---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Marxist-Humanist Initiative <[email protected]> Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 at 5:07 AM Subject: News and opinion To: MHI Information <[email protected]> May 16, 2011 Dear Friend, In New York City, we attended a May Day demonstration for labor rights and immigrant rights with some 10,000 people, perhaps half of them Latino. The rally also called for solidarity against Islamophobia and condemned Congressman Peter King's racist investigation of U.S. Muslims. Immigrants’ rights groups and Left Latino parties brought out a lot of people, including Chinese, Filipinos, and others in addition to Latinos. The major unions didn’t come, but a number of smaller unions did––the ones that immigrants tend to belong to, if they are lucky, such as the laborers and the asbestos workers unions, i.e., workers with the most hazardous and worst paid jobs. Some immigrants spoke about the terrible conditions under which they worked before their workplaces were unionized. That part of the rally was good. Not so good were the speakers who said exactly what we criticized in the flier we distributed in English and Spanish ( both copied at the end of this letter): unrealistic analyses of what's wrong with the economy, and blind faith that we can change things by being united and trying hard enough. I hope you’ll look at the editorial and stories about Libya and the other Middle East revolts that we have posted on our web publication, *With Sober Senses <http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/our-publication>.* We believe our political and historical analysis of why we advocate support for the rebels while opposing U.S./NATO intervention is an important contribution on this difficult and contentious issue. We welcome comments on it and every article. In other news, we’re glad that Osama bin Laden is dead, but we’re nervous that pro-U.S. hysteria whipped up by his killing could translate into support for continuing the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and Pakistan that is killing civilians every day, as well as continuing the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. News reports seem, however, to show Americans saying, “OK, now that we got Bin Laden, let’s pull our troops out!” A supporter of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA<http://www.rawa.org/>) looked at seven recent polls (from before bin Laden was killed) and found that sentiment in favor of the U.S. getting out of Afghanistan ranged from 58% to 73%. We completely support Afghan feminist and human rights heroine Malalai Joya’s <http://www.malalaijoya.com/dcmj/>call to aid the Afghan people in opposing what she terms their *three* enemies: the U.S. occupation, the Afghan government, and the Taliban and warlords. MHI members have long attempted to re-orient the moribund U.S. anti-war movement towards people-to-people solidarity with those fighting for secular democracy and the rights of women and workers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we were glad to hear her speaking to Americans again recently. MHI also continues to engage in debates with other Leftists over whether capitalism can be reformed so that it substantially and sustainably improves the lives of the masses of people––we think not. We just attended the Historical Materialism-NYC conference; an audio recording of Andrew Kliman’s talk on the precarious state of the capitalist economy, and the lively discussion that followed, is posted on *With Sober Senses<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/economic-crisis/audio-kliman-on-the-stagnant-pay-myth-capitalist-production.html> *. Please also check out the amendments we’ve made to our organization’s Principles<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/philosophyorganization/statement-of-principles>and By-Laws<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/philosophyorganization/by-laws-of-marxist-humanist-initiative>. The changes are designed to make clear that we welcome Members and Supporters from around the world (see requirements for applying in the By-Laws), and that we will endeavor to provide them with electronic means to participate in MHI discussions. We hope you will consider actively supporting our ideas. In Solidarity, Anne Jaclard, Organizational Secretary, MHI http://www.marxist-humanist-initiative.org *MAY DAY 2011: U.S. WORKERS AND IMMIGRANTS FIGHT FOR* *JOBS AND PAY WHILE CAPITALIST ECONOMY STAGNATES* * * * Excerpts from an editorial in Marxist-Humanist Initiative’s on-line publication, With Sober Senses: **(* http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/mhieditorial/mhi-editorial-support-workers-fighting-austerity-but-get-real-about-capitalism.html<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/mhieditorial/mhi-editorial-support-workers-fighting-austerity-> ) The capitalist system has shown itself over and over since the Great Depression of 1929 to be prone to crisis and unable to change the way it operates in order to benefit working people. We believe it must be uprooted and replaced with a different system. Yet much of the U.S. Left continues to advocate and plan its reformation. *It is time for the Left to face economic reality. It needs to give up unworkable, populist calls to solve administratively–within capitalism–problems that are inherent in capitalism. * Consider these non-solutions to the austerity required by this moment of capitalism. “Tax the rich” won’t do it as long as the rich can move themselves and their businesses out of states with high taxes. The slogan “Money for _____, not for war” is also popular (fill in the blank with jobs, schools, housing, etc.; we hear one of them at every demonstration against budget cuts). Even were there some prospect of stopping war within the capitalist system, the resulting “peace dividend” would not be nearly enough money to finance *all* the programs that the Left demands be funded. There is simply not enough money available to government for it to supply all of people’s needs. And of course, no amount of spending could transform capitalism into a humane system. Look at the European social-democratic countries which have greater social services than the U.S. but still retain alienated labor in the workplace, and keep in mind that capitalism can *only *function by extracting the maximum labor from workers while paying them the minimum that it can get away with. To the extent that unionized government workers have decent pay and benefits, they only constitute an “elite” when compared to low-paid private sector workers such as those in industries whose unions have been broken over the past 30 years. But even unionized work places today frequently go along with owners’ demands for give-backs and pay freezes under the threat of businesses closing down. * * *Even if a strike is won, the workers will always have to repeat the fight over and over in the future. We of course support workers’ resistance to employer, education, and government service cuts, but we do so without pretending that workers’ lives will substantially and permanently improve within the current economic system. The failure to say this loud and clear is to mislead working people.* * * *As *recent empirical studies<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/a-crisis-of-capitalism-rvsd-1027101.pdf> * **have shown,* workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated because the economy has stagnated**.* Neither workers’ share of corporate profits nor their real wage and benefits packages have decreased, in spite of the tale told by much of the U.S. Left. That tale goes that greedy capitalists are squeezing larger and larger shares of profits out of workers. The facts, instead, are that workers’ wages and benefits reflect a long-term low rate of profit. *By refusing to face and discuss these facts, much of the Left is fostering the illusion that workers’ resistance alone can substantially and permanently better their lives, i.e., that capitalism can be reformed. Meanwhile, the “new normal” of lower pay, high unemployment, and fewer government services is being established on the ground.* * * *To those who think that replacing capitalism is unrealistic, we ask: what is the point of devoting your life to lesser goals, when reforming capitalism has definitely proved to be unrealistic? We urge you instead to join in the theoretical working out of a real alternative, so that significant help is ready when workers’ resistance turns into revolt. * ** **See* Marxist-Humanist Initiative’s booklet, *The Persistent Fall in Profitability Underlying the Current Crisis: New Temporalist Evidence<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/literature/the-persistent-fall-in-profitability-underlying-the-current-crisis-new-temporalist-evidence> ,** *by Andrew Kliman. * * * *PRIMERO DE MAYO 2011: OBREROS ESTADOUNIDENSES Y INMIGRANTES LUCHAN POR EL EMPLEO Y LOS SALARIOS MIENTRAS LA ECONOMIA CAPITALISTA SE ESTANCA* *Extractos de un editorial en la publicación en internet de la Iniciativa Marxista-Humanista, With Sober Senses: ** http://www.marxist-humanist-initiative.org* El sistema capitalista se ha demostrado una y otra vez desde la Gran Depresión de 1929 a ser propenso a las crisis y no puede cambiar la forma en que opera con el fin de beneficiar a los trabajadores. Creemos que capitalismo debe ser arrancado y reemplazado por un sistema diferente. Sin embargo, gran parte de la Izquierda EE.UU. sigue aporando y planear la reforma de ese sistema. *Es hora que la Izquierda afronta a la realidad económica. Es necesario renunciar a las demandas inviables y populistas para resolver administrativamente––dentro del capitalismo––los problemas que son inherentes al capitalismo.* Considere la falta de soluciones a la austeridad requerida por la situación actual del capitalismo. "Impuestos a los ricos" no va a funcionar siempre y cuando los ricos se pueden mover a sí mismos y sus negocios fuera de los estados con altos impuestos. El lema "Dinero para _____, no para la guerra" es también muy popular (llene el espacio con puestos de trabajo, escuelas, viviendas, etc; escuchamos uno de estos en cada manifestación en contra de los recortes). Incluso si hubiera alguna posibilidad de detener la guerra dentro del sistema capitalista, el "dividendo de paz" no sería suficiente dinero para financiar *todos* los programas deseados por la Izquierda. Simplemente no hay suficiente dinero disponible para el gobierno para todo las necesidades que la gente requiere. Además, por supuesto, ninguna cantidad de gasto podría transformar el capitalismo en un sistema humano. Mira a los países socialdemócrata que tienen más servicios sociales de los EE.UU., pero aún conservan el trabajo alienado en el trabajo, y tener en cuenta que el capitalismo sólo puede funcionar mediante la extracción de la mano de obra máxima de los trabajadores, al mismo tiempo, pagando el mínimo posible. En la medida en que los trabajadores sindicalizados del gobierno tienen un salario y beneficios decentes, ellos solamente constituyen una "élite" en comparación con los trabajadores del sector privado con salarios bajos como los de las industrias cuyos sindicatos se han roto en los últimos 30 años. Pero aún los lugares de trabajo sindicalizados hoy van con frecuencia a lo largo de las demandas de los propietarios para concesiones de los sindicatos y congelación de los salarios bajo la amenaza de cerrar los negocios. *Aun cuando una huelga se gana, los trabajadores siempre tendrán que repetir la lucha una y otra vez en el futuro. Por supuesto que apoyamos la resistencia de los trabajadores a los recortes salariales y recortes en los servicios de educación y gobierno, pero lo hacemos sin la pretensión que la vida de los trabajadores será sustancial y permanente mejora en el sistema económico actual. La falta de decir esto alto y claro es equivalente a engañar a la clase obrera.* Recientes estudios empíricos han demostrado* que los salarios de obreros y beneficios se han estancado porque la economía se ha estancado. Ni la parte de obreros de las ganancias empresariales, ni su salario real y paquetes de beneficios han disminuido, a pesar de la historia contada por gran parte de la izquierda EE.UU. Esa historia dice que los capitalistas están exprimiendo un porcentaje creciente de las ganancias de obreros. Los hechos, en cambio, son que los salarios de los trabajadores y los beneficios reflejan un bajo índice de ganancias en la largo plazo. Al negarse enfrentar y discutir estos hechos, gran parte de la izquierda está fomentando la ilusión de que la resistencia de los trabajadores sólo puede substancial y permanentemente mejorar sus vidas, o que el capitalismo puede ser reformado. Mientras tanto, la "nueva normalidad" de los salarios más bajos, el alto desempleo, y menos servicios del gobierno se está estableciendo en el suelo. *Para los que piensan que el capitalismo siendo reemplazado es poco realista, les preguntamos: ¿cuál es el punto de dedicar su vida a menores objetivos, cuando la reforma del capitalismo definitivamente ha demostrado ser poco realista? Le instamos en lugar a unirse en la elaboración teórica de una alternativa real, por lo que ayuda significativa estár listo cuando la resistencia de los trabajadores se convierte en revuelta.* * Consulte a *The Persistent Fall in Profitability Underlying the Current Crisis: New Temporalist Evidence,<http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/literature/the-persistent-fall-in-profitability-underlying-the-current-crisis-new-temporalist-evidence> * por Andrew Kliman. ** -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens