Author Archives: modulus

About modulus

Modulus is an unaffiliated Marxist from South Western EU (Spanish state). He studied computer science and law, and is at present preparing for civil service exams for the Spanish administration. An avid IRC user, he enjoys arguments and will occasionally play devil's advocate. He regards himself as orthodox and is concerned about unscientific attitudes on the left on such things as nuclear energy, biotechnology, and so on. His support for the European Union as a platform to unify the class struggle across the continent has earned him plenty of strong opposition, and doubtless will continue to do so; until, that is, his view is vindicated by history.

The crisis in Spain: a public-private partnership

There’s a conventional wisdom on the right that the basic problem of the European economies now in trouble lies with excessive public spending. Sometimes this gets a bit more nuanced–but only a bit–and there comes the talk about competitiveness, labour … Continue reading

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Reds in space: socialist science fiction

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

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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All power to the Soviets? Not so fast.

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

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on All power to the Soviets? Not so fast.

Debate on the role of the party

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

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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