Archive for May, 2011
Posted by onehundredflowers on May 31, 2011
What is the relationship between strategy and tactics? How should revolutionaries prepare for decisive struggles? What form of organization should they build? How do they build it?
Although written in 1901, these questions continue to challenge new generations of radicals. We’re posting it here as part of our ongoing discussion on revolutionary strategy.
This was originally on marxists.org.
Where to Begin?
V.I. Lenin
In recent years the question of “what is to be done” has confronted Russian Social-Democrats with particular insistence. It is not a question of what path we must choose (as was the case in the late eighties and early nineties), but of what practical steps we must take upon the known path and how they shall be taken. It is a question of a system and plan of practical work. And it must be admitted that we have not yet solved this question of the character and the methods of struggle, fundamental for a party of practical activity, that it still gives rise to serious differences of opinion which reveal a deplorable ideological instability and vacillation. On the one hand, the “Economist” trend, far from being dead, is endeavouring to clip and narrow the work of political organisation and agitation. On the other, unprincipled eclecticism is again rearing its head, aping every new “trend”, and is incapable of distinguishing immediate demands from the main tasks and permanent needs of the movement as a whole. This trend, as we know, has ensconced itself in Rabocheye Dyelo.[3] This journal’s latest statement of “programme”, a bombastic article under the bombastic title “A Historic Turn” (“Listok” Rabochevo Dyela, No. 6[4]), bears out with special emphasis the characterisation we have given. Only yesterday there was a flirtation with “Economism”, a fury over the resolute condemnation of Rabochaya Mysl,[5] and Plekhanov’s presentation of the question of the struggle against autocracy was being toned down. But today Liebknecht’s words are being quoted: “If the circumstances change within twenty-four hours, then tactics must be changed within twenty-four hours.” There is talk of a “strong fighting organisation for direct attack, for storming, the autocracy; of “broad revolutionary political agitation among the masses” (how energetic we are now—both revolutionary and political!); of “ceaseless calls for street protests”; of “street demonstrations of a pronounced [sic!] political character”; and so on, and so forth.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, communism, Communist Party, Lenin, revolution, Socialism, Soviet history, V.I. Lenin, vanguard party | 2 Comments »
Posted by onehundredflowers on May 31, 2011
As we know, Gil Scott-Heron passed away last Friday. In honor of his contributions as a revolutionary artist, we’ll be posting videos of his s0ngs over the next few days.
Lyrics:
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Posted in African American, Gil Scott Heron, jazz, music, poem, racism, video | 1 Comment »
Posted by Mike E on May 30, 2011
The following article is from Fight Back! News.
Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder got a cold reception in Minneapolis May 27, where the Committee to Stop FBI Repression dogged him all day about FBI and grand jury attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists. 100 people gathered outside his event at the University of Minnesota. The shouts of protesters outside could be heard inside, “Hey Holder, hear our fury! Stop the FBI, end the grand jury!”
In September of 2010, 14 peace and international solidarity activists in the Midwest, including Minneapolis, were subpoenaed to testify at a secret grand jury investigating material support for terrorism. In December, nine more activists were subpoenaed. The 23 activists have declared their refusal to testify and have declared their First Amendment right to protest, to free speech and to assemble. Last week, the FBI stepped up its repression when it participated in a raid on the home of Los Angeles immigrant rights activist, Carlos Montes.
As Holder began to speak at the University of Minnesota event, several people stood up to interrupt him with questions demanding that he explain his why his Department of Justice is pursuing activists.
The first to challenge him was Tracy Molm, one of the targeted activists and a member of Students for a Democratic Society. Holder talked with her after his speech, saying they would have to “agree to disagree” on whether international solidarity activism like hers is constitutionally protected.
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Posted in antiwar, Barack Obama, civil liberties, police, repression, war on terror | 4 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 29, 2011
Appreciation of the Soviet socialist revolution, does not require white-washing the terrible events of the late 1930s, on the contrary it requires a sober and critical analysis to understand how it happened and how we can make sure it is never repeated.
This is written quickly while I am on a week’s walk-about (please forgive any mistakes made in haste) I may only participate sporadically in the ongoing discussion.
Several people have asked that we sort out the threads on psychology and the Moscow trials. And so now you have ways of discussing these things separately. Feel free to move your own earlier comments from the earlier thread into this one, if it helps the discussion.
by Mike Ely
In our nearby discussion, there have been exchanges on the Soviet communist leader Nikolai Bukharin between Carl Davidson, ( a consistent and outspoken admirer of Bukharin) and Grover Furr who claims to have evidence that Bukharin was in fact in some way a foreign agent and a “truly revolting person.”
I would like to speak in opposition to both of these views — both the capitalist roader view of Carl and the Stalin-era view of politics Grover — and lay out an approach to these historical questions of line that rests on Mao’s most important contribution, in his theory of classes in socialist society and how powerful restorationist forces emerge within socialism.
(In his comments, Grover rejects the concept of socialist transition itself, in the way promoted by Progressive Labor Party, that is its own issue, and its own mistake, which I won’t take up here.)
Bukharin the first capitalist-roader
1) I have long thought (after protracted study) that Bukharin was the first example of what we now call a “capitalist roader” (or specifically what Maoists in China called “from bourgeois democrat to capitalist roader.”) And he was (in many ways much more than Trotsky) a major figure and force within the Soviet revolution — and over two decades, developed a specific and articulated series of programs for how Soviet society should develop.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Bukharin, communism, Mike Ely, Soviet history, Stalin and Stalinism, Trotskyism, Zinoviev | 77 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 29, 2011
We are rebooting this discussion of psychology and communist theory here in its own thread. We will start with the opening comments by TNL and Mike Ely . This emerged from an earlier discussion “The Illusion of the obvious” — and the ongoing debate over whether communist theory should be characterized by creative development or defended orthodoxy.
[Mike writes: I am off on walk-about for a week. Don’t mistake temporary silence for indifference.]
by TNL
This whole discussion underlines an important deficiency in Marxism, namely its lack of a theory of personality. What is at issue here is not just a question of political line or intellectual methodology. Hutu’s participation here is not most fruitfully understood in terms of the strength or weakness of his evidence and arguments, but in terms of his belligerence. Hutu is a type.
When I was an anarchist there was a layer of belligerent anarcho-syndicalist defenders of orthodoxy.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Marxist theory, methodology, Mike Ely, Tell No Lies | 43 Comments »
Posted by onehundredflowers on May 29, 2011
Posted in comedy, imperialism, video | 1 Comment »
Posted by onehundredflowers on May 28, 2011
This was first posted on guardian.co.uk.
We were very sad to hear the news that Gil Scott-Heron had died.
His recording career spanned 40 years. Influenced by Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Nina Simone among others, he combined spoken word, blues, jazz with revolutionary politics to create a musical expression that would inspire future generations.
“You can go into the beat poets and [Allen] Ginsberg and [Bob] Dylan,” Chuck D from Public Enemy said, “but Gil Scott-Heron is the manifestation of the modern world.”
Gil Scott-Heron dies aged 62
by David Sharrock
The musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron – best known for his pioneering rap The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – has died at the age of 62, having fallen ill after a European trip.
Jamie Byng, his UK publisher, announced the news via Twitter: “Just heard the very sad news that my dear friend and one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met, the great Gil Scott-Heron, died today.”
Scott-Heron’s spoken word recordings helped shape the emerging hip-hop culture. Generations of rappers cite his work as an influence.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Black History, Gil Scott Heron, hip hop, jazz, music, poem, video | Tagged: Gil Scott-Heron | 15 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 25, 2011
by Mike Ely
In an nearby discussion, someone dismissed an argument saying simply “this is just silly on a lot of levels.”
Speaking as a moderator, I wrote:
Quoting something, then saying it is silly, is not an argument. Why don’t you make your point?
And they responded saying:
“I figured it’d be rather self-evident, but if I need to spell it out…..”
Fine.
But I would like to take my own advice, and lay out why we insist on substantive replies here on Kasama — and not assume that our reasons are obvious. And our reasons are not obvious — as evidenced by some people who think that we insist on civil discussion because we are “soft” on ideas that challenged settled communist verdicts, or because we are, ourselves, agnostic and confused…. and so on.
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Posted in Mike Ely | 128 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 24, 2011
Published on Monday, May 23, 2011 by El País
“Nobody expected the Real Democracy Now grassroots movement that overshadowed an election campaign to capture the imagination of the world”
Last Tuesday, at about 8pm, something magical took place in Puerta del Sol square, in the heart of the nation’s capital. A few dozen protesters remained after Sunday’s mass demonstration in the name of the Real Democracy Now movement despite the drizzling rain, and police efforts to dislodge them in a surprise dawn raid that morning. Over the next few hours, thousands of young people began to gravitate back towards the square, as word spread by Facebook and Twitter, where they set up a vast camp under tarpaulin sheets, determined to maintain the momentum of Sunday, May 15.
Among them was Jon Aguirre Such. The 26-year-old architecture student and spokesman for Real Democracy Now fought back tears, overjoyed and angry at the same time, as he greeted his returning friends and fellow protesters. This was a dream come true: a generation finally standing up for itself, refusing to pick up the tab for the economic crisis, and expressing outrage at a regional election campaign in which neither of the two main political parties seemed able to offer any real answers.
For Jon, the world had changed on Sunday, May 15, as thousands of people marched through Madrid. That day, as he paused to look back on the human tide pressing toward the Puerta del Sol, he had exclaimed:
“I could cry seeing so many people filled with hope. This is possible. We have just made history. There is no turning back.”
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Posted in Spain | 2 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 24, 2011
Kasama received the following from A World to Win News Service (dated May 23, 2011). This report describes what the revolt in Tunisia has achieved, and how. There are plans for future installments.
by Samuel Albert
I. Great things
Great things have happened in Tunisia .
The greatest thing is that Tunisians, kept down first by the French and then by more than half a century of autocratic government subservient to France and other foreign capital, have awoken to political life in a way that happens only in special moments in history. They cast off passivity and routine’s chains and sought to take the destiny of their country in their own hands. In fact, the masses of people were able to seize the political initiative countrywide – how often has that happened in today’s world? – and impose changes that the Tunisian ruling classes and France and the US might or might not be able to accept but definitely did not want.
Zidane El Abidine Ben Ali ruled over Tunisia for 23 years. On 14 January 2011 he fell so unexpectedly and suddenly that the world was stunned, including Tunisians themselves. Since then they have brought down two successor governments and are challenging the third. The country remains in a rare state of effervescence.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, Tunisia | 3 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 24, 2011
Stic Man (of Dead Prez) created this Corazon Remix. Thanks to Dan DiMaggio for the suggestion.
Posted in African American, anti-racist action, capitalism, immigrants, music, video | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on May 23, 2011
Posted in >> analysis of news | 10 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 22, 2011
The following appeared in The Electronic Intefada.
FBI plans, interview questions discovered in raided activist’s home
Activists in the Twin Cities today announced at a press conference that they were releasing a recently-found document that was left behind by federal agents when they raided Mick Kelly and Linden Gawboy’s Minneapolis home on 24 September 2010.
The FBI confirmed to the Associated Press that the documents appear to be authentic and were accidentally left behind during the raid.
The Committee to Stop FBI Repression said in a statement:
FBI agents, who raided the home of Mick Kelly and Linden Gawboy, took with them thousands of pages of documents and books, along with computers, cell phones and a passport. By mistake, they also left something behind; the operation plans for the raid, “Interview questions” for anti-war and international solidarity activists, duplicate evidence collection forms, etc. The file of secret FBI documents was accidently mixed in with Gawboy’s files, and was found in a filing cabinet on April 30. We are now releasing them to the public.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, antiwar, organizing, police, repression, surveillance, war on terror | 2 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 22, 2011
Nepali revolutionary forces training
” The issue at hand is about Peoples Liberation Army integration [into the government army]. The peace process and constitution drafting should move ahead simultaneously. So many people sacrificed their lives for the sake of a “People’s Constitution”, but attention has not been paid in that regard.
“We have suspicions that we may be betrayed.”
The following interview with Mohan Baidya (nom de guerre is Kiran) reveals that the struggle within Nepal’s Maoist party focuses increasingly on the fate of the Peoples Liberation Army.
There is a well-known saying from Mao Zedong’s red book that has been important to Maoism-since-Mao:
“Without a peoples army, the people have nothing.”
This question now stands center stage — in Nepali politics, in the struggle among the Maoists, and in the strategic decisions being taken for the Nepali revolution. The following is from myrepublica.com.
* * * * * * * * *
by KIRAN PUN
Maoist Senior Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, who leads the hardline camp in the UCPN (Maoist), has registered a note of dissent against the party’s decision to accept Nepal Army’s modality for PLA integration.
Earlier, he had registered his dissent when Chairman Dahal adopted the line of peace and constitution overturning the mandate of the Palungtar plenum. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in >> analysis of news | 12 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 22, 2011
We have been discussing the prediction of one U.S. TV evangelist that the rapture would happen on May 21 (based on a complex numerological analysis.) The following was initially posted as a comment on that previous thread — but this seems worth its own discussion.
(For those unfamiliar with the Dispensationalist Christian concept of “the Rapture” check out wikipedia for background.)
by Bill Martin
Perhaps the rapture did occur yesterday, just no one qualified for being “caught up in the air”–including the very people who were promoting the idea.
This is completely possible under the “scheme of salvation” that the god of many “Christians” profess: that no one really qualifies.
Occasionally I do challenge one of these “Christians” on this point, that even under a more generous reading their god’s hell is going to be populated by many billions of souls–and what kind of scheme of redemption is that?
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Posted in atheism, Bill Martin | 13 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 22, 2011
“Although Manning is unquestionably entitled to his own opinion, he is not entitled to his own facts.”
“Manning, like many of his predecessors who held and advanced this line, has a hard time grasping that since the inception of the genocidal white-settler project that is the United States, that there have been African people not in the least mystified by the material and ideological trappings of their would-be masters, and have sought to establish their own independent states or safe havens on American soil or sought repatriation back to Africa.
“Uncompromising self-determination and sovereignty has always been the fundamental objective of this tendency of the Black Liberation Movement.”
Kasama wants to encourage a new and in depth examination of the oppression and liberation of Black people — to understand causes and solutions much better. The current debate over Malcolm X, and over Manning Marable‘s reworking of Malcolm’s legacy is connected to precisely such an examination.
We would like to share with you this critical discussion of Marable’s work — by Kali Akuno, who is stands as an articulate spokesperson for revolutionary Black nationalism in the U.S.
Kali is National Coordinator for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXMG) and the Director of Education, Training, and Field Work for the US Human Rights Nework (USHRN). The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of MXGM, USHRN, or Kasama. The following just appeared on Kali’s site Navigating the Storm. It was written for Left Turn magazine.
* * * * * * * * *
A Work of Negation:
A Critical Review of Manning Marable’s
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention
by Kali Akuno
Manning Marable’s Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention must be seen for what it is, an ideological polemic. The general focus of this polemic is Black Nationalism, and Black revolutionary nationalism in particular.
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Posted in >> analysis of news | 13 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 21, 2011
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This first appeared on Engadget. (Thanks to Moz Tuttle.) A separate report also appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
Explosion at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant kills two
By Richard Lai
An explosion occurred at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant earlier today (May 20), with reports claiming several workers have been injured. The Taiwanese company has yet to release a statement regarding figures and the cause of this tragedy, but according to 21st Century Business Herald, witnesses saw lightning hit the A05 building before the explosion took place — it is believed that this is a case of dust explosion, and security guards were allegedly warning evacuees that the smoke was toxic. At the time, hundreds of workers were present in the affected workshop which houses an iPad 2 assembly line. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families.
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Posted in >> analysis of news, capitalism, China, imperialism, sweatshop, working class | 4 Comments »
Posted by Mike E on May 21, 2011
Kasama marks with anger and sadness the explosion in Chengdu iPad2 factory. And share with you this haunting song of the working class.
Lyrics are by an anonymous IWW poet, 1908. It was set to music by Mat Callahan, and sung by the communist duo Prairie Fire.
There’s never a dollar of all your wealth that doesn’t mark the workers’ dead.”
Posted in >> analysis of news | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mike E on May 21, 2011
Kasama has discussed the Kent State massacre of 1970 every year on its anniversary. The article first appeared on This Can’t Be Happening. Thanks to Stiofan for pointing this out. The Huffington Post also has an article on this new evidence.
Linn Washington Jr. is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia and a weekly columnist for The Philadelphia Tribune – America’s oldest black owned newspaper.
Obama Officials Refuse to Investigate New Evidence in National Guard 1970 Kent State Shootings
by Linn Washington Jr.
Three days after President Barack Obama visited Ground Zero in New York City on May 5th with his message of “justice being done” with the slaying of terrorist Osama bin Laden, disturbing news broke about this administration’s blocking of a quest for justice in the infamous May 1970 killing of four Kent State students.
Those four students fell in a barrage of gunfire on May 4, 1970 by Ohio National Guardsmen who opened fire during a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War on Kent State’s campus. That lethal fusillade of 67 shots during a 13-second period also wounded nine others, some seriously.
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Posted in antiwar, Barack Obama, military, repression, Vietnam War | 3 Comments »
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