tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33581489980455555452024-03-28T04:27:27.758-05:00May Day Books BlogNot making a profit since 1975! ...And since 2007, one of the Best Left-Wing Book & Culture Review Sites on the Net. We're not Goodreads!Coreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07629684440934461513noreply@blogger.comBlogger1279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-13672135568778313912024-03-26T08:38:00.008-05:002024-03-26T09:07:05.357-05:00Are You Persuaded?<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span style="font-family: arial;">“</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 20pt;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">The
Persuaders</span>- At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds
and Democracy” by Ananad Giridharadas, 2022</b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>This
is a liberal attempt in explaining how to persuade people who don't
agree with you in order to broaden your coalition. It consists of
interviews with activists who worked on the 2017 Women's March after
Trump's win; a Left Palestinian organizer; a Black Lives Matter
initiator; a duo of DEI 'race trainers,' a “</span><span><i>leading
consultant on political messaging for the movement left,</i></span><span>”
an anti-cult worker helping the relatives of delusional Trumpers; a
pro-immigrant canvasser in Arizona; a gay rights crusader in
California.</span></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pGpEuUwWeAsauoYvGF7gnJmVR68iW13jE8EDmSEXmh8cpzvVDvoqEp6oPy7xDB1Olbjc-DGX_wCxe2GmyydO0V6hbA-gbO2LorNxJI067aVollx5utzSNoZZOqUci51t5egZLJgDNi12KsEG3Nipz-r8v84gHMqBj1p6x7CitWW18IDgKE0ERPrrACUR/s400/persuade.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pGpEuUwWeAsauoYvGF7gnJmVR68iW13jE8EDmSEXmh8cpzvVDvoqEp6oPy7xDB1Olbjc-DGX_wCxe2GmyydO0V6hbA-gbO2LorNxJI067aVollx5utzSNoZZOqUci51t5egZLJgDNi12KsEG3Nipz-r8v84gHMqBj1p6x7CitWW18IDgKE0ERPrrACUR/w400-h400/persuade.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>Some
of these stories might be useful to socialists; to NGO types; to
community organizations; to unionists; to political groups, as they
show examples of successful persuasion. They may help curb
sectarianism on the Left; the over-wokness of various identity
practitioners; the false Blue / Red setup and even limit stupid
trolling on </span><span><i>Facebook</i></span><span>
and other platforms. There are also emotional issues that you might
be able to 'therapize' by talking. Even the a-political method of
'love' gets a workout.</span></span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
key, as one woman explains, is to recognize how close people are to
your perspective. She calls it the 90% / 75% / 50% / 25% and 0% -
the 0% being fascists where no discussion is warranted.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
problem with the book is that the 'goal' is murky and the role of
actual conditions is left unremarked. In other words class struggle
is ignored. Some people will oppose you no matter what because of
their material interests, so its not just a matter of 'persuasion.'
You first have to understand their class position and how that might
be working their thoughts, in a good way or not. If you are dealing
with a landlord in conciliation court, a settlement might be
possible, but it is a product not of persuasion, but legal pressure
or force. This holds true far outside a small conflict like this -
from political differences to occupations, strikes, street conflicts
and social revolution. Persuasion can work, but it is not the only
thing to take into account, as material reality also exists. Alone
it is a form of liberal idealism. Its largest example is 2-Party
'bipartisanship' that sees both sides as having the same ultimate
goal. Giridharadas later balks at this form of 'persuasion,' but its
proponents trumpet it.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In
the process, some of the subjects poke at trans pronouns, 'dead
names,' 'safe' spaces, claims to special knowledge, guilt-spreading,
cancel culture, 'calling out' and personalist purism like shaming and
name-calling - all stupid barriers to working with others. These
methods actually isolate the people who practice them and reveal a
disinterest in building a powerful mass movement for anything.
You've met these people. Yet a good chunk of the book dwells on the
evils of having white skin, undermining this insight.</span></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg191Ta8VU0K8TE5uwT3XQmLABX5pD9_gCY-Hsvs-9ThtVvEiRVGI3wyQNLGqInH7ydPmyiba8f87aupB21nEJtQEePS2JxkaUio4Ft6INGA7RzC_HcU3XwJZ9wtpSWVUKI74_4RuU0b54jEKVslKESRRxuZC0r9T8EcQKoqSJGi8mPxJjYqtuiP_fYUS1D/s1200/organize.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="1200" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg191Ta8VU0K8TE5uwT3XQmLABX5pD9_gCY-Hsvs-9ThtVvEiRVGI3wyQNLGqInH7ydPmyiba8f87aupB21nEJtQEePS2JxkaUio4Ft6INGA7RzC_HcU3XwJZ9wtpSWVUKI74_4RuU0b54jEKVslKESRRxuZC0r9T8EcQKoqSJGi8mPxJjYqtuiP_fYUS1D/w400-h194/organize.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Labor organizers - not in the book</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The
conflicts in the book are 'intersectional' feminism and Hillary-style
middle class feminism; GLBT and Muslim realities and
conservative white people; anti-gentrification and anti-racism
organizing and liberal approaches to these same issues; guilty white
people who don't recognize their privilege; anti-immigrants who've
never met an actual immigrant without papers; anti-gay
fundamentalists who've never met a real gay person, and so on. Much
success is based on personal relations by organizers with those they
are trying to reach. A general pattern is that more radical groups
are encouraged to work with liberal groups in the name of persuasion,
and visa versa, to build a bigger reform front. The question is, who
is being persuaded by whom?</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In
the process one BLM activist, Alicia Garza, redefines the concept of
the 'popular front,' seeing it not as a long-standing, cross-class
bloc but as a temporary alliance of forces for a reform. She claims
Marx said this, which he didn't. That might better be called a
coalition. Giridharadas has a chapter on Bernie Sanders' campaigns
and a very long one on the 'inside-outside' game – which seems to
be the theme here – starring Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. His focus
becomes the liberal-left in the Democratic Party as the most
prominent example of persuaders. And they've certainly had some
effect on Biden, as Biden has adopted bits of Sanders-AOC's program,
given centrist, neo-liberal politics have dead-ended. But Biden has
also had a conservative effect on Sanders-AOC, as persuasion cuts
both ways.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Giradharadas
has a key chapter on the wanton police shooting of African-American
Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI, which was followed by the killing of two
and wounding of one European-American BLM protesters by the budding
fascist Kyle Rittenhouse. He focuses on a local, mostly
African-American group, BLAK, which ignored the latter killings and
concentrated on the former police shooting of Blake. If there was
ever an event that demanded unity between skin colors, this was it,
yet Giradharadas has not a word to say about that. This shows how
his 'movement building' angle is a bit of a fraud, here boiling down to
conservative black nationalism, full of an aging Jesse Jackson, block
parties and bouncy castles.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Like
all liberals and left-liberals Giradharadas wants to straddle the
class line with a foot in both camps. He's appalled by Biden's
fear-dripping ad that denounced 'rioting' after the events in
Kenosha, but, fuck, Biden is still one of the persuadables. Am I
drawing a line that is sectarian? No. Class is actually the main
divide in society. It's not going away because someone writes or
talks a lot, is kind, engages in 'love,' wants reforms, says the
right things, or parses the real differences. In a way this book is a
long attempt at persuading the Democratic Party not to always appeal
to some sad 'middle' (read 'white working-class) voter or suck up to
Republicans, but to have a more leftish position like Sanders. The
former strategy is one they've pursued since 1972 and the McGovern
disaster 54 years ago. Yet his strategy writes off a good chunk of
the working-class once again. Nor are any of his interviewees from
organized labor or free-lance labor, which seems significant.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>In
the end this is a deceptive book that pretends to be your friend,
then </b></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>persuades
you otherwise. </b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>Giridharadas
is a commentator on </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>MSNBC
</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>and a
professor at the Carter Journalism Institute. He was a journalist at
the <i>NYT</i>, </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>used
to pundit for the</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b> </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>Aspen
Institute, </b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>supports
the liberal </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>American
Prospect </b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>and
worked for</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b> </b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>McKinsey
& Co. </b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>as
an analyst, so there's that</b></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>.</b></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, us blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </b></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>
“Winner Take All” (Giridharadas); “Beyond Liberal
Egalitarianism,” “Death of the Liberal Class” (Hedges); “How
Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement,” “Kenosha Trial Was
Rigged – Fascistic Murderer Gets Off,” “The Undertow”
(Sharlet); “Notes From Minneapolis,” “Defund or Abolish the
Police?”</b></i></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">May
Day Books, to its credit, even carries volumes by liberals – though
not this one.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Library!</span></b></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Red
Frog / March 26, 2024</b></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-24115198150589921992024-03-23T12:34:00.008-05:002024-03-24T13:09:58.738-05:00Bukka White Warns You...<p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Junk
Science </span>and the <span style="font-size: xx-large;">Criminal Justice System”</span>
by M. Chris Fabricant, 2022</b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If
your vision of scientific crime-solving is the glamorous CSI lab
filled with sexy women wearing lab coats, millions in tech equipment
and 'nerds' with access to thousands of databases, that's a TV
fantasy. The reality is much more prosaic and flawed, especially in
the retrograde death penalty states of the South and plains.
Fabricant is a lawyer for the Innocence Project, which has beaten the
various pseudo-scientific practices common in the courts with actual
DNA science. He looks at the cases that made 'junk' science the
standard in law, then how it was undermined by its numerous flaws.
He also examines the methods and laws that support the imprisoning of
innocents. </span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNUosT-Jmj3tBjIn5hjriRpKkyLR5_KnWuf1Rk87xDLF4_HqK1P2qhp0ooFHl1QKhky8fjmWoqJtUniIrMot_Q5rk792Jc0w-zgbPJ_JH4QjLf8j69-KUn0sMBplbqF4Oy_GPP8UmfnVZB4h1UKaKLk4v3yR4LeYz2YnUwVKwVagihR-5g91hWpzGwYAD/s1000/junksci1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNUosT-Jmj3tBjIn5hjriRpKkyLR5_KnWuf1Rk87xDLF4_HqK1P2qhp0ooFHl1QKhky8fjmWoqJtUniIrMot_Q5rk792Jc0w-zgbPJ_JH4QjLf8j69-KUn0sMBplbqF4Oy_GPP8UmfnVZB4h1UKaKLk4v3yR4LeYz2YnUwVKwVagihR-5g91hWpzGwYAD/w266-h400/junksci1.jpg" width="266" /></span></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If
you can't read 'true crime,' this book is not for you, as it's full
of the gory details of various murders. My aunt used to read true
crime magazines, and after reading one of hers as a kid, I was
repulsed. Now TV & streaming is flooded with this violent stuff.
These cases take place in Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma,
Virginia and Georgia, with the usual array of meat-headed prosecutors
and cops. Racism and classism is a sub-text of the whole process as
you might expect. He calls the flawed methods “<i>poor
people science.</i>” In fact, the U.S. mass
incarceration state <u>inevitably</u>
increases
the number of innocent people put behind bars. Overwhelming public
defenders to the point where a 'defense' becomes impossible is
another byproduct. Or putting in a public defender that does
nothing. In fact, if you insist on your innocence, you might get a
heavier sentence or preclude parole after conviction.</span></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Several
famous cases are mentioned, like Ted Bundy and the Sam Shepard murder
case. The key legal decisions and doctrines that opened the door to
pseudo-science in the criminal courts, all the way up to the national
FBI Lab, are included. On the flip side is a 2009 study by the
National Academy of Science (NAS) which undermined 13 forensic
methods from the point of view of dispassionate actual scientists,
not invested prosecutors and forensic associations. The arrival of
sophisticated DNA evidence was also crucial and resulted in the
release of 227 prisoners accused of murder over 20 years, though
others had already been executed. The U.S.'s legal support of the
death penalty makes errors <u>final</u>.
Rick Perry, Texas governor, presided over 238 executions, the most
of any state. 56 were later found to be erroneous according to
Trafficant. It was only in 2012 that the USDOJ started restraining
the FBI Lab from using junk 'expert' methods.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Fabricant
goes after the dentist 'experts' who made omnipresent 'bite marks' in
skin into a livelihood. Bite marks were shown to have a 63% error
rate. Or the 'fire experts' who looked at fires and thought they
could figure out if it was arson by looking at the scene or trusting
a dog. Controlled burns in similar circumstances have shown their
guesses to be wrong, as has chemical analysis. Or 'tool marks' that
send people to jail for life, as if only one tool could make a
certain mark. Then there are hair 'comparisons' that assume
every person's hair is exclusive, without using DNA testing, many
of which later proved erroneous. The FBI especially favored and
testified to this cheap method until their errors were put through an
audit after the NAS report. Other forensic issues – shoe prints,
'comparative lead bullet analysis,' polygraphs, tire treads, blood
splatter, handwriting, fiber analysis, ballistics – are also
questioned. Even finger-prints are suspect, as no one actually knows
how unique they are, especially from partial or smudged prints.</span></b></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOSD8Vo17q0KPAjFmEm_DcYB5PSfU9c5GC2xPJpLOqC4jj8Wr6Sig_hInB18cS9LnZspsjsftxZtpa7c6EzFk_1MnJHVNrUtv_syMJwa2V4ELiphSeLMwUBmLFB431ivULcR12ZNlcW6IilXrjjZDpAhZGvUVwjIVjzcwxy9aBp4YozCTo2r1rwUHfRUR/s1024/parchman-1024x593.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1024" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguOSD8Vo17q0KPAjFmEm_DcYB5PSfU9c5GC2xPJpLOqC4jj8Wr6Sig_hInB18cS9LnZspsjsftxZtpa7c6EzFk_1MnJHVNrUtv_syMJwa2V4ELiphSeLMwUBmLFB431ivULcR12ZNlcW6IilXrjjZDpAhZGvUVwjIVjzcwxy9aBp4YozCTo2r1rwUHfRUR/w400-h231/parchman-1024x593.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Parchman Farm, MS</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">One
of the keys to science is 'peer review' done by scientists who
have done actual experiments. Failure rates are also key. Rigorously
controlled studies have to be conducted. Most of these forensic
methods met no such criteria but relied on educated guesses or pure
nonsense. After all, how are dentists qualified to understand the
role of skin in a bite? Skin is not their forte, nor is it stiff
like molding plaster. It's fungible, soft and impermanent. And
oddly, why are so many murders supposedly accompanied by bites? The
battle over 'bite' marks as reliable evidence Trafficant calls “The
Bite Wars” and its a strong thread through this book.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Legal
ideas like '<i>the principle of finality</i>'
block later evidence of innocence. In 2006 the Supreme Court assumed
that the 'checks' in the legal system meant that the system was
working. The Supreme Court said the statistically small number of
reversed felony convictions were 'the whole iceberg' and not just the
tip. This though DNA evidence is only occasionally relevant in the
broad range of felonies they looked at. Civil cases benefited by the
Supreme Court's 1993 <i>Daubert</i>
case, which limited the reliability of forensics in civil matters …
but not criminal. Then there are the careers of elected and
appointed prosecutors, judges and police, who routinely exercise
'confirmation bias' to protect their behinds. According to
Fabricant, Clinton & Biden gutted death penalty appeals in 1996
in the <i>Anti-terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act</i> , after which federal court
reversals went <u>down</u>
40%. Mentally-deficient people are routinely executed even though
the Supreme Court ruled otherwise in <i>Atkins v
Virginia</i>.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">An example is the hanging
DA of Dallas, Texas Henry Wade, whose term lasted nearly 40 years from the
'50s to the '90s. His police arm was Will Fritz, who had an unbelievable
<i>98%</i> homicide clear
rate. You can imagine how that went, as Fritz was many times able to
get confessions from the innocent, a leading cause of wrongful
convictions. Inevitably, once out of the interrogation room they
refute their confessions, but it's too late. Like other Southern
cities, Wade and Fritz would round up every black man with a record
in the locality where the murder was committed. Reliable and
multiple alibi witnesses are ignored by the prosecutor and gullible
juries alike. Wade recommended that no “<i>Jews,
Negroes, Dagos, Mexicans</i> ...” should be put
on juries.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This
book is a close-in look at how the criminal courts deal with murder
in the U.S., with cases and case law over a period of 50 or so years.
If nothing else, it should convince you the 'death sentence' is a
racist and anti-working class form of retribution, rehabilitation and
deterrence. It shows the value of real science and groups like the
Innocence Project, as these are virtual case studies of how they beat
junk science. Though that Project has not made much of a dent in the
overall incarceration state, nor can it.</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: <i>“Six-Pointed
Star,” “Are Prisons Obsolete?” (A. Davis); “The Confession”
</i>and <i>“A Time to Kill”
(</i>both by <i>Grisham);
“The New Jim Crow” (Alexander); “Prison Strike Against Modern
Slavery,” “With Liberty and Justice For Some” (Greenwald);
“Legal Logic Behind Raids,” “The Divide” (Taibbi).</i></span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">May
Day Books has volumes on prison and legal issues from a Left point of
view.</span></b></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>And
I got it at the Athens, GA library! </b><b>Red
Frog / March 23, 2024</b></span></p><p></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-20472124967531135352024-03-20T05:52:00.014-05:002024-03-25T13:25:36.001-05:00College Library Browsing #12: Utopia or Dystopia?<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Red
Planets <span style="font-size: 20pt;">– Marxism and Science
Fiction” edited by M. Bould & C. Mi</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20pt;">é</span></span><span style="font-size: 20pt;">ville,
2009</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">While
a seemingly unlikely duo, Marxism and science fiction (SF) actually
have some similarities. Both pay attention to the future and
sometimes pay attention in similar ways – specifically
world-building versions of 'utopia,' better uses of technology and
science and including class or anti-colonial rebellions against
exploitative hierarchies. Not all science fiction fantasizes that
capitalism will exist into eternity or retreats into medievalism,
permanent dystopia or technical fascination. For good reason
dystopia is certainly a favorite subject at present, yet some SF
dystopias are answered by a rebellion – like </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Total
Recall, The Matrix </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">or
</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>The Handmaid's Tale</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>“Socialism
or barbarism” </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">are
both reflected in SF's present output, as they are intrinsically
related.</span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzmtY1RgwRlaoJYWVSX4ZMsj7CUbQB-OlV3pSRazcoZN-Jtyye6dJ956L9O2VDqVO2kSVe0mBjg8dZW6A1BlXn6x92vEorTegQygYYV_vtWKHBZRdDW9dYulUEqg6At0nhLdmq89reDyF63BvbxSiHJpdS0V7upxKOW2VRQsvaGdd37bXXqm4GY2yTbT4/s1270/red%20planet.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1270" data-original-width="798" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzmtY1RgwRlaoJYWVSX4ZMsj7CUbQB-OlV3pSRazcoZN-Jtyye6dJ956L9O2VDqVO2kSVe0mBjg8dZW6A1BlXn6x92vEorTegQygYYV_vtWKHBZRdDW9dYulUEqg6At0nhLdmq89reDyF63BvbxSiHJpdS0V7upxKOW2VRQsvaGdd37bXXqm4GY2yTbT4/w251-h400/red%20planet.jpg" width="251" /></span></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">These
essays and their subjects, some of which are too abstract or
convoluted, cover a range of utopias, rebellions and futurist
technology. As the authors note the pure fetishization of 'future'
technology is a projection of technology's role under capital. SF
literature arose during the rise of capital itself – Jules Verne
and H.G. Wells being early positivist examples in the 1800s.
Techno-futurism alone is not anti-capitalist or even anti-feudalist,
as we can see in Herbert's messianic </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Dune</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">.
Yet there is a reason the genre is called '</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>science</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">'
fiction. That science is sometimes debatable, like the construction
of the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, or else completely
unscientific, but its intent is to create a believable reality
without relying on magic.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
editors stand up for SF in its more sophisticated forms against claims it
is not real literature or film. Recent examples: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nineteen
Eighty-Four; 2001: a Space Odyssey; A Handmaid's Tale; Gravity's
Rainbow; Alphaville; Solaris</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">, etc. The founders of SF are Thomas
More, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells. SF writers like Edward
Bellamy, William Morris, H.G. Wells and Jack London were all
socialists and this continues with China Mieville, Ursula Le Guin,
K.S. Robinson and others. Even Nemo in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Twenty-Thousand Leagues</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
was an anti-colonial rebel. Left theorists like Frederic Jameson,
Darko Suvin and Raymond Williams treat SF seriously.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
first essay is on 'anamorphic' (distorted or stretched) images found
in SF, similar to Surrealism or in the old painting </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Ambassadors</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> by Holbein. The essay is an exercise in academic
constipation.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Another
analyzes 'utopias' designed by writers like Marge Piercy and Samuel
Delany, but in this case Ursula Le Guin's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Dispossesse</i><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">d </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">and
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Left Hand of Darkness</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> (TLHOD) and K.S. Robinson's </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Blue
Mars</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">. The author praises Le Guin for her portrayal of
non-commodity music on the utopian / anarchist world of Anarres, as
it is now a social product unconnected to intellectual property. Yet
he faults her lead character for saying that he has discovered '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">his</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">'
musical art, using a possessive pronoun, as if art is not always
<span style="font-family: times;">social </span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">too</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">. I find this objection absurd, as ideas
don't change immediately. He goes on to praise her portrayal of a
nearly sexless society in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">TLHOD</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> as showing how a society can
break (almost) completely from capitalist animal spirits. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Blue
Mars</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">' depicts music, drumming and dance as collective events in a
utopian but primitive tribal context, and these same musical methods
transported to an urban, post-capitalist environment.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Film
is now a haven for SF and this essay investigates the relation
between 'deflationary' cynical film </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">noir</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> and 'inflationary'
optimistic SF. The SF example </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Day the Earth Stood Still</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">
(TDTESS) satirizes the 1950s Cold War while </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">2001</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> shows the
link between the clubs of apes and the spaceships of man. By
'inflationary' the author means something that looks optimistically
to the future. Both tendencies are present in Marxism – “<i>t</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">he
pessimism of the intellect, the optimism of the will</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">” is one
way its framed - or the cruel present and the radiant possibilities
of revolution and the future. TDTESS ends with an '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">interplanetary
cooperative association</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">' – which is </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">nothing</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">
like space in the present capitalist context. The author cites </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Dark
City</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> and especially </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Metropolis</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> as fusions of noir and SF,
which shade over into the ruined cities of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Alphaville</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> and
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;">. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal;">Dark City</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-style: normal;"> raises a utopian revolution
against a ruling class called The Strangers and succeeds, achieving a
society not of a nostalgic past, but of the future.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Another
essay follows an obscure, apocalyptic film by Wim Wenders </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Until
the End of the World</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> (UTEOTW), concentrating on the issues of
anti-colonialism, the impossible goal of 'going off the grid,'
scientists' emotional stupidity and technical SF spectacles that
demand nothing from the viewer. It considers </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2001</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> a colonial,
tech-fascinated film, and praises UTEOTW as one of the most
substantial and progressive SF films in its decade.</span></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNh1I64nSvEboQIXhePkCXN4739z9TT7nEUDr8VpisGJjDSYOGSVBhPIHdipp-KruxZ5Ut38bdnU5j2CU7UFJv5w1MJ2QCttjmylU1fOpbp-I9VL5SK3vRJq1lq-rvJMThkOAIwmzMV4_eu-j0Iu0FHaUO_Q7DvsPMfhBBAzXHkzNltTlU9FsVFMmdiCxQ/s1600/posthuman.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNh1I64nSvEboQIXhePkCXN4739z9TT7nEUDr8VpisGJjDSYOGSVBhPIHdipp-KruxZ5Ut38bdnU5j2CU7UFJv5w1MJ2QCttjmylU1fOpbp-I9VL5SK3vRJq1lq-rvJMThkOAIwmzMV4_eu-j0Iu0FHaUO_Q7DvsPMfhBBAzXHkzNltTlU9FsVFMmdiCxQ/w400-h225/posthuman.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">There
is an essay on 'the singularity' in a novel called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Accelerando</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.-
i.e. when human functioning becomes dominated by computerized AI,
creating a supposed 'post-human' world of merged human-robot
'replicants.' This concept of a 'post-humanist' singularity divorces
thought and action from the biological and sensuous reality of being
human. The only real 'post-humanism' would be the complete
Frankenstein victory of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Matrix</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> or of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Terminator's
</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Skynet, not some super-intelligent, non-eating, non-shitting,
non-baby humans. Human intelligence involves at least 9 functions
and most computers can only master one. The author says
'post-humanism' is part of a techno-utopia. Is becoming a machine the
goal of socialism? No, but a goal for those billionaires looking for
some kind of eternal life. As humans know, machines break down and
that is why there is a whole category of economics called
depreciation. One commentator called the Singularity - “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the
rapture for nerds</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” and the author finally calls it “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">a
fantasy of finance capital.</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” Oddly, the 'singularity' borrows
from the Big Bang's imagined 'dimensionless singularity.'</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Another
essay assails Marx for raising human labor above animal labor, then
links the idea to a SF book. Marx and other Marxists have always
seen a link between the treatment of animals and that of human
'underpeople.' The author wishes to forge a bloc between socialists,
environmentalists and animal-rights campaigners – which is already
coming about without ignoring 'the animal labor theory of value' or
the role of nature in human life.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Another
essay focuses on the role of Lukac's 'Augenblick' – the Leninist
moment when will or overdetermination push humans to a decisive
intervention in history. This is demonstrated in the SF quartet
“Fall Revolution” by Ken MacLeod. K.S. Robinson says MacLeod is
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“writing revolutionary SF,” </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">seemingly from an
anarcho-socialist point of view, advocating some kind of permanent
revolution.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Another
essay highlights Marxist film criticism during the German Weimar
Republic, which erroneously denigrated mass entertainment like Fritz
Lang in favor of Prolecult work. He approvingly cites a mass SF film
that showed a woman getting into a rocket as some kind of progressive
instance. Well it might have been … then. The issue of 'the
rocket,' which is such a foundational icon in SF, has changed. It is
now an extension of capitalist methods into space. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Space X</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
rockets blow up on the launch pads and litter Texas. Billionaires
pay for tourist flights. Thousands of pieces of space junk float
around the earth and on the moon. Government science programs are
privatized while the globe is circled by privately-owned
communication and government spy satellites. The real money pot is
to mine asteroids and the moon; to colonize anything corporations
touch. The only big stellar science projects recently have been the
Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, the latter undermining the theory of the Big Bang. It's a project, oddly, which yields no
profit to anyone but provides valuable data about the universe.</span></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgglqLRRQ46QmFpzx4zo22oTaNkF7KZWXpn4U0ciCJa8NhXLeAhfnd6SQc8Gd8BYwPJRApMoN-1NwTOIjxNsm89eBh7rKoieC1dqI2NxWCn-7z2fJwMPFqSixQIcNf03qxPx630Zeh27O_xehNT861flk3oNTTLxDEmFeIT_hkFyApnz4QZK7e-I1mUufh_/s2560/cyberpunk.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgglqLRRQ46QmFpzx4zo22oTaNkF7KZWXpn4U0ciCJa8NhXLeAhfnd6SQc8Gd8BYwPJRApMoN-1NwTOIjxNsm89eBh7rKoieC1dqI2NxWCn-7z2fJwMPFqSixQIcNf03qxPx630Zeh27O_xehNT861flk3oNTTLxDEmFeIT_hkFyApnz4QZK7e-I1mUufh_/w400-h225/cyberpunk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">A
further essay looks at the role of the city in SF from a Left
urbanist point of view, a la David Harvey. Some 1950s pulp SF
thought 'skyscrapers' were symbols of a classless techno-utopia, when
they are really examples of corporate dominance and high real estate
prices. This is caught by SF writers like William Gibson in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Gernsback Continuum</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">. The author claims cyberpunk SF and Marxist
geography map the modern city in similar contrarian ways.</span></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">It
gets more theoretical in several essays. One posits Althusser versus
Jameson on the independence of science from ideology (Althusser) or
its role purely </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">as</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> an ideology (Jameson). He brings in
anarchists like Cohn-Bendit, Freudians like Lacan and concludes that
post-capitalist, utopian SF visions have to completely break with
capitalist ideology, impossible as that may be. Another is a
discussion on the differences and similarities between SF and
fantasy. Suvin and Jameson contended that fantasy was
backward-looking and regressive, anti-modernist, magical, religious
and proto-fascist. Raymond Williams contended that both built worlds
that sometimes criticized the present capitalist condition. The author cites Tolkein and, though not available in 2009, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Game of
Thrones</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">. After all Hobbiton is a utopia, though a retro,
old-fashioned rural one based on horse-drawn farming. Likewise the
anti-royalist Wildlings and Freefolk in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">GoT, </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">products of the
'primitive' far north, are heroes led by John Snow. In the real
world, the two genres have almost merged, as seen by SF awards in the
2000s for </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Harry Potter</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pan's Labyrinth</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> and the Peter
Jackson Tolkein series.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Mieville
claims that both genres of SF and fantasy are distinct yet related,
though SF is a more progressive, forward-looking genre. He looks at
the scientific 'truthiness' of SF and says much of it is nonsense,
though some is based on a rational extension of present science.
The key is the author's ability to make the reader believe, not its
actual or possible reality. Take the 'thropters' in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dune</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
film – could they work with those heavy, flapping dragonfly wings?
They are a visual delight and two were actually built – with
thrusters – and </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">did </u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">fly. So they are 'real,' just as the
fantastic vehicles in “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mad Max: Fury Road</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” actually
worked. Mieville ends by showing how the worship of a “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">middle-brow
utopian bureaucracy</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” in much tech SF is ideological, just as is praising a '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lumpen-postmodernist irrationalism</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.' 'Rationalism' has been debased by its deadly applicability to
warfare, surveillance and profiteering, so it no longer works as a
palliative according to him. Mieville is a former or present member
of the British SWP and ends by praising both '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">red planets</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> and
'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">red dragons</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.'</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, us blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>“Squid
Game,” “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Blade Runner </b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>2049,”
“People's Future of the United States,” “The Heart Goes Last”
and “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Handmaid's Tale</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>”
(both by Atwood); “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Red Star</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>”
(Bogdanov); “Good News” (Abbey); “Hunger Games,” “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Matrix,</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>”
“Cloud Atlas,” “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep?”</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i> (Dick); “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Planet
of the Apes</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>” (3 movies); “The
Road” (McCarthy); “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>The
Dispossessed”</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i> </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">and</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>
“</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Left Hand of Darkness</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>”
(Le Guin); “Fire on the Mountain” (Bisson); “The Ministry for
the Future” (K.S. Robinson); “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>News
From Nowhere</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>” (Morris); “World War
Z,” “American War, “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>R.U.R. And
the Insect Play</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>” (Capek), “Mad Max
– Fury Road,” “</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><b>Dune</b></i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>
– the Movie,” "October - the Story of the Russian Revolution" (Mieville). </i></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">May
Day has a good left-wing fiction section, with some SF.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Da
Kultur Kommissar</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>March
20, 2024</i></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-76596461598065542212024-03-17T13:41:00.021-05:002024-03-25T08:26:53.887-05:00The Fire Next Time<p> <b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xxx-large;">Fire
Season?</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Up
in the woods of northern Minnesota the snow is almost gone. The lake
ice is soft, the creeks and rivers opening up. It's all early. Take
a look at a webcam in Ely, just south of the Boundary Waters canoe
area and the Canadian border. Mostly bare grass and soil in the
open. Its the same across most of Minnesota. There has been one real
snow all winter in Minneapolis. My fellow motorcyclists are out and
riding. The rinks are shut, the ice fishing done, the skiers and
snow-boarders frustrated, the snowmobilers humiliated, the children
without a sled. Perhaps a big, wet snow will still be coming, but don't bet on it. There are several days of light rain / flurries in
the forecast for the Cities so there's that.</span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu3SAdDYEsuTRy1A4eRa3NjkJRb2uUD2NT7-0qptsPCM7m-uOwnvY93XwZtCi9nFdAFx-2xs0sfxvWe-TW6rnuT-w_OIP3yg8z82pwjVLXQBmfv16ihm7HQZSXG9h6Fu_FXaOerewRixIurlMTZ_lsi69Nmh0eAd2ISawUbL9-toSwrOT1kkuE0fsgwB8/s1600/fort%20mcmurray.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOu3SAdDYEsuTRy1A4eRa3NjkJRb2uUD2NT7-0qptsPCM7m-uOwnvY93XwZtCi9nFdAFx-2xs0sfxvWe-TW6rnuT-w_OIP3yg8z82pwjVLXQBmfv16ihm7HQZSXG9h6Fu_FXaOerewRixIurlMTZ_lsi69Nmh0eAd2ISawUbL9-toSwrOT1kkuE0fsgwB8/w400-h225/fort%20mcmurray.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fort McMurray, Canada fire - 2016</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Instead
'ice rescues' have strained the budgets of northern counties. One
ridiculous event saw dozens stranded on a floating ice shelf that
detached from the lake shore. Heavy pickups venturing out on lakes
have taken an ice dive. Contractors who plow by the event are unpaid,
except for the smart ones that demanded money up front. City budgets
for sand and plow truck gasoline stand full, while heating bills are
lower. Every day in March is predicted to be above freezing, in the 40s
and 50s. Minnesota was </span></span><span style="color: #121212;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>2.7F
(1.5C) hotter this winter, breaking every record. The Great Lakes
are at a 1.2% ice coverage now, with a winter average this year of
5.6%. </span></span></span><span style="color: #121212;"><span style="font-family: GuardianTextEgyptian, Guardian Text Egyptian Web, Georgia, serif;"><span>
</span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>That's
it.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Chris
Hedges has an excellent interview on </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Scheerpost</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
about the tragic fire in Fort McMurray, northern Alberta in May,
2016. Fort McMurray is near the wasteland of the toxic tar sands'
'oil' project, which is a massive bitumen strip mine, the biggest
carbon bomb in north America. The woods around town caught on fire
due to a long, dry drought and burnt down most of the city. You don't
hear much about it now. Every wooded area in north America that has
not had heavy snow this year – and there are many in the center and
east of North America - will face this same fire problem in the
spring, summer and fall. In fact the forecast for 2024 is for a
hotter, drier year. Now check the wind speeds and you've got a
problem.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">So
what are your fire preparations if you live or spend time in the
woods, even if you are in a town? Or if you are downwind from
choking fires? What happens if the roads are blocked by fire, fallen
trees, power lines or traffic? If there is a body of water, can you
get onto it quickly? Do you have powerful hoses to water down your
building? A metal roof? Have you thinned the small trees around
your exurban or 'wild-urban interface' structure? Is there gasoline
or propane stored in your house, apartment, garage or side building?
Is your home a carbon bomb waiting to go off: tar shingles, vinyl
siding and windows, floor laminates, a gas stove, furnace and water
heater, plastic water pipes, carbon-woven textiles & carpets, or
full of plastic products? No?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCjlP3t1jYdlIvJOrRuMSg3107Le-sfhAYXFRt9x1_yTQM8pVyJhALAXzFIH2kGvl2bDxSuddcEiAXLkCqa3yBm5w-J7tGN-R0zXa3lex32G2MAAafq7Lthr3PHyZN9cOGOJYg0Tu8-kFT0YTarbRcn6NQp3LmfwZyR6sNBloOVWaA8tVKF24hqA5FPYG/s1200/texas%20panhandle.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCjlP3t1jYdlIvJOrRuMSg3107Le-sfhAYXFRt9x1_yTQM8pVyJhALAXzFIH2kGvl2bDxSuddcEiAXLkCqa3yBm5w-J7tGN-R0zXa3lex32G2MAAafq7Lthr3PHyZN9cOGOJYg0Tu8-kFT0YTarbRcn6NQp3LmfwZyR6sNBloOVWaA8tVKF24hqA5FPYG/w400-h210/texas%20panhandle.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Texas Panhandle 2024. Not just the cows burned</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">What
is happening is that fires, drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, storms,
ground-water depletion and flooding are causing insurance rates to
rise steeply in areas like Florida and California, and this is
spreading across the country. The Fort McMurray fire cost $6B in
insurance costs, the largest in Canadian history. Much of that was
covered by the Canadian taxpayer – the government – as private
'insurance' only went so far. In the U.S. small and medium insurers
go bankrupt on a semi-regular basis as disasters overwhelm their
capital. Others no longer even offer insurance in some places or
raise rates so high people have to move or go unprotected. If your
structure is heavily damaged or destroyed, there is no going back in
that situation. Well, there is always the land left to put up a
tent.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">So
the dark 'spark' for a social revolution looks more and more like it
will be the capitalist carbon industry. Carbon extends beyond oil,
gas or coal to house construction, cement making, artificial
fertilizer, the plastics and rubber industry, insecticides, many
retail products and packaging, road surfaces, meat, fish and dairy,
even drugs and cosmetics – just about every sector of the economy.
(</span><a href="https://energyneresources.com/blog/list-of-products-made-from-petroleum" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">https://energyneresources.com/blog/list-of-products-made-from-petroleum</a><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">)
Present-day capitalism is mostly based on carbon. The hidden
exploitation of surplus value produced by every worker is less
obvious, though visibly seen in the growing inequality throughout the
world. Environmental disasters are more obvious. The rise of
authoritarianism is the outgrowth of this capitalist inequality and
it's class structure, much as some just want to blame 'bad' people.
You want 'democracy?' Capital is actually incompatible with it.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Green
capitalism is inadequate to deal with the dominant, market-driven
carbon force. The environmental crisis is the most obvious fact that
reveals capital functions only for profit, no matter what impact it
has on the community or on nature. At the same time the 'pleasure,'
comfort and ease of carbon is a massive weight for stasis, as our
social lives will be completely different after the main sources of
carbon are slowed and reduced to a minimum. Just look at the many who can't reduce meat consumption because of 'taste.' The market is keyed to
the mass carbon dynamic and it can't change. Nor can its political
parties and its '2-Party System,' which in the U.S. are both
capitalist - something also true in most of the world. This is the
reason no 'COP #' run by governments controlled by capital will ever
make a real difference.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">A
transitional program for eco-socialism is the solution that will
actually 'work.' The problem is that many people seek pleasure
primarily and will object to their lives being made more difficult in
the ways of consumerism. Even though after a transition they will be better off in all the ways that matter most – work,
health, housing, family, time, education, environment, social health,
peace, creativity, psychology, retirement, crime - some things will
become more difficult or unavailable. “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fully-automated luxury
communism</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” is a mirage, though it does hint at something in the
future.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhud9wm_If0NCY3V6dA_CSBOtn1yGkCxs9X0gFwg2ix1lpMCrB4-8XLXzGfymPSxevjT6VwEfRpbb-AqYzQ_5YyjD0Y8Cspwc1nkWnyZFlYLKXsOeN9Sw7jtpBBIktiBxRRM_4X0JDk3TpB5_vE7P16l55n4PT4qdv0I1FxviSi9OqVNCbEK_kOasgxkHfs/s1080/Heat%20MN.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="1080" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhud9wm_If0NCY3V6dA_CSBOtn1yGkCxs9X0gFwg2ix1lpMCrB4-8XLXzGfymPSxevjT6VwEfRpbb-AqYzQ_5YyjD0Y8Cspwc1nkWnyZFlYLKXsOeN9Sw7jtpBBIktiBxRRM_4X0JDk3TpB5_vE7P16l55n4PT4qdv0I1FxviSi9OqVNCbEK_kOasgxkHfs/w400-h295/Heat%20MN.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heat Map of the U.S. this Winter</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;">Every
product will be evaluated for its environmental, health and social
impact, as many buildings, products and foods produced now are junk,
while replacements are still aborning. Jobs that are useless will
disappear. High-end products for the wealthy – yachts, jets, sports
cars, multiple homes, expensive jewelry - will disappear. Wasteful
adult 'toys' will disappear or be limited. Society will become more
rational and less impulsive, with less fetishes, less violence, less
mental illness, less nonsense, less bullshit. Yet this will probably
happen only after a long period of environmental disasters, human
migration and bloody conflict as defenders of the social order lay
waste to any forces that oppose them. In that context consumerist
mania will be far weaker and the least of our problems. A 'fire
sale' will see to that.</span><p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile
we have to adjust, 'adapt' and deal with the shattering impacts.
Enjoy the warm winter if you are not an outdoor enthusiast because
the payback is coming. Farmers will be experiencing drought. Fires
are in the offing. Smoke will fill the air. Houses will burn and
animals will die, as they did in Texas. The world will change and
not yet for the better.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>P.S.
- </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>The
Guardian</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
on the recent Texas fire in the cattle-filled Panhandle: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/13/texas-wildfire-cattle-ranchers-climate-crisis">Texas
Panhandle Fire</a></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">P.P.S. - 3/18 <i>Star Tribune</i> on Superior National Forest wildfire risk this year in MN - <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/other/lack-of-snow-intensifies-wildfire-risk-in-superior-national-forest/ar-BB1k2z8D">https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/other/lack-of-snow-intensifies-wildfire-risk-in-superior-national-forest/ar-BB1k2z8D</a></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">May Day Books has many volumes on the environmental crisis, from Left and liberal angles.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms:<i> “Collapse" (Diamond); "Native Tongue" (Hiaasen); "Tar Sands," "Climate Emergency," "Planning Green Growth," "The Robbery of Nature" (Foster); "We're Doomed," "Reflections on the Environment and Consumerism," "Vanishing Face of Gaia" (Lovelock); "Anthropocene or Capitalocene?" "A Redder Shade of Green," "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" (Malm); "The Sixth Extinction," "x," "Mad Max - Fury Road." </i> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
Cultural Marxist</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">March 17, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-13889193247370866162024-03-14T12:15:00.014-05:002024-03-27T06:22:25.283-05:00Bailout Bonds Men<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">The
Lords of Easy Money</span> – How the Federal Reserve Broke the
American Economy” by Christopher Leonard, 2022</b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
is a conventional but enlightening account of how the Federal Reserve
has actually worked since the 1970s. It follows the involvement of a
long-serving Federal Reserve governor from Kansas City, Tom Hoenig
and chairs Arthur Burns, Paul Volcker, Allan Greenspan, Janet Yellen
and Jerome Powell, who is still head of the Fed. It basically shows
how the issuance of cheap or free money by the Fed created 'asset
bubbles' in real estate and farmland, in oil and gas, in the tech and
dot.com sectors, in corporate and junk bonds, in mergers, hedge funds
and private equity, creating financial crashes since the 1970s as
entities searched for high yields. These asset bubbles fueled
inequality as cheap money allowed various top financial actors to
profit, while closing factories and small businesses, cutting
benefits and laying off workers.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9i35t_w2swcZqKYS61FN31n70t35dMnYQtq7xLdUfqahndMbEGkELET9vQaEIDR9G7wjD21yt9Dp3TfjVb_OPbh_ugKnGMtYZCs4K5jzUENGPp_K7fvEySUnxaAOTruIYcO7mhGYLMF_vlRBxxBEmVvxnJ4dDnQTjR8dyKoj3mIe_Ub5wviDW-Cc2QO-n/s900/Lordsoe$.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9i35t_w2swcZqKYS61FN31n70t35dMnYQtq7xLdUfqahndMbEGkELET9vQaEIDR9G7wjD21yt9Dp3TfjVb_OPbh_ugKnGMtYZCs4K5jzUENGPp_K7fvEySUnxaAOTruIYcO7mhGYLMF_vlRBxxBEmVvxnJ4dDnQTjR8dyKoj3mIe_Ub5wviDW-Cc2QO-n/w265-h400/Lordsoe$.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
Fed governors and regional bank presidents are appointed, not
elected; only 12 vote on a rotating basis in the Federal Open Market
Committee (FOMC); and they are from the capitalist banking sector,
academe or government. It is not a democratic institution. It was
created in 1913 because of so many bank and currency failures before that.
Private banks own stock in their regional federal reserve banks and Leonard claims it is a 'private-public' partnership, yet the evidence for that is slim. The Fed
is in charge of the 'monetary' side of the capitalist economy; Congress and politicians in charge of the 'fiscal' side.
According to Leonard the latter has been in a stalemate since the Tea
Party arose in the 1990s and that continues with Trumpism. It is
left to the Fed to deal with inflation or unemployment with limited means, while fiscal policy stands relatively stagnant.
Leonard ignores the billions poured into the arms industry, tax
breaks and financial welfare for corporations and the rich and the
protection of Wall Street – all 'fiscal' policies. He also ignores the
falling profitability of many industrial firms. But let's follow his
story.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">During
most of this period money was created by the Fed to pay 24 'primary
dealers' through the 'discount window' at zero interest rate policy
(ZIRP) or very low interest. These dealers include Goldman, J.P.
Morgan, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Nomura and Cantor Fitzgerald. In
Europe and Japan there was even negative interest. This book looks
at 2010's 'quantitative easing' (QE) as an even more egregious
version of zero interest money, as it meant buying </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">trillions</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
in bonds by the Fed to prop up the markets and firms. Much of this was secret or not reported on, and
in 2008, dwarfed the public Congressional TARP bailout. Of note is how
inaccurate Fed predictions go, as Leonard shows the Fed's Ph.D
quants getting it wrong and to compensate, speaking in impenetrable
“</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fedspeak</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">”. At one point they called their policies '<i>a shot in the dark</i>.' Hoenig later became assistant secretary of
the FDIC in 2012 and advocated breaking up the big banks. He also
wanted a return to FDR's Glass-Steagall law to separate
commercial from risky capital markets banking. When those policies
didn't fly, Hoenig proposed higher capital reserves for each 'too big
to fail' bank. After the FDIC Hoenig went on to work at a libertarian think tank at
George Mason University, a conservative business school.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">No
one in the book suggests nationalizing the big banks or the shadow
banks - hedge funds, private equity and dark pools - as the real
solution to inequality and instability. When a bank is 'too big to
fail' it actually means it has become a <u>social entity</u>, a public
utility, not a private enterprise. The book notes the high
integration of the finance industry, to the point where one failure
cascades into others. This shows the social nature of the banking
system, which is 'competitive' only to a small degree and is really an
oligopoly - and now almost a single entity, a </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">monopoly</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.
This is confirmed when the capitalist state <u>repeatedly</u>
rescues, maintains or outright owns major parts of the capitalist banking system, as shown in
this book.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Leonard
tracks how the Fed, in its role of preventing price inflation,
ignored asset inflation and had a tangential record on employment,
its other 'responsibility.' It's actual practice pushed money to
more risky investments by flooding the big banks with cash. This led
to various crises – the Great Inflation of the late 1970s; the vast Volcker interest rate hikes of the early 1980s; the failing bank
panic of 1982; the junk bond / S&L crisis of the later 1980s; the
tech wreck in the late 1990s; the severe real estate CDO Great
Recession of 2008 and years of QE and ZIRP afterwards; a hidden hedge
fund meltdown in 2019 over repo basis trades that led to secret
billions in bailouts. And lastly the pandemic of March 2020 which
affected overly-leveraged and indebted markets across the board and
created the quickest bailout in U.S. history. This involved
corporate bonds, real estate and commercial real estate loans,
commercial paper, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), stocks,
foreign currencies, leveraged loans, repo basis trades and even
'stable' Treasury bonds – just about everything. In 2023 3 of the largest bank failures in history occurred. This sequence
shows the instability, high debt and over-complexity of the
capitalist money markets for the last 50 years, but also their
insanely privatized profiteering.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrbWo4DTXHJhHnMFPPyWaRnkMlSwaUaQiYl4FpNwhHsari75d21DgLoQeVllRpVWPqrbMjkU9hOUFHa7td7zF0hO6HjHYWhapd2mck0WTJTLhSdCNdSvL07SBNFHvlq8tSbxnW6SkU6QrS3eS2ULDZHOxrmBPztkzjJIqPifuBIQZkyXYKHMaixYCE6y7/s1245/girl%20v%20bull.webp" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="1245" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrbWo4DTXHJhHnMFPPyWaRnkMlSwaUaQiYl4FpNwhHsari75d21DgLoQeVllRpVWPqrbMjkU9hOUFHa7td7zF0hO6HjHYWhapd2mck0WTJTLhSdCNdSvL07SBNFHvlq8tSbxnW6SkU6QrS3eS2ULDZHOxrmBPztkzjJIqPifuBIQZkyXYKHMaixYCE6y7/w400-h225/girl%20v%20bull.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 'dollar' is actually a Federal Reserve Note</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In
the pandemic case, the Fed had to bring in the U.S. Treasury
department led by Goldman alumnus Steve Mnuchin to provide more cash
and authority through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) – for a total
of $3T in aid, almost a record. As one financier put it, these
actions “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">socialized credit risk</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.” Congress followed with
added trillions in aid through the CARES act and the botched
'Paycheck Protection Plan' for businesses, which mostly went to big
corporations and rich individuals, saving the jobs of very few. The
Fed's 'populist' “Main Street Lending Program” barely worked
either, much like Obama's 2008 homeowner mortgage 'bailout.' Ultimately
the Fed ended up owning $7.4T in rescued assets and had saved mostly
the wealthy and the large asset owners. Yeah...</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Leonard
follows the valuable story of Rexnord, an industrial company in
Milwaukee. It was first bought by Powell's Carlyle private equity,
then Apollo private equity, who merged and burdened it with debt as a
fee-producing cash cow that resulted in the closure of a number of
unionized Rexnord factories. Of most importance in this story is how
the real source of wealth for the owners and managers was no longer
ball bearings, gears, chains and conveyor belts - their real products
- or improving quality, productivity, better machinery, technology or
worker satisfaction. The real source were financial machinations, mergers and stock
buy-backs. The low profits from production and exploitation led
Rexnord to the financial markets, proving one of the contentions of
Marxist economics as to the real source of 'financialization' – the
falling rate of profit in the productive economy. This pattern is
shown in a number of other examples in the book. Cheap Fed money was
not being used for hiring or factory improvements or even making
loans to small entities but for speculation and monetary maneuvers.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Altogether
an exciting narrative about U.S. financial disasters! Leonard ends
echoing Marxist Michael Roberts' 'long depression' about a “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">long
crash</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” after 2008 that is still going on. Most people are
unaware of how fragile the financial system is and this book will
help illuminate that fact. The conventional, complacent argument is
that events are 'circular' and will repeat. There will be no
'qualitative' change, so yesterday's Fed and banking solutions –
ZIRP, QE and SPV - will always work going forward, even to the point
of a hidden but real state '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">socialization</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.' Has liberal MMT
actually been proved by the Fed to always work?! </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Yet that is not how
history actually functions. Ever larger financial debts across the
board, increasing monopolization and complexity, higher levels of
derivatives, the virtual intertwining of nearly every large financial
entity and product, the evisceration of the productive economy,
massive privatization and inequality, more zombie corporations,
short-term thinking, increasing Federal government involvement,
growing moral hazard – what could possibly go wrong? This is not a
circular pattern, but a spiral upwards... or down.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">P.S. - Trump is considering John Paulson, a notorious hedge funder, to be his Treasury Secretary. There is no end to the revolving door between financial gambling and public authority.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“The
Deficit Myth,” “These are the Plunderers” (on private equity -
PE); </i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“The
Big Short,” “Liar's Poker”(on Salomon Bros); “Flash Boys,”
(all 3 by M. Lewis); “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Scorsese); “Den
of Thieves” (on Drexel); “Liquidated – An Ethnography of Wall
Street” (2 part review); “The Ponzi Factor,” “House of Cards”
(on Bear Stearns); “Ponzi Unicorns!”</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>“</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Antitrust”
(Klobuchar); “Debt, Prices & Credit,” “Who is Ron Paul?”
“Griftopia” (Taibbi); “Who Gets Bailed Out?” “MMT,” “Mean
Girl,” "The Long Depression"(Roberts). </i></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">May
Day Books has many Left books on financial topics.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Public Library!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Red
Frog</span></span></span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
/ March 14, 2024</span></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-53298504344098973972024-03-11T07:37:00.003-05:002024-03-12T11:26:52.639-05:00In a Garden of Good & Evil<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>A
Walk in Savannah”</b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Savannah,
Georgia might be the most beautiful city in the U.S. Its very large
downtown historic district is unique in its geometric arrangement of
streets and squares along the Savannah River – 22 in all, with one
cemetery (not Bonaventure) and one large park, Forsyth. All designed
by a leading Methodist, James Oglethorpe. The squares are surrounded
by enormous houses in various archaic styles – Greek and Gothic
Revival, Federal, Italianate, Georgian and Regency. Massive live
oaks hung with Spanish moss dominate nearly every square. All this
is based on the port of Savannah, and in the 'old' days that meant
slave cotton, slave rice and slaves themselves. This was the seed
money for the grand houses, their size, their wide porches, their
accouterments, their lifestyle. This is almost invisible now though.
When Sherman took the city in 1864 he seized 25,000 bales of cotton
as part of his 12/22 'gift' to Lincoln for Christmas. This cotton
might have mostly been from a wealthy local, Charles Green. More on
him later.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizX5tyIB-a98WQu2c7BBzVoREY5E6gymL29jiAMlfhb2sfSCqiNKFSzgVEdZdeMga5qaAr4mGHH8hmaOtbrHT7GApwOJcfTEMGssD0_eBT9amsv2URLfA2jJNVSswK_PFKQHZiE2TubKPMnpY-cLG2-5e3foN3blmQ2gK_exaqbGUe281-1vkMzPbIjTTn/s1200/sq1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizX5tyIB-a98WQu2c7BBzVoREY5E6gymL29jiAMlfhb2sfSCqiNKFSzgVEdZdeMga5qaAr4mGHH8hmaOtbrHT7GApwOJcfTEMGssD0_eBT9amsv2URLfA2jJNVSswK_PFKQHZiE2TubKPMnpY-cLG2-5e3foN3blmQ2gK_exaqbGUe281-1vkMzPbIjTTn/w400-h210/sq1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">We
drank at a choice 'dive' bar, ate at a number of good restaurants
which are not hard to find and stayed in an idiotic 'art' inn. We
walked 14 squares, zig-zagging our way south from the
semi-corporatized riverfront through the parks to Forsyth. The
Savannah College of Art and Design – SCAD – dominates the town's
culture, which is young and hipster. But other cultures lurk. Yes
they do and I'll bet you can guess which one. On my first trip to
Savannah maybe 10 years ago I took a Civil War history tour, only to
discover the 'tour guide' was a member of the Sons of the
Confederacy, supported slavery and thought the Civil War was about
'states rights.' I left that tour but not before asking if we were
going to Sherman's headquarters in the city, where Sherman stayed for
6 weeks or so. The answer was no.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
time I wasn't missing Sherman's HQ. It is located just west of
Madison Square, facing a church, not the square. It's an incredibly
unique house, and that was because it was designed by a New York
architect who put in a heated and illuminated roof dome that opened,
sliding doors in several clever locations, 3 wall-to-high-ceiling
'bay' windows, two 'romance' bay windows, unique ironwork on the
porch and very detailed molding downstairs. It is significant that
the house bested nearly every other local structure and was designed
by a Yankee. It was owned by a worldly British citizen who favored
the South, Charles Green, yet who offered it to Sherman. Green was a
wealthy cotton merchant and had his hand in many other slave
enterprises – shipping, bricks, railroads, lumber, etc. Why this
Confederate would offer the house to Sherman as a guest is
questionable, but I'd say he could see which way the wind was
blowing. Unlike the Lost Causers, which later included his
'literary' Parisian grandson.</span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pAi5P5RPFA_PFp5EwUNNPnYVnn4pacNfCnccGRD8DfJcZeJjYcEjnszZs5a8bV0MkPIeWlLOq8Ok5Tvq0uYQRw7zsxXUtst6UnLzu-gO2MqzklFIVnOsEgAvFnLJNcPZ1rIDbWSaB_JLLaBt2VonUvVFITm6nidkKAbuwOSv-gXneHZMLT9B5-1APJFT/s1000/GM%20Hse%202.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0pAi5P5RPFA_PFp5EwUNNPnYVnn4pacNfCnccGRD8DfJcZeJjYcEjnszZs5a8bV0MkPIeWlLOq8Ok5Tvq0uYQRw7zsxXUtst6UnLzu-gO2MqzklFIVnOsEgAvFnLJNcPZ1rIDbWSaB_JLLaBt2VonUvVFITm6nidkKAbuwOSv-gXneHZMLT9B5-1APJFT/w400-h225/GM%20Hse%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Green House and its Corner Front-room</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Special
Field Orders #15</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><span>I
stood in Sherman's bedroom where a distant relative of his actually
prepared for her wedding much later. I stood in the large front room
where 20 African American preachers and lay people, along with
Sherman and Secretary of War Stanton, hashed out Special Field Orders
#15 on January 16, 1865. This is one of the most famous orders in the
war against slavery, for it is the source of the goal of '</span><span><i>40
acres and a mule</i></span><span>.' Sherman, not really a
friend of African Americans, wanted the freed people to stop
following his armies as they hindered his mobility and he could not
supply or protect them. This Order, based on Emancipation, gave
18-40,000 African American freedmen 40 acres to farm in the land
between modern Jacksonville, Florida and Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Since the Union Army was loaded down with requisitioned horses and
mules, some mules also went to these ex-slaves. The area has many
islands, and the depth of the strip was between 30 and 50 miles
inland, about 400,000 acres, so a huge piece of land. He assigned
abolitionist general Saxton to organize the program. One of the
first things Copperhead President Andrew Johnson did after Lincoln
was assassinated by a Confederate sympathizer was to return most of
this land to the white owners, though Saxton and the Freedman's
Bureau protected some. </span></span></span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">This
story was partly told to us in the historic front room by an elderly
female 'docent' connected to St. John's Episcopal Church, which owns
and uses the house. In that room were no pictures of Sherman,
Stanton or the 20 African-Americans, just pictures of Jeff Davis, Jeb
Stewart, Lee and Stonewall – the moldy, motley crew. There was a
newspaper story on the table detailing the event, that was it. The
docent said she was 'just beginning' to read about the Civil War.
Good for you! This is like giving a tour of the surrender room in the
McLean home in Appomattox, and barely knowing what the fuck happened
there. In the room with us were two older Georgians who thought
Sherman was going to burn Savannah, because, you know, that's all he
did. The male was carrying a beginner book on the Civil War.
Upstairs the tour was taken over by a former northerner and present
civil war buff. He said that Green's slaves used to pump water up to
the second story for baths among all their other tasks, like hauling
Green's portmanteau across Europe. He made clear that Green was a
Confederate ally and in private pointed out that some tour guides do
not mention Sherman, as the Church controls who guides tours. This
is actually similar to the museum book store in Monroeville, Alabama
that hid copies of Harper Lee's second book, “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Go
Set a Watchman</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">,” under the counter. That
book was very clear on Atticus Finch's actual racism. Monroeville was
her hometown and the setting for “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>To Kill a
Mockingbird</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">.”</span></span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UT3bsV33EKvBpscbOMKz62Lz9hz7XoItCZsrZwua_uQV46NmlDNn7wY561w4YIRkA4UwwurD6D-3r4WTvM5GOUvT5jwcek0rUA29No3oB-FbxUq-JrBHrWvMGdNjrVpU2SXN9__x5e0n8ChMDhEGzrrtQNSvcUMBBfBlqhbC4n2Jt5xd9RavES8Hf8E0/s2048/Green-Medrim.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2UT3bsV33EKvBpscbOMKz62Lz9hz7XoItCZsrZwua_uQV46NmlDNn7wY561w4YIRkA4UwwurD6D-3r4WTvM5GOUvT5jwcek0rUA29No3oB-FbxUq-JrBHrWvMGdNjrVpU2SXN9__x5e0n8ChMDhEGzrrtQNSvcUMBBfBlqhbC4n2Jt5xd9RavES8Hf8E0/w400-h266/Green-Medrim.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green-Meldrin House now, with Macon St. blocked off</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Now
if you've noticed the presence of Yankees in this southern city, read
on. At the high-end cocktail bar masquerading as a dive bar, an
excellent and creative bar-tender – formerly from New York -
presided. On our first visit the talkative lead tile mason was from
New York too, while on the other side sat an artist originally from
Michigan. The next time there we met a design director for Michael
Kors in New York, as he was moving to Savannah. The bar was owned by
a former Minnesotan. The design director said one of the benefits of
moving was to turn Georgia 'blue.' This is similar to the young
dark-skinned folks who are moving back to the South, and proletarian
Latinos, Asians and others coming to the South. Visits to Atlanta
and Athens, Georgia also testify to the increasing presence of
non-Southern-born folks in Southern cities. The massive growth of
factory and warehouse facilities across the South is having the
effect of proletarianizing southern workers too. At some point this
will wise them up to the elite, sometimes southern bosses who've
pretended to be their 'friends' for years. African-Americans already
know this, but now it's other southern workers' turn.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The
bar became one of the headquarters on March 8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span>th</span></sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
for “Slitherin” - a neighborhood street celebration and parade
'of and for snakes' that took place at night with luminous costuming.
In effect artists and locals are sick of the drunken orgy of green
beer called St. Patrick's Day downtown, full of dumb-ass leprechauns,
four leaf clovers and Forsyth Park green fountain water. They decided
to do something about it. St. Patrick hated snakes? Well, then they
would celebrate them. Savannah has too many churches, perhaps one on
every square. This includes the massive Catholic Cathedral of St.
John across Layfayette Square from crazy Catholic Southern Gothic
writer Flannery O'Connor's childhood home. Some of the locals seem
to be full-sick of the Catholic nonsense that sometimes swallows
their town, including St. Patrick. Soooo … Slitherin'!</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The
ruin of Atlanta's military usefulness, the punishing March to the
Sea, the occupation of Savannah's valuable port and the march north
to corner Lee were </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">final acts in the
defeat of the slavocracy. Thankfully the memorials in the beautiful
squares of Savannah relate to the U.S. Revolution or the somewhat
less brutal settling of the city by Europeans, not to the Southern
Confederacy. In Franklin Square is a memorial to black Haitian
soldiers who came to fight the English during the Revolution. Others
memorialize Casimir Pulaski, Polish general who died fighting the
British at Savannah, and another to Revolutionary War General
Nathaniel Green. Another contains the body of Chief Tomo Chi Chi of
the Yamacraw, who negotiated with Oglethorpe over Savannah's land and
is actually buried under the monument at his request.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">While
Savannah is famous for </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Forrest Gump</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">,
</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>The Garden of Good & Evil</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
and made-up ghosts, I'd say the real ghost is a dead political idea still
hiding under the covers in select parts of the city, trying to
'manifest' at any moment.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>“Civil
War,” “slavery,” “Cranky Yankee,” “Sherman.”</i></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">You
can find a number of books on southern politics at May Day Books.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Cranky Yankee</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">March
11, 2024 </span></span>
</p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-85740090733816501842024-03-08T06:13:00.012-06:002024-03-26T15:09:04.536-05:00Happy International Working Women's Day?<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <u style="font-size: 28pt;"><b>Femicide</b></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">In
recognition of International Working Women's Day, I thought I'd look
at the cheery topic of femicide – the specific targeting of
females called 'gender-related killings.' You know, the topic of
every detective show you're watching. The U.N. & World
Population data are all over the place. Some data is missing, like
China or incomplete, like India or old, as far back as 2012, and much
is unreported. It is also not clear the role of warfare in the
numbers. In 2022 the data reflected a world-wide </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><u>increase</u></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
in 'domestic partner' homicides – i.e. by a family member known to
the victim. This is the largest subset of murders of females, at
48.8K in 2022, which is about 55% of the total. This means the
majority of killings of girls and women was in the home and not by a
stranger.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS760EYXXpRlW8jMi5VmM1ZgBT8-KTkViORjbP2_Lv3GGv515I2b2MHwHdX9AQPFDB5yXM7tk9t0waSQwiGIsuhpn8Cz_oSXjOHE7l1bsuAuMtAp55UfBMxNSjyruaQBr9x2WagnKYDoI9_JF0s5ehdHjW-Tjvg1sxiQSTm9zz4R7S5I-oLpUqQIA8bYd6/s1600/BARBIE.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS760EYXXpRlW8jMi5VmM1ZgBT8-KTkViORjbP2_Lv3GGv515I2b2MHwHdX9AQPFDB5yXM7tk9t0waSQwiGIsuhpn8Cz_oSXjOHE7l1bsuAuMtAp55UfBMxNSjyruaQBr9x2WagnKYDoI9_JF0s5ehdHjW-Tjvg1sxiQSTm9zz4R7S5I-oLpUqQIA8bYd6/w400-h225/BARBIE.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The largest increase was in Africa. There were reductions
in some countries, increases in others. The Central African Republic
at 10.6 per 100,000 as of 2016; South Africa at 9.0 in 2019 and El
Salvador, at 13.8 per 100,000, were some of the highest. The U.S. is
at 2.91 in 2021; Russia at 3.3; India at 2.5; Mexico at 6.2. The
lowest – at .1 or .2 - were countries like Singapore, Bahrain,
Oman, Tajikistan, Belgium and Japan. Some countries had zero. The 'pattern' underlying the
data is unclear. The U.N. has no idea what is behind this
wide-spread level of attacks on women and girls but the concepts of
the 'patriarchy,' the class system, racism and caste, conservative religion and
profiting off women's labor might help to explain women's secondary
place in the social structure.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-size: 28pt;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Child
Care</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">It's
no secret that child care costs are rising across the U.S. The U.S.
Census reports that child care costs range from $5,357 in small
'counties' to $17,171 in large 'counties,' between 8% & 19.3% of
income. HHS estimated by a survey in 2024 that families spend an
average of 24% on childcare. These figures don't quite match, do
they? At any rate, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Yahoo Business</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
estimates the value of 'the market' at $59.87B in 2023 and is
expected to grow to a $88.2B 'market' in 2033. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><u>23%</u></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
of children under 5 live in families below the poverty-line in the
U.S. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that $9,193 is the
average cost of child-care or 17% of income. What is clear from
these exorbitant costs is that the U.S. needs free or cheap
socialized daycare, better family paid-leave policies and shorter
hours, not just inadequate payments through AFDC, Head Start, tax
write-offs or relying on aging grandmas and grandpas. 27.1% of
families rely on child care, while another source, the NAFCC, cites
40%. I'm not sure if they include after-school or park programs in
this data, though those are for older children. Pandemic aid is ending and many childcare centers are closing as a result. This situation
impacts women the most, as they are the majority of unpaid caretakers
of small children, in the home and out. It is time for socialized child centers at worksites or in the community.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWagVKIYGvpFA4mO5m9Yu1i0017rLmuG3U2-bWXdlUiCeYy_shNjLqnuHQNItZhcNegvlolfEhvBkLVP0KOGd3EbrHiblXwsE1vFvUQrFfn0xs6eV56W-O0pUq2mQqaB7a8ncaIJKOj8AwCtzW4o2vG6v3zhsZU0XqYuSMo61z6ZLXkqSggei-9m1ozVrY/s1010/femicide.webp" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1010" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWagVKIYGvpFA4mO5m9Yu1i0017rLmuG3U2-bWXdlUiCeYy_shNjLqnuHQNItZhcNegvlolfEhvBkLVP0KOGd3EbrHiblXwsE1vFvUQrFfn0xs6eV56W-O0pUq2mQqaB7a8ncaIJKOj8AwCtzW4o2vG6v3zhsZU0XqYuSMo61z6ZLXkqSggei-9m1ozVrY/w400-h240/femicide.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Femicide memorial in Mexico City 3/8/24</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><u style="font-size: 28pt;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Barbie</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">As someone whose experience of Barbie was as an
oddly-sculpted, too pink, plastic thing with tiny clothes that rip
and way too many possessions, an attempt to craft her into a
feminist icon was flawed from the get-go. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Barbie</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
the movie is a mass-market exercise in girl-boss feminism. Any
'moral' about how oppression is ultimately bad is lost in the cartoon
firmament of Barbieland itself – the cars, the houses, the color,
the perfection, the girls. The film is the flip-side of a macho film
shot in a dirty male locker-room, but instead it's a place where men
are homeless, everything is artificial and every woman is almost
identical, housed and happy. The airhead men, led by a buff Ken, go
macho like an infantile version of Susan Faludi's '</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Backlash</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">'
and attempt to conquer the professional Barbies, but they thankfully
fail. Like Arwen from LoTR, this Barbie eventually chooses reality
over being a Mattel</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> doll, or in Arwen's case, an Elf that never dies. This sends Barbie,
now called Barbara, off to the gynecologist, which is about the
funniest scene in the movie. Welcome to reality, which is the only
solid point it makes.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: <i> "FGM, </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>“Socialist
Feminism and the New Women's Movement,” “Feminists and
Feminists,” Fortunes of Feminism” (Fraser); “Red Valkyries”
(Ghodsee); “Weird Conservative Feminism,” “Freedom Socialist,”
“Queen's Gambit,” “Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again,” Marxism
and the Oppression of Women” (Vogel); “Without Apology,” "Miss Sloane."</i></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration-line: none;">More Cheery News on FGM:<i> </i></span><span><i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/08/dramatic-rise-in-women-and-girls-being-cut-new-fgm-data-reveals">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/08/dramatic-rise-in-women-and-girls-being-cut-new-fgm-data-reveals</a></i></span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">May Day Books has many
magazines, books and pamphlets on feminist issues from a left point of view.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The Cultural Marxist</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">March
8, 2024 - Happy International Working Women's Day! The holiday
originally brought to you by the 2</span></span></span><sup><span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">nd</span></span></span></sup><span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Socialist International in 1910, Clara Zetkin presiding.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-19878289543429263422024-03-05T10:32:00.015-06:002024-03-27T06:12:54.931-05:00Private Inequity Iniquity<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: 32pt;">These
Are the Plunderers</span> <span style="font-size: 20pt;">–
How Private Equity Runs – and Wrecks – America” by Gretchen
Morgenson, 2023</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
is a series of detailed stories about the ruin private 'equity' firms
create when they purchase a medical chain, an insurance company,
become a landlord for thousands, buy a newspaper, a hotel or casino,
a retail chain or trailer parks. The main culprits are Blackstone
Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the Carlyle Group and Apollo Global
Management, the latter being the worst and the focus of most of these
stories. The author is a lover of capitalism and has no
understanding 'why' capitalism might produce such monstrosities, but
believes the solution is 'more regulation' actually applied and
better taxation. Where have we heard this before? These investment
outfits merge, lay-off workers, move production, load companies with
debt, increase fees, severely reduce quality, merge entities, cut
benefits, increase work-load, pollute and sell the company for a
quick profit. They'll even shut down a company just to sell their
real-estate! So if your company is bought or owned by a misnamed
private 'equity' firm, look out! The 'equity' is for the owners and
investors, or as she calls these firms, “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">money-spinning
machines</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.” The 'private' means that everything they do is as
secret as non-public companies can be.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-u9GSheq2lxt8Rq2bKfHcq0ZqkvijAd_et_djBg9EGzNwwDOMsZKdsRzsqF-agtsGTDCjFhDddRRXZVgQMSSDaRlbahejyQOgpkZuHW_BJAlopuGm4WoPILl8Dkw8p1W1HAILxV2IfVCk8b56_gcj0osQ551K_cxSKzODArFxd8WWxsTWQlIUZmBrFms/s2113/tatPlunder.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2113" data-original-width="1400" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-u9GSheq2lxt8Rq2bKfHcq0ZqkvijAd_et_djBg9EGzNwwDOMsZKdsRzsqF-agtsGTDCjFhDddRRXZVgQMSSDaRlbahejyQOgpkZuHW_BJAlopuGm4WoPILl8Dkw8p1W1HAILxV2IfVCk8b56_gcj0osQ551K_cxSKzODArFxd8WWxsTWQlIUZmBrFms/w265-h400/tatPlunder.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Their
efforts are aided by numerous government legal and policy decisions
from both parties: A 1978 Supreme Court decision allowing usury; a
1978 rule killed off employer-run pension funds; a 1978 decision
allowed pension funds to invest in private equity deals – all in
Carter-time at the beginnings of neo-liberalism. In 1986 debt
interest became a primary tax-lowering strategy, very useful in
private equity mergers using debt. In the 1980s, the SEC had a light
hand on even hostile mergers, blocking very few. That pattern has
continued. In 1994 Clinton's Riegle-Neal law allowed</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14.4px;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">banks to merge across state borders. In 1996 a law opened private equity partnerships to more people
while shielding them from state investigation. In 1997 capital gains
taxes were cut, allowing a flood of investors into private equity. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">The rule separating normal banking and investment gambling, Glass-Steagall, was abolished in 1999 by Clinton and Rubin.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> After the tech wreck in 2000 the Fed dropped interest rates to
historic lows, fueling more mergers using cheap debt. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>In 2010 a rule was passed that helped 'self-dealing' in private equity among their related companies. </span><span>In 2020 Jerome Powell, former private equity executive at Carlyle, had the Federal
Reserve prop up corporate bonds by buying them, which was an aid to private equity. In 2020 private equity was allowed to get
involved in 401(k)s retirement accounts. These are just some of the
decisions that show the 'public' state's involvement in building
private equity privateers.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">DREXEL
to APOLLO</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Apollo's
head goon, Leon Black, came out of the corrupt junk debt machine
Drexel Burnham Lambert in the late 1980s when he started Apollo.
Apollo was basically an extension of Drexel, staffed by many of the
same people. He remained a buddy of Drexel's Michael Milliken, convicted
felon and HY bond assassin of the S&L industry. He later had a
tight relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who had provided 'tax
advice' to Black for $158M. This scandal led to Black losing control
of Apollo in 2021. His own father Eli had committed suicide over a
United Fruit tax fraud bribery scheme in Honduras that had been
discovered in 1977. So sad! </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Morgensen
tells the story of how private 'equity' grew out of the junk bond /
leverage buyout heyday of the late 1980s. Drexel itself went bankrupt
in 1990 after many of its leading players were indicted in 1986 for a
wide range of frauds. Black's Apollo first </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">targeted
huge insurer First Executive, which he was able to buy for cheap with
the help</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> of the incompetent head of California's insurance
regulation department in a no-bid, no due diligence process. This was the foundation of Apollo's wealth.
As a result many ordinary First Executive insurance policy-holders were
deprived of coverage, as they were collateral damage.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">RAID
TARGETS</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>The
next targets Morgenson focuses on are Samsonite, Noranda Aluminum in
Missouri, ManorCare; health outfits like HCA, Jazz Pharma and EmCare;
Taminco Chemicals, Bayonne Water, Coastal Gaslink and Athene
Insurance. The Noranda deal led to higher electricity rates for
residential customers and the later bankruptcy of the firm and workers' pension fund. The effects on health care in hospitals and nursing
homes was dire, especially during CoVid. Manorcare went
from owning their own land to renting from others after the land was
sold by Apollo, which drove it into bankruptcy. Jazz was indicted for
illicit uses, creating a date-rape drug and later, engaged in price
gouging. Taminco was an example of 'company flipping' – sort of
like what you do with houses – but with a company that supplied
chemicals to Mexican narco traffickers. The water rates for Bayonne, New Jersey ratepayers went 60% up under Carlyle's private water
contract. The pipeline company Coastal Gaslink was a typical carbon polluter, as
private equity invests heavily in carbon firms, something they try to
hide. Athene is a serial insurance rule-breaker, fined by a number
of states. </span></span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Studies
show that 20% of companies taken over by private equity file for
bankruptcy within 10 years, while employment in those firms fall by
16% prior to that. The average time for ownership is 5 years. At the same time fraud convictions against
financial industry players have dropped like a stone. 11% of nursing
homes in 2021 were owned by private equity, which is somber news for
that industry. These nursing homes were especially deadly during the
CoVid pandemic. Pension funds and other private equity investors
have to pay 10% management fees to these firms. Many familiar retail
names come up in her analysis of private equities' role like Toys R
Us, Neiman Marcus, Telemundo, Harrah's Casinos, HCA, Nine West and
Linens N' Things. </span></span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQYDxObGAtR9Z3x8xNh7g8_AVMQxOz6TdOIJckLqLs9-ioSt4wawk1De5sE2ajX-eASh5JZgC9eKUoF2eYzQ3ia9PD41kMJ9BUCW6oWLV0_ru2CKjKxg1iOMURmFxG5c9hGQX43CirTe5N9V-tE4a9lQWEqnKGY7mD0BIUEcMA4BDBXVeifBANJ9N6QbH/s400/hostess.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQYDxObGAtR9Z3x8xNh7g8_AVMQxOz6TdOIJckLqLs9-ioSt4wawk1De5sE2ajX-eASh5JZgC9eKUoF2eYzQ3ia9PD41kMJ9BUCW6oWLV0_ru2CKjKxg1iOMURmFxG5c9hGQX43CirTe5N9V-tE4a9lQWEqnKGY7mD0BIUEcMA4BDBXVeifBANJ9N6QbH/w400-h268/hostess.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hostess workers strike private equity outfit GGH</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
overall picture you get from the book is a trail of enormous damage
left by these raiders, these modern day pillagers who make actual
pirates and Vikings look like reasonable pikers. Also how this private club of financiers seem to turn up everywhere. Private equity is
the apotheosis of neo-liberal financial capital and it was let lose
by both capitalist parties, wreaking havoc on the working class and
nature. Her book is only focused on the U.S. situation but private equity roams the world, with Blackrock having the most assets. She leaves this international reach unmentioned, as her book focuses on the minutia of miserable U.S.
private equity deals. Private equity was very close to the Trump
administration in 2016. It provided some of his leading financial
advisors like Steven Schwarzman of Blackstone Group. This is another
picture of the revolving door between the Federal government and the
financial industry itself, with Jay Powell being another example.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><b><u>SOLUTIONS?</u></b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Morgenson
thinks private equity is an outlier that good judicial decisions like
2020's private equity induced Nine West bankruptcy decision could
cure. That decision said that “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">creditors, workers, pensioners and
taxpayers</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” had to be taken into account, not just shareholders.
Morgenson praises the Biden SEC, FTC and other agencies for limiting
private equity fees and health-care consolidation. Apollo spent
$7.1M lobbying to prevent any changes, and the rest of the
industry pitched in too. A 2022 Delaware legal decision exposing corrupt payments to
Carlyle and Apollo executives in league with governor and ex-Carlyle
CEO Glenn Youngkin was another stone in their shoe.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
industry is putting up cosmetic changes around charity and stock
awards to some workers as their answer to their reputation as
thieves. Yet stronger bills in Congress against private equity were
defeated after heavy lobbying by the industry. The Supreme Court
blocked a key SEC rule change that would inhibit EPA pollution
rules from applying to a KKR coal and natural gas plant in West
Virginia. Instead Morgenson hopes for a block between Tucker Carlson
and Elizabeth Warren, much like Ralph Nader's own pleas to 'left &
right' and to 'good' billionaires, to unite against fraud, against
the privateers, against cannibalizing mergers, in order to mitigate
the </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">automatic</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> processes of capitalist consolidation built into
the system. There is even evidence these PE firms collude in private about
deals. This “competition” actually creates oligopoly and monopoly, as
Marx pointed out long ago, and private equity has proved this once
again.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Socialists
have a different take. We'd re-institute Glass-Steagal and roll back
the laws benefiting the industry. Morgenson singles out one aspect
of Wall Street, private equity, for damaging U.S. health care – and
yet it's not as if the general capitalist 'health providers' are not
</span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> wrecking health care. Like the rest of the banking
industry, private equity should be seized without compensation,
nationalized, its books opened and its operations put under the
control of workers, socialists and a social state. This will
actually end private equities' run of madness, and begin to create a
stable financial system. Instead of tolerating the Leon Blacks of
the world, or chastening them, send them into obscurity and
irrelevance.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Pastor
Chris Hedges interviews Morgenson 3/2/24 on </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Scheerpost</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>:
<a href="https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/02/chris-hedges-how-private-equity-conquered-america/">Hedges
interviews Morgenson</a></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“The
Capitalists of the 21</i><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>st</i></sup><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Century,” “Capital
in the 21</i><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>st</i></sup><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Century” (Piketty);“Giants –
the Global Power Elite” (P. Phillips); “The Big Short,” “Liar's
Poker”(on Salomon Bros); “Flash Boys,” (all 3 by M. Lewis);
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (Scorsese); “Den of Thieves” (on
Drexel); “Liquidated – An Ethnography of Wall Street” (2 part
review); “The Ponzi Factor,” “House of Cards” (on Bear
Stearns); “Ponzi Unicorns!”</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Antitrust” (Klobuchar).</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Library!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">May
Day Books has many books on capitalist financial issues. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Red
Frog / March 5, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-63161000062335687812024-03-02T09:42:00.008-06:002024-03-11T16:19:07.792-05:00College Library Browsing #11: Post-Modern Capitalism?<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Reading
Negri</span> <span style="font-size: 20pt;">– Marxism in the
Age of Empire” edited by P. Lemarche, M. Rosenkrantz, D. Sherman,
2011</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">There's
a lot in this book and much of it is irrelevant or too abstract.
Here is a sketch of some of Negri's thinking, which parallels his
co-thinkers in Italy like Tronti and Hardt. Negri was jailed at
least three times for a number of years in Italy for his writings –
at one time being blamed for the plot to kill Aldo Moro tied to the
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brigate Rosse</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">. His politics were formed in the labor and Left
rebellions of the 1950s-1960s in Italy after he broke with liberal
Catholicism and moved towards Marxism. He became a professor in
France and died in 2023 at the age of 90. I consider him a modern
version of some kind of anarcho-communism, with positive and negative
approaches, mainly the latter.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOmaM2ZITbKC9Kw7mSFmacL2cnUM39wZTupUory7NLV-_jKfikXSV9IqZGXymnSG9wqHw_yZAM2Vmo6K6NAEMzgJJpHHs3eM0qyAyoPeC3JqXiqPo-0l-9UaPJCwRNn3ghPgGTW0_aWOSpuLVAOSklwrBg71yGASfLl5WxnnPqgY95cxiTsZ-34aIUhVC/s445/read2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="287" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOmaM2ZITbKC9Kw7mSFmacL2cnUM39wZTupUory7NLV-_jKfikXSV9IqZGXymnSG9wqHw_yZAM2Vmo6K6NAEMzgJJpHHs3eM0qyAyoPeC3JqXiqPo-0l-9UaPJCwRNn3ghPgGTW0_aWOSpuLVAOSklwrBg71yGASfLl5WxnnPqgY95cxiTsZ-34aIUhVC/w258-h400/read2.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><br />
</b></p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Negri
understands the role of technology in driving down the rate of
profit, per Marx. He goes on to consider workers as extensions of
machines, not the reverse. Marx made a similar comment in the
<i>Grundrisse,</i> but I think it's main point to show how brutalized
workers are.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>He
extended the concept of the 'factory' to the circulation of capital
in the community, tracking how every aspect of life is now
commodified and 'produced' for profit. He calls this '<i>social
capital</i>' – usually a name for the capitalist commodification
of the skills or background of an individual worker. This theory
obliterates a distinction between the worksite and the community.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>He
opposes any concept of a party or parties or a united front in place
of the '<i>autonomous activity of the workers</i>.' This
'self-organized' current was first called '<i>workerism,</i>' then
'<i>autonomism.</i>' It did include worksite committees.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>He
believed that capitalism could be fully planned and that a planned
economy was not a hallmark of socialism. We have yet to discover a
planned capitalist economy. He later saw that corporations had
taken the place of the 'planning' state as the key command locus. </span></span>
</span></b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Negri
replaces the 'labor theory of value' with the capitalist need to
dominate all of society at all times. The temporal timing of surplus
and necessary labor in the work day is overridden and useless to
him. Capitalists who want to extend the workday to 24 hours would
agree. </span></span>
</span></b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>He
contends that the 'law of value' only holds in an actual factory and
that has been superseded by 'social value' and social control in
general society. As a result economic 'value' can no longer be
estimated.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>He
contended that 'immaterial labor' would slowly become dominant over
ordinary worksite labor. 'Immaterial' seems a description of very
real white collar labor that produces intellectual property, but
that is not his definition. It extends beyond commodification to
all forms of social creativity, intelligence and help, similar to
Marx's concepts of unalienated labor, free creativity and the
necessary work of social reproduction. </span></span>
</span></b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Instead
of the proletariat, now the 'poor' or the 'multitude' are the main
harbingers of revolution. The nature and analysis of the
'multitude' is left undefined that I can see, but it means just
about everybody. </span></span>
</span></b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Some
theories of imperialism posit the nation-state as the main actor,
ignoring class. Negri maintains it is still class actors – or at
least 'the multitude' - that motivate states.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Any
class analysis has to look at 'class composition' and
're-composition' – the varied strata, castes, classes and
sub-classes found in a country and within a country, along with
their shifting nature in response to changes in capital.</b></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>At
one time the duo of Hardt & Negri proposed winning over 'swing'
voters by promoting consumerism – 'luxury communism' evidently.
They dropped that.</b></span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
book includes a bit of history of the Italian New Left and 3 of its
key figures during the 'creeping May' or 'years of lead' from the
late 1960s to the late 1980s. This was a time when new Marxist
groups like </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: large;"> Avanguardia Operaia,
Il Manifesto and Lotta Cotinua operated widely in northern Italy. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
Negri and the proletarian New Left worked in the political context of
the deep reformism of the Italian Communist Party, but also took
advantage of the long anti-fascist, labor and socialist movements in
Italy that even reached into the peasantry.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Post-modern
Capitalism?</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
contributions in this book challenge aspects of Negri's thought and
sometimes embrace it. Caffentzis's contributions come from a
classical, orthodox Marxist point of view in his overall opposition
to Negri. He shows Negri's growing distance from Marxism and
closeness to Frankfurt School 'culturalism.' In a way Negri broke
with 'workerism' to the point where productive worksites become banal, lost among everything. Others see his turn towards Spinoza as another marker of
'post-Marxism.' One writes of Negri and Hardt's “<i>postmodernization
of the global economy.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">This
means</span> that 'production' is now the production of '<i>cooperation,
social relations and communication</i>' – i.e. the '<i>production
of subjectivity,</i>' combining the '<i>economic, political and
cultural</i>' aspects of society. It is “<i>the creation of life</i>”
itself, not just commodities. This leap mashes commodities and social
production, which reflects the <u>totalizing</u> effect of world
capital but renders any understanding of exploitation, economics and
profit moot. It dismantles some basics of Marxism into a
vague classless, post-modern hash of general social
'dissatisfaction,' of anti-capitalist morality, of utopian thinking. In a way, it also partakes of the 'financialization' thesis.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_mUWko7rPfrSp8zQXldhpY_HIdETvX2sxVq5z_4ZH7PqsT6lZaiujd7hI-aD_RpL-yqDlekK4KEWVyux79CQJ0wDYSW6nbDrl_MkeXJ-KIVz9-F9JToyqPIkLtD-qXXVJ-JswSaIrMdt1AKR-H0VCweLXhF28lEkcxecbCfRbcHn_6bSowgrZvr42fxZV/s602/proft%20rt.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="602" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_mUWko7rPfrSp8zQXldhpY_HIdETvX2sxVq5z_4ZH7PqsT6lZaiujd7hI-aD_RpL-yqDlekK4KEWVyux79CQJ0wDYSW6nbDrl_MkeXJ-KIVz9-F9JToyqPIkLtD-qXXVJ-JswSaIrMdt1AKR-H0VCweLXhF28lEkcxecbCfRbcHn_6bSowgrZvr42fxZV/w400-h260/proft%20rt.webp" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Oddly
the book does not look at current knowledge workers as a new strain
of labor who have more power than before. They are able to shut down
companies quite easily by turning an electronic switch. Like
electricians, the techies in the server center have the ability to
make everything stop. Many bosses do not understand what their
employees are actually doing and this gives employees vast leverage.
It also makes them less easily replaced. Skilled blue, pink and white
collar labor can now, through knowledge of computers and just about
anything, shut down a whole worksite or sector. Given many 'blue
collar' and 'pink collar' jobs involve higher-tech training of some
kind – retail, service, assemblers, machinists, mechanics,
electricians, plumbers, drivers and more – this 'knowledge' is not
exclusive to white collar types. It is essential for many workers in
complex economies, which means education has an even bigger role to
play as complexity grows.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Refuting
Marx?</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">What
Negri really tried to do was 'update' and borrow from Marx and refute
Marx at the same time. Caffentzis says what he did is really “<i>a
broad negation of Marx's whole opus</i>.” Caffentzis' essay is
centered on the question of '<i>what does the anti-capitalist
movement need from Marx?</i>' According to him Negri's refutation
consisted of rejecting Marx's 'law of value' and <span style="text-decoration: none;">everything</span>
associated with it. He notes that this supposed 'law' actually
involves <u>many</u> things. The general 'laws of value' in Marx are
tied to math and time measures, while Negri & Hardt claim that
value is now <u>immeasurable</u><span style="text-decoration: none;">,
especially after Nixon's Bretton Woods' break with the gold standard.
All is speculation! Math and time are irrelevant to analyzing
capital because value has burst the bounds of the worksite. </span></span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In
other words the concepts of the labor theory of value, surplus value,
surplus labor, rate of profit, rate of exploitation, organic
composition of capital, exchange rate, exports, subsumption, the real
value of commodities, work hours, etc. are all impossible to measure
because everything is now immaterial social reproduction of the
'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">general intellect</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.'
Wooo! Caffentzis maintains that this method mixes the concept of
labor with that of general 'activity,' approaching a nihilist view
that renders the heart of capitalist production invisible. It can be
added that social reproduction, like volunteer labor and home labor,
can be measured in part, so even these areas are not immune from
forms of quantification. Nor did general social labor suddenly
appear in 1971.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Every
working Marxist economist interested in 'numbers' would laugh at this
high-flying misconception. So would the anti-capitalist movement,
which by following Negri's plan would drop some heavy weapons in the
fight against national and world capital. After all, why do brutal,
continual and varied anti-labor measures make sense other than in
defense of very real, defined profits?! Child labor? Getting rid of
work breaks? Unpaid overtime? Stolen wages? Debt slavery? Social
control is only a means to that end, as capitalists 'do the math'
too. One contributor accuses the duo of the “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">fantasy of
originality</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” in trying to substitute for Marx while still
claiming Marxism. I won't go further in this book, but if this
debate is interesting to you, pick it up somewhere.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“In
Letter of Fire and Blood” (Caffentzis); “From the Factory to the
Metropolis” (Negri & Hardt – 2 reviews); “The Unseen”
(Belestrini); “Capitalism in the 21</i><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>st</i></sup><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
Century” (Roberts-Carchedi); “Democracy, Planning and Big Data,”
“Magical Marxism” (Merrifield); “The Voluntariat,”
“Cyber-Proletariat,” “Wageless Life,” “Bit Tyrants,”
“Fully-Automated Luxury Communism” (Bastani).</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">May Day has many books on
left theory from various viewpoints, old and new.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">I got this at the UGA
Library! </span></span>
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Red Frog / </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">March 2, 2024</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
</p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-11199945979866655722024-02-28T10:17:00.028-06:002024-03-18T16:00:49.746-05:00It Can Happen Here<p> <b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32pt;">Plan
for Fully Authoritarian Rule?</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">“<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><u>Project
2025</u>” by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and 100 other
right-wing groups has become a well-known blueprint for an incoming
Trump administration. It is a far more organized plan than the one in
2016 and far more reactionary. The general slant is the '<i>unitary
executive theory</i>' – meaning a dictatorial president has the
most power. It is 'philosophically' aimed at '<i>woke</i>' and
'<i>cultural Marxism' - </i>actually DEI, multi-culturalism & 'political correctness.' "Cultural Marxism' is a favorite target of fascist bombers all over the world as well. It's a plan by a wing of capital for
almost total control of state power based on politics. Gathered from
various sources, its features include:</span></span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhuTkiHu0xPEtJgwzpMV9raAfUwfEbHxive-Qr466uNPcbP7_6T43CPPXgjS42cai311A7GkqF1ZOTBe0klKnAMaW4hLVd6vGxh3rnkQA7Qz4rUDm3jpSndnxSZFXFMWfMlJswEHXuZ94fPat1Q_XhzmYvVx7qvlCdoGNy_w9HPAQLIDL9reE_GSFyI_h/s1440/pro1.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1440" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhuTkiHu0xPEtJgwzpMV9raAfUwfEbHxive-Qr466uNPcbP7_6T43CPPXgjS42cai311A7GkqF1ZOTBe0klKnAMaW4hLVd6vGxh3rnkQA7Qz4rUDm3jpSndnxSZFXFMWfMlJswEHXuZ94fPat1Q_XhzmYvVx7qvlCdoGNy_w9HPAQLIDL9reE_GSFyI_h/w400-h266/pro1.webp" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The most worrisome is indications they will set up many camps to imprison immigrants without papers in the U.S., then
initiate mass deportations. Police, DEA, BATF will all be
deputized to help.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Gutting
the civil service and experts in various government departments and
replacing them with 20,000 loyal MAGA zealots.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Abolishing,
'dismantling' or chopping certain departments like FBI, DHS, USAID,
Education, Commerce, Energy, BLM and Interior.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Immediately
using the 1807 'Insurrection Act' to quash any protests of any kind
using the U.S. Army and a nationalized National Guard.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Using
a politicized DOJ to go after opponents in media, education,
politics, corporations, the internet and the legal system.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Environmental
and climate change regulations and treaties will be unenforced or
canceled. The EPA and NOAA will be gutted. Carbon sources will be
promoted. "Drill baby, drill!"</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Recruiting
thousands of loyal MAGA Republicans to fill civil service positions
by firing thousands of skilled workers and experts in AFGE, NFFE and
APWU union positions.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Inserting
theocratic rationales into law, as they just did in Alabama, and supporting white Christian
nationalism.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Politicizing
the military as a physical club against opponents and 'the deep
state' - which is really just the administrative state.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Making
sure political appointees are loyal to the plan and Trump, not any
law.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>'Marxists'
and dark-skinned people will be the first targets, especially inside the
government. </span></span>
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Outlaw
Mifepristone, Misoprostol and institute a national anti-abortion law
while tracking anyone who has an abortion. No birth control will be
promoted except the rhythm method or abstinence.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Change
the census to apply to only U.S. citizens.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Remove
the fight against unemployment as a goal of the Federal Reserve.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Reduce
the corporate tax rate again.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Eliminate
the independence of the DOJ, FCC, FTC and other agencies, putting them under direct
presidential control.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Rescind
prohibitions against discrimination of LGBT people in government and law.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Outlaw
pornography.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It
also recommends the gold standard as their 'solution' to the federal debt. No shit.</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
Project reflects a split between two factions of the bourgeoisie.
Carrying out <u>some</u> of these points could result in widespread violence
and a hard battle between corporate factions - but especially
against the proletariat. </span><u style="font-size: large;">Project 2025</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> functions as a
reactionary 'wish list' but it is also an '</span><u style="font-size: large;">action plan.</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' What
is not mentioned is that a display of government force against the
Left and some Democrats will encourage extra-legal fascist and
ultra-nationalist militias to physically attack leftists and anyone
else they can. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Can this reactionary program be achieved? There are
real roadblocks in the way, but as we've found before, Trump and the
government do unexpected things and sometimes 'quantity leads to
quality.' Trump will put his own megalomaniacal, vicious stamp on this program and speed it up as fast as possible. According to trackers he's made 250 suggestions on how to limit or upend U.S. bourgeois democracy. Complacency is not a solution, nor is simplistic 'both sidesism.'</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEO7jaFUMwU68jROYiy7cY7iilcf1O_rzVj69gCvHT0QiMmy4LzW_1CNrfhsEGMUHE7hw_BKdISYiwjAUqogA5XhSoUYqexQZiiO1ViEwgnD5SOHHtgbs75d4B1FRyDJ90M-uiIKoJtXCEVosCf7VhbP7oD3Dj2rC_L79lxlgPtokAlqCQdMfIkyIJkBAb/s1280/af1.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="1280" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEO7jaFUMwU68jROYiy7cY7iilcf1O_rzVj69gCvHT0QiMmy4LzW_1CNrfhsEGMUHE7hw_BKdISYiwjAUqogA5XhSoUYqexQZiiO1ViEwgnD5SOHHtgbs75d4B1FRyDJ90M-uiIKoJtXCEVosCf7VhbP7oD3Dj2rC_L79lxlgPtokAlqCQdMfIkyIJkBAb/w400-h265/af1.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">British anti-fascist painting against Mosely in 1930s</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
answer is unity between unions, political, community and socialist
organizations, along with all other anti-fascists, to form an
Anti-Fascist Front in the worst case scenario. The AFF would defend the class against
fascists first of all. It would recruit in the military and national
guard and field its own political representatives to run in local
elections. It would form armed defense units. It would recruit from
the ranks of Democratic Party voters, and even some political reps of
the DP - but </span><u style="font-size: large;">not form a political block</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> with the leadership of
the DP. It would gather the majority of independents and recruit
worker voters from the Republican Party who would soon feel the
damage. It would become an uncompromising left pole of attraction for every force opposed
to </span><u style="font-size: large;">Project 2025</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">From
my information </span><u style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Project 2025</u><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> has nothing yet explicitly
attacking unions except those in federal agencies. There is nothing
about international policy - yet. Not a word about Bannon's <i>'Chinese Bio-Weapons</i>.' There nothing yet about new rules
for Wall Street or eliminating rules for Wall Street, as perhaps Wall
Street already has everything it wants. There is no mention of Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid or other 'safety net' programs - as yet.
But this is only a matter of time. One of the authors, Stephen Moore, is a fervent supporter of privatizing social security for Wall Street. The wish and fantasy is for the
Far Right to thoroughly control the military, the legal system, the
media, the educational system, the police, the financial system,
welfare programs and every branch of government through
'semi-gradual' means – small, medium and large shocks short of a
real coup. Victor Orban's rule in Hungary is a partial example, though he is heavily funded by the EU and usually sells his politics for a dime. Other authoritarians like Putin and Netanyahu do not. This plan actually reflects weakness of an astounding kind -
a crisis of the capitalist form of bourgeois democracy and profit
economics that is happening across the globe - and now in the heart of
the world capitalist system.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In
response, the most Left elements in the AFF can promote a transitional approach to socialism as
the only way out in their bid to defend the great majority of
workers, unemployed, self-employed, retired, students, minorities, small
businessmen and farmers in the U.S. But any AFF will come under
increased attack by the police and government entities. Just look at the violent threats and actions already against anyone the hard right dislikes. This will
not be pretty if it comes to pass, especially in its worst form. Be prepared!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">P.S. - Trump just said he'd cut Social Security, the plan of his Wall Street backers. He also promises 'a bloodbath' if not elected.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-size: large;">“Fascism,”
“Trump,” “Who Were the January 6</i><sup><i>th</i></sup><i style="font-size: large;">
Rioters?” “Capitol Riot,” “Anti-Fascism Series,” “In the
Red Corner,” “Transitional Program,” “United Front,”
“Anti-Fascist Front,” “It Can't Happen Here” (S. Lewis), "The Shock Doctrine" (Klein).</i></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">May
Day Books has many books, newspapers and pamphlets on the fight
against fascism and its variations. Buy one and educate yourself.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Red
Frog</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">February
28, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-73286612555415986442024-02-25T08:41:00.009-06:002024-02-27T15:01:05.852-06:00Shipboard Rebels<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>The
Creole Rebellion<span style="font-size: 20pt;"> – the Most
Successful Slave Revolt in U.S. History” by Bruce Chadwick, 2022</span></b></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">...and,
if that's true, it happened on a ship in 1841. The </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
was a slave ship heading from Virginia to New Orleans to deliver its
'cargo' to the large plantations of the deep South. It had to 'round
Florida and that meant sailing close to the British Bahamas and
Nassau. In 1833 the U.K. had outlawed slavery so any U.S. slaves
were free from servitude if they got to British soil. The leader of
the rebellion, Madison Washington, a formerly free man who had been
captured trying to free his wife, knew that. He planned a slave
uprising on the ship and an eastern voyage to Nassau Town on the former pirate island of New Providence that was now a
multi-ethnic haven.</span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6MuW265Wn4nwqwc10LzK7p2oaYxlv7cqPoPnL3TVGbxGKVyL_LxbcZtCx0J6ShBM9QGedBgvMUmAWbBCa51NzqP3cOpXKrXAD9MmO9XltXnkovCALSQHhPwbSOTneELNgWb3Gl80ylgsm8mKt3UEGSGH986zJ7JNWm-7nJzY9_nIVC3YZWrwPV2c-L9t/s637/creb1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="461" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6MuW265Wn4nwqwc10LzK7p2oaYxlv7cqPoPnL3TVGbxGKVyL_LxbcZtCx0J6ShBM9QGedBgvMUmAWbBCa51NzqP3cOpXKrXAD9MmO9XltXnkovCALSQHhPwbSOTneELNgWb3Gl80ylgsm8mKt3UEGSGH986zJ7JNWm-7nJzY9_nIVC3YZWrwPV2c-L9t/w290-h400/creb1.jpg" width="290" /></span></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">It's
an extraordinary story that mostly devolves into a legal and
political struggle between the U.S. and Britain. Unlike the prior
story of the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Amistad</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
that was loaded with Africans who had never been formally put in
bondage, the U.S. considered the 140 slaves on board the 'property'
and 'cargo' of slave buyers in New Orleans. They were just like
bananas or guns or barrels of oil. Earlier slave ships had foundered
on the reefs of the Bahamas - the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Hermosa</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">,
the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Comet, </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">the</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>
Enterprise</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> and the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Encomium
- </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">and all
slaves aboard were freed by British Bahamian authorities. Nassau
itself was now mostly a black town with black police and soldiers.
The twist in this story is that the 19 mutineers, in the chaotic
fight onboard, killed one passenger who was a slave trader and
severely injured the captain. When the rebels arrived off Nassau in
control of the ship it became a legal question of murder and
violence.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">In
an amazing scene off the harbor of Nassau, dozens of boats manned by
black Bahamians surrounded the anchored </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
hoping all would be freed. The U.S. tried to seize the vessel with a
small group of soldiers from a nearby fleet ship. Their boat was
blocked by the civilians around the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole
</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">and Bahamian
soldiers on board. 116 slaves who had not participated in the mutiny
left the brig and later escaped to the rest of the Caribbean. The
tough British Governor did not stop them, as he told them there were
no charges against them. 5 women and children stayed onboard. The
remaining 19 were locked up, including Washington, pending a decision
on what to do by London.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><u><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Politics,
Slavery and War</span></b></u></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">To
abolitionists in the North and a few in the South they were heroes.
Washington, a strong, careful and smart leader, was lionized.
Frederick Douglass wrote a novella about him. Washington had
protected the crew and captain's family, nursed all the injured and
tamped down any further bloodshed – perhaps to his detriment. Some
thought he should have run the ship aground and fled onto the island,
avoiding any legal process at all.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">However
to president Tyler, a Whig Virginian who inherited the presidency
after the death of Harrison, these men were pirates and murderers.
Prior to this Tyler had vetoed a proposal for a National Bank of the
United States that was passed by Congress in the face of a disastrous
recession, showing his free-market 'Jacksonian' tendencies. This is
something that would get Congress labeled communist nowadays, but
then it was just a sensible solution the insolvency of so many
private banks. This veto had brought the ire of Henry Clay, John
Quincy Adams and nearly all of his Whig Party. The </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
changed that. Now Tyler could play the nationalist hero by
thundering against Britain, even though he himself supposedly opposed
unpaid forced and imprisoned labor. The </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
was part of a line of uprisings on ships – the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Deux
Soeurs</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">, the
</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Augusta</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">,
the </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Decatur </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">–
that had freed captive slaves. The British, with international
support, had even boarded suspect U.S. slave ships in the Atlantic
and released the captives. This had all pissed off U.S. nationalists
and Southern slavers to no end.</span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJ3U2GX3t42R5ZKVIm2TRo-SvdPo6iW3Fq8bttdP5xvH6Zd1DZ1IY7JyAg8KtErMnj4HNE_BhFny67SSNEWc3JZw9LCcIDlmwh2l6SZkbCWDvYlme9ukoAQJfHFOh2As45dPEnHZQbLewEqM8mK5c1JPXgCAR_LwIISjHvRQXSLyt0pwQa8dyD1012Ztc/s525/madwash.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="525" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJ3U2GX3t42R5ZKVIm2TRo-SvdPo6iW3Fq8bttdP5xvH6Zd1DZ1IY7JyAg8KtErMnj4HNE_BhFny67SSNEWc3JZw9LCcIDlmwh2l6SZkbCWDvYlme9ukoAQJfHFOh2As45dPEnHZQbLewEqM8mK5c1JPXgCAR_LwIISjHvRQXSLyt0pwQa8dyD1012Ztc/w400-h214/madwash.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Madison Washington - Knowledge, kindness & force</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
Crown's barristers concluded that the murder happened in
international waters, so the U.K. had no jurisdiction. There was no
present extradition treaty with the U.S., so the men were not
required to be sent back. The Governor had acted correctly in not
blocking the remaining freedmen from leaving the </span></span><span><i>Creole.</i></span><span><span style="font-style: normal;">
The action of the slaves was not an act of piracy and the assertion
that 'cargo' and human beings were equivalent was nonsense. They
concluded that the only way for the 19 to be returned to the U.S. for
trial would be by a </span></span><span><span style="font-style: normal;"><u>voluntary</u></span></span><span><span style="font-style: normal;">
act of 'international goodwill.' A U.S. Supreme Court justice and
the head of the DOJ privately agreed that the U.S. had no legal
jurisdiction over the matter.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">It
was up to the politicians to negotiate in the context of an outraged
South gunning for war and many irritated nationalists of both
parties. Daniel Webster, an ostensible U.S. opponent of slavery and
Lord Ashburton, a prominent British lawyer and politician, conducted
the talks in 1842. Ashburton was part of the Baring family of prominent bankers. At the same time J.Q. Adams was advocating the
freeing of the 19 anti-slavery rebels. He thundered against Southern
human bondage in an address to Congress over his being accused of
criminal treason and breaking a gag order. The </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>Creole</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
issue had reinvigorated the abolitionists in the U.S. and this had
intruded into the Congress. The ghosts of Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey,
Gabriel Prosser, the Stono rebels and various lessor insurrectionists haunted the South, and now
Madison Washington had done the same. Some white men were hung for helping the rebellions, such as in north Georgia and other southern areas.</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">What
happened? Chadwick covers the micro-history of all the twists and
turns of the Tyler presidency, the chief characters involved, the
testimony of the crew, a look at the anti-slavery movement; the end
of the gag rule in the House over talking about slavery and the
inclusion of Texas in the U.S. as a slave state. Tyler wanted to
absorb Texas as part of compensation for losing the </span><i>Creole</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
case. On April 16, 1842 a Nassau court released the remaining 17
freedmen prisoners, as 2 had died in gaol. No one knows what happened
to Washington after that. In 1855 the blasted slavers got partial
compensation from the U.K. for their losses from ship incidents like
the </span><i>Creole</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">. They
nevertheless hoped that Britain would eventually take their side in a
war, given it needed cotton. But like the Bahamians surrounding the
</span><i>Creole</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">, the British
people would have no truck with bondage. All of this, partly spurred
by the national sensation of the </span><i>Creole</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
mutiny, became a prelude to the Civil War 5 years later.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>P.S.
- Slaver ship wrecks found off Bahamas far north of Nassau - 2/25/24
</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Guardian</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
story: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/25/highway-to-horror-14-wrecked-slavers-ships-are-identified-in-bahamas">Sunk
Slave Ships Discovered</a></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i>“American
Myth,” “Black Sails,” “The Civil War in the United States”
(Marx-Engels); “Mr Turner” (Mike Leigh); “12 Years a Slave,”
“Slavery By Another Name,” “Caste” (Wilkerson); “Fire on
the Mountain” (Bisson); “Life Under the Jolly Roger,”
“Spartacus” (Fast); “Class Struggle in the Roman Republic”
(Woods).</i></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, GA library. <u>Support your local library!</u></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">May
Day has books on slavery, both fiction and non-fiction, where every month is 'black history month.'</span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Red
Frog / 2/25/24</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-14671830338295436502024-02-22T08:28:00.011-06:002024-03-11T16:18:37.930-05:00College Library Browsing #10: Sadness is it's Own Reward<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Left-Wing
Melancholia<span style="font-size: 20pt;"> – Marxism, History
and Memory” by Enzo Traverso, 2016</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
book looks at the situation of the Left after what Traverso considers
a world-historic defeat of communism. That consists of the fall of
the bureaucratic socialist USSR, the central-eastern European
workers' states and the degeneration of the mass Socialist and
Communist parties in various countries. Gramsci's '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">war of
position</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' was posed in the 1920s and Traverso considers it lost.
Traverso seems to be unaware of present vital efforts to keep Marxism
alive, but lets hear what he has to say. Traverso dates the change
in socialist attitudes to the 1980s and 1990s. In the 1970s and
before Left victories over colonialism, apartheid, various dictators,
capitalism and the U.S. defeat in Vietnam gave the Left an
optimistic, emancipatory boost. After this period he considers the
Marxist goal of a human 'utopia' off the table. The future now no
longer exists in his view, just an endless 'presentism' and the dead
hand of the reactionary past.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvWyN7YHcAG7wWK3hB6m74MqT8Xp0RpM8EopC9to3dTpxaubCBY-DJ0JD7PQ9Ox00XFLRUcp0lYmNtoej_Kvt-4KYDuv6vtSIVfPxr3ciyGSOcl4WbpcnssMmIgvGlBFsvD5M6pC5OjNIb_f9YuFignYJ-UGJ8N8JgkNplgGyNN5D5Hh2yBYOBtYK2RlpG/s1024/lwmt.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="683" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvWyN7YHcAG7wWK3hB6m74MqT8Xp0RpM8EopC9to3dTpxaubCBY-DJ0JD7PQ9Ox00XFLRUcp0lYmNtoej_Kvt-4KYDuv6vtSIVfPxr3ciyGSOcl4WbpcnssMmIgvGlBFsvD5M6pC5OjNIb_f9YuFignYJ-UGJ8N8JgkNplgGyNN5D5Hh2yBYOBtYK2RlpG/w266-h400/lwmt.webp" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">These
defeats take the form of a Leftist melancholia, which in Traverso's
survey is part nostalgia, part tragedy, part defeat, part memory,
part history, part sorrow, part martyrs, part tradition, part
inspiration. Victims became the special focus in this vein,
especially the memory of the Holocaust, slavery or Jim Crow, the Red
Scare, Shirtwaist or the hanging of Joe Hill. Agency and Left
victories are forgotten in the general warp and weave - except in the
small circles of the hard left. My main issue with this book is
'why'? Is the book only an elegiac and academic description of the
present or does it posit some move forward beyond melancholia?</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Traverso
tracks how defeat has always been a part of the Marxist revolutionary
myth. Supposedly you 'l</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ose until you win</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.' Defeats and
heroism are remembered in order to give historic impetus to </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">further</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
class struggle and victories. The 1848 Paris revolt and the later
1870 Paris Commune especially played that role; the defeat of 1905 as
a 'dress rehearsal' for the Russian revolution of 1917; the crushing
of the various 1919 revolutions in Europe inspired the revolts of the
'30s and '40s, including the Chinese Revolution. In our time the death of Che Guevara, the
assassination of Malcolm X, the crushing of the Panthers, the
overthrow of Allende all 'infuse' this myth. Prior to the 1990s a
certain teleological, optimistic certainty about '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the future is
ours</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' was more common among many leftists. Earlier, in the face
of fascism, both Luxemburg and Trotsky had spoken of '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">socialism or
barbarism.</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' That seems to be our present 'melancholic'
situation. The environmental situation does not encourage optimism
either, though it destroys 'free market' logic in spades.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Traverso
hints that actual socialists must embrace both the past, present and
future. However it is obvious that many far leftists dwell in the
past in various ways, and have no conception of how the future will
actually arrive. Traverso ignores China, but some find their
'optimism' in the CCP and state-led development of China. It's a thin
reed that </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">does not translate in a
mass way even in China. Nor does China make any effort to export
'revolution' and actually never has. Others cling to anyone who
opposes</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> the U.S., no matter from what position – authoritarian,
leftist, theocratic, conservative, Republican or fascist. This kind of reflexive
'anti-imperialism' abandons a socialist future or any actual plan to
get there. It is another 'melancholy' symptom.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Cultural
Arty Facts</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">To
make his points other than through voluminous and erudite quotes,
Traverso looks at various Italian communist neo-realist films, along
with political ones from Latin America. As he puts it “<i>Defeat
had turned communism into a realm of memory.</i>” Pontecorvo's
'<i>Battle of Algiers</i>' and the anti-colonial film '<i>Burn</i>'
come in for special attention. Others are the post-Soviet film about
central Europe, “<i>Ulysses Gaze;</i>” the French film, “<i>A
Grin Without a Cat;</i>” Ken Loach's “<i>Land and Freedom</i>”
about the Spanish Civil War and films about post-Allende Chile – in
particular “<i>Santa Fe Street</i>” and “<i>Nostalgia for the
Light</i>.” He brings up C.L.R. James' analysis of <i>Moby Dick</i>
as Melville's 1851 parable about capitalism leading to
totalitarianism. Quite prescient! </span></span>
</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZH025w2JzzdM16YrOPFTjzJiDrECOLHJ9mUQoB6mfU6H-mHf8eczG4YJJmvZOfaEnRa_luLYHOTyB5wfqYOWVF8CR6XCSEhPBmSfj_e4wF88SOESv0quxR9qO3R4fKeGermDEIcYftfLY9ql3sOaq4_gHqgaQuDiM4yibo-iRMTi4pCKirnpD_B_smJbr/s876/The%20Desperate%20Man.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="720" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZH025w2JzzdM16YrOPFTjzJiDrECOLHJ9mUQoB6mfU6H-mHf8eczG4YJJmvZOfaEnRa_luLYHOTyB5wfqYOWVF8CR6XCSEhPBmSfj_e4wF88SOESv0quxR9qO3R4fKeGermDEIcYftfLY9ql3sOaq4_gHqgaQuDiM4yibo-iRMTi4pCKirnpD_B_smJbr/w329-h400/The%20Desperate%20Man.jpg" width="329" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Courbet self-portrait: Desperate Man</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Traverso
looks at 1800s 'Bohemia' in Paris – at the time the marginal realm
of anti-government plotters, anarchists, dissident artists and
intellectuals, petty criminals, drinkers and layabouts who were
neither part of the intelligentsia nor full-on lumpens. Marx was
mostly hostile to this strata, considering them basically
lumpen-proletarians, but Traverso sees this sub-cultural strata
splitting or shifting based on the times and political situation.
Bohemia went on to be called the Lost Generation, the Flappers and
Jazzmen, the Surrealists, the Existentialists, the Beats, the
Hippies, the Punks, then the Rappers, Hip-Hoppers and the Hipsters.
But these counter-cultural strata changed or were crushed, to the
point that a real Bohemia is invisible now. The real Bohemia has
become a semi-proletarian underground of marginalized persons with no
public face. It's public U.S. face – hipster and hip-hop - has
been commodified and captured, another melancholic development.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Traverso
chooses to highlight Courbet, a Bohemian utopian-socialist painter
who put '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">le peuple</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' and symbols of the people at the center of
his art, an art that mourned the failed revolutions of 1848 and 1871.
Baudelaire, Heine, Flaubert and Herzen all reflected these bloody
defeats as well. Baudelaire, the author of “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">La Fleurs de Mal</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">,'
took part in the 1848 revolt, manned a barricade and escaped the
slaughter. But Baudelaire was also an anti-Semite, reflecting the
Janus-faced nature of this unstable 'declasse' artistic strata. This
strata eventually produced revolutionaries like Breton and outright
fascists like Celine and Marinetti. As Traverso points out Marx,
Benjamin and Trotsky, along with Greenwich Village's John Reed, all
lived unstable 'bohemian' lives for a long time.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Colonialism
and Imperialism</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Traverso
places an emphasis on how Marx's situation in Europe in the 1800s
conditioned his world-view. While Marx understood capitalism and
traced the roots of colonialism, he was not the theorist of
imperialism and the revolutionary role of national-democratic
struggles as was Lenin. Marx was critical of Toussaint l'Overture,
the Mexican Revolution's Zapata and Villa and Latin America's Simon Bolivar. These
had to wait for later Marxists to trace their emancipatory role or to
lead national-liberation and anti-dictatorial struggles. He makes
the point that Marx's concept of an unchanging '<i>Asiatic mode of
production</i>' was an approximation regarding relatively unknown
economies to Europeans, mostly based on Morgan's work. Later Marxists
have refined that analysis of early production economies. Traverso, a
French academic, does not believe that capital played a revolutionary
role in developing the forces of production. What role did it play
then? A continuation of feudalism? Marx excoriated colonialism over
its violent and exploitative 'primitive accumulation of capital' in
Ireland, in India, in Peru and the slave economy of the U.S. Yet why
this discussion is in a book on '<i>left-wing melancholia</i>' I do
not know. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
connection seems to be the development of 'Western Marxism” (a
misnomer) and post-colonial theory. The Frankfurt School, in the
face of the triumph of bureaucracy in the USSR, advent of fascism
in Germany and Italy and the decay of the European Left reflected a
retreat from 'classical' Marxism into a cultural refuge. Their
product is what the Republicans call 'cultural Marxism.' Similarly
“post-colonial theory' grew out of opposition to classical Marxism
based on the collapse of the Soviet bureaucracies. Absent any class
and economic analysis, post-colonialism diverted the struggle against
capitalism into an ethnic conflict, even when using the term
'intersectional.' The two – post-colonial theory and 'Western' Marxism - finally united in the university academy, a fusion we live
with to this day. I guess this is melancholy as theory. It also has
the smell of revolutionary defeat.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Traverso
looks at the sadness of Benjamin and Adorno in the face of the twin
defeats of the 1940s, fascism and the brutal bureaucracy in the USSR.
They argued over jazz, over Surrealism, over culture, over how to
defeat fascism, over capitalism. Benjamin thought Marxism had to
become 'messianic' – a Red version of liberation, a religio-secular
movement. Traverso then moves on to Daniel Bensaid, a younger French
Trotskyist involved in May-June 1968, who later played a role as a
bridge between different Marxist currents. Bensaid embraced both a
utopian vision and Benjamin's messianic method - or something like
that according to Traverso. This is the kind of vague direction that makes you yearn for 'classic' Marxism.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">At
the end Traverso has no answer to Left melancholia, so this is purely
an analysis of the present and near past and nothing else. In its
own way it is an academic product of that tendency. Not that there
is nothing to mourn about. But as Joe Hill pointed out: “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mourn
but Organize!</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“One Way
Street” (Benjamin); “Did Someone Say Totalitarianism?”(Zizek);
“The Melancholia of the Working Class,” “How to Read a History
Book,” “How Will Capitalism End?” “A Walk Through Paris,”
“Marxist Criticism of the Bible,” “Transatlantic,” “Marxist
Theory of Art.”</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">May
Day Books has many volumes on Left cultural and theoretical writing.
Educate yourself! I got this from the UGA Library.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Red
Frog / February 22, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-65265106890268212582024-02-19T09:41:00.015-06:002024-02-23T10:28:45.741-06:00The Carceral State of Florida<p> <span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 24pt;">“</span><b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 36pt;">The
Nickel Boys”</span></b><b><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="font-size: 18pt;"> by Colson Whitehead, 2019</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is
a true fiction story based on a state boys 'reform' school in Marianna, Florida
in the Florida panhandle. The place was called the Arthur Dozier School for
Boys at the time, but here it is named the Nickel School. It was established in
1900 and closed in 2011 due to overwhelming problems. Like the Christian/Canadian Govt. indigenous boarding
schools in Canada and the U.S., or the Catholic/Irish Govt. Madeleine Laundries / Asylums in Ireland,
bodies and bones were found in unmarked graves on the school grounds. You can
still look at the remains of the school on <i>Google Maps</i>, see it's most
notorious building and locate its official cemetery off in the woods.</span></b><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXAFOE9aBx52eLmcW3K4NkK6xwH08oefge3atGtohvvyB4ud4nh27D4Hb6hgi4Q1obDo3OiYYPzo5SxASe5yq3EYr087IUDEQlaKd3n9PXhcnenMNsNItGvJbvzKJBRtBTpKxUEopn-3OAXnUSM5eYsqR4mhlvWqNMAi5fMANiFIP6BcdFu0dC-ezlffj/s1200/nick1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="778" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZXAFOE9aBx52eLmcW3K4NkK6xwH08oefge3atGtohvvyB4ud4nh27D4Hb6hgi4Q1obDo3OiYYPzo5SxASe5yq3EYr087IUDEQlaKd3n9PXhcnenMNsNItGvJbvzKJBRtBTpKxUEopn-3OAXnUSM5eYsqR4mhlvWqNMAi5fMANiFIP6BcdFu0dC-ezlffj/s320/nick1.jpg" width="207" /></a></b></div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The key character is Elwood, a 17 year old high school student. He's a bright,
dark-skinned boy from Tallahassee who gets caught in a stolen car while he's
hitch-hiking to attend a college course. He's sent to Nickel as a car thief
even though the driver was the thief. It's 1963 or so and the U.S. legal
system, especially in Florida, is racist and ridiculous. So what does Elwood
learn in his time at Nickel?<br />
<br />
He meets a street-smart friend, Turner. He learns that the education there is a
joke. After he tries to break up a fight, he learns that vicious corporal
punishment is administered in a small storage shed called the 'White House.'
The White House is where torture and beatings are administered under the loud
whir of an industrial fan. He is beaten bloody. He learns that medical care
consists of aspirin and aspirin only. He finds out that state goods for the
school are sold to local businesses by the managers of the school and that
kid's labor is loaned out to various local big-wig business people for free. He
understands that several are killed for standing up to the top boss or escaping
and later, secretly buried after being taken 'out back.' He learns that some
boys are raped in closets by staff or other boys; some stuck in sweat-boxes as
punishment – one dying. Tiny rooms at the top of the dorms become isolation
cells. He finds out that the schools' products – bricks, harvested food and a
print shop – are profitable for the state, while the boys are paid nothing. He
learns how to hide his feelings and curb any visible instinct to rebel or help.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkF75iIMFFNWygXB3ebLeJlt0e9VDukgAH8EMoSNm87x1RxjxV5jUQKOTc2XnFvzFdpr9Py5frWKdh0nKZgt3RqbzBA76hYfHetJJkZ639H7LTbofeAdRincxLP70fxmswRaOFg-zcgl2Kg13GQNlEkTJhWKue9dBTByzZRB7mFUer7Ypn6KPEbNe_6dMU/s640/wthse1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="640" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkF75iIMFFNWygXB3ebLeJlt0e9VDukgAH8EMoSNm87x1RxjxV5jUQKOTc2XnFvzFdpr9Py5frWKdh0nKZgt3RqbzBA76hYfHetJJkZ639H7LTbofeAdRincxLP70fxmswRaOFg-zcgl2Kg13GQNlEkTJhWKue9dBTByzZRB7mFUer7Ypn6KPEbNe_6dMU/w400-h226/wthse1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 'white house' at Dozier / Nickel</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the time Elwood attends, the school is segregated by skin color, as its
still Jim Crow time. 600 boys are incarcerated there, of all skin colors - but the darker got it worst. After his ordeal,
Whitehead tells the supposed story of Elwood in New York where he meets and
hears about some other former boys from Nickel or places like it. They are dead
in Vietnam or former army, alcoholic and drugged, unable to hold a job, violent
or troubled in many ways. Elwood seems to be doing the best.<br />
<br />
How does Elwood try to get out? He rejects 'loving thy enemy' preached by Dr.
King. Instead he writes to the <i>Chicago Defender</i> and takes
notes of all the goings on – especially the embezzling of food. He believes the
white Florida state inspectors will take heed and he won't get caught. After
all, it's the civil rights movement and he's inspired by letters like the one
from King's Birmingham jail cell. But inspiration isn't enough. Hey muthafucka,
it's the Jim Crow South, as (Nat) Turner might have told him.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whitehead ignored the white boys in the school, betraying a bit of Black nationalism in his writing. The only good white person is one of the staff who hauls Elwood and Turner around town to deliver stolen goods to local businessmen. While the dark-skinned kids get it far worse, the light-skinned kids were abused too, given the testimony. This is the method of racism in a class society, as both are the real targets. White rednecks, wiggers, crackers, hillbillies - all were also looked down and made poor by Jim Crow and the present South.<br />
<br />
Eventually, after reporting by the <i>Tampa Bay Times</i>, the school becomes a
national scandal full of gruesome discoveries. It is perhaps worse than a
Dickensian orphanage and work house, but also a commentary on the incarceration
state in the U.S. that is still going on. It is important that this story is
not just located in the distant past, but was uncovered somewhat recently. So
many current historical anti-racist novels only center slavery or Jim Crow without touching
the present. After all, the 'present' is the thing that we deal with now and
ignoring it is a form of safely historicizing social reality, of shoving it
into the past, of distancing. This is a riveting personal story of two boys,
based on historical truth. It will keep you glued to your reading chair.<br />
<br />
Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms:<i> “The South – Jim
Crow & It's Afterlives” (A. Reed); “The New Jim Crow” (Alexander); “Caste”
(Wilkerson); “Rustin,” “No Name in the Street” (Baldwin); “Are Prisons
Obsolete?” (A. Davis); “Selma” (Duvernay); “Prison Strike Against Modern
Slavery,” “Just Mercy,” Slavery by Another Name.”</i><br />
<br />
May Day Books has many leftish fiction books and books on Jim Crow. I got this from the Athens GA public library.<br />
<br />
Red Frog / February 19, 2024</span></b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-38811652205135575012024-02-16T11:43:00.021-06:002024-02-29T11:42:40.648-06:00Who Do You Owe?<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <b style="font-size: 26pt;">Debt,
Prices & Credit:</b></span></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
U.S. Blue Collar Recession </b></span></span>
</span></p>
<ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Auto
loan debt: <u>$1.607
Trillion - Q4/2023</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
auto loan outstanding: <span style="text-decoration: none;">
$23,809 - Q3/2023</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
New Pickup Truck price: $60,000 -
Q3/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
New Car price:
$49,388 - Q2/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Median
U.S. House price: $387,600 -
Q4/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mortgage
debt: <u>$12.252
Trillion - Q4/2023</u> </span></span>
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Derivatives
held on Wall Street & elsewhere: <u><b>$268 Trillion</b></u><u>
- Q3/2023</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Student
debt: <u>$1.601
Trillion - Q4/2023</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Credit
Card debt: <u>$1.129
Trillion - Q4/2023</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Total
household debt: <u>$17.3 Trillion -
Q3/2023</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">U.S.
Government debt: <u>$34.233 Trillion - February 14, 2024</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">U.S.
Corporate debt: <u>$3.1 Trillion
- Q3/2022</u></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Medical
Debt: $220 Billion, Q4/2021 - 22% over $5,000 2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
insurance price for houses: $1,678 yr. - Feb, 2024</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
insurance price for cars: $1,982 yr. - Feb.
2024</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Avg.
Rent: $1,372 mth.
- Q2/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Median
House Price: $417,700 -
Q4/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Home
Foreclosures: Up 9% from 2022, up 193% from 2021</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commercial
property foreclosures: Data? A 'bad outlook.'</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Car
Debt Delinquent: 7.7% -
Q4 /2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Car
repossessions: Up 20.4% -
Q4/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Credit
Card Debt Delinquent: 8.5% - Q4/2023
</span></span>
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Commercial
Chap. 11 Bankruptcies: 6,569 - Q4/2023</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Personal
Bankruptcies: 419,550 –
Q4/2023</span></span></p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBbEo7-FnjGezsVe4eQ4CUedhEDY4et1nG6rxxXKpNNaLpEZl40K2qfaZ558XS3q_2YEjSroXKKoFiFrq0FqcIzPfURxqmakSnKvavpTiVkSjXmtlLlQhUWZ14GRRAfyoA4kFX2N-Djeq4CcCKyuRsZ5YTpQpj79W2KsZn2cJlpuKiAqjAWC9HsTpQMSc/s2000/debt%20bomb.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtBbEo7-FnjGezsVe4eQ4CUedhEDY4et1nG6rxxXKpNNaLpEZl40K2qfaZ558XS3q_2YEjSroXKKoFiFrq0FqcIzPfURxqmakSnKvavpTiVkSjXmtlLlQhUWZ14GRRAfyoA4kFX2N-Djeq4CcCKyuRsZ5YTpQpj79W2KsZn2cJlpuKiAqjAWC9HsTpQMSc/w400-h266/debt%20bomb.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Debt Bomb</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Note
the number of derivative debts and bets – 10 times larger than the whole world GDP
economy. This is also part of the 'Snowball' crash in the Chinese
stock markets, the shadow banking shortfalls, as well as the severe real estate recession in China. This is a crisis for the large capitalist sector in the Chinese economy. The Snowball crash is
explained by Ellen Brown in </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Scheerpost:</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="https://scheerpost.com/2024/02/14/ellen-brown-defusing-the-derivatives-time-bomb-some-proposed-solutions/">Chinese
Market Crash</a> 5 large investment banks hold most of these
derivative bets here in the U.S. according to <i>Wall Street on Parade</i>.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">Even
buying a new car now is prohibitive, and that has always been a key
'American right.' Nearly all of these numbers are at all time highs
except house prices, which have fallen in some areas due to high interest
and insurance rates. Government CoVid and recession funding slowed debts like medical and student for awhile. Some figures are delayed or
hidden. Yet now trying to buy a new or used car, rent, buy a house
or get sick is going up again. The debt levels on some items will </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>never</u></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">
be re-paid – like derivatives, federal, corporate debt or even
mortgage, credit card, medical and student debt. I suspect the 'corporate debt' figure is a great undercount. It all adds up to a
very shaky capitalist economic structure, but also a vast burden on
the working class in all its aspects – the low-skilled, youth,
minorities, women, old people. This can't be fixed by some patchwork
legislation or tweaks. Debt is how workers have afforded to buy
things in the U.S. - but this kind of spending has limits beyond which capital has no plan except immiseration. </span></span></span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Michael Roberts has pointed out that 'debt,' speculation and recession are signs that the ordinary profit rate based on exploiting labor is not enough to float the capitalists. In other words profits are falling right now.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">So ... open the books, social control of the Federal Reserve, cancel debts, nationalize the banks, outlaw derivatives, social ownership of land, introduce a real 'sharing' economy, limit and control interest rates, free education, public ownership of housing, bring back Glass-Steagall, revoke Taft-Hartley and CFMA 2000, fight climate change through transitional steps towards full social control of production.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><u>Sources</u></b><span style="font-weight: normal;">: <i>Investopedia, Federal
Reserve, Wall Street on Parade, Cars.com, Kelly Blue Book, BLS,
Federal Debt Clock, Bankrate, Moodys, Reuters, Guardian, Statistica, Car Price.com, Petersen Study on Health Care.</i></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i><span style="font-size: large;">“The Debt
System,” “Debt & Capital,” “Debt – the First 5,000
Years” (Graeber); “The Debt Trap,” “J is for Junk Economics”
(Hudson); “Modern De Facto Slavery,” “The Deficit
Myth”(Kelton); “Liar's Poker” (M. Lewis); “Bad Money” (K.
Phillips).</span></i></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Red
Frog</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">February
16, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-75390783927690107002024-02-13T14:28:00.010-06:002024-03-02T12:12:47.861-06:00The Substitution of Individual Justice for Social Justice<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>True
Detective,”<span style="font-size: 20pt;">Season 1” by Nic
Pizzolatto, 2014</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Much
ink has been spilled this year on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">True Detective</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><i>, (Night Country),</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Season 4</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
because Jodi Foster and other women star in a cold, dark Alaska town
haunted by the murders of indigenous women and a bunch of ostensible
scientists. The Tuttle Corporation and the spiral
symbol carry over from Season 1 in this season. So far it's weaker
than Season 1 and a chunk too full of shamanic, magical bullshit.
It's just not enough to stick woman cops into the mix, put some black
lines on chins and sprinkle it with Inuit mysticism. The series
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alaska Daily</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> and the film </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wind River</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> actually made a
better case about the frequent murders of indigenous females. The last episode is a disaster of disconnected horrors, topped by a wishful bucket of revenge. Pizzolatto himself called it 'sloppy.' At least Alaska natives get in on Season 4. That's its only plus. Anyway ...</span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsYWwgz3vEmDBT_4QJ77UvRpEusXUvBd1ob-fz4XqMQh7L89608t7CVqxeuYoSIDkyM1G8sX6tfXMKoAdB0UniiZPXHgVujMoa5mfp6Bm9P6phhF1XLiHYDmCIl0RzwbGA1oLK3l61uGjYcmZBqODR2zi_wJ0XapRgWIiUG7LlOHuDREQ7vIo-bKaHjVJ/s1920/tds1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsYWwgz3vEmDBT_4QJ77UvRpEusXUvBd1ob-fz4XqMQh7L89608t7CVqxeuYoSIDkyM1G8sX6tfXMKoAdB0UniiZPXHgVujMoa5mfp6Bm9P6phhF1XLiHYDmCIl0RzwbGA1oLK3l61uGjYcmZBqODR2zi_wJ0XapRgWIiUG7LlOHuDREQ7vIo-bKaHjVJ/w400-h225/tds1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rust drinkin' Lone Star</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">True
Detective, Season 1</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> featured Woody Harrelson as Marty, a violent,
lazy good 'ol boy cop that cheats on his wife but is at bottom a
decent guy. The standout is Mathew McConaughey, hard as that is to
say given the scene chewing he's done in so many films. This time he
plays Rust, a depressed philosophic loner who's an expert at solving
murders and getting real confessions. His switch to being a
long-haired alcoholic part way through is riveting.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">There
are the usual amount of cop/detective tropes in this series, designed to get us to identify with or feel for the cops: </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
A troubled marriage for Marty and too much alcohol for Rust – i.e.
flawed cops. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Dead, mutilated or kidnapped women &
children. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> In the key chase scene Rust goes it alone
– of course. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Obstructive cop bosses trying to
derail the investigation. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Rust is the typical TV
genius cop, like no real ones. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Murders staged in
lonely, rural places – in this case Louisiana swamps, bayous,
fields or woods. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>7.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Fraught buddy cop relationship
that gets better between Rust and Marty. </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>8.</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Overly
lengthy, too complicated case that wears on itself.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
one introduces another familiar cliché – the creepy, barefoot
swamp peon with mental problems. It also highlights the most common
cliché – a rich family, in this case the Tuttles - one of whom is
the governor, another running the top fundamentalist sect and schools
in the state, and behind it all their large capitalist Tuttle
conglomerate. The Tuttle clan have massive pull among politicians, press and police, and are also evidently ritualistic abusers and perhaps
killers of children. It is as if their exploitative and corrupt
authoritarianism gets translated into secret murderous pedophilia - their picture of Dorian Grey. They get
off scot free behind their symbolic animal masks like the rich nearly
always do, while the peons pay. The masks might remind one of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Squid Game</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
where the rich killers also wear animal masks.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9j3OyQ9T7AHWtPekuPOEgGia7hMNygLGeYCsSKlj4sigB9jl5wO_IVjX-27kyuMTa8QtpVaurdAabOdgDNmDEv-UJcyi3FZMouqev6-CRIIozC61kIvUbHuy_ScIhhTNyMpYVNiTn4ARp8K5aRGK-IN5fEliHL08D7I_32ICxY4-VD0vrfsCKqhhwDwsu/s1038/1tdect1.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1038" data-original-width="700" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9j3OyQ9T7AHWtPekuPOEgGia7hMNygLGeYCsSKlj4sigB9jl5wO_IVjX-27kyuMTa8QtpVaurdAabOdgDNmDEv-UJcyi3FZMouqev6-CRIIozC61kIvUbHuy_ScIhhTNyMpYVNiTn4ARp8K5aRGK-IN5fEliHL08D7I_32ICxY4-VD0vrfsCKqhhwDwsu/w270-h400/1tdect1.webp" width="270" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Of
most interest is Rust's atheism and the connection between religion
and child abuse. Given the Southern Baptist, Catholic Church and Boy
Scout child sex abuse waves, this is not fiction. But I do not recall
a chief character making atheism such a central part of his point of
view. “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Sentient
meat”</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
is Rust's term for humans – i.e. we're just conscious animals.
Characters in other series briefly mention they don't believe in God,
or don't go to church, or something like that. Then this comment
competes with scenes of conservative, overdone religious marriages,
funerals and churches like everyone in TV U.S.A. is in the Sicilian Mafia living in 1950. Rust pounds his atheism to the point where Marty cautions him
over and over not to offend the Bible Belt sensibilities of the
rubes. Rust is a 'pure' atheist who does not link religion to class
or oppression, as most of the believers we see are poor,
working-class folks. He treats them kindly nevertheless, but not the preacher head of the fundamentalist schools. This considerate treatment of hated atheism is rare in the conventional zone of cop
shows. This season ranks above other 'detective' stories if only for
the characterizations, Rust's weird circular philosophy, his atheism
and the embedded anti-rich politics that allow it to rise above the
Louisiana tropic of tropes.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>What
is not rare is the repetition of the 'evil corporation' theme in so
many movies and streaming series. It seems to have almost </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><u>no
impact</u></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
on the actual political situation either because only a select class,
'liberal' or educated group watches this stuff or the divide between
culture and actual politics is canyon-like, with viewers segmenting
the two in their experience. It becomes more like an 'in group' wink
of shared knowledge. It clearly implies that 'cultural struggle' is
nearly always inadequate to actually changing anything. Will Season 4
change anything about male chauvinism, racism, murdered tribal
members or toxic mining? No, not in the real world.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Trope
Bingo for your next detective screenplay or viewing:</span></b></u></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>1.
A conflicted lead cop or detective, preferably divorced, with
alcohol, drug or emotional problems. </span></span></span>
</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">2.
Or perhaps he/she is near retirement, but needs to make 'one last
case.'</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">3.
The lead cop is always a kind of genius, no matter what.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">4.
If with children, a problematic teenage daughter who never listens.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">5.
If married, a bad relationship, partly due to the job.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">6.
If female, a hard-bitten but kind feminist.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">7.
Dead, kidnapped, imprisoned or mutilated women or girls or children
are the victims.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">8.
Murders preferably located in lonely areas or rural communities -
'exotic' locations preferred.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">9.
Nearly all witnesses lie or omit key information repeatedly.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">10.
Witnesses that are always too busy to answer questions.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">11.
Many red herrings and suspects.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">12.
A boss who obstructs the investigation for either political or CYA
reasons.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">13.
A forced police partner relationship that is fraught but gradually
gets better.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">14.
There will be autopsies with victims lying on tables with a 'V' cut.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">15.
Always send the lead detective out alone on perilous assignments.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">16.
There can never be too many complications.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">17.
The crime is many times connected to money or a sociopath of some
kind.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">18.
The actual killer is revealed in the last minute</span></span></span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">19.
A round at the bar is required.</span></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">20.
The substitution of solving an individual murder for broader social
justice.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: “</span><i style="color: #050505; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">detective,”
“Squid Game,” “Trapped and Detective Series in General,”
“This Rancid Mill,” “Streaming Run-Down,” “Redbreast,”
“Gorky Park” (Smith); “Comrade Detective,” “Blood Lake,”
“Karl Marx, Private Eye,” “Red Harvest” (Hammett)</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">Some
of the books listed above are available at May Day.</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: #050505;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Cultural Marxist / </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;">February
13, 2024</span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-52436907256392000722024-02-10T13:53:00.019-06:002024-02-21T15:30:34.933-06:00The Ride to the Sea<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Silent
Cavalry</span> <span style="font-size: 20pt;">– How Union
Soldiers From Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta and Then Got
Written Out of History” by Howell Raines, 2023 - </span></b></span></span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt;">(Part
2 of 2)</b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Confederate
and neo-Confederate sources repeatedly claimed the U.S.A. First Alabama Cavalry was undistinguished. Raines shows otherwise. He tries to liken their
role to the 20</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Maine on Little Round Top in the battle
of Gettysburg but they're different situations. The Alabama Federal
unit was quickly created by Union General Buell, and some soldiers were
loaned to the budding spy system of General Dodge. They helped as
spies in the siege of Vicksburg, the seizure of Chattanooga and the
siege of Atlanta, as well as providing cavalry screens for the
armies. Their local knowledge and accents helped immensely, as well
as their courage. Dodge had spies inside southern cities and roaming
the roads looking for Confed units and northern Alabama men were key.
1,000s of black freedmen went north and were used and recruited by
the Union too – 13 were even on the roster of the 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
Alabama.</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_rdfOW1rx6h6iLqTfgWF9Vn0GUF66QfEjsQlM0OcMt-fwJxehuBMoOsXNrwixiabVXuebOa5oFWATIXfGeHV5ELudaZjLJUYzHUzg-EnAgM9QmQD8FnC6lvNSMkMr1hF6DuJ1iNCkNe7bzWSbsxBt94OJM46K6-S4z1ZZZrmBzqbLmDFj4AG_mhDmJ1s/s500/silcav.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_rdfOW1rx6h6iLqTfgWF9Vn0GUF66QfEjsQlM0OcMt-fwJxehuBMoOsXNrwixiabVXuebOa5oFWATIXfGeHV5ELudaZjLJUYzHUzg-EnAgM9QmQD8FnC6lvNSMkMr1hF6DuJ1iNCkNe7bzWSbsxBt94OJM46K6-S4z1ZZZrmBzqbLmDFj4AG_mhDmJ1s/s320/silcav.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Nearly
every Union general had good things to say about the regiment and for
a few who didn't, they were said out of temporary ignorance or CYA.
The regiment was eventually split into 3 parts. They became
outriders for garrisons in major cities combating sabotage;
patrolling all along the Tennessee River valley in places like
Florence against units of Secesh cavalry under Morgan, Wheeler and
Forrest; and with Sherman's march through Atlanta to Savannah, then to Virginia.
Constant brushfire guerrilla battles between Union and Confed units
went on for most of the war in northern Alabama too, so you might say
that area never really seceded. Like eastern Tennessee and the rest
of mountainous Appalachia, Confederate control was nominal to
non-existent. This extended to the swamps of western Florida and
southeast Georgia and the farms of eastern Texas, which became no-go
areas for Confederate parties trying to round-up recruits and hogs to
butcher. </span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The
loyal Alabamians participated in the key battles of Stones River, Brice's Crossroads, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta and
on Sherman's march. Upon leaving Chattanooga Sherman made a group of
1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Alabama his personal bodyguard for the headquarters
group! Above Resaca near Dalton, Georgia they were running point.
They had a chance to help destroy the Confederate army when they and
others penetrated Snake Creek Gap on the Confederate western flank,
but were erroneously ordered to stop by McPherson. According to
Raines, at the battle of Allatoona Pass above Atlanta they, along
with a Kansas cavalry unit, rescued a Union garrison force besieged
by Hood. This battle is where the phrase '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">hold the fort</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">'
comes from, though there is disputation about this.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">While
Raines mentions the burning of Atlanta in his title, he has no
evidence cavalry soldiers were burning rail roundhouses and the like
in the city. That's just 'click-bait.' However one of his themes is
how aggressive these southern Unionists were against the slave
forces. They </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">could</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> have burned Atlanta and would have enjoyed
it!</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Marchin'
& Ridin' to the Sea</b></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">For
their skills, the First Alabama were chosen by Sherman to ride point
in the right, southern column of Sherman's 'march to the sea' –
Blair's XXVII Corps. They swept away Confederates, secured bridges,
towns and ferries, did recon, appropriated or destroyed military
hardware and enjoyed decimating some plantation properties. They
were part of a rowdy group that occupied the former Georgia state
capitol in Milledgeville. Prim and proper Blair tried to tell them to
back off in a letter to Sherman, but Sherman did nothing. After all,
gleeful foraging was part of the drill. Confederate raiders back
home were abusing the people of north Alabama, their kin, at the same
time and they knew this. Southern-fried historian Shelby Foote noted that not <u>one</u>
instance of rape was reported on the whole march, so there's that.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3I7S59KzhLuQt3twB8X7XSvgAHmu23IWQ6ozoY8tiaUGATVpr2zDlFNG_D-JmkVpJjTMoU9LrcQP7rh110HoDIRqRMWS0FUPIPUweXAgMwl2Aoh2MYuWwJl86ej5U5pVyrLWD6Tr72AD1SiKH78bfBvZW29ol4vF833qdXaPQpCv0zLoS388nt3dPAcR/s1920/Shermans-March-to-the-Sea.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="1920" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3I7S59KzhLuQt3twB8X7XSvgAHmu23IWQ6ozoY8tiaUGATVpr2zDlFNG_D-JmkVpJjTMoU9LrcQP7rh110HoDIRqRMWS0FUPIPUweXAgMwl2Aoh2MYuWwJl86ej5U5pVyrLWD6Tr72AD1SiKH78bfBvZW29ol4vF833qdXaPQpCv0zLoS388nt3dPAcR/w400-h263/Shermans-March-to-the-Sea.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sherman on the road to Savannah</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Their behavior reminds me of a character from the modern South, Madalyn Murray
O'Hair. The way to raise the most prominent atheist in the U.S. is
to stick them in some Bible-thumping state like Texas. So in this
war. An anti-slavery Georgia Unionist, George Snelling, born near Milledgeville
and Sherman's liaison with the First Alabama, directed Sherman to the
plantation of a general in the Confederate Army, Howell Cobb. Cobb
was a pompous politician in the U.S. House, a main speaker for
secession in Montgomery and an advocate of Andersonville. His
plantation was completely looted by Union soldiers and slaves. If
you find no justice in this, you're not paying attention. Maybe Ted
Cruz, Ron DeSantis, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Greg Abbott will
someday suffer this fate if they secede.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
First Alabama's role in Kilpatrick's U.S.A. cavalry was to block Joe
Wheeler's rebel cavalry along the route to Savannah. They succeeded in keeping him at bay in
constant skirmishing. They forded the major Oconee River at Ball's
Ferry in southeastern Georgia and attacked Confed forces, then were
forced back across the river. But the Union took the crossing that
day, constructing bridges and the army moved on. After the easy reduction of Fort McAllister south of the city, they led the victory parade down
Savannah's main street due to their service, contradicting the Lost
Cause myth that they had no role in the fighting. Heading north, they
routed Wheeler at Barnwell, South Carolina, sending his cavalrymen
into a desperate scatter. At Monroe's Crossing, South Carolina their
small command repulsed a night attack by Johnston massive forces,
turning it into a victory with the help of a well-placed cannon.
Reaching Raleigh and the surrender of Johnston's army, Sherman
ordered them home because of the constant fighting still going on in
north Alabama.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qXVaNTwHbrMtyrmsSpo2OFsbq0COnJDnsTSvkg5OsicFjKkV7gavwlvcTzYitDmJ1NHE8nZ9kCr2HYWVHy1rkRJ65iGmWz6aLmi506doP0HmB1HIrcUQfvnKj3yarMfYSl7tPOdflGfP41EEiRAlFbmv5VrO3my2vKND-38gFSueo7K9rUNxZEfUpmI4/s528/1900_reunion.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="528" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-qXVaNTwHbrMtyrmsSpo2OFsbq0COnJDnsTSvkg5OsicFjKkV7gavwlvcTzYitDmJ1NHE8nZ9kCr2HYWVHy1rkRJ65iGmWz6aLmi506doP0HmB1HIrcUQfvnKj3yarMfYSl7tPOdflGfP41EEiRAlFbmv5VrO3my2vKND-38gFSueo7K9rUNxZEfUpmI4/w400-h245/1900_reunion.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1900 Reunion of 1st AL Cavalry USA</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
Lost Causation</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Raines
goes into the Lost Cause bastion of Tuscaloosa, AL, home to the
University of Alabama, its 'crimson tide' and its 'Bama Rush,' a
college now full of rich frat and sorority brats from Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth.
The local post-war Tuscaloosa paper was run by a sociopathic
aristocrat, Ryland Randolph, who did more to promote Klan Klaverns
than Forrest. Later the University was a hotbed of Lost Cause
historiography, which Raines defines as not asking obvious questions
and ignoring information that opposed their thesis - and sometimes
outright lying or destruction of documents. He analyzes various Lost
Cause journalists, politicians and academics across the South - men
like Richmond's Edward Pollard and General Jubal Early and places like Vanderbilt in Nashville and Polk's University of the South in Sewanee, TN. </span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Pollard,
a vicious aristocratic imbecile, wrote the book “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Lost Cause</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">”
in 1866 and set the tone for </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>100</b></u><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> years of historical fiction. For Raines it
consists of 3 theses: 1. The “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">culturally superior, racially
homogeneous white</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">” South lost because of northern industrial
might and the crude '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">mongrels'</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> of the North. 2. The need to
win the continuing war by maintaining white dominance through
“</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">recalcitrance, legal trickery and political deals</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">.” 3.
The South didn't lose so much as was misled by the incompetent Jeff
Davis. Attach </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">the Robert E. Lee
cult and you've got yourself a real shit-story.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Early,
an incompetent Confederate general on the first day of Gettysburg, a
hesitator of the first order in his raid on D.C. and the loser of
the 1865 Shenandoah Valley</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> campaign, continued pushing the
myth. His blame was on Longstreet, the most competent of Lee's
generals. According to Raines Early was actually the central, drunken
figure in solidifying this racist, nationalist Southern story. Raines
has found evidence that Dunning worked with the disorganized Alabama
archives to make it “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">a Rebel Shrine</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">.” Raines makes hilarious
fun of a broad array of rich and powerful locals here, so its an
enjoyable romp – but still perhaps a too-deep dip into Alabama
politics for most. Raines describes the refutation of William
Dunning's Lost Cause mythology by recent historians Vann Woodward,
John Hope Franklin and Eric Foner, and the rediscovery of W.E.B. Du
Bois.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">In
1909 at the Waldorf Astoria the 'American' Historical Association met
and both Dunning and Du Bois were there. Du Bois wrote a paper about
the benefits of Reconstruction; the Dunning side presented their
racist, Jim Crow angle about the terror it inflicted on rich white
people, a period of “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Negro misrule</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">.” Du Bois spoke of the
vast increases in education, advances in public transportation,
fairer taxation and economic development, not to mention the spread
of democracy in ethnically diverse southern legislatures. Dunning
chose to ignore Du Bois, as did the idiot NY press, while printing
the vilifications of “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">an unreconstructed crank</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif">” from
Alabama named Chisholm. Birmingham's steel money and the Walker Percys paid
for the Lost Cause for another 60 years and this included a long family friendship
with Shelby Foote. As a 30-year old Foote wanted to blow up the
first Union memorial he saw, in Arizona. And there we have it –
later delivered right to your TV screen by Ken Burns. While still
disdaining blacks, Foote finally rejected segregation around 1963.
But these are reasons why Foote didn't tell Burns about the First Alabama, a fact Raines uncovers after years of research.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
Afterlives of the First</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Coming
back to a vicious, racist state government full of Confederate
sympathizers for many years, the men of the First Alabama USA were re-tormented after the fall of Reconstruction in the 1870s. They were not just read out of history or forgotten. Raines
spends no time on this part of the story however. He's more interested in his family
story, the bastardization of history by shabby academics, the violent clowns of Alabama, a
detailed semi-history of Birmingham, the reactionary literary
aristocracy of the Nashville Agrarians and the Fellowship of Southern
Writers and lastly the Lost Causeite Dixie Brahmins who looked down on
Negroes and white 'red necks' alike. All in all a book that takes
<u>many</u> colorful and chatty detours in its story of a legendary
Union regiment from the South. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The basic impact of this book is the manifest number of characters in the South - through history - who promote idiotic, violent, untruthful and corrupt ideas on a regular basis, up to and including present Trump supporters. The South will rise again all right - under proletarian, progressive and socialist groups who remember the First Alabama's resistance to racism and planter capital.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use the blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these words: “Silent Cavalry
– Part 1,” </span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
South vs. South” (Parts 1&2); “The Civil War in the United
States” (Marx-Engels); "Why the South Lost the Civil
War," "Lincoln" (Spielberg); "Struggle &
Progress" (Jacobin); "The Neo-Confederate States,"
"Blockaders, Refugees and Contrabands," "The Bloody
Shirt," "Guerrillas, Unionists and Violence on the
Confederate Home Front," "The Free State of Jones,"
"Andersonville Prison," "James-Younger Gang,"
"Southern Cultural Nationalism," "The Civil War in
Florida," "A Blaze of Glory," "The State of
Jones," “Monument,” "Drivin' Dixie Down," “A
Confederacy of Dunces,” “U.S. Army Bases Named After
Confederates” </span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">or the
words </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Civil
War,</span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">” </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">"John
Brown"</span></i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">or </span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">slavery."</span></i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
</span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">For
May Day Books - where every month is black history month</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, GA library.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The
Cranky Yankee / </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Feb.
10, 2024</span></span></p><br /><p></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-19410168530039380292024-02-07T09:50:00.014-06:002024-02-11T08:25:54.876-06:00Alabama Unionist 'Hillbillies'<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Silent
Cavalry</span> <span style="font-size: 20pt;">– How Union
Soldiers From Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta and Then Got
Written Out of History” by Howell Raines, 2023 - </span></b></span></span><b style="font-size: 20pt;">(Part 1 of 2)</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
book is one of a large number of 'revisionist' histories that
overturn the “Lost Cause” mythology that was prevalent in Alabama
and the U.S. until the '60s and '70s. Evidence of the mostly white Unionist First Alabama Cavalry was hidden by local Alabama state
historians and William A. Dunning, </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> leading Lost Cause
historian in the 1920s. He taught and wrote at that bastion of
'Yankee' egg-headedness - Columbia University in New York City.
Dunning's American Historical Society's version blocked W.E.B.
Du Bois' accurate take on civil war history for many years. Columbia
finally apologized for their '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">white supremacist historiography</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">'
(their words) in </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2019</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">. They might have been talking, in part,
about Dunning.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFhQ7DV-vKD40q3_beuBhdTpWEBXdJMOhGFCq-u0mrC3OQyrIputRRQgIlQyrtOq5iLKC4G5LvwvZpdm-vv882JW-K7IS0oXRXD8fVzE8Die1LEugvJpeVFPICTcj2dutdIjK1xVLrwczedjYYhaWVxC-RipgwZrLzw9p5UDTjBo8Yfo4IfgiBJz7Wub0/s500/silcav.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFhQ7DV-vKD40q3_beuBhdTpWEBXdJMOhGFCq-u0mrC3OQyrIputRRQgIlQyrtOq5iLKC4G5LvwvZpdm-vv882JW-K7IS0oXRXD8fVzE8Die1LEugvJpeVFPICTcj2dutdIjK1xVLrwczedjYYhaWVxC-RipgwZrLzw9p5UDTjBo8Yfo4IfgiBJz7Wub0/w400-h400/silcav.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
Jim Crow Alabama State Department of Archives & History expunged
Unionist Civil War, along with Reconstructionist 'scalawag' and
populist Alabama history too. Even in 2018 Raines couldn't find
anything useful there. Ken Burns and Shelby Foote never mentioned
the 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Alabama Cavalry U.S.A. in their conservative, 'nostalgic' 1990
documentary series on the Civil War. Foote, a "<i>semi-closeted Lost Causer</i>," as Raines calls him, had time to call former slave dealer, future
leader of the KKK and butcher Nathan Bedford Forrest a 'genius' equal to Lincoln.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Raines
is here to set the record straight as he eviscerates the self-pity of
the “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alabama inferiority complex.</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” He names the names of
the various twisted characters, thugs and intellectual frauds in
Alabama who protect the state from outside influences. As he puts
it: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“...intellectual dishonesty of a particularly flagrant sort
is a thematic feature across the decades of public life in
Alabama...”</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Much of the book is his deep search through
documents, books and interviews trying to piece the story together -
in the process combating Dunning, Wallacite and Trumpist
neo-Confederates. He zig-zags between the home front and the war,
which is at times irritating. Raines spends time on the many
characters involved, along with the illicit cotton trade between
northern and southern military units. The book is littered with
colorful insults from both sides. The Confederates denigrated the
Alabama mountain folk as disloyal low caste anti-war 'hillbillies.'
You see, 'white trash' is not just a classist northern insult.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Raines
instead seeks his own anti-racist, anti-slavery roots, sometimes to
excess. Some of his extended 'hillbilly' family lived in northern
Alabama. One ancestor worked with the First Alabama U.S.A. and
walked all the way back from South Carolina after a Johnston's army surrendered in Raleigh. One
more distant relative died in Andersonville while others were killed
in battle fighting for the Union. Raines tells stories of his youth,
his father, mother, grandfathers and grandmothers in the northern
hill country and steel town of Birmingham. His family and area were
influenced by “Jeffersonian Democracy” and the Church of God,
which operated integrated churches and revivals in Birmingham and
northern Alabama even during Jim Crow. They had been in north Alabama
during the Civil War too, which shows how religious ideology
influences communities, not just economics. The non-segregationist
Primitive Baptists played the same role for “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Free State of
Jones</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” in southeast Mississippi.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In
the 1890s this northern Alabama area between Florence on the Tennessee and
Birmingham supported Populist Party politicians who appealed to all
skin colors and were for 'sharing the wealth' and ending convict
leasing. Their candidate was defeated statewide by a famous example
of vote fraud – stuffed ballot boxes in mostly black southern
counties where some African-Americans could still vote. In 1902 all
black voting was basically made illegal in Alabama. Raines as a
child experienced the area's rural poverty. The TVA finally got
electric power to Winston County in 1937. But it continued with
mule-driven plows and the lacks of electric light, telephone service,
sewage systems and paved roads even into the 1960s.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv7u9LJboL1WKrzG095tiBwEwnw2MXKr-5DXC8JHCuEb8nPrKfTymDmw3NKE3vPB4cz7CbmDBQnsbzURqJqq340hpn655hR6N__IMaVCQD2Jl6WJTOEwZXJwMccqPKGts7NqwW6_TaPzqMtHGPIRx0G03LQAl9EjHRYeQh19mIKTfUMyjA5mbtvsBLTb_D/s515/first%20al1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="515" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv7u9LJboL1WKrzG095tiBwEwnw2MXKr-5DXC8JHCuEb8nPrKfTymDmw3NKE3vPB4cz7CbmDBQnsbzURqJqq340hpn655hR6N__IMaVCQD2Jl6WJTOEwZXJwMccqPKGts7NqwW6_TaPzqMtHGPIRx0G03LQAl9EjHRYeQh19mIKTfUMyjA5mbtvsBLTb_D/w400-h244/first%20al1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First AL Cav.USA led by Genl. Spencer</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
1<sup>st</sup> Alabama Cavalry U.S.A</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">79
of 100 delegates to the Alabama secession vote were slave-owners, as
a popular vote for secession would have lost. The vote 'for' was
just <u>61 to 39</u>. After these delegates voted to secede in 1861,
many men in northern Alabama were 'lying out' to avoid conscription,
or heading north to find Union soldiers. Some found the beginnings
of the 1st Alabama Cavalry like Raines' ancestors. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Across
north Alabama an organizer named Chris Sheats roused Unionist and
anti-war feeling, with big meetings held at Jim Looney's tavern in
Winston County. The first rally drew 2,500 people, one of the
largest in the South. 2,066-2,678 men were recruited into the 1st
Alabama and other units from these mountainous and wooded counties
unsuited to slave plantation agriculture. His family's Winston
County wanted to secede from Alabama when Alabama left the Union, so
some called it '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Free State of Winston</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.' The unit recruited
from 18 Appalachian counties, a thing Raines says was hidden by local
Lost Cause historians. The cavalry gathered at Huntsville and
Corinth after these cities were taken by the Union in April and May
1862. There are still graveyards in several counties where the dead
are listed, not as 'C.S.A.' but as 'U.S.A.' This movement spread so
at one point Unionists in northern Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee
suggested a 'Nickajack' Republic, named after a lake in the Tennessee
River valley just west of Chattanooga. The First Alabama fought
alongside units from Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, not
just from farther North.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In
1862 the local secessionist authorities in Montgomery, basing
themselves on Richmond's Partisan Ranger and Conscription laws,
instituted a reign of terror against north Alabamians to either
impress draft resistors, arrest refusers or kill them. A first local
sweep of the Home Guard was repulsed by armed Unionists. The second,
larger military sweep drove locals north into the arms of the Union
Army or draft dodgers farther into the hills and caves. Known
Unionists were pointed out by a prominent local informer and
assassinated, arrested or forced into the C.S.A. Horses, cattle, pigs
and chickens were seized from known Unionists and their families left
destitute and starving.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Murders
even happened long </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">after</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> the war as part of political feuds
engendered by the UnCivil War when neighbor killed or informed on
neighbor. This campaign of murder and intimidation of Unionist draft
dodgers, deserters and resistors occurred throughout the South, as
documented by the Southern Claims Commission, an arm of
Reconstruction. Mountain people later responded to the Confederate
violence in kind. Raines suggests that Northern units under General
Grenville Dodge developed the tactic of attacking civilian
infrastructure useful to the Confederacy – factories, bridges,
rail, secessionist plantations and crops. He thinks this strategy
was later adopted by Sherman in Georgia and secessionist South
Carolina to make the Confederacy 'howl.' </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">End
of Part 1 of the review.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>P.S.</b>
- If you think Civil War history is irrelevant to today's political
situation, 'bless your heart.' States Rights Constitutional nonsense is
still one of the key motivators of anti-labor reaction and racism in
the U.S. It was also the legal claim made by the Confederacy.
“States' Rights” are embedded in parts of the archaic U.S.
Constitution, the Senate, the electoral system and the court system.
It has created a ridiculous patchwork of states, counties, cities and
towns, laws and powers benefiting reactionary and depopulated areas.
</span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><b>P.P.S.</b>
- A book recommended is '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hammer & Hoe</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” about Communist
organizing among black and white workers in the steel industry and
farms around Birmingham during the 1930s – a newer subject <u>Raines</u>
doesn't bring up in his discussion of censorship in Alabama.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use the blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these words: </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>“</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>The
South vs. South” (Parts 1&2); “The Civil War in the United
States” (Marx-Engels); "Why the South Lost the Civil
War," "Lincoln" (Spielberg); "Struggle &
Progress" (Jacobin); "The Neo-Confederate States,"
"Blockaders, Refugees and Contrabands," "The Bloody
Shirt," "Guerrillas, Unionists and Violence on the
Confederate Home Front," "The Free State of Jones,"
"Andersonville Prison," "James-Younger Gang,"
"Southern Cultural Nationalism," "The Civil War in
Florida," "A Blaze of Glory," "The State of
Jones," “Monument,” "Drivin' Dixie Down," “A
Confederacy of Dunces,” “U.S. Army Bases Named After
Confederates” </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>or the
words </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>“</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Civil
War,</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>” </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>"John
Brown"</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span> </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>or </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>“</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>slavery."</i></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">For
May Day Books - where every month is black history month</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, GA library.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Cranky Yankee / February 7, 2024</span></span></p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"></span><p></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-23076832504104625942024-02-04T13:06:00.011-06:002024-02-12T13:05:42.185-06:00Riot Beta Data<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Who
Were the January 6th Rioters?”</b></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>The
University of Chicago (UofC) has published data on who was arrested
on January 6, 2001. The data shows some confirmation of what the
Left has been saying. Several things are obvious – they were
mostly 'white' male Trumpers. The UofC data from May 2021 shows 420+
arrestees. In their present database there are 824 arrestees. Of
the 824 in the present DB, almost 86% are male and nearly all white,
at around 96%. As of 1/04/2024 there have been 1,265 arrested, so
their database still contains a partial count. Over 800 people
entered the Capitol, a small fraction of the overall crowd.</b></span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MnsJJMlUj1jJywFLFyeZqGLT0sB-2On4JojNm6A5x1LjRi6Mvs5kRza-o0WDAisFay0fPYT-ktffZYfKHMptK3u5drOsTr93cD_lJBEIe8OzOiLx_4KOwjeCnpw9-JPTvM80qLC_VJwadTGLCNdjdNV5anScCZaifjWU3IdSLKfqL9mHZCHrvHZztwPP/s1280/riot.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8MnsJJMlUj1jJywFLFyeZqGLT0sB-2On4JojNm6A5x1LjRi6Mvs5kRza-o0WDAisFay0fPYT-ktffZYfKHMptK3u5drOsTr93cD_lJBEIe8OzOiLx_4KOwjeCnpw9-JPTvM80qLC_VJwadTGLCNdjdNV5anScCZaifjWU3IdSLKfqL9mHZCHrvHZztwPP/w400-h266/riot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of
special interest to leftists is their class standing. Traveling to Washington D.C. is a somewhat expensive
undertaking, so this will scew the figures, especially from distant
locations. <u>No one</u> from South or North Dakota or Nebraska was
arrested for instance, but at least one person from 47 other states
was. How the survey considers class position is unclear, but here
they are. In their figures 149 were blue-collar and 47 unemployed.
By their figures 147 were <u>business owners</u>, 153 were
<u>white-collar,</u> 66 were '<u>self-employed</u>,' 20 were students
and 17 were <u>retired.</u> What this shows is a serious majority
were <u>not</u> blue-collar but small business, well-off types not fitting the stereotype of a simple blue-collar 'hand' worker.
What the 'retired' used to do is unclear, but evidently they had the
time, energy, money and perhaps age to show up. Maybe they retired early.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It
shows that about 28.5% were college or graduate school attendees.
About 46% were high school or less. This shows that the common
'class' analysis of journalists and bad politicians that <u>“</u><i><u>education
= class</u></i><u>”</u> is mistaken. Business owners might be less
educated, as might white collars or the self-employed – but they
earn their living differently, so their class standing is different. They might be wealthier or run some
kind of 'gig' business. These aren't people obviously in desperate straights,
although their businesses <u>might be failing</u>. Certainly most of
the unemployed were not unemployed willingly. Or the unemployed lied
to hide their employment or were well-off, which is why they weren't
working.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
majority – almost 63% - were married. Their age range centered in
the middle range – from 26 to about 55. These are not kids but
neo-liberal Reagan babies. The 7 top states which supplied the most
rioters were in descending order: <u>Florida</u>, Pennsylvania,
<u>Texas</u>, New York, California, Ohio & Virginia. All but
Texas and California are on the east coast, which figures given
D.C.'s location. But it does confirm that both Florida and Texas are
hotbeds of reaction, which is not news, while Cali has reactionary pockets like Orange County.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
an interview with <i>Amanpour & Co</i>. UofC professor Robert
Pape, talking about the first 420+ arrests, claimed that the main
driver motivating these people was “the Great Replacement”
theory. He said they are worried their rights as light-skinned people
are disappearing compared to darker-skinned individuals. So a form of
racist fear is at the heart of their politics according to Pape. He 'proves' this by looking at the counties these people came from, which
were losing white residents. He then consults a different survey
that showed 1., a disbelief in Biden's victory, 2., a willingness to
use violence and 3,. a belief in the 'Great Replacement' idea were
all linked by 4% of the U.S. population. However he never
interviewed the arrestees, so this conclusion is iffy as to the arrestees. Instead he lays these
surveys on top of his data and makes a parallel assumption. In
addition, sometimes people say one thing in surveys but are really
motivated by something else.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
this interview Pape describes the data. Owners and white collars in
the database were <u>“</u><i><u>CEOs, business owners, mid-level
managers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, bureaucrats.</u></i>”
This gives us a bit of insight into how the data considers
white-collar and business owner categories, seeming to combine them
with professionals. This all seems somewhat accurate. We've heard
of a millionairess that chartered a plane and claimed she wouldn't
get arrested because she was a white blonde lady. Ashley Babbitt,
the 35 year old woman shot by Capitol police, ran a failing business
in California. She was not counted in this data.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wcn5L7XTWzCfdr624kq2Vtr1twOpczx51P2_F_6M0I6BIEwiV2NN3vdOCLVTq2NtHwomxr58u-3kNoarvc_twj5ZtOykLZ6nadj03eSDlsJTsuzbWLvdDA83sJf9zuhy9_bDMM4Pv25-ND1ZfMepfSrjMN9Vq89jn5ptLx31lEByt9bpQNNPNPTMORM_/s480/pb.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="480" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wcn5L7XTWzCfdr624kq2Vtr1twOpczx51P2_F_6M0I6BIEwiV2NN3vdOCLVTq2NtHwomxr58u-3kNoarvc_twj5ZtOykLZ6nadj03eSDlsJTsuzbWLvdDA83sJf9zuhy9_bDMM4Pv25-ND1ZfMepfSrjMN9Vq89jn5ptLx31lEByt9bpQNNPNPTMORM_/w400-h266/pb.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pape
in his May 6, 2021 interview, downplays the militia involvement based
on their lower numbers. He does not include violence outside the
Capitol, which seems significant to any theory. However, militias
act as leaders and it takes only a few to break windows and doors, to
lead people to locations, to coordinate. The later 824 figures show
that 57 Proud Boys, 28 Oath Keepers and 2 Bogaloo Boys were arrested
inside the Capitol – 89 total or <u>10.8%</u>. They have no listing for the 3%ERS, but I've seen news reports that at least <u>6</u> were also indicated. These numbers are not
insignificant. These groups function as shock troops and actually aspire to
that role. <u>18%</u> of total arrestees were ex or present military
and police. This gives leftist confirmation to the role these
institutions play in birthing ultra-right & fascist groups
throughout history.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Marxist Left via Zetkin, the Third International and later Trotsky
warned that the despairing petit-bourgeois (small businessmen) are
the main base of fascism. They turn to racism and nationalism as
some kind of defense. Anti-democratic groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and 3 Percenters
are an organizational form of this. Even though small businessmen
are really being crowded by large capital they are unable to see an
alternative to the capitalist system. In fact most do not WANT an
alternative to the capitalist system. So they seek other enemies to
preserve their livelihoods and in the process drag workers behind
them. This also accounts for their hostility to big capital
sometimes.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
actual U.S. Left is too weak to attract many workers with a real
alternative, which is the main, crushing failure of the Left in the
U.S. This is why Trumpers, like their forebears in the KKK and John
Birch Society, think the neo-liberal, capitalist Democratic Party is
'Communist.' They need to create powerful Commies out of nothing, as
fascism needs that bogeyman too. In fact this is their <u>main</u>
propaganda thrust - this while the real 'commies' have little
influence except sometimes in the street. The press never goes into
the Trumpist's anti-communism and anti-socialism, as the press itself
shares those ideas.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
UofC should update their figures to reflect the recent 1,265 figure and see
if this changes anything significantly.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">References:
<a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/84fe30d503c742a692d05146d420c87f">824
Data</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dskVval50AE">420
Interview</a></span> </b></span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: <i>“The
Undertow” (Sharlet); “Anti-Fascist Series #7: It Was
Predictable,” “Anti-Fascist Series #,” “It Can't Happen
Here,” “The Ultra-Right,” “Hungary,” “Blackshirts and
Reds” (M. Parenti); “Impeachapalooza,” “A Confederacy of
Dunces?” “The Not So Secret,” “Antifascism, Sports &
Sobriety.”</i></b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Red Frog </b></span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>February
4, 2024</b></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-70222392402847361172024-02-01T09:22:00.021-06:002024-02-06T07:47:22.430-06:00A 'Good Rail'<p> <b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20pt;">Comrade
David Riehle, a 'Good Rail'</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Another
long-time Twin Cities comrade has died. David Riehle died of stroke
complications on January 21, 2024 at the age of 77. He was a
life-long socialist activist, joining the SWP in the late 60s and
later became a member of Socialist Action in the 1980s. He was a
member of the United Transportation Workers (UTU) for many years as a
train brakeman, conductor, engineer, then a union retiree. He held a
position in UTU Local 650 as local chair where he dealt with
contracts, grievances, hearings, investigations and strike work. One
person said he was a “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">brilliant hearing cross-examiner</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">”
and saved many workers' jobs. This was one of his many areas of
concern.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnzKA__CW92BMIxyCdrPuB9oxy_QzqkUoUEzRtprdZIgptsF_vkTSm4vjq0hiJFtiT2dgZOH_Hhxvm223P5Hmn8FQrhfASLlwZHbr_so47lMP4Afd4OHH7afIE-lQDZs-1tXRoVTXUif66Ap-yQinnBWwXTceLSpZiRD665cDZ2wJ-JlkbKGjGLWqgVcA/s701/Riehel.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnzKA__CW92BMIxyCdrPuB9oxy_QzqkUoUEzRtprdZIgptsF_vkTSm4vjq0hiJFtiT2dgZOH_Hhxvm223P5Hmn8FQrhfASLlwZHbr_so47lMP4Afd4OHH7afIE-lQDZs-1tXRoVTXUif66Ap-yQinnBWwXTceLSpZiRD665cDZ2wJ-JlkbKGjGLWqgVcA/w300-h400/Riehel.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">David
grew up in White Bear Township just north of St. Paul, Minnesota, then
lived in St. Paul most of his life. His father was a printer and
because of that David learned how </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">to
run a printing press, probably a Linotype. He put out a high school
underground </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">broadsheet called </span><span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Informer </i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">so he was a boat-rocker even in high school</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">.</span> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> He was interested in
piano, able to read notes and arrange, so he attended Berklee College of
Music for a </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">while playing piano</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">.
He</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> left quickly
though he still played keyboards at home. Earlier he made</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> a short
visit to the Merchant Marine, but rejected military life as he did academic life. He had no children of his own but is survived by his
sister Carla, his brother Jeremy, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">his
wife Gladys McKenzie and her two children, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Abby and Kevin McKenzie, along with</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: large;">
their children.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">David
was </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'central</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">' to the Young Socialist Alliance's Vietnam
anti-war work in the 1960s in the city, attending the University of
Minnesota for about a year. He subsequently left to work as a
machinist at 3M. He joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the
late 1960s. At one point he was sent by the SWP to Houston, Texas as
a machinist, working at Houston Tool for 4 years. In 1980 he got
hired at the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, a UTU outfit, as rail was an SWP
industrial concentration. He stayed with the railroad for the rest
of his life and </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: large;">sometimes wrote for
</span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Militant </span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">about
rail issues. </span></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">
</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">After
being pushed out of the SWP in the early 1980s he joined the Fourth
Internationalist Tendency, which published </span></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bulletin
in Defense of Marxism, </span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">later
joining Socialist Action (SA). In SA he was on the National
Committee and Political Committee and played an internal educational
role in Minneapolis until the end of his life. One person noted that he
liked his rail and union jobs and didn't want to retire, but he
finally did.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">David
was chair of the “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Remember 1934</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” committee that worked for
many years to get a public memorial to the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster
strike placed in the city. With support of local Teamsters, a plaque
was finally erected in 2015 in the Minneapolis warehouse district
near the site of the killing and wounding of strikers by police. The plaque was done by fellow member Keith Christensen. Dave </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">worked with people like Linda
Leighton and David Sundeen – whose family members </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">participated
in the '34 strike - on the plaque and on Teamster strike
commemorations every 10 years. He started this activity in 1994,
bringing historical documents to the 60</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> year event. He
was a tour leader at the various 1934 sites in the Twin Cities,
giving historical talks at each one. He interviewed and researched SWP and 1934 labor leaders Carl Skoglund and Shaun/Jack Maloney to get
their stories, knowing Jack well. He interviewed Harry Deboer too,
and knew Jake Cooper, two others involved in the 1934 struggle. He gave
educationals at unions halls on the strike and other labor history,
as he was part of the Labor Speakers Club of the St. Paul Trades and
Labor Assembly. Recently he attempted to help with preparations for
the </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2024</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> 1934 Memorial Picnic, which will be held on July 27
at the Wabun Picnic Grounds in Minnehaha Park.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTK93imMNPzlA8tpD3OQcriEqc0-fOBSFxbDYqBimoJVwWaYFj5dUJGUUSz3M_jVsvaoTH5GU2Ltf4CLVLK-4wGIpCV-2jizCRX7GKvAsisNuS3xeCOcVckWvaK4Vq9q36eQ6ChLT2KLb3urkABlRzZzPkInByDFKOg91Wjnl9wHmpxPiJ_X5Wvs4NxJA/s1080/teamstrike.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1080" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTK93imMNPzlA8tpD3OQcriEqc0-fOBSFxbDYqBimoJVwWaYFj5dUJGUUSz3M_jVsvaoTH5GU2Ltf4CLVLK-4wGIpCV-2jizCRX7GKvAsisNuS3xeCOcVckWvaK4Vq9q36eQ6ChLT2KLb3urkABlRzZzPkInByDFKOg91Wjnl9wHmpxPiJ_X5Wvs4NxJA/w400-h276/teamstrike.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dave in center on chair at 2023 summer rededication of plaque </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">David
was an autodidact who learned local labor history in detail and
shared it with the movement. Some have called him </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>the</u></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
preeminent local labor historian. He published in and for the
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Minnesota Historical Society, Ramsey County History Magazine</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">,</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
St. Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, Friends of the St. Paul
Library, Workday Minnesota, </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">the</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
Labor Education Service, </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">the</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
East Side Freedom Library,</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Minneapolis Labor Review </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">and
many articles in </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Union Advocate. </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">He
did research on issues like Dakota walking paths and the workers who
originally built the Minnesota state Capitol in the 1800s. For two
films he researched a Cuban revolutionary uprising in 1912 and Cuban
nuns in the early 1900s. His history interests were broad.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">David
was greatly inspired by the 1970s insurgent Sadlowski campaign in the
Steelworkers. He was a long-time activist in the </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meeting The
Challenge</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> cross-union formation in the Twin Cities with Peter
Rachleff, which formed in 1985. It inherited the work of the TC P9 Support Committee that closely aided and supplied the
UFCW Local P9 Hormel strikers. He worked on a benefit concert for P9, which drew some
famous musicians like Holly Near. He was also a member of the LPA /
Labor Party in the 1990s. In his long involvement in the labor
movement, one of his kindest actions was to bring food to the 2003
strike line of AFSCME 3800 clericals at the University.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">His
constant and wide-ranging activity made him a unique comrade for many
labor leftists in the city.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">P.S. - <b>There will be a memorial for David on February 17 at the East Side Freedom Library. 3 P.M., 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Information
from: Carla Riehle, Gladys McKenzie, Phil Qualy, John & Karen
Schraufnagel, Anonymous and C.G. Gibbs.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
local leftists profiled on this blog, use blog search box, upper
left, using these names: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Tom Dooley,” “Jeff Miller,”
“Earl Balfour” and “Budd Shulte.”</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Red
Frog</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">February
1, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-22059280133373872142024-01-29T13:22:00.017-06:002024-02-02T15:25:39.360-06:00Si Se Puede!<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">On
the Line</span> – A Story of Class, Solidarity and Two Women's Epic
Fight to Build a Union” by Daisy Pitkin, 2022</b></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Successful
union organizing might be moving the balance between anger and fear,
between human solidarity and isolation, between a hope for the future
and the bad smell of the present. This book shows how that plays out
among a group of low-paid toilers in Arizona. Any union member,
supporter or organizer would benefit by reading it, as the events,
details and tricks used by both sides are blazingly real.</b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxEGQ5SkHqaSYYzGD4xU-sFxOhgwyklEr5sA5Q3Tts-bHF7Uqfwi_M6rv_Je3nV6dFAFC3cPZRbXeuakUEBX3mfrb-otNfkNkgUUZN3DBEbXmdLBYep9LHnly5SVhIZRu5HMXn3K45x22aLghl2WlV3X_UXu-puW8hEygGopWD7m3HPqf421ZbOVPOyFu/s499/ontheline.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="331" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxEGQ5SkHqaSYYzGD4xU-sFxOhgwyklEr5sA5Q3Tts-bHF7Uqfwi_M6rv_Je3nV6dFAFC3cPZRbXeuakUEBX3mfrb-otNfkNkgUUZN3DBEbXmdLBYep9LHnly5SVhIZRu5HMXn3K45x22aLghl2WlV3X_UXu-puW8hEygGopWD7m3HPqf421ZbOVPOyFu/w265-h400/ontheline.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Union
membership in the U.S., in spite of recent successes, changes in
leadership and organizing drives, has now dropped to exactly 10.0%.
This is the lowest since BLS records started in 1983. It is at 6%
for private corporations. One reason for the drop is because the
workforce is growing and this book is pretty clear about the other
reason. The National Labor Relations Act legalized unions,
collective bargaining and the establishment of the NLRB in 1935.
Those were heroic days for labor in the U.S. The NLRA was
immediately followed by the 1938 MacKay decision allowing the
permanent replacement of workers by scabs, the 1947 Taft-Hartley law
that heavily constricted union power and allowed 'open' shops, up to
the present day with the 2018 Janus Supreme Court decision making all
public sector employment an 'open shop.' This has been true for
private employers for years in the South. The open shop essentially
individualizes union membership in a worksite and is designed to
weaken union power. The NLRA itself has huge loopholes and
weak enforcement. The conclusion here is U.S. law and practice
dislikes labor. It's not just the
employers who are the problem. It's the capitalist state, their
police, their courts and conflicted administrative bodies and their political
parties. However this story has a sobering victory at the end.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This
book is an illuminating, on-the-ground inside look at a 2003-2005
struggle in Phoenix by Latino industrial laundry workers for a union
and contract. The book has to use the word 'epic' because that is
many times what it takes. Why should having a union be so hard?
Because it begins to hit at the essence of capitalism – profits,
power and private property - PPPP. The large Sodexho plant cleaned laundry, but not from private homes – for hospitals,
hotels, restaurants and other large operations. The sheets,
tablecloths, clothing, napkins, cloth and blankets are sometimes
covered by food, urine, vomit, shit, blood, with occasional body
parts, needles and medical waste included. The workers make $7.25 an
hour, working 10 hour days over 3 shifts, with forced overtime and occupational injuries. Safety methods are demobilized, the line is sped-up and
there is no air-conditioning. Nearly all the workers have Mexican
backgrounds, so its racist capital at play. Sodexho/Sodexo is a
French-owned conglomerate operating in 55 countries.
It has deep pockets, a skilled PR department and lots of lawyers.</b></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5Sml5J4WUKMiZClYTFf7ZOOInjIxdfq7dpQ5THaAAE2d9SyX08V1k9_GaCZslbWYZ25zabk-Px4IfMhqapTRN0bm_Dsw43Hr_JeRNdbkfJRtCwp-o-Gpn1FNlDK0rWTjIZ8DhQNUIKN_MH95TE7oIWQfA2pjaQy6ytrWRtMjfHs7jSxp7DbPbGb2jbUW/s1878/strikesodexho.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1104" data-original-width="1878" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig5Sml5J4WUKMiZClYTFf7ZOOInjIxdfq7dpQ5THaAAE2d9SyX08V1k9_GaCZslbWYZ25zabk-Px4IfMhqapTRN0bm_Dsw43Hr_JeRNdbkfJRtCwp-o-Gpn1FNlDK0rWTjIZ8DhQNUIKN_MH95TE7oIWQfA2pjaQy6ytrWRtMjfHs7jSxp7DbPbGb2jbUW/w400-h235/strikesodexho.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>The
book is not fiction. It is addressed to a Latino worker on second</span><span> shift who was one of the leaders within the plant, Alma Garcia. It
also has chapters on labor history – Triangle
Shirtwaist, French silk weavers, moths' role in textiles, labor law and the Patterson textile strike that reflect on the Sodexho effort. It is
written by a real UNITE union organizer Daisy, a young, somewhat
naive European-American woman from Tucson in her first union
struggle. She and Alma form a working pair. The author went on to
become a veteran organizer with UNITE-HERE, a union descended from a
long line of garment worker struggles. Alma herself helps the staff
of UNITE in its attempt to organize all Phoenix industrial laundries, joins the Local's staff for awhile, then goes back to the factory.</span></span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It
describes in detail the tactics involved in establishing a union used
by UNITE. It first means finding workers and then quickly signing
union cards in a 'blitz;' preparing
workers for the lies and fight ahead; warning them about bad bosses,
'good' bosses and 'sad' bosses;
resisting the illegal anti-union violations that inevitably
crop up; reaching out for support to the community and finally
getting a signed contract. This is not how it really goes. In the
scum-bucket U.S. version of labor freedom there are firings, arrests,
police, strike actions, vicious supervisors, bogus and hidden voters,
surveillance cameras and NLRB Section 8 filings and legal process.
In other unionization efforts there have been bribes, deportations
and beatings. Pitkin claims that more than half of all union
elections, if held within 2 weeks of card signing, win. On the other
hand this story descends into 2 years of legal decisions and
appeals, and a final 'card check.'</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Between
200-500 anti-Union meetings were held at the plant by the company,
many times making illegal statements or committing illegal acts. But
labor law violations and 'unfair labor practice' (ULP) charges are
like confetti – even if violations are overruled at some point,
they delay the process, intimidate the workforce, muddy the waters
and increase the 'no' votes.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
this book there is nothing that rises above traditional unionism,
hard enough as even that is. Pitkin describes the bureaucratic
issues in the merger of UNITE and HERE, competition over turf and methods, and shows an awareness of the
differences between middle-class union staffs and local proletarians, between
top-down organizing and bottom-up organizing, but that is it. She
mentions no transitional program for union power of any kind,
reflecting present U.S. unionism. She admits she was too busy to
think about anything but the immediate situation. The book is class
conscious, but that consciousness is limited to the endless struggle
by women and immigrant workers for labor dignity and standards, for
solidarity and unity, for human closeness and kindness. The subtext
is that it expects the working-class to be Promethean, noble and
endlessly patient in the eternal class struggle. It comes out that
we are to resemble Sisyphus, forever pushing a rock up a hill in the
pursuit of labor justice.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To
hell with that.</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>Prior
reviews on this issue, search our 17 year archive using the search
box, upper left, using these terms: </b></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i><b>“Fighting
Times” (Melrod);</b></i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><b>
</b></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span>“</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span><i><b>Reviving
the Strike” (Burns); “Rebuilding Power in Open-Shop America,”
“Tell the Bosses We're Coming,” “Breaking the Impasse”
(Moody); “In and Out of the Working Class” (Yates); “Class
Action,” “Class Against Class” (Matgamna); “Prison Strike
Against Modern Slavery,” “Sick Out Against the Shut Down!”
“Save Our Unions” (Early); “Living and Dying on the Factory
Floor,” “On New Terrain” (Moody); “Autopsy of an Engine,”
“Factory Days” (Gibbs).</b></i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span><span><b> </b></span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, Georgia Public Library!</b></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Red
Frog</b></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>January
29, 2024</b></span></span></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-77971808102581763302024-01-26T08:57:00.014-06:002024-02-02T13:19:38.018-06:00Boss Crackers Outnumbered, Part Two<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 32pt;"><b>The
South vs.The South <span style="font-size: 20pt;">- How
Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War” by
William W. Freehling, 2001 <span style="color: red;">(</span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><i>Part
2</i></span><span style="font-size: 20pt;">)</span></span></b></span></span></p><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>The
Middle and Deep South</b></u></span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Winning the border states
and finally Vicksburg with the help of many Upper South whites where
slavery was still legal, the next phase of the land-based Union
'Anaconda' was set in place – black freedmen supplying soldiers,
workers and spies from all over the South. For 2 years Lincoln had
rejected emancipatory decrees by several of his generals and had
ordered Halleck to expel runaways and escaped slaves from the
environs of the western armies. That all changed.</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIN5d2AXNl6eFE9EdNkivlFmIp8F7ffbt9GhiWz1vkKG6KYP7uLsfiQC8gMQpn1fnn719AZbFxLsFEFoDi4ZXUsMLaFVcZ9kJkmVchAAZ4LdrJ5ag-TFaxd8-XGui5FU0gqCvhlXUWZ8jxAcAX2ia3pGEadfuUSMhkUOMn5flGAjB1pWU3hw4FRlBy0Up/s595/svsouth.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="407" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIN5d2AXNl6eFE9EdNkivlFmIp8F7ffbt9GhiWz1vkKG6KYP7uLsfiQC8gMQpn1fnn719AZbFxLsFEFoDi4ZXUsMLaFVcZ9kJkmVchAAZ4LdrJ5ag-TFaxd8-XGui5FU0gqCvhlXUWZ8jxAcAX2ia3pGEadfuUSMhkUOMn5flGAjB1pWU3hw4FRlBy0Up/w274-h400/svsouth.jpg" width="274" /></span></a></div><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Armies like this are
never just made up of people with guns. There are teamsters,
lumberjacks, cooks, laundresses, ambulance drivers, nurses, iron
mongers, mechanics, guides and diggers needed. The Confederate Army
itself was using their slaves as helpers, as they were short of
personnel. Some body servants, i.e. '<i>house Negroes</i>' as Malcolm
X called them, even went further, protecting their massa in the field
and his wealth at the plantation. Yet the South never armed
African-Americans en mass, but the Union finally did. Abolitionist
General Benjamin Butler first welcomed 'contraband' blacks who
offered to dig trenches and build fortifications in Virginia in 1861.
This pro-fugitive policy would later reap massive rewards for the
whole Union Army and the fight against slavery's disunion. At first
Lincoln substantially blocked it with a 1862 'First Confiscation Act'
which put up barriers to escapees who wanted to help. But the ranks
knew the benefits … as did the more perceptive generals. Even a
Copperhead Democrat like General McClellan finally came around in the
end. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Freehling is antagonistic
to a slave insurrections, as were Union generals. He is also hostile
to the abolitionist left, writing it out of this history in place of
Lincoln. He prefers the gradualist and escapist varieties of
resistance and so details each twist and turn of Lincoln's policy.
Because of this he doesn't look at the impact of left abolitionism on
Lincoln and the Republican Party. Throughout 1862 Lincoln, the 'soft
war' advocate, made a 're-enslavement' proposal to the South, a slave
'buyout' plan lasting 38 years, a proposal to protect slavery in
certain states, along with a plea for African-Americans to
self-deport to Latin America! No matter, as the Confederacy ignored
everything. Lincoln finally came around on January 1, 1863 to
relatively full emancipation. The 13</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Amendment in 1865
sealed the issue of chattel slavery.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The advances and
victories of the Union Army made this particular change inevitable.
The ranks started to refuse to obey Halleck's orders to turn away
runaways. The official tide changed in July 1862 with the First
Confiscation Act and especially after Lincoln's “Emancipation
Proclamation” in January 1863. 196,000 freedmen were eventually
recruited to the Union Army and Navy. They were paid for going into
combat, on garrison duty, on patrol, at labor, as foragers, as spies.
Lincoln, ever the politician, at first only mentioned the role of
'garrisoning' when the issue came to guns to avoid irritating racist
Northerners or border Southerners. Half a million slaves ran to
Federal armies if they were near, as slave patrols could not function
in those areas. After it all played out, with the prior addition of
non-Confederate whites, this policy undermined the slaver war
machine, its economy and doomed the Confederacy.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Freedmen were armed and
trained after the Proclamation. Freehling makes sad fun of Col. Shaw
and the 54</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Massachusetts suicidal attack on Fort Wagner
outside Charleston. To this day that spit of land has no memorial
except on Boston Common, but then it's South Carolina so it figures.
Freehling praises the black soldiers at the battle of Milliken's
Bend, Mississippi, who held off rebels with their bayonets and also
the heroic attack on Port Hudson, Louisiana. At Nashville and
Petersburg both Thomas and Grant were impressed by the aggressive
role of black soldiers.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">But most black troops did
not participate in quite this way. Garrisoning the Mississippi Valley
and the upper and middle South were essential to the forward movement
of the Union armies towards Chattanooga, Atlanta and Savannah.
Protecting and rebuilding railroads and bridges, guarding prisoners,
driving wagons, guarding boats, fighting raiders like Forrest and
Morgan – all the essentials of Northern logistics. 100,000
freedmen and women also </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">worked</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> for the Union Army behind the
lines without being enlisted, doing things like growing food,
repairing uniforms and weapons, feeding garrisons, handling the dead
and even nursing.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9ARYQ6ejUewKHpg_G0n3sjvuHq11hyJH36ywHswqloj69HXXp4IWl3XnPS_8fWCMbIl0ZXNrFywtBaw-TjUxfkpfOlONWpG1j7WWVMJURdt9UyiM482b6or-THaEVHSX0KAfovZvI9CrWxwjdyuhFPNY4FRzXohfxkwY3aWXe5s73rEE2mebkWm_IQlx/s944/Union-Army.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="944" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9ARYQ6ejUewKHpg_G0n3sjvuHq11hyJH36ywHswqloj69HXXp4IWl3XnPS_8fWCMbIl0ZXNrFywtBaw-TjUxfkpfOlONWpG1j7WWVMJURdt9UyiM482b6or-THaEVHSX0KAfovZvI9CrWxwjdyuhFPNY4FRzXohfxkwY3aWXe5s73rEE2mebkWm_IQlx/w400-h254/Union-Army.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Non-Plantation
Geography Economy</span></b></u></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Freehling describes how
this split in the Southern population continued in various deep
southern 'white' regions too that were inhospitable to large, flat plantation
slavery. This became a 3<sup>rd</sup> leg of the southern anti-Confederacy
stool. These areas did not have a large periphery of jobs associated
with plantations – overseers, carpenters, wheelwrights, farriers,
lawyers, doctors, thugs, etc., so locals were not materially indebted
to rich slave masters. Freehling only mentions the rebellions of white Jones County Unionists in woodsy southeast Mississippi,<span style="background: transparent;">
Jackson</span> County Unionists in mountainous northern Alabama and
anti-Confederate Okefenokee swamp rebels in southeast Georgia. This
absence is odd, given his topic and the increased resistance across parts of
the deep South - like east Tennessee Unionists who carried out sabotage against Secesh targets. Pro-Union guerillas, desertions, no-go areas, push backs against confiscations
and protests happened in nearly every state, especially after 1863.
</span></span>
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The bloody battle of
Chicamaugua, below Chattanooga, was a Confederate victory partly
because of the presence of 15,000 Eastern Confederate troops under
James Longstreet, bringing a rare numerical parity to the fight.
Longstreet then left to reinforce Knoxville and the Federal army
regained a 2-1 advantage, which helped them storm Missionary Ridge
and Lookout Mountain, sending the Confederates reeling back towards
Atlanta. Freehling makes the point that numbers matter and the
collapse in Reb morale on Missionary Ridge in November 1863 mattered
even more.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Sherman, sitting in
Savannah, looked down on ex-slaves, seeing them as only good for
building 'corduroy' roads through marshes. He wanted to free his
army of the long lines of freemen tailing his troops. He gave 20,000
of them 35 miles of shore-line land from Jacksonville, Florida to
Charleston, South Carolina, averaging 50 acres each. This was as
close to what black farmers and fishermen needed to restart their
lives as something other than being sharecroppers for rich white
farmers. It was the actual '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">40 acres and a mule</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.' The
program ended a year after it started, killed by conservative
Tennessee President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The rest of the story is
well-known. The northern Democrats and the English lords never came
to the rescue of slavery. Southern General Cleburne's plea to arm
slaves and make them free was suppressed, then bastardized. Lee was
caught between the mountains, Grant and Sherman's armies and the deep
blue sea. He surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia after a wave of
desertions. The Northern </span><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and</u><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Southern Anaconda was ultimately
successful, ending with a 5-1 numerical advantage. The slavers and
their supporters were outnumbered almost everywhere. This book is
useful for both Civil War newbies and Civil War aficionados,
revealing the lie that the Civil War was a '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">war between the
states</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' or a war for '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">states rights</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' or </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">a</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
“war of Yankee Aggression.</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">” It was about slavery from
beginning to end and no one but Neo-Confederates, ignoramuses and
fools believes otherwise.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>
“The South vs. South” (Part 1); “</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>The
Civil War in the United States” (Marx-Engels); </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>"Why
the South Lost the Civil War," "Lincoln" (Spielberg);
"Struggle & Progress" (Jacobin); "The
Neo-Confederate States," "Blockaders, Refugees and
Contrabands," "The Bloody Shirt," "Guerrillas,
Unionists and Violence on the Confederate Home Front," "The
Free State of Jones," "Andersonville Prison,"
"James-Younger Gang," "Southern Cultural Nationalism,"
"The Civil War in Florida," "A Blaze of Glory,"
"The State of Jones," “Monument,” "Drivin'
Dixie Down," “A Confederacy of Dunces,” “U.S. Army Bases
Named After Confederates” </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>or the
words </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Civil
War,</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>” </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>"John
Brown"</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span> or
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>slavery."</i></span></span></span></span></p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>P</i>.S. - Greg Abbott, Texas Gov., just cited Civil War 'states rights' theories (called 'nullification') in his battle with the Federal Govt. over border control. This puts his local 'national' Guard in conflict with the federal DHS.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, GA Library!</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Cranky Yankee,</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">February
26, 2024</span></p><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 32pt;"><b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: 20pt;"></span></span></b></span></span><p></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-49115949738957687542024-01-23T09:29:00.015-06:002024-02-02T16:04:50.060-06:00The '5th Column'<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 32pt;"><b>The
South vs.The South<span style="font-size: 20pt;">- How
Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War” by
William W. Freehling, 2001 (</span><span style="font-size: 20pt;"><i>Part
1</i></span><span style="font-size: 20pt;">)</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">This
is a brilliant continuation of the argument about why the South lost
the Civil War. It was not the superior industrial capacity of the
North; it was not its greater population, immigration or its wealth. The South's
failure was a geographic one, and that bad geography was based on the
institution of slavery. It was not just in the mountain regions, in
the piney woods, the seashores or in the swamps of the South that
Unionism took hold, as these were areas where slavery was almost
non-existent. After all, why fight or supply a rich planter's war?
It was in the 5 border states of “the Upper South' and the 4 states
of 'the Middle South' too. Finally, it was in the enslaved population
across the whole South. It gave the North</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: large;">
hundreds of thousands</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> more men and deprived the Confederacy of
the same. All conspired against the slave power centrally located in
the Lower South, which by the middle of 1863 was starting to crumble.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7s2nuythyacaoOUhd0k7zYKslHhiJFYv3yRqZ-qsxpity2JPKJkfYYpwhNEzjFs_VesHyYZ82O5PntHtM6R4AEgbhPsG5HvZoiKdVE3QVjOmfT0DFjjyvdZLs5Y9MzBeHHw8lGkH5yt55V4r9w8Yr_X_UXZOqjo3ULCISTSd-ozDS244yaVC24dnWwCkz/s595/svsouth.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="407" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7s2nuythyacaoOUhd0k7zYKslHhiJFYv3yRqZ-qsxpity2JPKJkfYYpwhNEzjFs_VesHyYZ82O5PntHtM6R4AEgbhPsG5HvZoiKdVE3QVjOmfT0DFjjyvdZLs5Y9MzBeHHw8lGkH5yt55V4r9w8Yr_X_UXZOqjo3ULCISTSd-ozDS244yaVC24dnWwCkz/w274-h400/svsouth.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
South had military advantages – interior lines, a defensive
posture, a huge area the Union would have to occupy, and tight units made up of recruits
from the same towns skilled with shot and shell. The rifled long gun
made massed charges more and more suicidal, aiding their defense. The
water 'Anaconda' line manned by the Union Navy was porous. The
South, as has been noted earlier, nationalized all industry and
developed some industrial war capacity quickly, especially in Atlanta and
Richmond. It was the 'land' Anaconda that Freehling says eventually
strangled the South. How did it happen? It happened primarily on
the political terrain, but then on the military terrain too.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Lincoln
was one of the main architects of the defeat of the South through his
skilled and initial 'light touch' against neutrals, border states and
waverers according to Freehling. At this time the Republican Party
stood against </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><u>any</u></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">
expansion of slavery, but claimed it </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">would
not attack existing slavery in the South. Lincoln here is no
abolitionist, but he hoped that</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> dozens of
years in the future slavery would die a natural death as its
opportunities for expansion were throttled.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
Upper, Border South</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Remember
the infamous incident in Baltimore in April 1861 when Copperhead
Democratic Party thugs attacked a Massachusetts regiment transiting
'neutral' Maryland to defend Washington, D.C.? It was the <u>last
gasp</u> of anti-Union sentiment in that border state. The reasons
were manifold – one being free blacks outnumbered <span style="text-decoration: none;">enslaved
blacks in Maryland, the city was full of immigrants and most of the
trade in Baltimore was with</span> the North. It was really a
northern proletarian city, not some southern outpost. This situation
was replicated throughout the 'neutral' border South which still
allowed slaves, but had fewer slaves and slave-holders. Some had
been sold to the deep South, so the material reasons for violence and
secession had lessened in these areas. Lincoln allowed the Maryland
'neutralists' to meet and yell and argue, but they eventually did not
secede. Republicans then swept into office in Maryland and even the
shouting stopped. </span></span>
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Neutral”
Kentucky followed Maryland in finally allowed Federal troops across
the border after a Confederate general invaded Kentucky from the
south. Here Lincoln did as he did at Fort Sumter, where he allowed the South
Carolina secessionist idiots to shoot first. A rump of South
Carolina's population had declared 'independence' on Dec. 20,
1860 in response to Lincoln's election, so they jumped the gun there
too. Kentucky had more slaves in proportion than Maryland (20% v.
13%) but Republican Unionists swept the elections and the invasion
sealed the deal, with Kentucky allowing General Grant to enter and
defend the state. <u>Twice</u> as many white Kentuckians signed up
with the Union Army than the Confederate one after that, while the
majority sat out the war. Jefferson Davis had just lost another
state.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">As
they say, divide and conquer. It's not a '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">war between the states'
</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">but </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'a war within the
states.'</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Remember this strategy with our present
neo-Confederacy, comrades. The main internal contradictions for the
neo-Confederate capitalists are the southern working-class, including
all of its black and Latino members, young women and the big cities
and worksites of the South. Rural areas and exurbs are another
matter.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Lincoln's
slicing and dicing continued across the formally neutral upper South
as neutrality became more and more untenable. All 5 border states
including Delaware, Missouri and West Virginia were taken by the
Union after elections, with occupations needed in Missouri and West
Virginia. The boat building hub of St. Louis and the rail hub of
Baltimore were lost to the Confederacy along with the large
crossroads city of Louisville. Soon Nashville would be occupied. Given the vast preponderance of 'free
soil' and free labor people and the small amount of slavery in these
last 3 states, the Union forces need for garrisons was smaller.
This geographic coup, based on slavery's weakness, gave a strategic
advantage to the North from the Atlantic to past the Mississippi.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXI_DnSrwgQQO51x4yIkirJM73fCT9yDPX5N-OuMXDv9DLjmcPQ30axh-KRY04VQzSdDz5u3jlZXOx9QwilC0RPkxm7TxEme2B2_Xlg1uMbax6dqLTzJ6mmXM2b0E2FeYu7OtTkD5c0_OO-NYPQ7Yh6n7PgEt6mQePEgwg_Ea7bqxTs9_Bt55kBaCW8XE/s573/border%20south.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="573" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXI_DnSrwgQQO51x4yIkirJM73fCT9yDPX5N-OuMXDv9DLjmcPQ30axh-KRY04VQzSdDz5u3jlZXOx9QwilC0RPkxm7TxEme2B2_Xlg1uMbax6dqLTzJ6mmXM2b0E2FeYu7OtTkD5c0_OO-NYPQ7Yh6n7PgEt6mQePEgwg_Ea7bqxTs9_Bt55kBaCW8XE/w400-h246/border%20south.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mapping the Geography</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Guerrillas
and War</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Freehling
notes the lack of southern '<i>filibustering</i>' successes in these
places too. With fewer locals to harass Union trains, transport and
forts, the Confederacy could not disrupt the flow of troops and
supplies to forward-moving Union armies. He contends that the Union
had much more success in the South with 'filibustering' and sabotage.
</span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Freehling
calls it a myth that the war was stalemated for 2 years. Grant,
Sherman, Foote and Porter's progress in the West was continuous.
They seized Forts Henry, Donelson and Island #10, controlling much of
the Cumberland, Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, They occupied New
Orleans, Baton Rouge, Natchez and Nashville, bloodily defeated Johnson at Shiloh, Tennessee and
Beauregard and Van Dorn at Corinth, Mississippi, then encircled
Vicksburg. Sieges – like those at Vicksburg, Atlanta and Petersburg -
demanded an overwhelming numerical advantage and they had it. Grant
and Buell had recruited white units from Missouri, Kentucky and Kansas,
'turned' every flank they could which forced Confederate units in Kentucky and then Tennessee to leave and even 'l<i>ived off the land</i>.' During
all this these upper and middle-south areas did not 'rise up' in any
significant way to oppose them. It was now the Deep South in the
cross-hairs, the hot-house of slavery. The Union was on the borders of Mississippi, Alabama and soon, Georgia. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> (To be
continued in a Part II...)</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>
“</i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>The
Civil War in the United States” (Marx-Engels); </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>"Why
the South Lost the Civil War," "Lincoln," "Struggle
& Progress" (Jacobin); "The Neo-Confederate States,"
"Blockaders, Refugees and Contrabands," "The Bloody
Shirt," "Guerrillas, Unionists and Violence on the
Confederate Home Front," "The Free State of Jones,"
"Andersonville Prison," "James-Younger Gang,"
"Southern Cultural Nationalism," "The Civil War in
Florida," "A Blaze of Glory," "The State of
Jones," “Monument,” "Drivin' Dixie Down," “A
Confederacy of Dunces,” “U.S. Army Bases Named After
Confederates” </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>or the
words </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Civil
War,</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>” </i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>"John
Brown"</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span> or
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>slavery."</i></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the Athens, GA Library!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Cranky Yankee /</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">February
23, 2024</span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-25444136750845808982024-01-20T09:04:00.011-06:002024-03-11T16:18:11.828-05:00College Library Browsing #9: Do You Believe in Magic?<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Magical
Marxism<span style="font-size: 20pt;"> – Subversive Politics
and the Imagination” by Andy Merrifield, 2011</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Given
the relative weakness of Marxist movements in advancing actual
class-struggle right now, I read books that might provide 'new'
ideas, tactics or strategies. This is one. I'm no fan of magic, a
gauzy, idealist contraption if there ever was one, but perhaps there
is something here. After all, given the magical role of religion,
the emotional wealth invested in politics, the power of myth, play
and other cultural forces – facts, reason, science, history and
theory don't have as good a chance in this scenario, especially alone
against material power.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYHxmwxaMCrNrdKlyBixtLPsILdpiEQFoSb2RVgKIc4v_Lv6rSPEqOkcR3bKcX_YMXgSqZXF6pY90_0I2Vcnzr4haW8AKnfhHAXRiCmi29OvWPBuze-KWUFnr6rrGtqbTPlSiz440KW9XU9ONEx8JkaWSoMDRMx2xww8Aah6flvQHtXkiDhtFsOh92g1G/s500/mmm.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYHxmwxaMCrNrdKlyBixtLPsILdpiEQFoSb2RVgKIc4v_Lv6rSPEqOkcR3bKcX_YMXgSqZXF6pY90_0I2Vcnzr4haW8AKnfhHAXRiCmi29OvWPBuze-KWUFnr6rrGtqbTPlSiz440KW9XU9ONEx8JkaWSoMDRMx2xww8Aah6flvQHtXkiDhtFsOh92g1G/w251-h400/mmm.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">The
book first reads like a mash-up of the magical realism of “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>One
Hundred Years of Solitude</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">” by Gabriel
Garcia M</span><span style="font-family: Bahnschrift;"><span>á</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">rquez
and the Situationism of “</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>The Society of the
Spectacle”</i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> by Guy Debord. If this is too
heady for you, you can quit reading. He does make an early
observation in the book that many more people than we think
understand the present social structure and economy to be corrupt and
terminally flawed. They know it but don't say it out loud. They
evince this understanding in many ways, through many different forms
and actions. The conquest of capital and commodification has moved
from the factories and workplaces into the homes of the population,
infecting social life and most know it - even “in their beds.”
He's making the point that instead of some intense, simple and
singular Party understanding, any revolution will entail a broad
front of actors, eventually across the world. You just have to know
which ones are going forward and which ones are going backasswards. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Merrifield
quotes not just Marxists like David Harvey or Henri Lefebvre, but the
Invisible Committee, the Surrealists, Lautr</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>é</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>amont,
Wordsworth, Freud and so on. In this vein he </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>approves
of Luxemburg's criticism of Lenin's hostility to spontaneity and
instead supports 'left libertarianism' –</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
whatever that is. Mari</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>á</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>tegui
touches on this issue with his promotion of 'myths of revolution and
collectivity' as antidotes to capitalist realism. Mari</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>á</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>tegui
advanced the concept of '</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>mistica</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>'
which Merrifield and others endorse. Discovering the roots of the
future society in the present might also help, and there are many.
Perhaps a more full-blooded and modern vision of future socialism
than the one left by Marx is necessary. No one leaves a sinking ship
to jump on a lifeboat they know little about ... and whose most
well-known artifact is Stalin.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Anyway,
it's not clear what 'magical Marxism' really is as a practical
reality except Merrifield's fever dream, a form of literary criticism
or a plea to 'act,' not watch. Maybe its a form of anarchism or
anarchist collectives, of 'liberated zones,' of protest culture, of
cooperatives and communes, of counter-culture, of personal
confrontations, of sabotage. I should note that Marquez's book was
partly published by the literary wing of the CIA while Debord's tiny
organization fell apart in 1972. Not encouraging developments.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
Invisibiles</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>At
one point Merrifield discusses 'neo-communism' and the 'Imaginary
Party,' based on the book “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>The
Coming Insurrection.</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>”
As he excitedly put it in 2011: “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Everybody
agrees, current society is about to explode.</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>”
He added that it's about “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>a
non-class based Marxism.</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>”
Well, France didn't explode in an insurrection in 2011. It did
result in police raids on a farmhouse in Tarnac and the arrest of a
number of anarchists for 'sabotage.' Merrifield goes on to discuss
the 'Coming Community' which seems to be what he's trying to get at
under the avalanche of literary verbiage. What follows are many
ritual nods to the increasingly isolated Zapatistas and a widening of
the notion of the proletariat. </span></span>
</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Merrifield
says that “</span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>alliances
across the globe are forged through an emotional connection, through
anger, pain, sympathy, admiration, etc.</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>”
He likens this to the rhythmic pulse of music. But what happens
when the music stops? Where's the 'Invisible' Committee now?
Certainly we have seen recent world movements come and go – against
the WTO and World Bank, against the Iraq war, for the Arab Spring,
for Occupy Wall Street, for BLM, for women in Iran, now, though its
not over, for Palestine. Every country has experienced something like
this. Yet they mostly fade away, leaving a residue of organization,
experience and memory, but not one of sufficient weight. This is why
'the movement' cannot be everything and organization and goal
nothing.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEw1aSOzOP4p7jkd3v2t5h8gb7cbptsZw8dUEhe7xeJalDAFblDQIcRCOv-yMCBCecS0i3F5A6C2Ln6mZv1ZVGq4_agFO0oJ6oAAsmSIlp62oyXdHGKc83aZSmVSfaymU2oNJxvvW1riM_baaqSjKPHa7HbC1iR9SCI7Orjl_ilpCL2o0KhL68iGOBqtn5/s2560/mmm3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="2560" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEw1aSOzOP4p7jkd3v2t5h8gb7cbptsZw8dUEhe7xeJalDAFblDQIcRCOv-yMCBCecS0i3F5A6C2Ln6mZv1ZVGq4_agFO0oJ6oAAsmSIlp62oyXdHGKc83aZSmVSfaymU2oNJxvvW1riM_baaqSjKPHa7HbC1iR9SCI7Orjl_ilpCL2o0KhL68iGOBqtn5/w400-h200/mmm3.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The
Solution?</span></b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">So
how does Merrifield insert his 'Coming Community' into this scenario?
He thinks the revolution will break out in the cities, on a
geographic terrain, involving many strata. There is a history of
this in the various Communes, central squares and general strikes,
but now with the technical aid of the cell phone – which he thinks
is borning a <span style="text-decoration: none;">“</span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">Fifth
International.</span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;">” In
this context he praises anarcho-communist hackers and claims </span>the
working-class is <i>pass</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><i>é.
</i></span>This 'either/orism' seems a clear academic <span style="text-decoration: none;">error
of undialectical thinking, especially as the world's proletariat has only gotten
larger. So what the hell is he talking about? His solution
is “</span><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">autogestion</span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;">”
- defined by the dictionary as</span> “workers' self-management”
or a 'self-managed economy' – yet always through a 'post-Marxist”
Marxism. This is similar to the position of Richard Wolff who thinks
socialism will come through Spain's cooperative Mondragon et al. I
suspect Merrifield would extend this method to rural areas too. He
endorses Local Exchange Trading – basically a barter/potlach system
outside of the money economy. - something proletarians have
participated in since day one. This is his way out of Kafka's maze. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Merrifield
understands that negation is the stuff of radical politics – but
“</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">it is not the stuff dreams are made of” - </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">citing
some ideas of Hardt and Negri. As such Marxism has to illustrate a
positive move towards emancipation and liberation, not just continual
negativity and 'exposure' – in other words a Blochian “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">militant
optimism</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">.” As Marx pointed
out, imagination is a form of labor and if you let it whither and
die, the future dies, your children die, your dreams die. An example
is the endless highlighting of government or press hypocrisies that
confirm what </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><u>everyone
already knows.</u></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
This is</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> something you
see on FB</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">©</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
all the time. As we might say in the factory, “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Duh! No
shit, Sherlock.</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">”</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Merrifield
makes the valid point that human labor, nature and capital have now
produced enough knowledge, skills, machines and 'things' so that
every social need can be fulfilled across the world. Some
environmental solutions are still needed, as this was written in
2011, but generally we do not need to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">wait</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> for the next </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">iPhone</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
or gadget to 'proceed,' for the 'productive forces' to mature, for
labor to be lessened, for the bosses to be expropriated. Have we
reached the peak that Marx predicted, now just waiting for the
'machinery' to be seized by the proletarian population? Certainly
there are many indications that the situation is actually over-ripe
and even rotting.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Merrifield
ends with a meditation on poetry, butterflies and owls, which might
appall the realistic socialist. There's even the need to turn to
'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">black magic,' </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">so it seems
things are getting desperate.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> At the time he wrote this
Merrifield was living in the center of France in the Auvergne, having
lost his academic job. Auvergne is full of forests, old mountains and
hot springs. As a socialist geographer, this might be why he added
'</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the right to the land</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' to '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the right to the city</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' in
his portfolio. And perhaps this rural environment prompted something
less 'citified' in him. No doubt we are all citizens of the places
we live or have lived, and the more variety, the better. This book
acts a bit like that, dwelling in a place that not everyone has
visited. Merrifield seems to be some kind of anarcho-communist in
this book, part of a broad anti-capitalist front, a front that is
moving towards a new society down many paths, around many corners,
through many experiences and under and over many barriers. Given the
threats we face, we will need all the aid we can get.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> “Marx Dead
and Alive” & “Beyond Plague Urbanism” (both by Merrifeld);
“Society of the Spectacle” (Dubord); “The Coming Insurrection,”
“David Harvey,” 'magical realism,' “The Damnificados” and
“Nazar</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><i>é</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">”
(magical realism, by JJA Wilson); “Mariategui </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">or
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mari</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><i>á</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">tegui”
“Right to the City,” “Beach Beneath the Street,” “Wageless
Life,” “Hardt" </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">or</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> "Negri,”</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">And
I got it at the University of Georgia College Library!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Athens
/ Clarke County – one of the 10 most unequal counties in the U.S.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Red
Frog </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;">January
20, 2024</span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-4877092261054809712024-01-17T12:04:00.004-06:002024-03-11T16:17:44.157-05:00College Library Browsing #8: Not Scandalous Enough<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>The Scandal of Marxism”<span style="font-size: 20pt;"> by
Roland Barthes, 1993 (French); 2015 (English)</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Roland
Barthes is the well-known author of '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mythologies</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">' – a series
of essays about cultural issues from a Leftist point of view. I
remember reading them years ago and his commentary on the theater of
American wrestling stuck out like an amazing thumb. Who even looks at
the rigged comedy and drama of wrestling with a penetrating eye?!
This work is a series of book reviews, questionnaires and
commentaries </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">defending Marxism
and attacking the Right and liberals on issues like revolution,
religion, Algeria and DeGaulle. He also looks at Left / socialist
art, China</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> and the concept of 'violence.' The later analyses
become more 'objective,' almost absent a left point of view.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-LRqk-_OnBElXvjpaxVyRaLeOzIyZ66-PZKrIAsE49yEYH3KOlv8qNQaYl63R4rtSXwPqgCJ12kIULKijCVbfJawMFeMrri24phS_oKlqxrBFvnSfbY0xl-IO3XvPyOkg_Q5VVE9AGHQHHo4ZLgCZgTOa8NbBi_nPZswjQejCKg0bRsVQI9AOBbjA69_/s372/som.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="260" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-LRqk-_OnBElXvjpaxVyRaLeOzIyZ66-PZKrIAsE49yEYH3KOlv8qNQaYl63R4rtSXwPqgCJ12kIULKijCVbfJawMFeMrri24phS_oKlqxrBFvnSfbY0xl-IO3XvPyOkg_Q5VVE9AGHQHHo4ZLgCZgTOa8NbBi_nPZswjQejCKg0bRsVQI9AOBbjA69_/w280-h400/som.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Barthes
writes in an elegant, subtle and theoretical way without using crude
Leftist bludgeoning to make his points. The articles date between
1950 and 1978 in various non-CP Left French journals like </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Combate!,
L'Observateur, Les Lettres Nouvelle </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">and</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
Arguments, </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">then moves to more mainstream publications. As time
goes on his writing becomes more abstract, less political and more
indolent, paralleling the conservatism that swept France in the
1970s. The later contributions seem lost in apolitical word meanings
- his intellectualism continued while his leftism weakened. So the
title of the collection is actually partly wrong. It is almost
embarrassing.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><u style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The
Left</b></u></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Algeria
was France's second Vietnam, with De Gaulle finally granting Algeria
independence in 1962 after a long struggle. When peace was at hand,
the war led to an attempted 1961 coup by French ultra-right military
types in league with the CIA against De Gaulle. This followed another
attempted military coup in 1958 by the same forces. Their slogan was
“<i>Algeria </i><i><u>is</u></i><i> France</i>.” Barthes was
adamantly against the occupation of Algeria, unlike the 'agnostic'
position of the PCF – Parti Communiste Francais. </span></span>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">In
France the category of 'the intellectual' has always been one outside
the realm of ordinary education. Barthes was part of this post-war
coterie, along with Sartre, existentialists, situationists,
post-modernists, structuralists, 'cultural' Marxists, socialists and nouvelle philosophie.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVT5QgWjCvM_hf-y4Sg2miz1ennOapSPH7ZdhwGpyyqT_vxlO7U77jbxFwmLyvplO7CXCjeMxtMBM7WaVM5k_t25dfscMYKLvLKRVrIjGkkZdJOoyiC7uqqeVflcdFwcXXozuKdZfpDBfgUrr-sfSEEajE6aE9kunH4us8gN3JuEIRKt3zEDn8aaysF3H4/s620/algeria.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="620" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVT5QgWjCvM_hf-y4Sg2miz1ennOapSPH7ZdhwGpyyqT_vxlO7U77jbxFwmLyvplO7CXCjeMxtMBM7WaVM5k_t25dfscMYKLvLKRVrIjGkkZdJOoyiC7uqqeVflcdFwcXXozuKdZfpDBfgUrr-sfSEEajE6aE9kunH4us8gN3JuEIRKt3zEDn8aaysF3H4/w400-h305/algeria.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Here
are some useful observations, in quotes or summation, amongst the
rest: </span></p>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
formal</b> conservative analyses of revolution are “<i>merely
changes of regime</i>” in which “<i>actual men are absent.</i>”</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In
accusations</b> by liberal skeptics that Marxism is a 'church' he
contrasts '<i>Muscovite dogmatism</i>' based on state power with
Marxism as an analytical method that works for those out of power -
a strange 'church' <span style="text-decoration: none;">indeed.</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Barthes</b>
writes approvingly about two expositions on racism: one a UNESCO
statement that shows “<i>the inanity of racial prejudice</i>” -
the other, by Daniel Guerin, exposing racism in the U.S. that “<i>was
developed and (is) maintained to justify the exploitation of
coloured people's labour</i>.”</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Barthes</b>
endorses the explanations of Tran Duc Thao contrasting phenomenology
with Marxism, as the latter posits that “<i>consciousness develops
on the basis of matter</i>” and that “<i>humanity's various
ideologies each have a precise economic basis.</i>” Phenomenology
(reality <u>subjectively</u> experienced) is subsumed within
dialectical materialism.</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>On
Marxism</b> as a 'religion,' Barthes continues: <i>“...those
common forms (linking the two) might be said to be hierarchy,
dogmatism and infallibility.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">This
method of superficial analogy “</span><i>divest(s) (them) of their
causes, history and particular content, (and) are reduced to signs
they may have in common.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Left-wing
literature:</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> Is a
“</span><i>gathering of all the writers who profess a left-wing
politics” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and is “</span><i>...the
production of left-wing writers.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”
He includes Sartre and Aragon in his list of left writers. His
meaning seems to be dissidents and non-conformists of most types. </span></span></span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Left-wing
literature: </b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>“In
the last instance it is always a description and a deep analysis of
a given historical situation.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”
Proust is included here. This is part of his opposition to both
Stalinist Zhdanovism and a-historical fantasies.</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Barthes
praises</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;"> a book on
Brazilian culture that combines the contributions of Africans,
Portuguese and the indigenous “</span><i>...in all aspects –
historical, economic, religious, ethnic, sexual, culinary, moral,
etc.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Barthes</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>refuses</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
to label himself, as it is obvious by reading someone what their
politics are. It is not a “</span><i>simple declaration of
faith</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.”</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Anti-Semitism:
</b></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">“Right and Left
are confused notions. They each can be led, for tactical reasons,
to exchange positions.” </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Anti-Semitism
has always been a right-wing ideology in France and elsewhere, so:</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">
“it is anti-Semitism that makes the Right, not the Right that
makes anti-Semitism.” </span></i></span></span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Barthes
makes fun</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> of the wife of the
butcher of Algeria, General Massu, who advocates teaching 'home
knitting' to Algerian women in place of independence. Somewhat like
Hillary Clinton's 'micro-credit' programs for poor women living
under imperialism.</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Moral
Guidance”</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> for young women is
the subject of one essay in which Barthes points out that, while
recognizing women might work, what is recommended by the
conservatives is to be a 'house-maid' or domestic worker where her
'skills' can be put to best use.</span></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Algeria
is French”</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is a
manifestation of ultra-conservative grammar. </span></span></span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The ascension</b> of
De Gaulle after the attempted 1958 military coup over Algeria was a
victory of <i>“paternalism - not fascism.</i>”</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>On film criticism</b>:
“<i>The left-wing public is apparently not calling in any sense
for the development of a socialist culture ...” “Temporal
freedom and political responsibility … should be the watchwords of
a socialist culture.”</i></span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>In North Africa:</b><i>
</i>Barthes notes that the hippies in this poor town (in Morocco
perhaps) are no longer transgressive as they are in a wealthy
country because they almost parody poverty. </span></span>
</p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Anti-intellectualism</b>
in France is a product of late Romanticism. </span></span>
</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Barthes went to China in
1974 in the midst of the Cultural Revolution and had almost nothing
to say. He does mention 'wall posters!' He comments on a generic
'violence' without mentioning self-defense anywhere. He makes nice
comments about 'minority literature.' At the end of this collection
his intellect becomes bland. Trés triste!</span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">Prior blog reviews on
this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 17
year archive, using these terms: </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Diaries of an Unfinished
Revolution,” “May Made Me,” “The French Communist Party
versus the Students,” “Surrealism – Inside the Magnetic
Fields,” “Subculture – the Meaning of Style.”</i></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The
Cultural Marxist</i></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>January 17, 2024</i></span></span></p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3358148998045555545.post-25433405559645135992024-01-14T10:06:00.014-06:002024-02-16T13:41:13.899-06:00Minnesota Not Nice<p> <span style="font-size: x-large;">“</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>Fargo,”<span style="font-size: 20pt;">Season
5</span></b></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">“<span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>Fargo,</i>”
the streaming series, is consistently one of the best things on TV.
This season is openly political. It skewers a violent chauvinist
county Sheriff in North Dakota who believes his under-age second wife
cannot leave him due to some verbiage from the Bible - passages of
which he quotes continually. Somehow the serial beatings he administers to his young wife also play a role in his Bible. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>The Sheriff is connected to a rag-tag
rightist militia of 'patriots' that he gives weapons to, buying them
using public funds. He also buys a tank for his small rural 'Stark'
county. The Sheriff only believes in sovereign law – meaning
himself and a 'strict' and warped reading of the Constitution. These
loons claim that no jurisdiction except one of their sovereign
kangaroo courts could possibly arrest them, indict them, garnish them
or file a claim against them. State and federal law have no
application, so to speak. The Sheriff is played by John Hamm –
breaking his <i>Mad Man</i> persona. His mission is to recapture his
second wife no matter what. You see, it's Biblical.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVf_xscvHAowqMMY0F1OaQxRRTNIUF-54YyTBImQKhsQpKzMnKQRNzsUiEG3cDMnaIVUutKdR4O1xc2qEC39Z_mf-Ks7uzF-2LewK82wXE_QKTITAUvwcRiJp94mIheqzAW8LJXkS9VLN8RvF-4ZuCznB-ABO0yliPDq-zPIYFSG0GDcjb2_FKB-NwMD2/s700/fargo5.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVf_xscvHAowqMMY0F1OaQxRRTNIUF-54YyTBImQKhsQpKzMnKQRNzsUiEG3cDMnaIVUutKdR4O1xc2qEC39Z_mf-Ks7uzF-2LewK82wXE_QKTITAUvwcRiJp94mIheqzAW8LJXkS9VLN8RvF-4ZuCznB-ABO0yliPDq-zPIYFSG0GDcjb2_FKB-NwMD2/w400-h266/fargo5.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look familiar?</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">There
actually is a 'Constitutional Sheriffs' organization, so this is no fantasy. It's 'rebellion,' yes, but from the far Right.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
central character, his second wife played by Juno Temple, has escaped
and</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> found a doofus Kia car dealer to marry in Scandia,
Minnesota. She has a child and tries to live a normal life,
volunteering, cooking and hiding out. This 'housewife' actually has
the survival skills of a big cat and in tough situations, thinks fast
and acts faster. Her abilities are a highlight of the show. She
marries into a family dominated by a nasty capitalist matron who runs
the biggest debt-collection agency in the U.S. and has all kinds of
pull in Minnesota. The matron has a one-eyed lawyer working for her
who does her dirty-work.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
Sheriff's son is a moronic tough-guy who fails at everything he does
except being vile. The Sheriff's first wife, who also ran away,
'might have' become a hippie feminist, founding a sanctuary for
beaten women in the woods. But its possible he killed her too. The
Sheriff's 3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> wife is a nasty Liberty-Mom, Bible-spouting
doormat. There is one intelligent black Nor-Dak State trooper who
knows something is up, along with two somewhat clueless FBI agents.
Add to the mix - a perhaps magical beast from the 1500s in Wales, a
Frankensteinian lummox with a bad haircut who is out for revenge.
He's no 'welsher!' His name is Ole Munch, so that should tell you
something.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
series is set in the snow-swept precincts of North Dakota ranch land,
on lonely highways and in snow-piled Minnesota streets – the usual
visual atmosphere of the whole </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fargo</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
series. The stereotyped '</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Minnee-soota'</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">
accent still abides, even though in the real world it is
disappearing. The Sheriff at one point cites Mormon Ammon</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"> Bundy as a
hero, so we know where the screenwriters got part of this plot.
Ammon led a destructive 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur Wildlife
Refuge in Oregon with a group of militia because the wealthy Bundy
family didn't want to pay grazing fees for their herd of </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">cattle
on public land. One of their militia, Robert Finicum, was killed by
Federal agents as he reached for a gun. To this day, as far as I
know, the Bundys have not paid grazing fees and their cows still
literally eat at the public trough.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">The theme of debt courses through the series. There is the debt collection corporation; a debt owed by the Sheriff to Munch; two blood debts, prisoners with debts, debts of gratitude and the 'debt' of marriage. It's a primitive theme that still resonates.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Yes,
it's holy sh*t! This dark, violent and funny story circles around
Halloween, some magic and the hope that reactionaries everywhere will
get stopped – though this unlikely task seems relegated to the
compromised FBI and law enforcement. The locals are cowed by the
Sheriff as the police are in his pocket, though they begin to make
fun of him for buying a tank. The story-writers don't want to show any significant rebellion by the civilians against the Sheriff and his posse. The story also rests on the idea that
women everywhere can stay married to the nice fool of their dreams in
spite of their pasts. Or as a beautiful blonde in a short red dress
once said in a southern blues bar: </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“Ahm
sick o' rednecks.”</i></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
Because this housewife certainly is.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Prior
blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to
investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: </span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“Fargo,
HBO, Season One” </i>and<i> "Who is Lester Nygaard?" </i></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>Other
television long-form streaming series reviewed – </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“Deadwood,”
“Game of Thrones,” “Lincoln Lawyer,” “Stateless,”
“Hannah,” “The Playlist,” “Line of Duty,” “Inventing
Anna,” “Better Call Saul,” “Ozark,” “The Peaky Blinders,”
“3%,” “We Own This City,” “Maid,” “City On A
Hill,” “Goliath,” “Watchmen,” “The Good Lord Bird,”
“The Wire,</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>”
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>“Hunger
Games”</i></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span>
or the word '</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span><i>streaming</i></span></span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">.' </span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large;">The
Cultural Marxist</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">January
14, 2024</span></span></span></span></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span>
</p>Red Froghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14757809604839647508noreply@blogger.com0