Comments for the commune

Comment on nuclear weapons and scottish independence by Maju

Maju — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:36:10 +0000

How likely do you see that lefty movements like the Radical Independence Campaign or the like grow to become important? I was gladly impressed by the recent protest against Faragel in Glasgow and I have read that they are becoming a force to contend with.

Personally I can only imagine that the conservative SNP cannot bring Scotland to independence, the same that the Basque EAJ-PNV will not bring us Basques to freedom, nor the Catalan CiU will not either in Catalonia: their discourse is just “nationalist” in theory but in practice they are satisfied with whatever level of “regional” management that International Capitalism allows them to have. Their class interest prime over the popular interest of self-rule and theirs are also the extant bourgeoise states like the United Kingdom or Spain, to which the owe alliance, if not in their hearts, at least in their wallets.

My bet is that the referendum will be lost by design and that the SNP will “accept the will of the people”, leading to a increased regional self-rule instead but still under London’s rule. All happy… except the Scottish Working People.

Comment on bakunin, marx and the state by stutteringsteps

stutteringsteps — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:43:59 +0000

Good article! I came to similar conclusions myself in an article ‘The Riddle of History Solved’ at http://www.critical-mass.net

Comment on nuclear weapons and scottish independence by oxtapus

oxtapus — Tue, 21 May 2013 07:09:19 +0000

Reblogged this on Oxtapus *beta.

Comment on bakunin, marx and the state by commie46

commie46 — Thu, 16 May 2013 08:51:58 +0000

Tom
The issue of the armed people to suppress a minority of reactionaries came up in the discussion at the Bookfair meeting. One comrade argued some kind of state was required to suppress counter revolutionaries. But you do not need a state to defend the revolution. This is where the Bolsheviks went wrong. The dictatorship of the workers state became the dictatorship over workers and the counter revolutionary road to Kronstadt. In Spain, in Catalonia, in the first two months of 1936 , the workers militias defended the revolution at the grass roots level, before their leaders helped rebuild the bourgeois state.

Comment on bakunin, marx and the state by commie46

commie46 — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:49:34 +0000

The Commune has no problem with reblogging.

Comment on bakunin, marx and the state by ACA The Underground

ACA The Underground — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:11:26 +0000

Would you mind if I ‘reblogged’ this?

Comment on bakunin, marx and the state by ngir

ngir — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:10:31 +0000

from “Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism”, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Progress Publishers, Moscow,1972
pp280-1
quote from Engels within Lenin’s ‘The State and Revolution’:
“The Commune was no longer a state in the proper sense of the word” – thisis the most theoretically important statement Engels makes……..The commune was ceasing(ital.) to be a state since it had to suppress, not the majority of the population, but a minority (the exploiters). It had smashed the bourgeois state machine. In place of a special(ital.) coercive force the population itself came on the scene. All this was a departure from the state in the proper sense of the word. And had the Commune become firmly established, all traces of the state in it would have “withered away” of themselves; it would not have had to “abolish” the institutions of the state – they would have ceased to function as they ceased to have anything to do.”
IMO this analysis is a more accurate statement of a Marxist position on this issue of ‘the uses of a state/proletarian dictatorship’ in its function as the defence of the gains of the revolution against the counter-attacks of the bourgeoisie, than anything contained in the summary above.
Tom Richardson Middlesbrough

Comment on hmrc call centre workers plan strike action by Mina K

Mina K — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:12:20 +0000

Steve, call centre should be governed by awards and employment conditions. If there are none – then yes you are right, employers / managers can do as they please, However, with so many call centres being off shored it leaves us with very little to fight.

Comment on life as a ‘chugger’ – owing money to your boss by jayne

jayne — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:48:20 +0000

‘A case of spending money to make money’
WHAT IF – you are spending a lot more money than you’re making?
Let’s be honest you said it yourself ‘ business/charity’ it’s a business! The aim of the game is to guilt trip customers into giving you money? I was appalled by a particular interviewer at home fundraising in Manchester. She was quite comical. All I learnt in my training was how to guilt trip people into giving you money. I’m sure all the charities that you represent are decent but it’s clear to see that all the money you make do not go to the charity. Profit’s being made somewhere!

Comment on life as a ‘chugger’ – owing money to your boss by Chris Leyton

Chris Leyton — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:46:11 +0000

I recently started street fundraising directly for A charity, on A paid by the hour basis. I have been impressed by the quality of the people training me and some of their attitudes towards the charity as a whole. I have also heard about the figures behind the investments and I think from a business point of view it makes sense, its simply A case of spending money to make money. I also challenge anyone to disagree as from my viewpoint my business/charity is a whole lot more ethical than any one else’s. I am genuinely interested to know anyone else’s viewpoint. I also when working have to follow a strict protocol in regards to ensuring the best possible donors are selected and to get the best return for the charity. It was actually my first day today so I am still learning.

Comment on money and debt by Bill Jefferies

Bill Jefferies — Wed, 08 May 2013 07:43:10 +0000

The subjective theory of value is not useful. There must be an objective standard against which subjective valuations are made. The subjective theory has no objective standard and so it has no subjective one either. Paradoxical.

Comment on marikana: the suffering goes on by Smooth Broomhead

Smooth Broomhead — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:23:55 +0000

Reblogged this on Post Tenebras Spero Lucem and commented: The ANC got voted in, the workers got sold out.

Comment on marikana: the suffering goes on by clinamen05

clinamen05 — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:19:03 +0000

Reblogged this on Absence of boredo.

Comment on how do we move beyond capitalism? by arranjames

arranjames — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:10:36 +0000

Capitalism’s days are numbered, but we mustn’t think that this necessarily means the ushering in of communism, or if it does then we mustn’t assume it will usher in a libertarian or council communism. We’re looking at an increasingly plutocratic ruling class backed up by oligarichic regimes- a mixture that lends itself to increased class protectionism on behalf of the super-rich and their guardians. We’re also looking at the possibility of ecological crisis and the possible return of scarcity (water, for instance). In times of crisis people often capitulate responsibility to a Master (understood as a position, rather than as a person). While hope always remains, must always remain, there is still no reason to think the death of capitalism will be to everyone’s good.

On the question of the state and the nature of the revolution, I rather think these questions belong to another era: an era in which those words meant something straight forward.