Critique of Political Economy – (COPE): Volume 1

 

Andrew Kliman

CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY – (COPE): VOLUME 1 NOW OUT

Editors: Andrew Kliman and Alan Freeman

 

The editors have now made the first volume of Critique of Political Economy accessible to the public online.

 

See Volume 1 (from September 2011) at: http://copejournal.com/critique-of-political-economy-vol-1/

 

You can also see papers from the International Working Group on Value Theory (IWGVT) at the same site, see: http://copejournal.com/iwgvt-papers/

 

The COPE / IWGVT website is currently under construction, and more material will uploaded there in the weeks ahead, see: http://copejournal.com/

 

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

The Causes of the Capitalist Crisis

Andrew Kliman

THE CAUSES OF THE CAPITALIST CRISIS

ANDREW KILMAN DEBATES WITH PETER TAAFE AND/OR LYN WALSH

27^th June at 18.30-21.30

Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, Room B36

The American economist and author of the controversial book, “The Failure of Capitalist Production”, Andrew Kliman, is meeting the challenge to debate the causes of capitalist crisis issued by the Socialist Party of England and Wales.

As the Socialist Party declared in 2013: “We have never avoided debates on important issues, and will not do so on this occasion.” It invited Kliman to two public debates, one in London and one in the U.S.

Now the Socialist Party have the opportunity to defend their conception of the crisis at a free-to-attend debate in Birkbeck College, London. Both Peter Taaffe, SP General Secretary and Lynne Walsh of the SP EC are invited. Andrew Kliman has confirmed his attendance and is travelling from New York to London for the challenge.

This event is open to all socialists and activists in the movement.

Sponsored by Marxist Discussion Group (economics) and independent Marxists

MORE INFORMATION
This open discussion is an opportunity to understand what is at stake in our interpretation of Marx and to answer the following questions:
* Was the 2007-8 crisis caused by neoliberalism and financialisation or was it a result of the central contradictions of capitalism?
* What is coming: stagnation, recovery or an even worse recession, and how do Marxists predict and respond to capitalist crises?
* Are corporations drowning in profits and cash hoards which could be spent on stimulus programmes to ‘save’ the economy from another crisis?
* Are crises caused by inequality or by the inherent contradictions of capitalist production?
* How do we build consciousness and prepare the ground for revolution? By winning reforms and building mass reformist parties, or by challenging the basis of the capitalist system itself?

For more information, including how to get a live stream of the event, see: https://www.facebook.com/events/617588808344740/

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Crises in Education, Crises of Education

Glenn Rikowski

CRISES IN EDUCATION, CRISES OF EDUCATION

Glenn Rikowski, Visiting Scholar, Department of Education, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

A paper prepared for the Philosophy of Education Seminars at the University of London Institute of Education 2014-15 Programme, 22^nd October 2014.

 

INTRODUCTION

The capitalist crisis of 2007-09 cast a grim shadow over social existence in developed Western nations. The fallout from the banking crash of September 2008 post-Lehman cascaded over welfare, health, social services and education provision in the form of austerity measures, the drive to cut sovereign debt levels, the erosion of workers’ living standards and vicious service cuts and taxes aimed at the poor and disadvantaged (e.g. the bedroom tax in the UK).

On the back of this maelstrom, the Journal of Education Policy (JEP) celebrated its 25^th anniversary by running a special issue on ‘Education, Capitalism and the Global Crisis’ in 2010[1]. The JEP is to be congratulated on unveiling articles addressing relationships between the crisis of 2007-09 and education: it was unusual for a mainstream education journal to dedicate a whole issue to this topic. However, with the possible exception of Clarke and Newman’s (2010) contribution[2] it could be concluded that little progress has been made in understanding relations between capitalist crises and education since Madan Sarup’s classic Education, State and Crisis: A Marxist Perspective of 1982. Furthermore, there seemed to be a coy elision regarding the constitution of crisis within or of education itself. The crisis of 2007-09 was basically ‘economic’ in nature, it appears, with various spill-over effects for education: e.g. cuts in expenditure, deepening educational inequalities and rationing of access to higher education (Jones, 2010). Thus: education crisis was derivative of, and consequential upon, economic crisis. Furthermore, the economy, or the ‘economic’ system (for structuralists) is the starting point for analysis of education crisis.

The notion that an ‘education crisis’ can only ever be derivative of a capitalist economic one begs the question as to whether all crises can only ever be basically economic in nature; only ‘economic’ crises fundamentally put either the whole capitalist economy and society at risk, or, are the foundation for crises in other parts of the social system but still basically ‘economic’ in nature; thereby generating spectres of reductionism, economic determinism and crude renditions of historical materialism. On the other hand, references to ‘crisis’ litter media reports and academic outputs in relation to all kinds of topics – and there is nearly always some kind of ‘education crisis’ foregrounded by the print media. In terms of everyday usage the concept appears to have extensive legitimacy, though Gamble notes that ‘the term crisis [is] being thrown around fairly indiscriminately in everyday discourse’ (2009, p.7).[3]

It should be borne in mind that the concept of crisis can be traced back to the writings of Hippocrates (c. 460 – c. 370 B.C.) in ancient Greece, where it was used in relation to medicine, specifically indicating the turning point in the course of a disease or medical condition. In such writings as Epidemics, Book 1, Hippocrates used the concept of crisis to denote the point (the turning point) at which a patient either began to make a recovery from illness, or the disease won out and death resulted (Hippocrates, 1983). Furthermore, reading the ground-breaking work on crisis by Janet Roitman (2011 and 2014), which built on the classic text on the topic by Reinhart Koselleck (1988), indicated that an exploration of the concept of crisis beyond the economic sphere could be a worthwhile project. Maybe there could be essentially ‘education crises’ after all, and with this in view, this paper is structured into three parts, as follows.

Part 1 begins with a rudimentary outline of the concept of crisis. Madan Sarup’s (1982) classical theory of education crisis is then explored, coupled with some evidence showing that Sarup’s approach still has relevance for today (with contemporary examples drawn from the United States, Australia and England). It is demonstrated how contemporary accounts of the 2007-09 economic crisis could supplement and deepen Sarup’s account, whilst also avoiding the issue of the possibility of definitive education crises. This is followed by a brief outline and review of some work by Vincent Carpentier (2003, 2006a-b and 2009), which, although manifesting more sophistication (and much better data) as compared with Sarup’s classic work, nevertheless falls prey to subsuming education crises under economic developments. In the same context, David Blacker’s work on The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame (2013) is examined. This is an attempt to apply Marx’s notion of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (TRPF) (via the work of Kliman, 2012) to developments in education in the United States (primarily). Blacker stamps the TRPF on contemporary education and thereby develops an original account of education crisis. Yet nevertheless, his rendering of education crisis is still derivative of economic crisis. Blacker also fails to pin down what a falling rate of learning actually is. He prefers to focus on a fall in the mass of learning and the elimination of learning, instead. These developments rest on economic, but also environmental, crisis. This first part of the paper ends with a brief critique of Crisis Fundamentalism: the notion that real, bona fide crises can only be economic ones. This is what the concept of crisis in education is concerned with.

Part 2 takes another tack: a different starting point, an alternative methodological approach. Rather than viewing education crises as flowing from economic ones, it explores the concept of education and what it is to be an ‘educated person’, and then seeks out possibilities for education crises within educational phenomena, institutions, processes and ethics. Such crises are crises of education, it is argued. The work of R.S. Peters (via Robin Barrow, 2011) is the focus here. There is an attempt to work through what an ‘education crisis’ might be on the basis of Barrow’s rendition of what he (Barrow) takes to be the four key components of Peters’ conception of the educated person. The discussion of some of the consequences of this approach is deepened through bringing the work of Janet Roitman (2011, 2014) to the keyboard. Rather than providing a history of the concept of crisis, as in Koselleck (1988), or providing a new (and improved) concept of crisis, Roitman shows the various ways in which the concept has been, and can be, put to work. Hence, Roitman’s approach to crisis is ‘put to work’ on R.S. Peters’ work on the educated person, pace Barrow. The last base in Part 2 examines the notion of ‘education for its own sake’ and what I call ‘island pedagogy’, flowing from the work of Furedi (2004a and 2009) and his followers. The argument here is that this approach to education crisis falls either into an ethics of blame or conjures up an education Colossus; a kind of Nietzschean figure with a monumental drive to learn and teach, unsullied by material interests and motivations. This approach is also basically idealist, transhistorical and sociologically naïve. It is also the flipside of Crisis Fundamentalism (education crises derive from economic ones – crises in education): quintessentially education crises can only arise within the educational sphere itself – leading to a kind of Educational Crisis Idealism (crises of education).

The Conclusion argues that we need to think about crisis in relation to education and economy in a new way: such crises are not essentially ‘education’ or ‘economic’ in nature. An anti- (rather than post-) structuralist perspective rooted in class struggle is advanced as a way forward, and neither Crisis Fundamentalism (crises in education) nor Educational Crisis Idealism (crises of education) will do. It also discusses the question of whether, and why, exploring the issue of crisis and education is a worthwhile pursuit for critical educators and theorists and for those who wish to move beyond capitalist education and society.

 

The whole paper can be downloaded at Academia: http://www.academia.edu/8953489/Crises_in_Education_Crises_of_Education

Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

 

[1] Journal of Education Policy, Vol.25 No.6, November, edited by Stephen Ball, Meg Maguire and Ivor Goodson. A book based on this special 25^th Anniversary was produced by the same three editors, also called Education, Capitalism and the Global Crisis, in 2012 (Ball et al, 2012) – but with some additional articles.

[2] Clarke and Newman (2010) explore the notion that crises are ‘socially constructed’ and the roles discourse and social power play in these constructions.

[3] See also: ‘Crisis is much overused in everyday discourse. 24-hour news lives by manufacturing crisis. Most of them are entirely ephemeral. Any event that is in any way out of the ordinary or where there appears to be conflict and the outcome is uncertain becomes labelled a crisis’ (Gamble, 2010, p.704).

The Politics of Inequality Discourse

Andrew Kliman

THE POLITICS OF INEQUALITY DISCOURSE

DISCUSSION

23rd June 2014

19.00 in EDT

500 8th Avenue Room 403, New York, NY 10018

 

The economy remains very sluggish, five years after the official end of the Great Recession. Leading economists warn about the prospect of long-term stagnation. Mass unemployment has led to stagnant wages and income and to rising poverty, and more than 5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. Yet in much liberal and left discourse, these problems are increasingly ignored, crowded out by concern over inequality. Why is this happening?

This meeting will explore the politics behind the inequality rage. In his opening talk, Andrew Kliman will suggest that this phenomenon is rooted in acceptance of the permanence of capitalism, and in a failure to listen to the renewed aspirations for a different future that opinion polls and grassroots struggles have brought to light. He will also ask why so many liberals and leftists resist accepting facts that challenge their preconceptions about the extent and causes of increasing inequality, and suggest that lack of concern for truth is a main factor.

Donation requested, but no one will be turned away for inequality of funds.

Andrew Kliman is the author of The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession (Pluto Books, 2012) and Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital”: A Refutation of the Myth of Inconsistency (Lexington Books, 2007).

 

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/238510589690288/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular&source=1

Marxist-Humanist Initiative: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marxist-Humanist-Initiative/128331074623

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski?ev=hdr_xprf

Online Publications at The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame

The Falling Rate of Learning

THE FALLING RATE OF LEARNING AND THE NEOLIBERAL ENDGAME

By David J. Blacker

Zero Books

Paperback £15.99 || $26.95

Dec 13, 2013. 978-1-78099-578-6.

See: http://www.zero-books.net/books/falling-rate-learning-neoliberal-endgame

BUY | AMAZON US | AMAZON UK

eBook £6.99 || $9.99

Dec 13, 2013. 978-1-78099-579-3.

BUY | AMAZON US | AMAZON UK

 

Outline

The current neoliberal mutation of capitalism has evolved beyond the days when the wholesale exploitation of labor underwrote the world system’s expansion. While “normal” business profits plummet and theft-by-finance rises, capitalism now shifts into a mode of elimination that targets most of us—along with our environment—as waste products awaiting managed disposal.
The education system is caught in the throes of this eliminationism across a number of fronts: crushing student debt, impatience with student expression, the looting of vestigial public institutions and, finally, as coup de grâce, an abandonment of the historic ideal of universal education. “Education reform” is powerless against eliminationism and is at best a mirage that diverts oppositional energies. The very idea of education activism becomes a comforting fiction.
Educational institutions are strapped into the eliminationist project—the neoliberal endgame—in a way that admits no escape, even despite the heroic gestures of a few. The school systems that capitalism has built and directed over the last two centuries are fated to go down with the ship. It is rational therefore for educators to cultivate a certain pessimism. Should we despair? Why, yes, we should—but cheerfully, as confronting elimination, mortality, is after all our common fate. There is nothing and everything to do in order to prepare.

Endorsements

“While it is no surprise that casino capitalism is in crisis and is spurring protests all over the world, few theorists connect the dots and analyze how this crisis moves through and is affected by a range of institutions. David Blacker has written a superb book in which matters of education, agency, economic justice and collective struggle come alive in both a language of critique and possibility. There will be no endgame to neoliberalism without critically thinking subjects who fight back collectively. This is the book that should be read to create the formative culture that makes such a struggle possible.” ~ Henry A. Giroux, author, America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth, Professor of Communication Studies, McMasterUniversity

“David Blacker provides a mordantly clear-eyed assessment of our predicament. He asks hard questions, in the tradition of our best gadflies, and reveals even harder truths, doing us and our ‘democracy’ (such as it is) a great potential service. Read rightly, Blacker’s book, far from making you want to bury your head in the sand even deeper, will inspire you to shake yourself out of your slumber and do your part to arrest this pernicious development. We ignore his important work at our own peril.” ~ Christopher Phillips, author, Socrates Cafe: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy, Senior Writing Fellow, University of Pennsylvania

“Invigorating pessimism.” ~ Mark Fisher, author, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London

“David Blacker’s book should be required reading for everyone marching circles in schools and universities.” ~ Douglas Lain, author, Billy Moon: 1968 and host of the Diet Soap Podcast

“The notion that widespread educational attainment is the key to widespread prosperity has long been a pillar of the dominant ideology. David Blacker’s central—and centrally important—insight is that the Great Recession has made this notion (which was always dubious) hopelessly anachronistic. When so many people have become superfluous to the capitalist system–mass joblessness persists four years after the recession officially ended–what have also become superfluous are these people’s skills, the schools that educate them, and the spending that funds the schools. And a capitalism mired in crisis just isn’t a capitalism that can afford to pay for what it doesn’t need. But isn’t this only a temporary situation? Drawing on Karl Marx’s falling-rate-of-profit theory and his associated theory of relative surplus (superfluous) population, Blacker warns that it may well be permanent and he urges us to face this prospect soberly and respond accordingly.” ~ Andrew Kliman, author, The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession, Professor of Economics, PaceUniversity

 

**END**

 

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

 

 

Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis

Andrew Kliman

RADICAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE PRESENT CRISIS

November 14th, 2012

8-10:30PM

WollmanHall
Eugene Lang Building, 6th floor
65 W 11th St
New York, NY10011

WITH: LOREN GOLDNER | DAVID HARVEY | ANDREW KLIMAN | PAUL MATTICK

The Present Crisis

The present moment is arguably one of unprecedented confusion on the Left.  The emergence of many new theoretical perspectives on Marxism, anarchism, and the left generally seem rather than signs of a newfound vitality, the intellectual reflux of its final disintegration in history.  As for the politics that still bothers to describe itself as leftist today, it seems no great merit that it is largely disconnected from the academic left’s disputations over everything from imperialism to ecology. Perhaps nowhere are these symptoms more pronounced than around the subject of the economy.

As Marxist economics has witnessed of late a flurry of recent works, many quite involved in their depth and complexity, recent activism around austerity, joblessness, and non-transparency while quite creative in some respects seems hesitant to oppose with anything but nostalgia for the past the status quo mantra, “There is no Alternative.”  At a time when the United States has entered the most prolonged slump since the Great Depression, the European project founders on the shoals of debt and nationalism.  If the once triumphant neoliberal project of free markets for free people seems utterly exhausted, the “strange non-death of neo-liberalism,” as a recent book title has it, seems poised to carry on indefinitely.  The need for a Marxist politics adequate to the crisis is as great as such a politics is lacking.

And 2011 now seems to be fading into the past.  In Greece today as elsewhere in Europe existing Left parties remain largely passive in the face of the crisis, eschewing radical solutions (if they even imagine such solutions to exist).  In the United States, Occupy has vanished from the parks and streets, leaving only bitter grumbling where there once seemed to be creativity and open-ended potential. In Britain, the 2011 London Riots, rather than political protest, was trumpeted as the shafted generation’s response to the crisis, overshadowing the police brutality that actually occasioned it.  Finally, in the Arab world where, we are told the 2011 revolution is still afoot, it seems inconceivable that the revolution, even as it bears within it the hopes of millions, could alter the economic fate of any but a handful.

While joblessness haunts billions worldwide, politicization of the issue seems chiefly the prerogative of the right.  Meanwhile, the poor worldwide face relentless price rises in fuel and essential foodstuffs. The prospects for world revolution seem remote at best, even as bankers and fund managers seem to lament democracy’s failure in confronting the crisis. In this sense, it seems plausible to argue that there is no crisis at all, but simply the latest stage in an ongoing social regression. What does it mean to say that we face a crisis, after all, when there is no real prospect that anything particularly is likely to change, at least not for the better?

In this opaque historical moment, Platypus wants to raise some basic questions:

* Do we live in a crisis of capitalism today and, if so, of what sort — political? Economic? Social?

* Why do seemingly sophisticated leftist understandings of the world appear unable to assist in the task of changing it?

* Conversely, can the world be thought intelligible without our capacity to self-consciously transform it through practice?

* Can Marxism survive as an economics or social theory without politics?

* Is there capitalism after socialism?

From: Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis: http://newyork.platypus1917.org/11-14-2012-radical-interpretations-of-the-present-crisis/

Join the Facebook event page.

Download an image file of the event flier.

Download the PDF version of the event flier.

Thanks to Ross Wolfe for alerting me to this important event: Glenn Rikowski

**END**

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

David Harvey

Raya Dunayevskaya: Biography of an Idea

Raya Dunayevskaya

RAYA DUNAYEVSKAYA: BIOGRAPHY OF AN IDEA

Marxist-Humanist Initiative is hosting a screening and discussion of a new documentary on the ideas of Raya Dunayevskaya this Thursday night in NYC. Details are below. 

Film and Discussion:– THURSDAY JUNE 28, 6:30 TO 9:00 P.M.

“RAYA DUNAYEVSKAYA: BIOGRAPHY OF AN IDEA”: http://i45.tinypic.com/54d1rs.jpg

Marxist-Humanist Initiative will screen and discuss a new documentary film about the ideas of the philosopher, activist, and feminist who developed Marxist-Humanism over much of the last century.

This month marks the 25th anniversary of her death. The film’s title and content follow from Dunayevskaya’s declaration that her biography ‘is the biography of an idea’. 

Dunayevskaya was the author of Marxism and Freedom, from 1776 to Today; Philosophy and Revolution, from Hegel to Sartre and from Marx to Mao; Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution; American Civilization on Trial, Black Masses as Vanguard, and many other works. The film emphasizes how contemporary her ideas remain today. 

The film-maker will be present for the discussion by Skype.
 
At TRS Inc. Professional Suite, 44 East 32nd Street, 11th floor (bet. Madison and Park Aves.), Manhattan

Contribution requested but not required. 

For more information, visit MHI’s website, www.marxist-humanist-initiative. org

 

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

 

 

The Failure of Capitalist Production – Andrew Kliman

Andrew Kliman

THE FAILURE OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION – ANDREW KLIMAN

 Salford Business School presents:

The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession

Professor Andrew Kliman of Pace University offers exemplary theoretical insight as well as analysis of economic data, and therefore explains the causes and the development of recent crises in unparalleled ways.

Andrew Kliman is the author of numerous academic articles and books that centre on the creation and the capture of economic value in Marx’s tradition.

Book details: http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745332390

For more information please contact:
Dr. Thoralf Dassler
t.dassler@salford.ac.uk

6pm, Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Room G21, Mary Seacole Building
Frederick Road Campus
University of Salford,M5 4WT

**END**

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Origins of the Current Crisis: Consequences and Political Alternatives

Crisis Sublime

ORIGINS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS: CONSEQUENCES AND POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES

Two-day seminar in Helsinkiand Tampere:

with

Professor Alex Demirović, Berlin, and Professor Andrew Kliman, New York.

PART I

Wednesday 29.2.2012 at 4.15 pm. at the University of Tampere, Linna Building, Väinö Linna Hall, Kalevantie 5, Tampere

Origins of the Current Crises

Opening words: Antti Ronkainen

PART II

Thursday 1.3.2012 at 3.15 pm. at the House of Science and Letters, Lecture Hall 505, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki

Consequences and Political Alternatives

Opening words: Juha Koivisto

The seminar is organized by the Finnish Karl Marx Society, the Finnish Society for Marxist Social Science, the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and School of Communication, Media and Theatre, University of Tampere.

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Exploding the Myths of Capitalism: U.S. Marxist-Humanists

Raya Dunayevskaya

EXPLODING THE MYTHS OF CAPITALISM: U.S. MARXIST-HUMANISTS

You are invited to attend a series of open discussions on…

Exploding the Myths of Capitalism

First & Third Wednesdays, March & April

6:30-9.00 pm

@ChicagoPublic Library,  Harold Washington L ibrary Center, 400 South State St.Chicago IL, Room 3N-6

Progressive change in the United States is severely hampered owing both to the failure of the left to project an alternative to capitalism and to the myths projected by the right regarding the nature of capitalism. On the other hand, Karl Marx projected an alternative socioeconomic system that comes into view in his writings in significant part in and through exploding the myths about capitalism. This series of five classes will explore the myths of capitalism through discussions of selected writings of Marx, and others.

Readings are available online or from U.S.M.H.  Online readings are available from U.S.M.H in pdf format for e-readers etc.

Sponsored by the U.S. Marxist-Humanists

Email: arise@usmarxisthumanists.org

www.usmarxisthumanists.org

Phone: 773-561-3454

 

Schedule andReadings

March 7th:  Myth #1: Capitalism is the Economic System most in Accord with Human Nature         

Contradictory concepts of human nature abound in the culture of capitalism. Human nature is said to be fundamentally greedy and selfish, or, contrariwise, cast in an image of perfection, or both. These concepts are used to justify social and economic policies that promote and protect capitalism, but this can only work if their historical origin in capitalism itself is obscured. This class will explore the concepts of human nature extant in capitalist societies and counterpose them to concepts drawn from the Marxist-Humanist tradition. The myth that capitalism is reflective of human nature will be exploded in a discussion of the following readings:

Readings:

Erich Fromm, Marx’s Concept of Man, pp. 24-43, “The Nature of Man” www.marxists.org/archive/fromm/works/1961/man/ch04.htm

Karl Marx, Grundrisse, “Introduction,” pp. 84-110 www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/grundrisse/ch01.htm

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter 13: Of the Natural Conditions of Mankind as concerning their Felicity and Misery www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/hobblev1.pdf  and Chapter 17:  Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of Commonwealth www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/hobblev2.pdf

Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach  www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm

 

Leading the discussion: Marilyn Nissim-Sabat, author, Neither Victim nor Survivor: Thinking Toward a New Humanity

 

March 21st:  Myth #2: Democracy is Compatible with Capitalism

The rhetoric of the candidates for the Republican nomination for president of theUS, as well as their opponents in the Democratic Party, makes it unequivocally clear that for them, and probably for the majority of Americans, capitalism is entirely conflated with ‘democracy.’ That is, the notion of the ‘free market,’ value production, and the drive to accumulate capital for its own sake have been superimposed on the meaning of democracy as a political system as if to say that only the economic system known as capitalism can facilitate democracy. This myth will be exploded in discussion of the following readings:

Readings:

Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto. www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

Karl Marx, “Address to the Communist League of March, 1850.”

www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm

Raya Dunayevskaya, Marxism and Freedom, Chapter VI, The Paris Commune Deepens the content of Capital, pp. 92-102.

Raya Dunayevskaya, Rosa Luxemburg, Women’s Liberation and Marx’s Philosophy of Revolution: Marx’s Theory of Permanent Revolution.” 1843-83, pp. 158-163.

 

Leading the discussion: Anton Evelynov, student activist

 

April 4th: Myth #3: State Forms of ‘Socialism’ are Fundamentally Different from Capitalism

Proponents of capitalism, as well as many post-Marx Marxists, have attempted to identify “socialism” or “communism” with state control of the economy and a centralized state. However, theSoviet Unionas well as “Communist China” and the European welfare state represent not so much a departure from capitalism as a realization of it. This class will explore whether there is an alternative to either reducing a new society to state control of the economy, on one hand, or refraining from the need to seize state power as part of a revolutionary transformation, on the other. The myths regarding state forms of capitalism will be exploded in a discussion of the following readings:

Readings:

Raya Dunayevskaya, Marxism and Freedom, Chapter IV, “Worker, Intellectual, and the State,” pp. 69-77.

Raya Dunayevskaya, State Capitalism and Marx’s Humanism “Lenin vs Bukharin” pp. 10-18.  babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071598158

“Build It Now”: An Interview with Michael A. Lebowitz radicalnotes.com/content/view/36/39/

John Holloway, Change the World without Seizing State Power, Chapter 2, “Beyond the State?” pp. 11-18.

libcom.org/library/chapter-2-beyond-state

 

Leading the discussion: Ali Reza, Iranian activist and member of Iranian Left Alliance Abroad.

 

April 18th: Myth #4: There is No Alternative to Capitalism

Proponents of capitalism as well as many critics of it have maintained that it is impossible to overcome such phenomena as commodity production, exchange value, alienated labor, and the existence of classes. This stance has within it all of the myths of capitalism, i.e., that capitalism reflects and honors ‘human nature’; that it is a form of democratic practice; and that it prevents the development of state control of the economy. It has also been claimed by many on the left that any effort to spell out the content of a new, post-capitalist society is at best useless and at worst harmful. The myth that there is no alternative to capitalism will be exploded in discussion of the following readings:

Readings:

Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program . www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm

Raya Dunayevskaya, The Power of Negativity, “Presentation on the Dialectics of Organization and Philosophy,” pp. 3-14.

 

Leading the discussion: Peter Hudis, author of Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism

 

Wednesday May 2nd

May Day Celebration and discussion

 

U.S. Marxist Humanists would like to invite all participants in this class to continue the discussion in honor of May Day in a convivial setting, with food and drink. Venue to be announced

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Andrew Kliman at Bookmarks Bookshop

Andrew Kliman

ANDREW KLIMAN AT BOOKMARKS BOOKSHOP

PRESENTS

The Failure of Capitalist Production
with Andrew Kliman
5 March, 6.30pm £2* (refreshments inc)

The recent financial crisis and Great Recession have been analysed endlessly but this is the first book to conclude, on the basis of in-depth analyses of official US data, that Marx’s crisis theory can explain these events.

Kliman’s conclusion is simple but shocking: short of socialist transformation, the only way to escape the stagnant, crisis-prone economy is to restore profitability through full-scale destruction of existing wealth, something not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.

Venue: Bookmarks Bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury Street, WC1B 3QE
*£2 redeemable against any purchase on the night

Please contact us to reserve a place, 020 7637 1848: events@bookmarks.uk.com

Liberate Your Mind!
Bookmarks Bookshop
1 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3QE
020 7637 1848
http://www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk

Follow us on twitter: @bookmarks_books

See our book of the month on the website!

**END**

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub,Bangor, northWales)  

 

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

A Crisis of Capitalism – Andrew Kliman

Capitalist Crisis

A CRISIS OF CAPITALISM – ANDREW KLIMAN

Andrew Kliman will speak on “A Crisis of Capitalism (Not Neoliberalism, Financialization, or Stagnant Wages)” for the Student  Action Initiative of  The New School on Wed. Feb. 22 at 8:00 p.m. The  talk will take place at 80 Fifth Avenue (SW corner of 14th St.), Room 529, and it is open to the public. Kliman will investigate the causes of the Great Recession and discuss the surprising results of data analysis which shows that the rate of profit has fallen ever since the end of the post-World War II boom.

Information: student-action-initiative@gmail.com

Andrew Kliman is Professor of Economics at Pace University. He is author of the just-published book, The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying Causes of the Great Recession, and of Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital”: A Refutation of the Myth of Inconsistency.

N.Y.U. Professor Bertell Ollman wrote about the new book, “One of the very best of the rapidly growing series of works seeking to explain our economic crisis. … The scholarship is exemplary and the writing is crystal clear. Highly recommended!”

**END**

‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski