Archive for April, 2009

21st Century Socialism: Eleven Talking Points

by Editors @ Thursday, April 30th, 2009. Tags:
Filed under Economy, Socialism

May Day

Eleven Talking Points

On 21st Century Socialism

 

By Carl Davidson

SolidarityEconomy.net

May 1, 2009

The current discussion around socialism in left and progressive circles in the U.S. needs to be placed in a more substantive arena. This is an effort to do so. I take note in advance of the criticism that the following eleven working hypotheses are rather dry and formal. But in light of the faux ‘socialisms’ bandied about in the headlines and sound bytes of the mass media in the wake of the financial crisis, especially the absurd claim in the media of rightwing populism that the Obama administration is Marxist and socialist, I felt something a little more rigorous might be helpful. Obviously, criticism and commentary is invited.

1. Socialism’s fundamental building blocks are already present in US society. The means of production, for the most part, are fully developed and in fact are stagnating under the political domination of finance capital. The US labor force, again for the most part, is highly skilled at all levels of production, management, marketing, and finance. The kernels of socialist organization are also scattered across the landscape in cooperatives, socially organized human services, and centralized and widespread mass means of many-to-many communication and supply/demand data management. Many earlier attempts at socialism did not have these advantages. (more...)



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‘Buy Out, Not Bail Out’ – Coops as a Working Class Solution

by Editors @ Saturday, April 25th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Financial Crisis, Labor Movement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Ontario's Algoma Steel, a 5000 worker cooperative

Coops and the global financial crisis

Cooperatives have been more resilient to the deepening global economic and jobs crisis than other sectors. ILO Online spoke with Hagen Henry, chief of the ILO’s Cooperatives Branch.

The ILO is the International Labor Organization, created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice. The ILO brings together governments, workers and employers, as the world's only tripartite multilateral agency. It is dedicated to bringing decent work and livelihoods, job-related security and better living standards to the people of both poor and rich countries.

ILO Online: Why does the ILO promote cooperatives?

Hagen Henry: The ILO views cooperatives as important in improving the living and working conditions of women and men globally as well as making essential infrastructure and services available even in areas neglected by the state and investor-driven enterprises. Moreover, values that are at the heart of the cooperative movement are central to creating decent jobs. Cooperatives are close to a democratic, people-centred economy which cares for the environment, while promoting economic growth, social justice and fair globalization. Cooperatives play an increasingly important role in balancing economic, social and environmental concerns as well as in contributing to poverty prevention and reduction.

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Danger: Pushing ‘Recovery’ with a ‘White’ Top and a Black Bottom

by Editors @ Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Filed under African-American, Economic Democracy, Labor Movement, Racism

Economic Recovery for Everyone:

Racial Equity and Prosperity

 


by The Center for Social Inclusion

Published by POVERTY & RACE
RESEARCH ACTION COUNCIL
March/April 2009
Volume 18: Number 2


States are poised to receive significant federal funding to stimulate the economy and put people back to work. Much of it targets “shovel ready” projects. Government has to be smart about how it uses our money. The stimulus package alone will not be enough to put everyone who needs a job back to work. And it will not support all the services our communities need. But if it is allocated wisely and fairly, it can be a powerful boost to the economy and improve the lives of many.


To do that, states must ensure that those in the most need benefit from the stimulus. While we have made much progress on race and gender equality in this country, we have not yet achieved full fairness, and these inequities limit prosperity for all of us.

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Can Worker Cooperatives Build a Bridge to Socialism?

by Editors @ Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009. Filed under Economy

Gramsci, Economic Theory of

Worker Cooperatives and the

Transition to a Socialist Economy

By Bruno Jossa

Economics, University of Naples

1. Introduction

In this paper we intend to discuss the problems arising in connection with the transition from capitalism to a system of producer cooperatives, i.e. to a system of self-managed democratic firms. This subject will be addressed against the backdrop of the ideas of Gramsci, a major theorist of workers' councils and probably the one Marxist thinker whose work has outlived the collapse of state socialism in the Soviet Union (see Buttigieg, 1995, p.105 and Baratta, 1999, p. 3).(1)

The problem is interesting because in the literature on possible forms of market socialism, the intermediate period between capitalism and socialism has received little attention right to this day. This is all the more surprising if we bear in mind that analyses of the transitional period used to occupy centre-stage in most of the debates on classical issues such as state socialism and the viability of the socialism-in-one-country option. Preliminarily, we wish to point out that, in our opinion, the transition must come about by democratic means and that we will lay particular stress on the query why Gramsci did not accept the idea that the market is a necessary option in the long-term transition to communism. Traditionally, the term 'transition' is used to describe a "shift from one production mode to another". (more...)



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Lights. Camera. Action. Das Kapital. Now

by Editors @ Tuesday, April 21st, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Marxism

Thoroughly

Modern Marx

By Leo Panitch

May/June 2009

The economic crisis has spawned a resurgence of interest in Karl Marx. Worldwide sales of Das Kapital have shot up (one lone German publisher sold thousands of copies in 2008, compared with 100 the year before), a measure of a crisis so broad in scope and devastation that it has global capitalism—and its high priests—in an ideological tailspin.

Yet even as faith in neoliberal orthodoxies has imploded, why resurrect Marx? To start, Marx was far ahead of his time in predicting the successful capitalist globalization of recent decades. He accurately foresaw many of the fateful factors that would give rise to today’s global economic crisis: what he called the “contradictions” inherent in a world comprised of competitive markets, commodity production, and financial speculation.

(more...)

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Finance Capital’s ‘Whole Series of Ponzi Schemes’

by Editors @ Tuesday, April 14th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Financial Crisis, Marxism, Socialism

 

 David Harvey

Explores the

Logic of Capital

 

A Socialist Review Interview by Joseph Choonara, April 2009

Joseph Choonara spoke to acclaimed Marxist theoretician David Harvey about capitalism's current crisis and his online reading group of Karl Marx's Capital which shows the revival of interest in this work.

Some commentators view the current crisis as arising from problems in finance that then impinged on the wider economy; others see it as a result of issues that arose in production and then led to financial problems. How do you view it?

It's a false dichotomy that's being posed. There is a more dialectical relationship between what you might call the "real" and "financial" sides of the economy. There is no question that there has been an underlying problem of what I would call "over-accumulation" for a considerable time now. And in part the movement into investing in asset values rather than production is a consequence of that. But as the search for new forms of asset value developed you also saw financial innovation that created the possibility of investment in hedge funds and those sorts of things. (more...)



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‘Solidarity Economy’ Emerging in North Carolina

by Editors @ Friday, April 10th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Environment, Global Justice, High Road Economics

The 'Plenty':

Local Currency Is One Tool

of Local Coop Economy

 

From Democracy Now

April 9, 2009:


AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to look now at how one North Carolina town is trying to become more self-sufficient by moving towards, well, being able to feed, fuel and finance itself. The town of Pittsboro, North Carolina—we just passed it yesterday—it houses the nation’s largest biodiesel cooperative, a food co-op, a farmers’ market and, most recently, its own currency, the Pittsboro Plenty. Pittsboro is one of a number of communities across the country printing their own money in an attempt to support local business.


We’re joined right now by community activist, entrepreneur and author Lyle Estill. He is also the author of Small Is Possible: Life in a Local Economy, and he’s founder of Piedmont Biofuels. He is also author of another book, as well.
We welcome you to Democracy Now! It’s good to have you with us, Lyle.

LYLE ESTILL: Thanks.


AMY GOODMAN: Plenty—where is that currency? I had it here somewhere. How could I lose that? Ah, here it is. Here it is. This is a—looks like—a little bit like Monopoly money. And tell us about Plenty. What does it stand for?

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Skip the Gas Guzzlers, Leapfrog to the Green Car

by Editors @ Sunday, April 5th, 2009. Filed under China, Environment, High Road Economics

 BYD electric car

China's E6 Electric Car:

Seeking a Great Leap

in Clean Transportation

By Jonathan Watts

The Guardian, UK

When BYD Auto launches one of China's first mass produced fully electric sedans later this year, it will be trying to conquer the world rather than save it. But such is the explosive growth of China's car market and thirst for petrol that the two goals are likely to become ever more synonymous.

The E6 plug-in is currently under wraps at the company's sprawling industrial complex in Shenzhen, but it will soon be at the vanguard of a company's -- and a nation's -- plans to dominate the global market for "clean-transport".

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Economic Justice from the Bottom Up

by Editors @ Wednesday, April 1st, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, High Road Economics, Organizing, Youth

 

The Solidarity Economy Movement

Emerges in Its First U.S. Conference

By Carl Davidson
SolidarityEconomy.Net

Nearly 400 organizers and activists gathered at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst March 19-22 for the first national gathering of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, exceeding the expectations of its organizers.

The deepening economic crisis made the meeting quite timely. The overall theme was 'Building Another World,' and drew participants  from the East Coast, South and Midwest of the US, even Alaska and Puerto Rico. Internationally, delegations came from Quebec, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, and Canada. People represented economic justice and green jobs projects, food coops and credit unions, worker coops and labor unions, and peace and justice organizing efforts.

"Our diversity was very dynamic and creative," said Julie Matthaei, a USSEN coordinating committee member. "It served us well in affirming our unity, discussing differences, and helping us reach a deeper understanding of the solidarity economy in our context."

(more...)

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