Readers' Views
CHINA--GLOBAL FACTORY, SOCIAL
INSECURITY, INCUBATOR OF REVOLT"> CHINA--GLOBAL
FACTORY, SOCIAL INSECURITY, INCUBATOR OF REVOLT
"China as global factory is incubator of future
revolt" by Peter Hudis was an important and timely lead article to start
off the January-February issue of NEWS & LETTERS. With all the overbearing
media focus on Al Qaida and the war in Iraq, the ongoing human rights atrocities
in China have virtually been ignored, even by the Left. It is incredible, given
that there have been 60,000 strikes in China last year alone, that show the
revolt is here and now, not just in the future. For whatever irrational reason
the narrow-minded American Left failed to solidarize with Iraqi labor because of
their obsession with "anti-imperialism," they also chose to ignore
Chinese labor.
At the same time, the lead conveyed a sense of the
mutual-aid mutual-destruction symbiotic relationship between U.S. and China in
this late stage of capitalism. U.S. exports its jobs and in return China exports
its commodities and surplus-labor in the form of newfound capital through
prison/factory wage-slave labor.
--Hospital worker, Oakland
* * *
I really appreciated "China as global factory is
incubator of future revolt." I've been thinking of China as the
"global sweatshop," and that in a so-called "workers'
state." A friend of mine worked in China during the construction of a
coal-fired power plant. During his time there, he witnessed a public execution
for what he was sure was a minor offense. Today's reality reminds me of
Dunayevskaya's writing about Stalin's state capitalism of the 1930s and the
visage of Hitler being the "rulers" vision of the future for us. I
think it is important to study this article for a long time to come to
understand China's role as the U.S.'s "silent" partner and the meaning
that it has for the future of humanity.
--Construction worker, Colorado
* * *
Cheney's latest deception is that Social Security will
find in the next decades a drastic reduction in the ratio of workers making
contributions to workers receiving benefits. He forgot to add that if we pull
away from his myopic view to a bird's-eye view of the newly restructured
global-economy, the massive shift in the Social Security fund's domestic
worker-ratios is due to a massive expropriation of jobs offshore to places like
China, creating an avalanche of social-insecurity o
--Asian-American worker, California
* * *
Ross Perot's famous talk of a "sucking sound"
as he opposed the trade agreements for taking jobs out of the U.S. really was
about the sucking of all surplus value coming to the U.S. from all over the
world, but especially China, to finance militarism. At the same time, the way
the idea of revolution has been so thoroughly discredited in China makes it
amazing that an international Luxemburg conference could be held there, where
her idea of masses in control and post-revolutionary democracy was seriously
discussed.
--Retiree, California
* * *
When I read in the January-February Lead that
"China is not experiencing the kind of modernization of its productive
forces that defined the industrial revolution in Europe, America, or Japan"
and that "revolutionizing the forces of production by introducing
technological innovations is not occurring in China as it did everywhere in the
past," I was reminded of what Marx had stated in his last decade, when he
pointed out that his analysis in CAPITAL grew out of capitalist society in
Western Europe, and was not meant as a universal.
--Asian-American, Los Angeles
WOMEN IN BLACK
This is to alert like-minded women all over the world
that the 13th International Conference of Women in Black will take place in
Jerusalem at the end of August 2005. The conference will not deal only with the
Israeli-Palestine conflict, but with the broader issues of women, war, and
peace-making.
The conflict in the Middle East must be solved by both
sides together, but since the Israeli army prevents us from entering each
other's areas there are great difficulties in trying to plan this conference
jointly which we are nevertheless committed to do. We are also determined to
bring to this conference as many activist women as possible from distant regions
of conflict--in Colombia, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as several countries in
Africa--to enrich us with their experiences. We have opened a communication line
where we will be responding to your questions. Our address for this is wib2005@netvision.net.i.
We would love to have as many as possible with us this August.
--Gila Svirsky, Jerusalem
FROM
THE ARCHIVES
Raya Dunayevskaya's critique of Stephen Bronner's
collection of THE LETTERS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG was beautiful because so much of her
own work on Luxemburg was encapsulated in it. It is important to let Luxemburg
just speak for herself, but that doesn't happen with a mere chronological
ordering of her letters. Dunayevskaya's interpretive engagement with Luxemburg's
ideas reveals how great she was on freely associated workers running their
lives. However the way Marx developed that concept in CAPITAL is what Luxemburg
dismissed as "rococo." When Marx develops how cognition of the
objective world is mediated by the abstractions that shape human relations
between workers and projects freely associated labor as a new freedom that is at
the same time a new self-consciousness, it is thoroughly Hegelian.
--Ron Brokmeyer, California
* * *
Dunayevskaya's essay in the January-February issue was
wonderfully focused on revolution. She proposes making two divisions of the
letters: one, "Heroism of Masses vs. Opportunism of Leaders"; and the
other, "From Theory and Anti-War Agitation to Prison and Revolution."
At first blush, that seems very little to suggest. Yet what she is doing is
using less than 20 words to show the direction of Luxemburg's thought. It shows
the importance of making philosophic categories.
--Franklin Dmitryev, Tennessee
BEYOND
CAPITALISM
The program you are presenting in your emails on your
New York classes appears extremely abstract. No one has all the time to read
through a thicket of weighty material concerning "the Gotha program."
What was it Karl Marx had to say about it that would make someone want to hear a
presentation about it?
I understand the need to define the "day after
revolution" and I can certainly agree with the idea of eliminating greed,
hatred and ignorance from people's hearts. But I can't see anything in your
program that makes practical sense.
--Still Interested, New York
* * *
I'm writing to you because of my interest in the classes
you announced in the January-February issue on "Beyond Capitalism: Marx's
Marxism as ground for an emancipatory alternative." I've been reading
N&L for about two years now. It was the reprints of Raya Dunayevskaya's
various writings which initially caught my attention and fueled my interest. Her
grasp of Marxism is definitely impressive, but even more so is the ability to
clearly demonstrate the practical relevancy of Marxism as a vital element in the
overall political discussion in society today. I can see the necessity for a
critical discussion that provides an alternative view, a realization beyond
capitalism.
It's out of a real desire to take an active role in
preparation of the liberatory philosophy of Marxist-Humanism, and to be able to
achieve this objective that I endeavor to situate myself within the company of
those best qualified to assist me. That is, teach me the things I need to deepen
my comprehension of Marxist-Humanism. Although I'm a prisoner, presently
confined in a security housing unit (SHU) at a state prison, I believe there has
to be some form by means of which I can take part in this study class.
--Prisoner, California
Editor's Note: Our correspondent has been sent a class
brochure, some of the readings, and an invitation to submit his comments.
FIGHT POLICE BRUTALITY
I remember April 29, 1992. The four verdicts on the
police officers in Simi Valley. All not guilty, not guilty of beating Rodney
King. Oh, how I hurt. Why, white America? I know they saw what we saw, it was on
videotape. In 2002 an Inglewood police officer beat Donovan Jackson and another
cop filed a false police report. Two trials later, two hung juries. Why, white
America? They saw what we saw. It was on videotape. Then those two who were
charged with excessive use of force turned to the same court system and filed
reverse discrimination charges. There were two trials and they were awarded 2.4
million dollars. Why, white America? You must have seen what we did not. It was
not on videotape. Now we have the news that another officer who beat Stanley
Miller with a flashlight is not going to be charged. Why, white America? This
was on videotape.
I want to ask the friends of NEWS & LETTERS to
continue to stand up for justice. There are those of us in the African-American
community who feel that Black and Brown lives mean nothing to the power
structure. The revolution is on through legislation, education, economics and
rightness of good people. There will be change, but don't look for it on
videotape. The revolution will not be televised. The struggle continues.
--Molly Bell, Community Activist Straight out of
Compton, California
* * *
On Feb. 18, what caused the death of Mandel al-Jamadi at
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was finally publicized. It was the torture technique
called "Palestinian hanging," which is named for its use by the
Israeli military against Palestinian prisoners. The suffocation that brought
about his death from this torture is quite similar to that suffered by those
crucified by Imperial Rome. So much for the "Christian" fundamentalism
of the Bush administration that has been perpetrating these crimes.
--Activist, Chicago
QUEER LIBERATION
The piece by the student human rights activist on the
recent Southern Human Rights Organizers Conference (January-February 2005
N&L) was a refreshing, unabashedly revolutionary article. I appreciated him
saying the class struggle is the universal and most significant power
relationship under capitalism, and yet saying that LGBT gets short shrift. He
has a double criticism, saying LGBT is important both to have a more unified
movement and for its own sake. He's not afraid to say we need theory. A lot of
radical youth are radical only on the practical, political side, not on
philosophy.
--Brown Douglas, Memphis
RESCUING
HELEN MACFARLANE FROM OBSCURITY
You will be interested to see the impact that the new
book you featured in your January-February issue had on a member of the Scottish
Parliament. Here is the tribute that Tommy Sheridan, a Socialist Party member of
Parliament, made as a motion there on February 21: "That the Parliament
notes the forthcoming launch of the book, HELEN MACFARLANE: A FEMINIST,
REVOLUTIONARY JOURNALIST AND PHILOSOPHER IN MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND;
welcomes the fact that this radical Scotswoman will at last be rescued from
obscurity and given her place of importance in 19th century politics and
political movements; further notes that it was Helen Macfarlane, under the alias
Howard Morton, who first translated the seminal pamphlet, The COMMUNIST
MANIFESTO, into English … and played an active role in promoting the politics
of revolution and equality throughout her life; and believes that the Scottish
Parliament Information Centre should order several copies of her book and that
libraries across Scotland should be encouraged to do likewise."
A few days later a writer for THE SCOTSMAN, picking up
on the story, ended his column pointing out that in her translation, the
original famous opening sentence was not "A spectre is haunting Europe--the
spectre of communism" but "A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout
Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism." He added,
"Maybe not quite as catchy, but it does have a ring of Tam O'Shanter about
it."
--Hobgoblin supporter, London
* *
That the history of women like Helen Macfarlane has been
hidden has contributed to feminists turning away from Marxism. Women who are
both Marxists and explicitly feminists are avoided by those Marxists who think
they are divisive issues. Feminists just keep repeating the assertion that Marx
had nothing to say on women.
What was important to me was that while both of the
articles on Macfarlane in the January-February issue mention that she was also
an Hegelian, that wasn't developed. It remains a task to be done. It would
illuminate Dunayevskaya's point that women are not only hidden from history, but
from philosophy.
--Feminist lecturer, San Francisco
* * *
Bravo on the January-February issue that began the new
bimonthly. I haven't read the pages all through yet, but the material on
Macfarlane makes it an exciting experience. Anne Jaclard's book review was very
good in tying the political tendencies and economic theories of the 1830s, '40s
and '50s to those of today. That was very important.
--Dan, Springfield
* * *
Highlighting Dave Black's statement that his book was
"necessarily and unashamedly a Biography of an Idea" put the finger on
what was so impressive about his research--that an appreciation for what she was
had to be dug out entirely from what ideas she wrote, given how little was known
about her life and how completely she had disappeared so early in that life.
Black's book is a remarkable achievement for us.
--Marxist-humanist, Chicago
DIALECTICS
OF BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLES
Marxist-Humanists honor Black History Month by
struggling, which includes the struggle on the level of ideas about liberation.
When you read the essay by Khalfani Khaldun in the January-February issue you
see his struggle in several ways. He is in a fight for his life and his right to
speak, against prison authorities keeping him behind bars long after he was
supposed to have been released. Against the forces arrayed against him, he has
founded a study group which investigates revolutionary ideas. His essay thus
becomes something of a summary of the discussions he and his comrades have had
on two books published by News and Letters Committees, DIALECTICS OF BLACK
FREEDOM STRUGGLES and AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL. He describes News and
Letters Committees as "taking the struggle to the next level, where the
process of dialectical stages of development takes place." I believe this
can easily refer to the struggles of opposites that Hegel called dialectics and
which Marx called the class struggle, revolution in permanence, and other names.
Discussing real struggles in this context constitutes actual solidarity.
--Prison abolitionist, Illinois
* * *
Where Khaldun analyzes the contradicted history of
American so-called democracy, he is correct that "New Afrikans, then and
now (that is, at the writing of the Declaration of Independence and under George
W. Bush) are still viewed as chattel property of the state." On the other
hand, the dialectic in AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL traces a development that
is really two developments: the maturing of the Black mass struggle and the
greater masking of oppression as time goes by. For example, the appearance of
the now forgotten one and a quarter million Black populists is an important
moment which was briefly a development which arose in response to the rise of
monopoly capitalism. Of that forgotten one and a quarter million Black
populists, Dunayevskaya says they anticipated the rise of American imperialism
in a way that the populist intellectuals such as the muckrakers did not. I see
Khaldun's essay as an attempt, among other things, to clarify the agents which
mask racist, alienated relationships.
--Jim Mills, Chicago
* * *
Khaldun's essay shows the diversity of voices that are
attracted to the pull of the idea of Marxist-Humanism when it is presented
historically and concretely as in the two pamphlets he reviews.
--Activist/Intellectual, California
* * *
The point of contention Khaldun mentions is not clear to
me. It appears to refer to the question of Garvey. Much of what he says is not
in disagreement with AMERICAN CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL in the section on Garvey
that talks about nationalism. That is where Dunayevskaya works out a precise
position that it is a question of an oppressed nationality. She relates it to
Lenin on the National Question, saying what is decisive is that it brings forth
revolt from the masses of people. That chapter was key in the pamphlet and I
think Khaldun honed in on it.
--Environmental justice activist, Memphis
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
One reproductive rights group, NARAL Pro-Choice America,
has begun an appeal to anti-choice people to join a campaign to prevent unwanted
pregnancies through better access to birth control, and thus to reduce the need
for abortion. Although this sounds good--and better birth control was the
women's movement's original demand along with the right to abortion--the appeal
seems to be a cynical ploy. For reasons including their desire to subjugate
women, anti-choice groups are not going to work with pro-choice ones and are not
going to promote birth control. NARAL must know this. It appears to be doing
this in an attempt to gain support from the so-called "middle" who
won't take a stand, but who, we are supposed to have learned from W's
re-election, share his "values." In short NARAL is attempting to look
like the Right. This indicates the abandonment of arguing the logic of its own
cause, a capitulation to the Right which will inevitably lead to defeat.
--Anne Jaclard, New York
FEELING A DRAFT
I know the politicians are saying the Bush
administration is not going to attempt to reinstate the draft, but they are
still in a quagmire in Iraq and I read that a professor at the Air War College
said the Army is "near the breaking point." All four services were
reported to have missed their enlistment quotas last year. And now I've heard
that Bush has given the Selective Service System a set of "readiness
goals" to be implemented by March 31. It includes a stipulation that the
System would have to be ready to be fully operational within 75 days. I don't
know about anyone else, but I am definitely feeling a draft. I expect that
opposition to what seems to me a real possibility for an attempt to reinstate
the draft will be heard loud and clear in the protests to be held the weekend of
March 19-20, the second anniversary of the war on Iraq.
--Anti-war activist, Illinois
HEALTH CARE CRISIS
All of us in the health care world know that the U.S.
can boast about having the most modern health care facilities in the world But
the most recent statistics have made it abundantly clear that while some U.S.
citizens have access to them, a staggering 44 million people (17% of the
population) have no health care at all because of the crippling costs of
insurance. Many others discover their insurance doesn't provide full coverage
just when they need it most. One third of all personal bankruptcies are the
result of health care bills. Despite a massive 14% of gross domestic production
(GDP) being spent on health care, the U.S. ranks 37 out of 191 countries in
terms of the health of its citizens. That is the lowest ranking for any
industrial country. Nobody needs statistics to understand this in human terms.
It is a crisis.
--Nurse, Britain
OSCAR TEST
While I applaud with others that the Oscars are finally
recognizing Black actors, their total house is still not in order. The new
format for awarding Oscars in technical categories brought the nominees on stage
together as the winner was announced. With the possible exception of costume
design, most of the categories' nominees were a sea of white men. It seems like
affirmative action, in hiring and nominating, is much more necessary than many
in this country would like to think.
--Mary Jo Grey, Illinois
LABOR MOVEMENT, 2005
I'm disconcerted to hear labor advocates these days even
bringing up, much less relying on, the "good intentions" of "good
employers." The generic justification in the back of every employer's mind
these days is "we have to compete with China." Can you imagine an
amicable agreement of "good intentions" between a migrant Chinese
worker who owns nothing more than his hands and the clothes on his back and
ruthless Chinese industrialists who have the backing not only of world capital
but a state discipline machinery created back under Mao? The same "good
intentions" of employee-employer agreement is the rationale now being used
in France as they too roll back the clock to get rid of their mandatory 35-hour
workweek. Western "democracy" is looking more and more like Maoist
re-education camps these days.
--Non-amicable worker, California
The
Hobgoblin, A journal of Marxist-Humanism
Marx RELOADED: Special Issue on Marx's CAPITAL Includes
writings by Raya Dunayevskaya on Marx's CAPITAL Published by London
Corresponding Committee
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