[P2P-F] Fwd: News and opinion From: Marxist-Humanist Initiative

Mon May 30 15:40:30 CEST 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marxist-Humanist Initiative <mhi at marxisthumanistinitiative.org>
Date: Wed, May 18, 2011 at 5:07 AM
Subject: News and opinion
To: MHI Information <mhi at marxisthumanistinitiative.org>

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. **

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