Michal Kalecki, "Political Aspects of Full Employment" Political Aspects of Full Employment1by Michal Kalecki 1.
A solid majority of economists is now of the opinion that, even in a capitalist system, full employment may be secured by a government spending programme, provided there is in existence adequate plan to employ all existing labour power, and provided adequate supplies of necessary foreign raw-materials may be obtained in exchange for exports. If the government undertakes public investment (e.g. builds schools, hospitals, and highways) or subsidizes mass consumption (by family allowances, reduction of indirect taxation, or subsidies to keep down the prices of necessities), and if, moreover, this expenditure is financed by borrowing and not by taxation (which could affect adversely private investment and consumption), the effective demand for goods and services may be increased up to a point where full employment is achieved. 2.
Capitalism and the Accumulation of Catastrophe. Labor Discipline and the Decline of the Soviet System - Don Filtzer. The issue of labor discipline lay at the very heart of the antagonistic relationship between the Soviet elite and its work force.
Soviet industry was plagued with high labor turnover, absenteeism, heavy drinking, and slow work. Don Filtzer explains how this encouraged the system's eventual collapse. The issue of labor discipline lay at the very heart of the antagonistic relationship between the Soviet elite and its work force. That "discipline" was slack in Soviet factories has long been noted by Western and Soviet commentators alike: high labor turnover; absenteeism, closely tied to heavy drinking on and off the job; and, more importantly, a highly irregular pace of work, with periods of intensive labor (usually involving forced overtime) interspersed with countless opportunities for time wasting, slow work, and a general disregard for production quality.
Labor Discipline and Labor Mobility This was not merely a question of political rhetoric and propaganda. Control Over Work Time. 党創立８９周年記念講演ダイジェスト** Eco - "Eternal Fascism: 14 Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt" By Umberto Eco Writing in New York Review of Books, 22 June 1995, pp.12-15.
Excerpted in Utne Reader, November-December 1995, pp. 57-59. The following version follows the text and formatting of the Utne Reader article, and in addition, makes the first sentence of each numbered point a statement in bold type. Italics are in the original. For the full article, consult the New York Review of Books, purchase the full article online; or purchase Eco's new collection of essays: Five Moral Pieces. In spite of some fuzziness regarding the difference between various historical forms of fascism, I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism. Rick Wolff - Why we need a Powerful Left Party Now - Part 1 By Craig Seeman On ExposureRoom.
Capitalism Collapse? 'Cash grab system cannot survive storm' John Bellamy Foster, "Capitalism and Environmental Catastrophe" Capitalism and Environmental Catastropheby John Bellamy Foster This is a reconstruction from notes of a talk delivered at a teach-in on "The Capitalist Crisis and the Environment" organized by the Education and Empowerment Working Group, Occupy Wall Street, Zuccotti Park (Liberty Plaza), New York, October 23, 2011.
It was based on a talk delivered the night before at the Brecht Forum. Fred Magdoff also spoke on both occasions. Slavoj Zizek: Capitalism with Asian values - Talk to Al Jazeera. From the Middle East to the streets of London and cities across the US there is a discontent with the status quo.
Whether it is with the iron grip of entrenched governments or the widening economic divide between the rich and those struggling to get by. But where are those so hungry for change heading? How profound is their long-term vision to transform society? Slovenian-born philosopher Slavoj Zizek, whose critical examination of both capitalism and socialism has made him an internationally recognised intellectual, speaks to Al Jazeera's Tom Ackerman about the momentous changes taking place in the global financial and political system. Benjamin Walter - Critique of Violence. Cultural materialism and identity politics. Cultural materialism and identity politics posted by lenin If it is possible to have a cultural materialism, of the kind fashioned by Raymond Williams or Stuart Hall, is it also possible to have a materialist politics of identity?
Is it even advisable to try? To answer the first question is to think through the meaning of Marx’s concept of the social formation as a unity in difference; to answer the second is to explicate Lenin’s thinking in saying that the person who waits for the ‘pure’ revolution will never live to see it. In many respects, identity became an obsession in the UK over the last ten years. Were it not for the global economic crisis, we would be dealing mainly with the fall-out from New Labour’s crass attempt to pioneer various formats of ‘Britishness’ – from the sleek, neoliberal cosmopolitanism of ‘cool Britannia’ to the socially conservative, defensive nationalism of the ‘war on terror’.
Where does ‘identity’ fit into all this? Reflections on the Bolsheviks, the October Revolution, and early Soviet state building in Petrograd. By Alexander Rabinowitch 2 December 2010 The lecture hall at Humboldt University This report was presented by Professor Alexander Rabinowitch of Indiana University at a meeting at Humboldt University in Berlin on October 14.
Marx. David Harvey.