, I found the following correspondence (quoted, apparently, from Peter Kropotkin : From Prince to Rebel (1990) by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, p. 426).


Letter to Vladimir Lenin (21 December 1920)

Vladimir Ilyich (Lenin),

... your concrete actions are completely unworthy of the ideas you pretend to hold. Is it possible that you do not know what a hostage really is — a man imprisoned not because of a crime he has committed, but only because it suits his enemies to exert blackmail on his companions? ... If you admit such methods, one can foresee that one day you will use torture, as was done in the Middle Ages.

I hope you will not answer me that Power is for political men a professional duty, and that any attack against that power must be considered as a threat against which one must guard oneself at any price. This opinion is no longer held even by kings... Are you so blinded, so much a prisoner of your own authoritarian ideas, that you do not realise that being at the head of European Communism, you have no right to soil the ideas which you defend by shameful methods ... What future lies in store for Communism when one of its most important defenders tramples in this way every honest feeling?