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The Trotskyist Tradition and Black Liberation
Afro-Trinidadian Marxist C.L.R. JamesA commonplace caricature of Marxism teaches us that Marxists are crude class-reductionists who have nothing interesting to add to the understanding of (or the...
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Intellectuals and the Struggle for Socialism from Below
I've been thinking a lot of about the role of intellectuals (and theorists in particular) in the struggle for socialism. There has been a lot of ink spilled over this question within the Marxist...
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A Couple of Thoughts Re: the French Elections
Many readers will have seen the results from the first round of Presidential elections in France. Predictably, Parti Socialiste candidate François Hollande came out on top with 28% whereas Sarkozy took...
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On "Hipster Racism"
(I apologize that this post is a little late to the game... I wrote this a few days back but, for personal reasons, had to delay finishing it until today). Many will have seen this Jezebel piece which...
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The Politics of Paul Simon's Graceland
The 25th Anniversary of Paul Simon's Graceland has been an occasion for celebration but it is also an opportunity to reflect on the controversies that the album produced when it came out in the 1980s....
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Against Robert Reich on "Socialism"
This anxious, unsettled response to Hollande's electoral victory has been circulating on the internet in liberal circles. I feel compelled to respond because it is explicitly framed as a way of turning...
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Pushing the Struggle Forward in Greece
The recent Greek elections have been exciting for the global Left, primarily because of the sharp ascendancy of SYRIZA, the Coalition of the Radical Left. The vote clearly represents a strong "no" to...
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Brenner and Harvey on Imperialism
For as long as I've been politically aware, I've been against Washington's wars and occupations abroad. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a formative moment for me and I can still recall being overwhelmed...
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Left Strategy and the United Front
Warm weather, among other things, has brought with it a partial rejuvenation of the Occupy movement and the forces of the Left in the US. Months ago it appeared as if the political energy generated by...
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What's the matter with Wisconsin?
Why didn't Wisconsin recall Scott Walker? A year and half ago, hundreds of thousands of people marched and occupied the Capitol. Millions more--around the country and, indeed, around the world--were...
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The Contradictions of Capitalism
It is a basic tenet of Marxism that capitalism is a contradiction-laden system marked by various internal conflicts and tensions. This is in sharp contrast with the pseudo-scientific claims of...
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Gender, Sexuality and Capitalism
On the face of it, it is easier to make the argument that class and race are intertwined than it is to make the case for a close link between class struggle and the politics of LGBT liberation. Race—a...
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Wishful Thinking and Obama
Many previously disaffected left-leaning people are suddenly glowing after Obama's "bold new move on immigration". I can't tell you how many facebook updates I've seen heaping huge amounts of...
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Moralism, Politics and Recycling
OK, so here are some unsystematic, polemical remarks on the ethics and politics of recycling. Almost nobody--except the cynical corporate marketeers who exploit "green" ideologies for profit--thinks...
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On "Having it All": Feminism, Work and the Family
Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, recently penned a piece for The Atlantic which has already broken all the records for page-views at the Atlantic's website. It has clearly...
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Ecology, Technological Innovation, and Capitalism
There is a common neoliberal dogma about technological innovation which teaches us that the "dynamism" of "competitive markets" is inherently creative and innovative, whereas any alternative...
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"The Exhaustion of Utopian Energies"
This phrase--repeated rather often in certain left-academic circles--was coined by Jurgen Habermas in 1990. It is often cited as a definitive statement that the "old Left" ideas of class struggle,...
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Recycled Posts
Here are a couple of recycled posts from the archives that might be of interest:A critical analysis of nostalgia film. What's the point of education supposed to be, anyway? On the politics of black...
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Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.
That's right. You'd better be scared—and you'd better be prepared to give up everything to get Obama re-elected. Ryan is an Ayn Rand fanatic and he has an evil vision for America that threatens to roll...
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Some Posts on Election 2012
Here are a couple of posts on election 2012 that may be of interest, given that the corporate media's obsession with "the most important election of our time" is in high gear.First, here is a post that...
View ArticleNot voting Obama--And it has nothing to do with privilege
One of the most upsetting arguments I've heard this election season (well, the most upsetting not to come from the right), is that those who don't vote Democrat this election are exercising some sort...
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Marxism, Exploitation and Racial Oppression
OK, so here are a couple of half-baked thoughts regarding how best to think about racial oppression within a Marxist theoretical framework. I want to focus in particular on the strengths---and the...
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What do Union Density Figures Actually Mean?
What do union density statistics actually mean? To what extent can we draw sweeping conclusions about our present political period from them?Union density measures the percentage of the work force that...
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A Few Notes on Austerity
There's no doubt that the global economic crisis has precipitated a wave of austerity measures across Europe and North America. As banking crises mutated into sovereign debt crises, austerity has been...
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Some impromptu thoughts on left unity in the US
I'm thinking out loud here. Feel free to tell me where I'm off my rocker. I'm interested in working some things out and I welcome debate and disagreement about what I say below. ***The organized...
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