---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Marxist-Humanist Initiative <[email protected]> Date: Sun, May 13, 2018 at 5:10 AM Subject: New pamphlet: “Resisting Trumpist Reaction (and Left Accommodation)” + upcoming meetings in NYC To: [email protected] Forward this email to a friend Use this instead of your "forward" button! <http://us6.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=ef863cf8f2&e=f55c2c465a> View email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/997ec9b6cbf8/new-pamphlet-resisting-trumpist-reaction-and-left-accommodation-upcoming-meetings-in-nyc?e=f55c2c465a> . <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=e8e8943faa&e=f55c2c465a> May 12, 2018 To our friends, *New MHI Pamphlet: Resisting Trumpist Reaction (and Left Accommodation) * <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=87273abf2a&e=f55c2c465a> At this critical moment, there is an urgent need for widespread discussion of the ideas in MHI’s 2018 Perspectives thesis, now available as an 88-page, bound pamphlet, for only $5. It brings Marx’s revolutionary humanism to bear on the singularly critical task of the moment: opposing & defeating Trumpism and other far-right tendencies. We encourage everyone to read *Resisting Trumpist Reaction (and Left Accommodation*), to share it widely, and to discuss it with colleagues, friends, family––and with us. Beating back and transcending the latest wave of reaction requires wide and deep discussion among everyone fighting to protect liberal-democratic rights and to continue the struggle until we achieve full freedom for all human beings. ------------------------------ *Only $5 + shipping charges. **Order your copy here <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=21a9e7baf9&e=f55c2c465a>* *.* ------------------------------ Key ideas in this pamphlet include the following: * It may not be possible to stop US president Donald Trump before he launches the country and the world into a monstrous war, even a nuclear war. Similarly, the real threat Trump poses to Americans’ civil rights and liberties could be just as fatal. The unthinkable must be acknowledged and our support for the Resistance to Trumpism must be intensified. * The ongoing activity of tens of millions of people resisting Trump and Trumpism is the principal reason why Trump has not yet done even more harm than he has done to date. The permanent state of revolt across the US underlines the Resistance movement’s firm and indefatigable commitment to get rid of Trump, not to reform him. * One notable feature of the Resistance is that women, and especially women of color––who know that Trumpism is a threat to people’s lives, and women’s bodies in particular––dominate the field in intensive, continual, and creative protesting. The convergence of the anti-racist and Resistance movements is likewise very significant, as is the fact that the leading edge of the Resistance also challenges the Democratic Party and its efforts to play “politics as usual.” * Marxist-Humanists must help to ensure that the Resistance remains independent, so that its goal of ending Trumpism will not be subsumed under alien agendas. Its independence from the Democratic Party is crucial, as is its independence from tendencies on “the left” that serve to normalize Trumpism by trying to divert the Resistance onto an “anti-neoliberal” path, a path that refuses to prioritize the fight against the extraordinary and distinctive dangers of Trumpist reaction. * We must also combat and root out the idea that the left can somehow win over Trump’s base and turn white nationalists towards revolutionary socialism. That is a pipe dream of a segment of “the left” that wants power for itself, and which acted in ways that helped Trump win the 2016 US election. We redouble our commitment to fight such accommodation. Trump must be removed and Trumpism must be rooted out. The left needs to stand for freedom and the rights of all human beings once again. * Although research shows conclusively that Trump’s election was not due to an uprising of the “white working class” against “economic distress” brought about by neoliberalism, that myth remains a key talking point of a newly-resurgent left-populist current. Left-populism seeks to win adherents by appealing to popular superstitions and myths, and by offering easy, inaccurate answers in response to popular discontent. It does not worry about the difficulty of delivering on its promises. This is what makes it populism. It is the trait it has most in common with Trumpism. * An opportunistic relationship to ideas cannot form the basis for a real left project that aims to confront the central contradictions of our era and to posit a way out of them. “Post-truth politics” is a direct impediment to the development of a clear understanding of our world and what is required to change it. And although emotional appeals and the like may help “the left” win new followers and elections, such opportunism reproduces the existing divisions between mental and manual labor and between leaders and the led. It thus represents a real barrier to the self-development of the working class as an independent force for human liberation. We need to wage an uncompromising battle against “post-truth politics.” * Far from being a revolt against neoliberalism, Trump’s election was actually an expression of a long-standing white-nationalist strain of US politics. It predates neoliberalism; it pervaded the campaigns of George Wallace in the 1960s and early 1970s, which, like Trump’s, were remarkably successful in the industrial Midwest. * Analyzing Marx’s writings on and activity around Irish independence and the US Civil War, we arrive at a unique conclusion regarding Trumpism and the “white working class. To fight white nationalism in the tradition of Marx, the way to solidarize with the “white working class” is by helping the Resistance to decisively defeat Trumpism and other far-right forces. Their defeat will help liberate the “white working class” from the grip of reaction and thereby spur the independent, emancipatory self-development of working people as a whole. ------------------------------ *New York City MHI Events, June 2-6* We’ll be at the Left Forum conference <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=e1447f9b54&e=f55c2c465a> at John Jay College in Manhattan, where we are sponsoring 3 panels to be held on* Sat. and Sun., June 2 and 3*. (When we know the days, times and rooms, we’ll post them on our website at www.marxisthumanistinitiative. org/our-publication <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=6d13322722&e=f55c2c465a> . We’ll also have an exhibit table on the Mezzanine. The titles of our panels are: - Can Marx’s humanist philosophy of emancipation assist the Resistance and other battles against Trumpism? If so, how? - Has “the Left” Accommodated Trump (and Putin)? A Debate - Combatting White Nationalism: Lessons from Marx On the following *Wednesday, June 6*, we are hosting a event on *Assisting the Self-development of #TheResistance and of Opposition to Authoritarianism** in Europe* featuring Ravi Bali, a visiting London activist, and Andrew Kliman, author of *Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital”: A refutation of the myth of inconsistency* and *The Failure of Capitalist Production: Underlying causes of the great recession.* The time is 6:00 to 8:00 pm (promptly). The place is the Jefferson Market Library on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 10th Street in Manhattan, 425 Ave. of the Americas <https://maps.google.com/?q=Manhattan,+425+Ave.+of+the+Americas&entry=gmail&source=g>, in the Willa Cather Community Room. Voluntary contributions appreciated; no one turned away. ------------------------------ <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=9346f9b655&e=f55c2c465a> <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=a1eb448fe3&e=f55c2c465a> For a description of this pamphlet by Andrew Kliman, see* video <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=131a6b45c6&e=f55c2c465a>.* Available for purchase at * Bluestockings Books *or order from MHI* here <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=ebb9208a43&e=f55c2c465a>.* <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=de972384aa&e=f55c2c465a> Click image for trailer & information on showing this documentary film. Marxist-Humanist Initiative P.O. Box 414 Planetarium Station New York, NY 10024 email: [email protected] web: www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=cb6009eb06&e=f55c2c465a> (888) 579-2245 Forward this email to a friend <http://us6.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=ef863cf8f2&e=f55c2c465a> This email was sent to [email protected] *why did I get this?* <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/about?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=43264c8d16&e=f55c2c465a&c=ef863cf8f2> unsubscribe from this list <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=43264c8d16&e=f55c2c465a&c=ef863cf8f2> update subscription preferences <https://marxisthumanistinitiative.us6.list-manage.com/profile?u=3bfae7928775a996aaff05fe6&id=43264c8d16&e=f55c2c465a> Marxist-Humanist Initiative · P.O. 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