marxism

I chose social (service) workers, because Social Worker is a protected title in many states in the US but there are many people who do not have their degree/licensure who engage in the same if not similar work so I wanted to capture that.

Gonna preface my ideas with the fact that I have a basic understanding of the classes so I could be off base and would love feedback/corrections if I'm not applying the terms correctly.

I think the kneejerk reaction from people when they hear that someone works in social services would be that they are petty bourgeois, but I believe that because the field is so broad, and there is so much overlap in work that it is both petty and proletarian. For example, licensed Social Workers can engage in private or group practice where they work for themselves. At the same time, they have the option of working in the public/private/nonprofit sector if they would like, doing the same type of work or different, where they sell their labor to their employer. They can also do both of these things at the same time, or do one and then the other as they choose to change jobs. There are also people who do not have these qualifications who do essentially the same work, but can ONLY sell their labor to their employer, and do not have the option of starting their own practice, therefore I would consider them specifically proletariat. Their wages are often very, very low, typically to the point of qualifying for different types of low income assistance programs.

I think this probably gets more complex, too, due to the fact that the work has been professionalized over time with the advent of the degree and the licensure requirements while non-professional workers are still widely used and exploited in tandem.

Or, would Social Workers and social service workers necessarily exist in different classes from one another due to the professionalization of one and not the other (in the eyes of the employer)?

So yeah I'd love to hear any thoughts on this

(Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; Simbirsk, 1870 - Nijni-Novgorod, 1924) born on april 22 was a Russian communist leader who led the October Revolution and created the Soviet communist union. A member of a middle-class family in the Volga region, his animosity against the tsarist regime was exacerbated after the execution of his brother in 1887, accused of conspiracy. He studied at the Universities of Kazan and Saint Petersburg, where he settled as a lawyer in 1893.

His activities against the tsarist autocracy led him to come into contact with the main Russian revolutionary leader of the time, Georgy Plekhanov, in his exile from Switzerland (1895); it was he who convinced him of the Marxist ideology. Under his influence, he helped found in Saint Petersburg the League of Combat for the Liberation of the Working Class, the embryo of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party chaired by Plekhanov.

In 1897, Lenin was arrested and deported to Siberia, where he devoted himself to the systematic study of the works of Marx and Engels. After his liberation in 1900 he went into exile and founded the newspaper Iskra (the spark) in Geneva, in collaboration with Plekhanov

In the II Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Party (1903), Lenin imposed those ideas at the head of the radical Bolshevik group, which defended his strongly disciplined party model as the vanguard of a revolution that he believed was viable in the short term; In 1912, the break with the Plekhanov and Martov Menshevik minority would be definitively confirmed, attached to a mass party model that would prepare the conditions for the triumph of the workers' revolution in the longer term.

In 1905 Lenin returned to Saint Petersburg to participate in the revolution that had broken out in Russia, Lenin considered that movement as a "dress rehearsal" of the socialist revolution, of which he especially appreciated the spontaneous organizational form of the Russian revolutionaries, such as the soviets or popular councils. he would go into exile again in 1907 due to the failure of the revolution.

Lenin was completing a revolutionary program of immediate application for Russia: mixing the heritage of Marxism with the insurrectionary tradition of Louis Auguste Blanqui, he proposed to anticipate the revolution in Russia by being this one. from the "weak links" of the capitalist chain, where a small group of determined and well-organized revolutionaries could drag the working and peasant masses into a revolution, from which a socialist state would emerge.

The outbreak of the First World War (1914-18) gave him the opportunity to put his ideas into practice: he defined the conflict as the result of the contradictions of capitalism and imperialism and, in the name of proletarian internationalism, later, the deterioration of the tsarist regime as a result of the war allowed him to think about launching the socialist revolution in his country as the first step towards an era of world revolution.

The Russian Revolution

When the February Revolution of 1917 overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and brought Kerensky to power, Lenin rushed back to Russia with the help of the German army (which saw in Lenin an agitator capable of weakening his enemy Russia). He published his April Theses ordering the Bolsheviks to cease support for the provisional government and to prepare their own revolution by claiming "all power to the Soviets."

A first failed attempt in July forced him to take refuge in Finland, leaving Trotsky to lead the party to seize power through a coup in early November 1917 . The coup became the triumphant October Revolution thanks to the Bolshevik strategy of focusing their demands on the end of the war and the distribution of land . Lenin immediately returned to preside over the new government or Council of People's Commissars.

As the leader of the Bolshevik Party , he has since directed the building of the first socialist state in history. He fulfilled his initial promises by removing Russia from the war for the Peace of Brest-Litowsk (1918) and distributing expropriated land to peasants from large landowners.

He delegated to Trotsky the organization of the Red Army, with which he managed to resist the combined attack of the white armies and foreign intervention in the course of a long Civil War (1918-20). Once control of the old empire of the czars was recovered, he articulated the territory by creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922), which he gave a formal organization by the Constitution of 1923.

Driven by the needs of the war, but also following his own ideological convictions, he imposed a policy of immediate socialization of the economy, nationalizing the main means of production and subjecting activities to strict central planning (war communism); the difficulties of such a radical transformation caused the collapse of production and a general disorganization of the Russian economy.

Lenin then had to rectify his initial mistakes, convincing his party of the need to introduce the New Economic Policy (1921), which consisted of going back on the path of socialization, leaving a certain margin for freedom of movement. market and private initiative (authorization of foreign investments, freedom of wages), with which it achieved an appreciable economic recovery.

Plagued by a serious illness, Lenin gradually retired from the political leadership, while he saw how his collaborators - especially Trotsky and Stalin - began the dispute over the succession. he eventually passed away in 1924

Lenin is known for establishing the political tradition of Marxism-Leninism, which emphasizes the creation of a dictatorship of the proletariat by means of a revolutionary vanguard party and democratic centralism, in which political decisions reached through free discussion are binding upon all members of the political party.

Lenin is one of the most influential political thinkers of modern history, authoring influential communist texts such as "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism", "State and Revolution", and "What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement".

• What is to be Done In which he defended the possibility of making a socialist revolution triumph in Russia as long as it was led by a vanguard of determined professional revolutionaries organized like an army.

• Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism:patrick-lenin: he defined the conflict (world war 1) as the result of the contradictions of capitalism and imperialism

• The State and Revolution :lenin-fancy: Lenin defined this state as a transitory and necessary phase of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which was to prepare the way for the communist future.

• Lenin's speech: The Middle Peasants ☭ Ленин: О крестьянах-середняках :lenin-cat:

• Lenin's speech on antisemitism

• Lenin's speech:What Is Soviet Power? / Ленин:Что такое Советская власть?

• Lenin in October
  is a 1937 Soviet biographical drama film

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Talking more about how we in the imperial core are exploited, rather than how imperialism exploits other countries' resources, labour etc. I'm trying to find a satisfying explanation for why "well-paid" workers are also exploited.

From my understanding of Marx, exploitation happens in capitalism by the worker producing more value than what they are paid. This is evident by the profit these companies make, as it wouldn't exist if their workers were not exploited. But I find it awkward to try to get this across to people not well versed in theory. You have job types like office workers that don't really produce anything and only contribute to the companies bottom line indirectly. I get that theres unproductive and productive labor, but this is also alot to explain to someone who is not deep into economics.

This also got me thinking that exploitation is broader than just underpaying workers. There's also psychological and physical abuse at the workplace that I feel has some connection to exploitation. The fact that the employer can threaten you with firing, or cutting some benefit also seems like exploitation to me.

The Progressive International is organizing the People's Academy:

Guided by the intellectual and practical work of socialist construction in the Global South, we are building a platform to enrich the debates, theories and strategies that underpin our common struggle for a better world.

The Academy, which is completely free, includes one online lecture (in English which will last about one hour) every two weeks plus a very extensive and comprehensive reading list. The reading list usually includes short texts or book chapters which are considered "mandatory" readings for the lecture, plus a list of more articles, longer texts, and books that are relevant to the material. The academy will start in April and continue until the end of the year. The first lecture is next Saturday, 5 April, at 15:00 UTC. Here you can find the reading list for the first week if you want to get a feeling of it.

I am not affiliated with the Progressive International, but I followed a "summer school" they organized last year, which was similar with this academy but shorter and it was a great learning experience. Especially for people who want to go more into theory and Marxism but are daunted by long texts, this could be quite useful. They also have set up a (non-mandatory) telegram groupchat where people can discuss the material and connect with comrades. I thought it would be a good idea to share in this space, to spread the word about it. Feel free to join if you want and share it around!

The People's Forum is hosting summer school for people interested in becoming revolutionary organizers! I think this class is incredibly important and relevant in our current moment, and I wanted to plug it here because I think a lot of you will be interested in it as well. The classes are hybrid in-person (NYC) and virtual (Zoom), and recordings of previous classes as well as other materials are available online.

Classes are Tuesday/Thursday from 6:30pm-8:30pm ET, and Saturday at a time I don't fully remember, but I think is 1pm-3pm ET. And of course, you can always review the recordings at a time that works better for you! That means the next section is tonight (Thursday, July 11th)!

I saw the first class on Tuesday, and it was immediately obvious that the content and presentation of this material are extremely valuable, and I hope you all feel the same.

Register for free at the link below:

https://peoplesforum.org/events/revolutionary-summer-school-2024/

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2921799

I've just finished reading "How Marxism Works" by Chris Harman, as part of Prolewiki's Absolute Beginner Reading List, and I wanted people's thoughts on its section about Marxism and Feminism. This edition is from the year 2000, and this section feels like the weakest section in the entire pamphlet.

It feels like a very surface-level dive into the topic, and I'm wondering if I'm simply picking up on a lack of familiarity by the author. I will admit, as well, that this is a weak topic for myself. I know that there were Bolshevik women who had to advocate for their inclusion in the state after the October Revolution. Their admission led to huge social progress and amenities for working-class women, but there is no mention of them by name in this section. There is no mention of intersectionality, either, from the 'Feminist' side of the section, but lots of focus on the "separatist ideas" of Feminism. No mention of works such as Angela Davis's Women, Race, & Class (which is on my reading list).

Queer Marxism, Feminist Marxism, often feel like an under discussed subsection of Marxist thought (to me anyway, as a cishet man, who could probably do better about seeking this information out). I have to imagine that, being a woman, being queer, being non-white, and looking at Marxism and its focus on class can feel like an alienating experience to some. To have your struggles collapsed and folded together into the "Class Struggle" with no real mention or notion of what life will look like for you and your intersection with society at large after the elimination of the class society must feel like someone telling you to "take it on faith" that things will improve for you. That somehow, in a post capitalist state, the biases and prejudices are simply washed away from the minds of the masses. You would need to take a step further, to study the history of places like the Soviet Union and its efforts in decolonization to get an idea of what that looks like. This could also be my own shallowness showing regarding theory, however.

So, what are your thoughts? What are some historical perspectives I should be seeking out that flesh out this section? What are some works of Theory within the realms of Women's Liberation, Black Liberation, and Queer Liberation I should consume to expand the foundation for my world view?

Thanks!

Separation of concerns is a basic concept in computer science. Djikstra's original explanation sounds strangely similar to dialectics, to me

I mean, it's not exactly the same (dialectics are much richer) but it is indeed interesting that we only "discovered" this in 1974. Although to be honest, the idea is probably older than Hegel.

Das Kapital basically follows this structure. Various aspects of the capitalist mode of production are viewed in isolation, from one limited perspective. Only after examining each perspective, and the interrelation between them, can one really understand the entire system.

Saw this comment on the commie side of TikTok. My gut tells me this is ultraleft bs, but perhaps my fellow hexbears can educate me on this discussion which I’m sure is not new.

I don’t see how a poor American on food stamps is responsible, even though a systematic analysis reveals that international superexploitation is a thing.

The American proletariat can and should organize in any case. I don’t see how Americans can build any sort of socialist movement if any organization at all is accused of being hypocritical.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2805670

To give a bit more detail, I've been attempting to bridge the gap (however wide or short it may be) between Queer Theory and Marxism. I feel as though the two most common views of contemporary Marxists on queer theory are incorrect.

1. Reactionaries who proclaim that Queer Theory is somehow monolithically idealist, usually having never read a shred of it, should be dismissed out of hand. No need to elaborate further on this.
2. We should be critical of those who simply combine Marxism and Queer Theory (whichever tendencies of both they most align with) like toppings on a sandwich. Queer Marxism is something that needs to be developed, yet it requires more than upholding both as distinct yet compatible entities. We must synthesize them, likely transforming both to some degree in the process.

I don't wish to fall into the trap of naïve originality, aka writing theory on a matter without studying that which has already been written. So, I'm looking for two things. Firstly, any freely accessible (I don't have the funds to buy/subscribe) theory on the question of Queer Marxism. Secondly, your personal thoughts (Brief or lengthy as they may be) on the subject.

Thanks in advance, –Zero

I regularly see trots being memed about because "they do nothing apart from writing newspapers", but to me from their viewpoint (and as an anarchist) it totally makes sense and is a sympathetic view how it should be the workers leading the fight towards a revolution and the vanguard should stand aside and take the role of advisors (hence the newspapers) rather than leaders.

I feel like i'm missing something but i don't know what.

I heard Engels gets some things wrong like applying dialectical materialism to the natural sciences (which Marx didn’t agree with) but overall it’s pretty good?

From here

A section from the overall Q&A that was held by the minister. Overall a good read.

Wang Yi: Multipolarity and economic globalization are the prevailing trends in the advancement of human society. But there are different views on what they should look like. China believes in an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

An equal multipolar world means equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules for every nation. Certain or a few powers should not monopolize international affairs. Countries should not be categorized according to their strength. Those with the bigger fist should not have the final say. And it is definitely unacceptable that certain countries must be at the table while some others can only be on the menu. We must ensure that all countries, regardless of their size and strength, are able to take part in decision-making, enjoy their rights, and play their role as equals in the process toward a multipolar world.

An orderly multipolar world means all should observe the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, and uphold the universally recognized basic norms governing international relations. Multipolarity doesn’t mean multiple blocs, or fragmentation, or disarray. All countries must act within the U.N.-centered international system, and pursue cooperation under global governance.

Universally beneficial globalization means growing the economic pie and sharing it more fairly. All nations, all social groups, and all communities should be able to take part in economic and social development and share the benefits. Development imbalance, be it national or international, should be settled properly so as to realize common prosperity and development.

Inclusive globalization means supporting countries in pursuing a development path suited to their own national conditions. No one should impose one single development model onto the whole world. Unilateralism and protectionism for selfish gains at the expense of others must be discarded to keep the global industrial and supply chains stable and unimpeded, and to sustain the robust and dynamic growth of the world economy.

China is ready to work with all countries to steer multipolarity and economic globalization toward the right direction as expected by the whole world, and to make global governance more just and equitable.

A worthwhile read on global capitalism, sub imperialism, apartheid and post apartheid South Africa, Israel, global apartheid and BRICS+.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2512164

Was thinking about this intellectual period last night. I don't know a lot but I get the vague impression of it being too much on the revisionist side for my taste, although the label New Left is so broad that I'm sure there's a huge span of thought that it gets applied to.

What theory still holds up from that time, what theorists do you agree/disagree with, what texts would you recommend to people who want to understand more about this time, t's origins,links to the French 1968 movement ,etc?

Your thoughts on the article?

Read this article.

It's great.

And not too long.

Short post by roberts on the piketty's work