RevLeft

don't have kids - the 'communist' position?

whore — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:02:06 GMT

http://rs2kpapers.awardspace.com/the...t_from=&ucat=&
http://www.revleft.com/vb/paternal-r...31/index3.html

Quote:

So yeah, I think we revolutionaries should tell young women DON'T HAVE KIDS!

Quote:

If there's a "communist position" in all this, it's that we should be telling young women DON'T HAVE KIDS!

is this a position that others agree with? (i strongly suggest reading the entire article at top link first)

i agree with redstar2000 on this. it is a radical position (challanging ideas about women should have children), and, even might lead people to revolutionary ideas. (you are in control of your own life. not some man. if it is otherwise, well you damn well should be in control of your own life. fight back!)

Conservative, propaganda garbage. Refutes please

Leaf — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:22:03 GMT

"Communism can never work, because the more productive people will always have more than the less productive people, and the only institution which can take from the productive and give to the unproductive is an all powerful state with the ability to control everyone's lives.

In such an environment, only the most brutal, ruthless people rise to the top, ensuring that for every communist regime, there will be an unelected, unaccountable, unstoppable, psychopathic murderer as leader. "

I know it's crap but would love to hear revleft's rebuttal as I think I would learn from it, thank you :)

Wittgenstein's Method

ChristoferKoch — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:20:37 GMT

I've often heard about the Later Wittgenstein's method without fully comprehending what it entails. How exactly does one engage in Wittgenstienian analysis? How did the Analytical Marxists screw it up? And if any books could be recommended that follow that method I'd be extremely grateful.

The concreteness of gender

Rise Like Lions — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:31:55 GMT

Why is it that negative sex stereotypes (e.g. women should stay in the kitchen) and racial distinctions (Black people are tall/good at sports) are generally becoming more inappropriate in society, but the very basic distinction between male-female is still heavily enforced?

Needed: Revived Second International (or Third Worker Class International)

Jacob Richter — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:28:42 GMT

The International Workingmen's Association and the original Socialist International, the Second International, were the only two internationals that united three distinct movements:

1) The trade union movement;
2) the socialist movement of diverse class backgrounds; and
3) the independent, worker-class movement - or proletarian movement.

Upon the demise of the Second International, the first movement hobbled along to forge the Labour and Socialist International, and then later on today's "Socialist" International.

The second movement split in two, naturally between reformists and revolutionaries. The latter formed the Comintern, the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre, the "World Party of Socialist Revolution" that was the Fourth International (Trotskyist), the International Conference of Communist and Workers Parties (official Communism), and other international groups.

However, there was no reforged proletarian / worker-class movement. The closest to this was the short-lived International Working Union of Socialist Parties, a mixture of liquidationist elements (alas) and realos that left the Comintern.

Thoughts?

The Gadfly (Овод)

Kl�ber — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:17:27 GMT

Written by Ethel Lilian Voynich in 1897, this romantic classic about a young revolutionary's experience in the bourgeois revolution in Italy and his disillusionment with the church was one of the most popular novels of the 20th Century in Russia and China. Has anyone read it or seen the movie and what did they think of it?

Ironically it was probably based on fanciful tales told to the author by Sidney Reilly, who entered history as a young Russian anarchist, but ended up as a counter-revolutionary agent who some may recognize as the inspiration for the James Bond books.

Here is a link to the 1955 version, which most people would claim is the best, although I haven't been able to get my hands on the 1928 version
(in Russian, no subtitles, sorry):
http://video.mail.ru/mail/60warm/5842/5815.html

It also had a pretty memorable score by Shostakovich.

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

+ YouTube Video
ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Any hints on where to get a version of the 1955 movie with English subtitles would be much appreciated!

Green Marxism

sunfarstar — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:12:28 GMT

Traditionally, the Marxist movement was considered to be red. But I think it hit the green banner of Marxism in contemporary may be more people to respond. Do you think?

Here are good socialist links !!

LeninistKing — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:32:07 GMT

DONT TRUST THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM.

Don't trust the Federal Reserve, or the US Government, or the whole capitalist system. Because we've seen what they're doing. We see who they are really working for.

If we don�t trust, then we need to find a different path than conventional strategies. You need to try some entirely different strategies, and the path to those strategies is education.

The first step down that educational path is to come to understand what the Federal Reserve and Wall Street already know quite well, even if the general public does not. Inflation does not destroy wealth for a nation as a whole. Inflation redistributes wealth within a nation.

And if we have a massive round of inflation what may very well happen is that most of the country does indeed lose most of its wealth � but it�s crucial to understand that wealth is not destroyed.

Instead, the wealth is redistributed to the monopoly-capitalist class within the United States of America.

Do you know how that works? Think you should?

Read widely socialist books. Join socialist movements and socialist parties. Find new sources. Explore new concepts. Challenge your assumptions and beliefs. The world is not a fair place, and strategies that appear to be safely in the mainstream media might only bring victim status.

And remember: Let other people you know learn about socialism! Spread the word... the more people who know the truth, the greater the force against the capitalist system! Resistance forever!

Here are a good links toward the introduction of socialist ideology (The only solution for United States):

http://www.socialistviewpoint.org
http://www.ifamericansknew.org
http://www.stopaipac.org
http://www.socialistaction.org
http://www.aporrea.org
http://www.rebelion.org
http://www.bobavakian.net
http://www.rwor.org
http://www.socialist.net
http://www.socialistworker.org
http://www.workers.org
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com
http://www.trotsky.net
http://www.marxists.org
http://www.socialisappeal.org
http://www.marxist.com
http://www.wsws.org
http://www.socialistalternative.org
http://www.permanent-revolution.org/

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AND REMEMBER TO STICK UP YOUR MIDDLE FINGER TO US, EUROPEAN, NATO, ISRAEL AND WORLD IMPERIALISM AND CAPITALIST OPPRESSION !!

.

Anarchist economics

ontheyslay — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:14:40 GMT

In an anarcho-communist society, how does investment occur? Say, if a group of people want to start a business, what do they have to do to get a syndicate started? I know money doesn't exist, so what do they invest into the syndicate/cooperative? How does it all take shape I guess is what I am wondering.

Also, if someone wants to leave the syndicate how do they recoup some of their investment? If anyone can clear this up for me, I would greatly appreciate it!

Temple Grandin Film Glosses Over a Destructive Industry

communist_usa — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:59:16 GMT

Temple Grandin Film Glosses Over a Destructive Industry

William Crain*

On February 4, HBO premiered its film, "Temple
Grandin," about the widely admired autistic woman who
has designed more humane slaughterhouses for cattle.
The film is well-acted and movingly portrays Grandin's
struggles to develop her personal potential. The film
has received highly favorable reviews, including praise
from food production scientists. But its triumphant
ending is misleading. The film gives the impression
that Grandin has solved the problems of the cattle
industry, when, in fact, she has barely scratched the
surface.

Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara
illustrates the film's feel-good effect. "I don't know
what PETA will have to say," McNamara writes, "but I
wanted to stand up and cheer." I don't know what PETA
will say, either, but the cattle industry continues to
inflict so much misery on animals and so much damage to
the environment that any celebration is quite
premature.

The film shows how Grandin has capitalized on her
picture-like thinking, which she believes in central to
autism, to understand how cattle perceive the
world---especially what frightens them. Applying her
insights, she has persuaded much the of cattle industry
to install methods to eliminate the panic that cattle
would otherwise feel as they walk down the chute to the
kill floor. Near the end of the film Claire Danes, who
plays Grandin, says the animals should receive this
"comfort" because they "deserve our respect." I agree
that a comfortable death is preferable to a
terror-ridden one. But does this treatment of animals
in their final moments reflect true respect? If, after
making an individual's life wretched, we then make his
or her death comfortable, have we thereby demonstrated
our respect for that individual?

The lives of cattle are indeed filled with misery.
They endure painful castration, branding, and
dehorning. They spend their last months in feedlots,
often after a long and truck ride in which are crammed
so tightly together they can barely breathe. The
feedlots are typically filthy and overcrowded, without
protection from the scorching sun or the freezing
winter. To fatten cattle, the industry feeds them an
unnatural corn diet which causes stomach difficulties.

Environmentally, the cattle industry is a disaster.
The huge quantities of manure contributes
significantly to greenhouse gasses and pollutes streams
and rivers. The creation of cattle pastures is a major
cause of deforestation. The animals also are given
growth-hormones and antibiotics that create health
problems for humans.

Grandin has made steps in the direction of more humane
treatment for animals. But let's hold off on the
celebration. There's much more work to be done.

William Crain is professor of psychology at The City
College of New York. He also is the co-founder of the
Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary in Poughquag, New York, which
gives a home to farm animals who have escaped
slaughterhouses and abusive conditions.

===

Hello

TrotLenin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:47:50 GMT

Hello comrades. I am a Bolshevik-Leninist sympathetic to ISO, SWP and Tony Cliff's writings and a firm anti-Stalinist. I look forward to useful debates and conversations here.

Maoist restaurant workers locked out in Nepal

Comrade Alastair — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:21:58 GMT

Maoists force closure of 26 restaurants in Kathmandu

PTI

Twenty six restaurants operating under three chains in Kathmandu have been shut down after the Maoists affiliated union exerted pressure to fulfil their demands of hiking pay and perks.

Restaurants operating under the chains of Nepal Dairy�s, Hot Bread and The Bakery Cafe have shut down their outlays in Kathmandu since Sunday following the Maoists� pressure, according to Restaurant and Bar Association Nepal (RABAN).

The decision to close down the restaurant outlays was taken after the Maoist workers obstructed operation for eight hours on Saturday to press for their demands.

Although the restaurant owners and labour union had earlier agreed to review their pay and perks in every three years during previous agreement, the pro-Maoist workers obstructed the operation of restaurant one year before the agreement expires, one of the owners said. We will review their salary next year as it was increased just two years ago, he pointed out.

The pro-Maoist trade union has demanded 40 per cent pay hike and 100 per cent increment in allowances. More than 600 employees were working in these 26 restaurants which have closed their operation since Sunday.

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/intern...icle102815.ece

Restaurants re-opening uncertain

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Feb 9: Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN) Monday decided against resuming operations of four restaurant chains in the capital unless the agitating workers withdraw their demands.

A meeting of REBAN, the umbrella association of restaurants in the country, decided not to reopen the restaurants which were closed by the management for the last three days, citing abnormal situation for service of guests.

�Workers are placing unnecessary demands for pay hike against the spirit of agreement reached with different labor unions two years back despite the fact that the management of concerned restaurants had raised pay a couple of times. We are not in a position to raise remuneration as demanded by the workers,� Narendra Man Singh, general secretary of REBAN, told myrepublica.com.

As per the agreement, workers cannot place demands that increase financial burden to the management for the next three years.

The four restaurant chains are suffering a daily loss of about Rs 800,000 due to the agitation of the workers.

Agitating workers affiliated with UCPN (Maoist) have put forth a charter of demands, including pay hike. After the workers put forth the demands, management of those restaurants closed the operation citing adverse impact on service of guests.

Pasting notice at their restaurants, managements of Bakery Caf�, Hot Breads, Nepal Dairy and Jajoo Caf� of Patan said that they were compelled to shut down their operations indefinitely due to difficulty in attending to their guests due to the workers� protests.

The workers had announced a program to stop customer service for two hours on Friday, four hours on Saturday and eight hours on Sunday to press the management fulfill their demands to increase their salary and dearness allowance by 40 percent and 100 percent respectively and transparency in management of services charge collected from customers among others.

The management and workers had agreed to share the amount collected as service charge, which is levied at 10 percent of the total bill amount, from customers in 32:68 ratio. However, the workers have been alleging that the management is not transparent on sharing service charge.

Workers claim that 32 percent of the total service charge is meant for enhancing skill of workers and bear the loss by wear and tear of restaurant property.

�Going against the existing Labor Act, the management abruptly shut down the restaurant without informing us despite our willingness to sit for dialogue to solve the problem,� said Yam Bahadur Karki, president Bakery Caf� unit of All Nepal Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union�s in New Baneshwar.

Bakery Caf� has 10 outlets with 300 employees, while Hot Breads - the franchise of Hot Breads India -- has eight outlets with 125 employees. Similarly, ND�s Restaurant and Jajoo Caf� has two outlets each in the capital.

Rajesh Khaniya, president of the union�s Hot Breads unit and Bimal Ghimire, president of the union�s Nepal Dairy unit said the workers were ready to sit for dialogue if the managements of the restaurant create conducive environment by unconditionally opening the restaurants.

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/in...&news_id=14937

Hey there!

Crack Rock Steady — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:41:04 GMT

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums. I'm from Illinois, US.
I'm into punk, ska and reggae and all things anti-fascist. I'm also an atheist.

184 Communes Currently in Formation in Venezuela

The Vegan Anarchist — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:39:02 GMT

Quote:

Merida, February 8th, 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) � With 184 socialist communes in construction in Venezuela, yesterday, during his weekly TV show Alo Presidente, president Hugo Chavez emphasised the need for �production independent of the capitalist market� in these communes and in general, and also directed Caracas mayor Jorge Rodriguez to expropriate buildings in plaza Bolivar in order to rescue the city�s history.

Chavez highlighted the importance of the communal councils, neighbourhood based organisations of up to 400 families which aim to solve local problems and develop and implement local projects, saying they are the nucleus of the current �change process� in the country and are where �socialism will be constructed�.

A spokesperson for the Communal Council Colinas de la Dignidad (hills of dignity), Morelbis Aguiar, explained that a commune, which is made up of several communal councils, is local, community self-government, �where we, the people, we are the ones who decide what our community wants and what the improvements are that we want to work on in our area.�

�It�s not the state that comes and decides; its us who decides which street we need, where to locate the university or high school� We decide what we�re going to do with the financing and resources that the revolutionary government gives us,� Aguiar continued.

The minister for communes, Erika Farias, said there are 184 communes in construction, 93 in rural areas, 65 in urban areas, and 26 mixed. According to the minister, the communes together have so far carried out 706 projects, involving an investment of over BsF 100 million (US$ 23 million).

During the television program, Chavez visited the commune Paraiso del Tuy via satellite link. Richardo Sanches, the minister for communes in Miranda, where the commune is located, explained that 32 communal councils had �united their efforts� to construct the commune, whose main projects are �social-productive�. The commune has 62 �productive gardens� that grow their own vegetables and medicinal plants as a method of self-supply.

Members of the commune told ABN press, �The communes aren�t something you decree, they are born out of the needs of the people and the communal councils.� The commune incorporates 5,900 families.

In order to counteract the rise in prices in the capitalist market, Chavez encouraged communes to create new systems of distribution and consumption. He gave the example of the Socialist Arepa shop in Caracas that sells the popular Venezuelan food at about half of the normal price, and makes the arepas from corn meal that was precooked in �socialist centres�, and purchased at a non-profit price.

The National Assembly is currently working on the Law of Popular Power, which will give more strength to the councils. Dario Vivas, first vice-president of the National Assembly, explained that the law aims to outline the communes and the various other aspects of revolutionary social organisation. Currently, while there is a law of communal councils, there is no law that governs, defines or gives legal recognition to the communes.

�The topic of the communes is very important because we are already constructing popular power, and we�ll make the law that defines the communes from this experience,� Vivas said.

�While the communes keep growing, more ways of relating to each other and of producing as brothers, without exploiting each other, are unlocked,� Chavez said.

Rescuing the historic city centre

During the program Chavez also directed the mayor of the municipality of Libertador in Caracas, Jorge Rodriguez, to expropriate buildings around the main plaza, Plaza Bolivar, among them a range of jewellery businesses, in order to help with the transformation of the area into a historic centre.

�It�s not right that these buildings, with so much history, with so much legacy of our leaders, are used by businesses. They belong to all Venezuelans, it�s a historic area that we should rescue,� he said.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/5123

Revleft techno wizards: HELP!!!!

Captain of the Innuendo Squad — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:23:37 GMT

I keep getting this message:

Quote:

An Error Occurred Setting Your User Cookie

The JSTOR site requires that your browser allows JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org) to set and modify cookies.
JSTOR uses cookies to maintain information that will enable access to the archive and improve the response time and performance of the system. Any personal information, other than what is voluntarily submitted, is not extracted in this process, and we do not use cookies to identify what other websites or pages you have visited.

when I try to log into jstor via my college account, I have a paper due tomorrow on the article Tacitus on the Germans and can't find it else where. How do I fix the cookie thing???

Please halp.
-yours truly,
Jack