Monthly Archives: June 2012

Which way the Economic Revolution?

Posted on 28/06/2012 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason

All socialists hold that capitalism is not the best of all possible worlds in terms of organising production and consumption when viewed from the position of the vast majority of society. However, socialists have often been pretty vague about what … Continue reading →

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Reds in space: socialist science fiction

Posted on 27/06/2012 by modulus

There’s a general view that science fiction is a literature of reaction. Michael Moorcock, tracing the pulp origins of its so-called “golden age” mocks the notion that it’s a literature of ideas in his Starship Stormtroopers–titled after Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural reviews, Culture | 6 Comments

The NGO Industrial Complex

Posted on 24/06/2012 by modulus

The discourse of human rights: drawbacks and opportunities Many people on the left (mainstream or otherwise) align relatively uncritically with the pronouncements issued by neutral-seeming human rights NGOs. These organisations present themselves as “independent”, “apolitical”, just conveying value-free information to … Continue reading →

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South American political situation heats up

Posted on 24/06/2012 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason

Those who have been following the news may know that the president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, has recently been impeached by the Paraguayan senate.  While the impeachment included some vague charge of incompetence, it also claimed he was attempting to … Continue reading →

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Theses for partyism

Posted on 23/06/2012 by Q-collective

An introductory post made for the upcoming debate on the party on ##marxism. A few basic theses: Capitalism, by virtue of the way it operates, creates the working class. The working class is the only consistently revolutionary class in the … Continue reading →

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All power to the Soviets? Not so fast.

Posted on 23/06/2012 by modulus

To many socialists–myself included–the revolution of 1917 is an important referent. This was a time when our class, led by our party, rose up against the wasteful and murderous interimperialist war, smashed the last vestige of despotic monarchical power in … Continue reading →

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Mass Party Theses

Posted on 22/06/2012 by James O'Brien

Context: Applicable to the advanced capitalist countries Thesis 1: Primary Function 1.1 Socialism needs majority support to be viable. 1.2 There has to be a vehicle for (a) marshaling and expressing that support and (b) doing so in such a way … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 1 Comment

The proletarian class party

Posted on 22/06/2012 by Maximilien Robespierre

This is the first post in a series I did on the topic of the communist party. Originally, this particular post was essentially taken word for word from the notes I wrote in preparation for the debate in IRC on … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 3 Comments

A Theory of History

Posted on 22/06/2012 by Gavin Mendel-Gleason

Recently, I’ve been looking at theories of history.  My interest in a theory of history derives from my interest in finding a political project which is at once progressive in content and direction, but also not doomed. It might help … Continue reading →

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Debate on the role of the party

Posted on 21/06/2012 by modulus

At the ##marxism channel, on the Freenode IRC network, we’re holding debates on some of the burning questions for Marxists. A few days ago, we held a surprisingly interesting debate on the class nature of the USSR. The format of … Continue reading →

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Regards from modulus

Posted on 21/06/2012 by modulus

Hi, all, This is a little introduction post. It seems a good idea to tell something about myself before getting into deeper waters, and it will hopefully break the ice. After having finished my law degree in 2010, I suppose … Continue reading →

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