june issue 0001 final

7/31/2019 June Issue 0001 Final

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LIBERTY,SOLIDARITY&REVOLUTIONARYDEMOCRACY

SSUENO.0001JUNE2012www.independentworkers

U.S.

THEOLDENEMYREMANSPG02

WASHINGTON:SOCIALISTCANDIDATEPG03

ITWILLGETBETTERIFWEMAKEITBETTERPG04

EMBERSINDECEMBERPG05

INTERNATIONAL

GREEKELECTIONS:AROUTFORTHEPARTIESOFAUSTERITY;ANOPPORTUNITYFORTHELEFTPG06

FEATURED

THELEFTGAINSINEUROPEELECTIONS;AMERICASHOULDNTBELEFTBEHINDPG09

OCCUPY:MAYDAYANDASEASONSCHANGEPG10

WHYIAMASOCIALISTPG11

ART&CULTURE

MARBLEHORNETSADIFFERENTKINDOFHORRORPG12

PASTONEOCLOCKPG12

KNOWYOURROOTS

ROMNEY,PAUL,ENGELS,LENINANDTHESTATEPG13

Forward is the montnewspaper of the IndependWorkers League. We socialism as the only way to m

liberty, solidarity & revolutiondemocracy into societcommanding values. Whjoining the daily struggles working people & their allies, advocate an anticapitalist workparty as a step toward a unisocialist party-movement stroenough to send exploitation oppression to the history boo


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UNITEDSTATES

TheOldEnemyRemains

ByA.C.Debs

Recently I've been readingThe Great Shark Hunt, acollection of Hunter S. Thompsonarticles from the 60s and 70s.They are things he wrote whilealso writing his more widelyknown gonzo journalist booksFear & Loathing In Las Vegasand Fear & Loathing on theCampaign Trail. While readingthese, I'm struck by thesimilarities between his time andours. Among these similarities, ofwhich there are many, is thehostile relationship in that timeperiod between progressives onthe true left and the liberalestablishment.

Let us not forget that inthe 1960s, it was a Democratpresident who entered into warwith Vietnam, it was a Democratmayor in Chicago who ordered

his cops into open war withhippies and anarchists. It wasDemocrats and the liberalestablishment who criticized theanti-war protesters of their time asbeing idealists and unrealistic. Itwas a Democrat mayor in Kent,Ohio who requested NationalGuard support from theRepublican governor, whichultimately led to the Kent State

Massacre. And all throughout theanti-war period, the mindsetamong Democrats never changedfrom the essential question, whatthe hell is wrong with these dirtyhippies?

I joined liberal online

community DailyKos in June of2005. At the time I was serving inthe US Air Force and deployed toBaghdad. I'd opposed the war inIraq since 2002, and was far from

the only serving military service-member to have that opinion.After the demoralizing experienceof the 2004 elections, when it wasclear we were going to be stuckwith Bush for four more longyears of wars and destructiveforeign policy, I was looking for aplace online that would be liberaland anti-war. I was a dot of bluein a sea of red. At the time,

DailyKos was a harbor. It was theplace for progressives, for peopleagainst the wars, for people whowere for the environment and forall the wide spectrum ofprogressive issues.

Well, the White House haschanged hands, but for the mostpart, it has not changed directions.Troop numbers in Afghanistanhave increased. The withdrawal

from Iraq was a result of anagreement made between theBush Administration and the Iraqigovernment, and if the ObamaAdministration had been able toget the Iraqi government to agreeto a Status of Forces Agreementproviding troops with immunityfrom war crimes prosecution inIraqi courts, there would still beUS forces in Iraq today. Even as it

is, there is a force of 16,000civilian employees at the StateDepartment megaplex known asthe green zone embassy, including5,000 security contractors, ormercenaries as they'd be called inan earlier age. Then there's the

NATO action in Lispearheaded by Obama, constant push for war in Syria Iran, the stationing of Marinesnorthern Australia to threa

Chinese interests in the SoChina seas, the placement of amissile defenses in Europe agaRussian protests, and so on. someone anti-war, the pro-wpresident is now a Democrat.

That brings us backDailyKos. There was a time wI went there because it was anti-war website, aimperialism, pro-environm

pro-civil rights, and generaprogressive. Unfortunately, site leadership there has decidspurred in no small part by vintensely vocal elements witthe community, that they are noprogressive website. They arwebsite for Democrats. If thDemocrats are pro-wimperialist, if they favor induslobbyist money o

environmentalist concerns, if tbelieve marriage should onlybetween a man and a womanleast until the next poll numbcome out on that front), then thwhat the site will support, agaiany alternatives. I've been hirated, warned, and threatewith banning for encouragdisheartened progressives to loat Rocky Anderson as

alternative to Barack ObamThere exists a dedicated cawithin the commenter and a fof the moderators there to hand ban anyone who counterm

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UNITEDSTATES

Embers in December

By Arthur Wilt

An extraordinaryprovision has been included in the2012 renewal of the NationalDefense Authorization Act,passed because to vote againstthe bill is to vote against the U.S.military. The NDAA 2012authorizes the military to detainindividuals deemed terrorsuspects, to be held without trialuntil the end of hostilities in theunending war on terror. It may ormay not also authorize indefinitedetention of U.S. citizens on U.S.territory.

President Obama declaredin his signing statement that hewould not employ the law in thisway, but whether that will remainthe case is for a future Presidentto decide. This to me is the singlemost telling bit about the entireordeal. The state can use the law

to take away citizens rights? Well,we arent going to use it that way,so who cares? This is theiroutward attitude, and for amoment lets assume they are allsaints, with the best of intentions.

So we have saints today asrepresentatives and the NDAAallows, or might allow for thegovernment to violate the Bill of

Rights. What now? Well, we havean election, and these saints getreplaced. Now campaigns areexpensive, so politicians havepander to corporate interests. Solets say for arguments sake thata politician gets elected because

of this funding, and is not themost upstanding citizen. He nowhas to scratch the back of hiscorporate sponsors. Well, howdoes he do this? His lobbyist

friend comes by and says, Youknow, these protestors are reallycutting into our bottom line. Ohand by the way, weve heardreports of some of them sayingsomething negative about thegovernment, and also they haveties to some terrorist group calledAnonymous.

Thats enough for thegovernment to detain theseprotestors under oneinterpretation of the bill, so theofficial will have them detainedwithout allowing them their civilrights - after all, theyreconnected to terrorists.

Another problem here isthat after this has occurred, and itwill be done by the militarypolice, not civilian as the NDAA

under this interpretation forbidscivilian law enforcement to getinvolved, there is no mechanismto determine guilt, or at least toforce a determination of guilt.And the vague language of theAUMF (Authorization of MilitaryForce Against Terrorists, aseparate but related law passed inSeptember 11ths aftermath)means that anyone could be

detained in this way for anyreason, as long as someone inpower wants them to go away.Now if you start thinking aboutwhat can happen when you havehighly corrupt politicians inpower, [in a system that breeds

corruption and whose rule

inherently corrupt - Editors nothe implications are truly vfrightening.

This sort of bill isdangerous path for us to tabecause it paves the way for psychopath in the future to tover totalitarian rule. It isreckless venture to trade a libit of our freedom for a littleof security, that little bit beingillusion anyway, and trust tthey wont take that freedom run with it. And this is the lesthat we should take away from NDAA, that we must be careof what our laws can impbecause the worst of the lawusually what will eventually done with it.

Update from the auth

Thankfully, the NDAA wstricken down by a Circuit Cojudge as the administration conot come out and guarantee tha

could not in any way be usedsilence journalists reporting stories unfavorable to government. However, this bea Circuit Court, a case for the could be taken to the SupreCourt. Its chances of passscrutiny by the Supreme CouAbout fifty-fifty. But for the tibeing, the NDAA has been strdown as unconstitutiona

blasting you from the sky wpredator drones however, remacompletely legal.

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INTERNATIONAL

Greek Elections: A Rout for the

Parties of Austerity; An

Opportunity for the Left

By Dave Stockton

Provided by fifthinternational.org

The Greek elections havedemonstrated a massive popularrejection of the governing partieswho support the EU-IMFausterity memorandum that hascaused so much suffering toGreek people over the last twoyears.

New Democracy, ND,which won 33.5% in 2009, is infirst place with 18.9%, a loss of14.6% of the popular vote. Pasok,which won 43.9% of the vote in2009, slumped to third place with13.2%, down by a staggering30.7%.

By contrast, the left

reformist coalition Syriza leaptinto second place with 16.7%(from 4.6% in 2009). Thisincrease of 12.2% of the popularvote represents almost four timesas many actual votes. Dimar, asplit off to the right from Syriza,gained 6.07%.

The Syriza leader, AlexisTsipras, says that he want to forma coalition of the left-wing partiesthat reject the terms of Greece'sbailouts. "The parties that signedthe memorandum (with the EUand the IMF) are now a minority.The public verdict has de-legitimised them," he said. Ourproposal is a left-wing

government that, with the backingof the people, will negate thememorandum and put a stop toour nation's predetermined coursetowards misery."

The traditional party of themost militant, industrially-based,section of the Greek workingclass, the Greek CommunistParty, KKE, gained relativelylittle in the overall polarisation ofGreek politics between right andleft. It gained 8.41%, only 0.9%more than in 2009.

Of course, as in allvarieties of capitalist democracy,there are many distortingmeasures built into the Greekconstitution aimed at frustratingthe popular will and making surethat the outcome is not the ruleof the people. New Democracywill get 50 bonus seats because itis the first party, around 110 outof the total of 300, with less than

20% of the votes! The secondparty, Syriza, will get 51 seatswith 16.5% of the votes. So a3.2% difference in votes is turnedinto a 59 seat, virtually 20%,advantage for ND.

Syriza has undoubtedlysurged forward because itproposed in however reformist away - a governmental alternativeto the major parties. It hascalled for a left coalition thatrejects austerity. The KKE didrelatively poorly because, for allits left talk and its associatedunion PAMEs militancy, it isobstructing the formation of sucha rejectionist government.

Moreover, despite its style, left Stalinist revolutionrhetoric, it and PAME have two years blocked calls for anout general strike to bring do

the austerity governments. Githe severity of the Greek crand the revolutionary situattestified by the string of one two day general strikes, this alshows that its intransigenceentirely bogus.

The swing to the parties and the growth of the nNazi Golden Dawn (6.92%

21 seats) are clear evidence tGreece is in a deep prevolutionary situation.

In such conditions, KKEs policy, refusing to formcoalition with the other parties on the grounds thatwould be a bourgegovernment, is a massive obstato keeping out the pro-auste

right and centre right parties. Tis like a crude copy of German Communist Partthird period policy in Germin 1929-33, obstructing a unifront against the Nazis with reformist SPD and its huge trunions because they wreformist and pro-capitalist.

It is encouraging that small forces of the far grouped in Antarsya aquadrupled their vote to 1.1from 0.36% in 2009. Antarsya coalition of 10 far organisations, including sections of the Fou

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INTERNATIONAL

(contd. from page 07)

to break up this obstacle?

Revolutionary strategy must bebased on doing more thanexposure plus carrying on,however bravely andenergetically, at a local andnational level with protests, directaction, demonstrations,occupations and with the 24 or 48hour protest general strikes.

Antarsya calls for a united

front but a united front of allthose who want a break with thesystem and revolution. But thismeans a united front with thosewho already agree withAntarsyas objectives. That is notthe united front that the Greekworking class needs, and needsurgently. What it needs is a unitedfront of all the forces that want toreject austerity, reformist and

revolutionary.

That should not beconfused with the unity thatAntarsya itself needs. That needsthe unification of the 10organisations within Antarsyainto a single, democratic,disciplined and centralised partyaround a programme for workingclass power.

At the same time, thatparty should call on the reformistparties and unions to form a massunited front and it should directthat call both to their massmembership and to their leaders.

At city, town and evenvillage level, the rejectionistunited front should be based onresisting the cuts and closures,mobilising the unemployed,

pupils and students, andpensioners alongside public andprivate sector workers. Massmeetings in the workplaces andthe localities should elect councilsof recallable delegates. In thesebodies, the revolutionaries,rejecting sectarianism, must seekto draw from all the workers'parties. The growth of the neo-Nazi New Dawn, as well as police

repression, makes the formationof workers' and youth defenceguards a necessity at local level.

But such a united frontwill be ineffective in breaking thehold of the reformist leaders overtheir mass following unless itincludes agitating for theseleaders to unite against the crisisat all levels. This includes a call

on these leaders to break with thecapitalist parties, with the EUmemoranda and the agencies ofthe Troika, and to form a workers'government to reject the austerityand make the rich, including thebillionaire bondholders of Europe,pay. They should depend not onthe forces and bureaucraticapparatus of the capitalist statebut upon councils of action

formed by the unions, the popularassemblies, the youth and theunemployed. They should create amass popular militia to enforce itsdecrees.

Sixty-five percent ofGreeks voted to reject austerity.

There is, thus, a popular mandagainst a ND-Pasok continuatof the destruction of the livesthe people. Even a parliamentminority government would h

the sympathy of the popumajority if it acted to cancel debts and break with the TroIt could rely on the mmobilisation of the unions, assemblies of the youth and unemployed, the small farmand ruined small business peoeven to defend it against sabotage of the bourgeois parand the state machine.

Of course, the reformleaders would waver and seekbetray but, if their supporwere mobilised alongsrevolutionary forces, this couldchecked and the road opened treal anticapitalist revolution twould put power into the handthe workers, youth and smfarmers.

Such an actrevolutionary strategy, aimedwinning the reformist workaway from their opportu(Syriza) and sectarian (KKleaders is truly vital. If the Grworking class remains paralyfrom struggling for power byleaders, then the forces of fascist right will continue to groa situation ripe for revolution wgo rotten. As Trotsky said; wine will turn to vinegar.

A re-evaluation revolutionary policy is urgent then action on this basis emore

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FEATURED

TheLeftGainsinEurope

Elections;AmericaShouldn't

BeLeftBehind

BytheCentralCommittee

In the United States, thepolitical arena isdominated bytwopartiesthateachrepresentthe interests of capitalism. Intheir platform, funding, andstructure, the Republicans andDemocrats are parties of, by,and for capital despite theDemocrats' occasional populistovertures to working

Americans and the labormovement's slavish obediencetothem.

This is not the case inEurope, where the workers'movementisinpossessionofitsown parties. In most cases,these parties are deformed, aproduct of insufficientlydemocratic structures, illusionsin reforming or 'managing'capitalism, and especially theleadinglayerswhoactasalidtobottle up workers' discontentagainst the system. Still, theworkers' parties of Europe arequalitatively different from theAmerican Democrats, in manycases providing cover againstthe 1%'s attacks on workingpeople,actingasvehiclesforthe

fightback, and even asincubators for a genuinerevolutionaryparty.

While the United Stateshas yet to experience the fullbrunt of the deficit reductionschemes,whoseaimsamountto

impoverishing millions bycutting vital public spending insocial safety net programs andeducation, laying off ordepressing the wages ofgovernment workers andincreasing the tax burden paid

bytheworkingclass,Europeanworkersarealreadyengagedina fight against austerity,poverty, and indeed a fight forthe continued existence ofdemocracy itself. It is in thiscontext that we have tounderstand the impressivegainsregisteredbyEurope'sfarleft, and what this means forthose of us struggling for

democracyandsocial justice intheUnitedStates.

Despite itsprogrammatic weaknesses, theCoalition of the Radical Left(SyrizainitsGreekinitials)saw

adramaticriseinitssupporcrisisplaguedGreece'sMayelections,from4.6%intheparliamentaryelectionto16.now. The Greek CommunParty registered 8.5% andDemocratic Left 6.1%, giv

the parties of the far(setting aside the sodemocrats)atotalofoverthipercent. With no party ableeke out a working coalitionform a new government, nelections have been calledJune 17th: elections that Syrjust might win. Another artin this issue will deal furtwith the implications of

Europeanelections;thepreseditorial merely seeks to gthe reader an impressionthem to mark a contrast wthe American situatiProgressive workers shohave no illusions that

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FEATURED

(contd.frompage09)

left is poised to make majorgains in this year's generalelection. Our politicalmainstream is still narrated bythe struggle of the greater evilagainst the lesser. Despiteclaims from certain sectors oftheRight,PresidentObamahasproven himself in practice adefender of capitalism and allthe suffering it entails for themajority. He has continuedBusherabankbailouts,rescuedthe auto industry magnates

from ruin while instructingthem to close plants andcommence with layoffs,established a Congressional"SuperCommittee"thatfurtherweakens what fragiledemocratic rights the peoplestill possess, and more. Forgetthe broken promises theattacks speak for themselves.

Although the main fruit

won'tbereapedinthiselectioncycle, the task of socialists andprogressive workers in the2012 election is to lay thenecessary groundwork for afuture mass party of theworking class and a unitedsocialist left to fulfill the rolehistoryhaslaidonitsshoulders.The fact that there arenumerous socialist

organizations runningcompeting Presidentialcampaignsisatestamenttothefractured nature of the Left.What is needed is the greatestpossibleunity,tostrengthenthevoicesofthosewhoseektousetheir vote this November as aprotest against Capital's twin

parties. The IndependentWorkers Partyitself must soontake a stand on this issue. TheCentral Committee ofthe Partyinvitesallmembers,supporters,

friends and readers tocontribute to this decision.Should revolutionary andprogressive workers lendsupport to the socialdemocraticstyle campaign ofthe Socialist Party's StewartAlexander campaign? Shouldthe energetic, yetprogrammatically vague andconstitutionally ineligible Party

for Socialism and Liberationgarnerourvote?Onealsohastoconsider the Freedom SocialistParty, Socialist Workers Partyand even the middleclassGreens and the antiunion, andin the Central Committee'sopinion antiworker, SocialistEquality Party. Add to this thefact that a small but vocalsection of the left advocate a

total boycott of the electionsand you now have acomplicated situation thatneedstobeaddressediftheLeftis to get its act together andbecomethevigorous,energetic,militantandconscioussectorofthe working class that it oncewasandmustbeagain.

Occupy: May Day and A

Seasons Change

By Marlon Pierre-Antoine

The Occupy movement

rose up once more in its May

Day General Strike, resurrecting

the radical traditions of May 1st

on a mass scale. Although no

true general strike, we shoforgive Occupy for its hyperb

considering the results itachieve: 80,000+ storming

political arena and exposing lie peddled by official media t

Occupy is dead.

Part of its resurgencesection of the Occupy movem

has produced a document cal

the Global May Manifestoradical-democratic and at tim

socialistic program. Its auth

have asked peoples assemb

across the world to considdebate, modify and ratify

Naysayers will point to

Manifestos numerous polit

weaknesses: illusions reforming instruments

imperialism such as the Uni

Nations to work in the interests

the 99%, the lack of methods

achieve the goals laid out, etc.

Marxist or Occupier will cla

that the Global May Manifestoperfect, but the fact that it exat all opens a discourse on w

working people and their al

require and whether or not th

needs are possible under

current economic system.

This is a discussion ev

anticapitalist fighter sho

welcome and participate in. T

more far-sighted Occupy activ

are seeking a way out of current social-economic impa

without recreating

authoritarian socialist (re

Stalinist) regimes of the 2

century. The Manifestos bold

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FEATURED

(contd. from page 10)

demands for public access to the

major media, democratic control

of natural resources and the

economy, and universal

employment are the unconsciousexpression of transitional

demands, objectively needed by

the working class but impossible

to achieve on a stable basis as

long as the rule of the 1%

remains.

Manifesto supporters

should start thinking about how to

create the world they envision.

Although the Occupy camps are

and should remain big tents for

all tendencies in the 99%,individuals and currents inside

Occupy could help form the basis

for a broad anticapitalist party

that embraces everyone who

agrees with the need to struggle

on the streets, in the workplaces,

schools, neighborhoods and even

on the ballot line for a worldwithout exploitation and

oppression.

Finally, the pessimisticonlooker of ademonstrationwho said, It looks like acommunist country. All this isbullshit.Ithinktheyshouldgetjobsinsteadoffuckingaround,should remember that theprogram advanced bycommunistsisoneincludingfull

employment, participatorydemocracy, and still havingenough free time to fuckaroundfromtimetotime.

Why I am a Socialist

A.C. Debs

When I was growing up, my dadhad me read a lot of KurtVonnegut. In "Hocus Pocus",mention is made of Eugene V.Debs. I looked up some of hisspeeches, and was hooked. I also

read Marx's "The CommunistManifesto", and found itremarkable that he predictedmany of the negative aspects ofglobalization. If I could describemy reason in one sentence, itwould be to quote Eugene Debswhen he said "I am opposing asocial order in which it is possiblefor one man who does absolutelynothing that is useful to amass a

fortune of hundreds of millions ofdollars, while millions of men andwomen who work all the days oftheir lives secure barely enoughfor a wretched existence." I'm nota socialist because I'm jealous ofthe wealthy or because I live inpoverty. I'm quite comfortable.But just because I'm able to keepmy head above water in thecapitalist system doesn't mean I

should condemn forever mybrothers who are drowning. Iwant a better and more free worldfor everyone, not just a lucky fewamong the wealthy andprivileged.

Wages are theft. This is acontroversial idea to put forth, butit is one that is fundamentallytrue. It is a voluntary theft,

usually, from a certainperspective, but it is still theft.When a worker produces $100 ingoods for a company, and given awage of $20, then $80 has beenstolen from him and given to theOwners and stockholders whohave placed themselves abovehim. Were told that the owner

deserves these profits recompense for his iniinvestment in the compaHowever, there are finanprotections in place for thwealthy individuals who inves

and start companies. Thprotections are not in placertainly not to such an extent, the workers who produce weafor the owner. Could an owgenerate any wealth from business without workers? If nhe owes them his livelihood, not the other way around. Trelationship should be symbioand instead it is parasitic. In

transition from capitalism socialism workers cooperatiare the best answer I can see, the easiest to explain to others.

Socialism has mvarieties and flavors, and minanarcho-syndicalism, with a foon the writings of KropotkAnarcho-syndicalism teaches tstate power and economic pow

are inevitably corrupt, and walways support each other. Agovernment is corruptible unreliable, and any capitasystem is corruptible unreliable, with probleworsening as the systcontinues to survive and grow.a result, the only sane and loterm stable option is an absolminimum of decentrali

government and economy. Whfrom a humanitarian perspectivwelfare state may make thibetter for the lower classes twithout, it can also be considebribery to keep the lower clasfrom rising up and revoltagainst their overlords. Freedis the only way for us to survi

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ARTS&CULTURE

Marble Hornets A Different

Kind of Horror

By Marlon Pierre-Antoine

Horror fans looking for a

break from the formulaic slash-and-gore-fest that characterizesmainstream fright films can takerelief in Marble Hornets, an Indiehorror series played out throughYouTube and, sort of, Twitter.

Based on an urban legendthat swept the Internet in 2009,Marble Hornets consists of the"real-life" entries of Jay, who

receives a set of mysterious videotapes from his friend Alex and issoon drawn into the mysteriousand frightful world they reveal.Plagued by the "Slenderman", alengthy, suit-adorned and facelessstalker, Jay soon finds himselffighting for his life - or at least hisidentity - as he sees friends die orbecome enemies and longstretches of time disappear from

his memory. Watching MH, onesees the gradual psychologicaldecay of characters ridden with anextreme (and very real) sense ofbeing constantly watched, isforced to piece sequences of

events together in their ownminds owing to the sometimesout-of-order entries, and isseemingly compelled to think ofvarious theories for the seriesoverall conclusion.

Although somewhatweakened by shaky camerasyndrome and sometimes weakacting, Marble Hornets makes up

for these shortcomings in its freshtake on horror. Instead of bigmoney monsters we have insteada student production on ashoestring budget that through itall manages to be genuinely scary.Nearing the end of its finalseasons, newcomers will findplenty of material to catch up onand lose sleep over. MarbleHornets and its surreal tie-in,

totheark, are well woimmersing yourself in if yomore attracted to the creepuneasiness of Joe Hill (HeShaped Box, Horns) than nonstop bloodbaths of the Sfranchise.

Marble Hornets Entries YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrbleHornets/videostotheark Companion Vide

http://www.youtube.com/user/teark?feature=results_mainMH Wikia Site, with

suggested viewing ord

http://marblehornets.wikidot.co

12

Pastoneoclock.Youmusthavegonetobed.TheMilkyWaystreamssilverthroughthenight.Iminnohurry;withlightningtelegramsIhavenocausetowakeortroubleyou.And,astheysay,theincidentisclosed.Lovesboathassmashedagainstthedailygrind.

NowyouandIarequits.WhybotherthenTobalancemutualsorrows,pains,andhurts.Beholdwhatquietsettlesontheworld.Nightwrapstheskyintributefromthestars.Inhourslikethese,onerisestoaddressTheages,history,andallcreation.

VladimirMayakovsky;RussianandSovietplaywright,poetandBolshevik.Mayakovskywasfirstpublishedinthe1912futuristpublicationAslapintheFaceofPublicTaste.


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KNOWYOURROOTS

Romney, Paul, Engels, Lenin

and the State

By Richard Mellor

Provided byweknowwhatsup.blogspot.com

Governments are

increasingly plundering the

private sector to raise cash,George Melloan writes in theWall Street Journal last weekend.Edward Crane, president of theright wing Cato institute assailsgovernment and its profligatespending habits in an op ed piecein the same issue in defense of

Ron Paul, the LibertarianRepublican candidate forpresident. The true tax on theAmerican people, Crane writes,paraphrasing Milton Friedman,is the level of spending, the

resources taken from the privatesector and employed in the public

sector.

Mitt Romney, like Paul, a

candidate for the lucrative job ofbeing in the drivers seat inWashington is another one thathates the state apparatus thatdenies us our freedom to become,well, the Mitt Romneys andWarren Buffets of this world.Romney offers us a new world, anopportunity society as opposedto the entitlement society thatObama favors.

Romney with a net worthof about $250 million is the sonof a former auto executive whobecame governor of Michigan.We know what role autoexecutives were playing in 1948when it came to the lives ofworking people in this country.

Those in government control the

resources and make the rules,Romney says, And while the restof us stand still, they make sure

that their friends get ahead.Romney will take a very

different path he tells the WSJ.He will be different and use thegovernment only to createopportunities for all of us tobecome Warren Buffets or, if wedont want to work as hard asWarren Buffet does, perhaps likeMitt, only a quarterbillionaire. The rest of us? Is itno wonder most Americans aredisgusted with politics having to

listen to such nonsense?

Like all of them, Romneywants to allow the private sectorto do its job of caring andprotecting us and as president willmake sure government doesnt getin the way. Hell allow olderAmericans to get that Medicarechain from around their necks andbuy private health coverage from

his friends (tears fill my eyes as Ithink of the freedom this manwants us to have as we growolder. What self sacrifice.) ButMitt, like all of the politicians inthe two Wall Street partiesensures us that a governmentprovided safety net will remainfor those in need. The issue is,how broadly are we defining in

need ? Mitt tells the Journal. I

am confident Mitt and his friendsat Bain Capital and other financialfirms are the best sources todetermine what we need and whatwe dont.

To the untrained eye onemight think all these people,Melloan, Paul, Romney, Obama

have some serious disagreemewhen it comes to our intereThey do have disagreements sure. Paul attacks Obama onumber of individual rights isslike Obama claiming the right

kill citizens on American soithey are suspected of beterrorists or connected to nebulous al Qaeda. But on main issue, that workers havepay for their crisis, they marchlockstep. Obama, (the socialist right-wingers call him, a lathat wouldnt stick outside of US) is a major supporter privatizing education and cha

schools not to mention destroythe US postal service, extremely efficient pubservice. The plan is to eliminhundreds of thousands of joclose four thousand or so poffices mainly in rural areas inner cities and hand the businover to UPS and Federal ExpreThis sort of governminterference is OK though.

Throughout the US, politicians of the two Wall StrParties, Democrat Republican, are savagworkers rights and livstandards. They differ only how workers and the middle clshould pay. They differ onlyhow their state, the governmthat exists to defend th

interests, should function, how state should intervene maintaining an economic systthat is based on exploitation violence and the extraction surplus value from those whproductive Labor creates it.

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KNOWYOURROOTS

This does not mean thatwe dont engage the politicalrepresentatives of the capitalistclass, the Romneys and GeorgeMelloans and Barack Obamas in apolitical struggle to wrest from

their state some concessions. Oneof the weaknesses of the OccupyMovement is not just a failure toengage in political struggle but arejection of it. Direct action alonecannot bring victory. This is whythe building of a mass workerspolitical party that couldchallenge the monopoly, ordictatorship that the two capitalistparties have over US political life

is a crucial step along the road toa genuine democratic socialistsystem. A political party is theconsciousness of a class. It givesus a place to fight. Unlike aUnion, which defends or shoulddefend wages and workingconditions, the purpose of apolitical party is to govern. Itdeals with legislation, trade, theenvironment and international

relations----it transforms massconsciousness.

But without a clearunderstanding of the role of thestate in society and how themodern state arose, this politicalactivity can be a trap also. One ofthe most important issues for meas I began to understand the worldaround me was coming to

understand the role of the state (orgovernment as most workerswould refer to it) in society. I hadnever really given it muchthought; it was just there. I had ageneral understanding that theLabor Party was a party forpeople like me and the Tory partyfor them but never went much

beyond that, to the actual natureof the state apparatus itself. It wasbeing introduced to the ideas ofMarx and Engels that explained

this. Engels described this entitywe call the state in plain words:

The state is, therefore, by

no means a power forced on

society from without; just as littleis it 'the reality of the ethical

idea', 'the image and reality of

reason', as Hegel maintains.

Rather, it is a product of soc

at a certain stage of developmeit is the admission that this soc

has become entangled in

insoluble contradiction with itsthat it has split into irreconcila

antagonisms which it is powerl

to dispel. But in order that thantagonisms, these classes w

conflicting economic intere

might not consume themsel

and society in fruitless struggle

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became necessary to have a

power, seemingly standing abovesociety, that would alleviate the

conflict and keep it within the

bounds of 'order'; and this power,arisen out of society but placing

itself above it, and alienatingitself more and more from it, is

the state."

We have to remember atall times that a government andall its institutions is generally,almost at all times, a governmentthat represents the ruling classesof society. Greece was ademocracy, but it was a slave

owners democracy. The feudalstate defended the class interestsof the aristocracy and theireconomic system that wasprimarily agricultural, self-sustaining and where theownership of land was power.

Our state is what inpolitical terms is described as aBourgeois Democratic state. Itis a government of capitalists forcapitalists and will defend theirinterests, which are

antagonistic to those of workingpeople. As Engels explained:The ancient and feudal states

were organs for the exploitation

of the slaves and serfs; likewise,

the modern representative stateis an instrument of exploitation of

wage-labor by capital.

Understanding this we can

engage in this political strugglewith capital with a clearunderstanding of its limits. Onewe understand the true nature ofthe state as opposed to simplyvoting at the ballot box every 2 or4 years, we realize throughpolitical struggle that their statecannot serve our interests and theneed for an internationalrevolutionary leadership and

political structure becomesobvious. Not a clandestine,separate group of individualsisolated from the working classmovement but borne out of it andin it.

I would like to think thatsome of those who argue againstpolitical activity on the basis ofthe struggle for reforms arecorrect in their view that the massof the working class will bedrawn directly to revolutionaryconclusions, to the understandingthat capitalism cannot be madefriendly but has to be overthrownand replaced by an economicsystem based on the production of

human needs not proUnfortunately, we cant wish what we want and get it; in real world things wdifferently.

When the working clmoves in to struggle and as tmovement begins to grow it winevitably take organizatiopolitical expression and this wbe in the form of a mass workeparty that will seek to transfosociety for the better. In course of this struggle the illusin the ability to reform the systas opposed to replacing it will

shattered. The time fradepends on a number of thiincluding the role trevolutionary socialists play---this is an objective fact we hto deal with.

*For working people interestedthis subject Engels The Originthe Family, Private Property the State is a good start. For nreaders the usual difficulty wterms and ideas we are familiar with exists but general ideas on the state are eto grasp.

** Also Lenins State Revolution is essential reading

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june issue 0001 final

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