Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Racism and Capitalism: A Poem from comrade Matt

Here is another awesome poem from our comrade Matt.

Racism and capitalism



If you find the confederate flag offensive

So too should you find the nickel

If you find the confederate flag offensive

So too should you find the name of this nations capital

If you find the confederate flag offensive

So too should you find the American flag they all stand

For the same fucking thing…

Racism and capitalism

When rich kids pass through cities

Such as Watts, South Central, East Los Angeles, Compton

They are told to watch their wallets

When Governors, Mayors, city council members

Discuss allocating funds

For cities such as Watts, South Central, East Los Angeles, Compton

We are told to remember the budget

But they still find ways to build more prisons

Ramp up police departments

Staffed by lawless men

Who run wild through these cities

Making the law as they go

They call this service and protection

But they have always had a funny way of looking at things

Like history books that teach our children

To hallow hollow preambles

That include phrases such as

We the people! We the people?

As drafted by slaveholders and land barons

Invaders and treaty breakers

Backstabbers and bastards

Enshrined as our founding fathers

But I hear things are changing

In a slow but steady progress

A uniquely American process

But to be honest

I don’t feel any change

And I don’t see much difference

Between gentrification

And trails of tears the Chavez Ravine

Or post Katrina New Orleans

Cause when the hurricane struck

When the Levees broke

With a few pen strokes

They set in motion what they had already planned

They don’t want them back

It wasn’t negligence it wasn’t incompetence

It was some straight up evil shit

Oh they plan to rebuild New Orleans

Along the lines of an amusement park

A beautiful place to visit

With nowhere to live

They don’t want them back

Who are they?

What do I mean by them?

Let me be clear, let me be clear

I am not talking about a Black, White

Latino, Middle Eastern, Asian divide

I am talking about the fortune five hundred

America incorporated

Give us your tired, your yearning, your huddled masses

So we can work their asses

Give us your coffin ship Irish

So we can turn their children

Into factory workers

Send your sickly Italians

To Ellis Island

Well take em all over the country

Turning them into coal miners

Dying of the black lung

Or in Ludlow Massacres

See back then

If you wanted to form a union

The color of your eyes the complexion of your skin

Offered no protection no you would have to shoot it out

With Carnegie and Rockefellers men

Jim Crow and Jay Gould walking hand in hand

In the robber baron era of white privilege

Poor whites had the right

To mob violence to terrorism

The privilege to lynch

Black men, kill Indians

Beat Mexicans and then starve

Right alongside with them

Because you cannot eat racism

And you cannot clothe your children in racism

And when they question

Mom where are we going to sleep tonight

I don’t know son

But at least were not spics

Is not a suitable answer

Because racism can only be used

By a privileged few

To divide the many

To divide us to divide we the people

We are the people

And you cannot lift a finger for the immigrants

Without the courage to raise your fist

In defense of all of us

And you cannot solve black poverty

Without solving all poverty

Because attacking racism without attacking capitalism

Is like chopping down strange fruit

And leaving the fucking tree

Saturday, July 25, 2009

A fun game

There is a great free online game in which you can create your own nation and run it!
Click here to play Cyber Nations!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Support the Employee Free Choice Act

Worker's rights are under constant attack by the most reactionary sectors of society daily. One of the most crucial of these rights is to organize a union to protect against employer aggression and provide better/safer work environments. You can sign a petition to put the bill into action by looking to the bottom of this post and clicking the "Join one million strong for the Employee Free Choice Act" button.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Rand Illusion-Colbert Report

I saw this video and couldn't stop laughing.
Although light-hearted, this short video is a sharp attack on bourgeois paradigm and religion at the temple of the wealthy individual (as preached by the capitalist messiah Ayn Rand of course).
It goes without saying that the Colbert Report contains no Marxist content whatsoever, but worth watching nonetheless.
Enjoy!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Rand Illusion
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorNASA Name Contest

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Fascism: What it is and How to Stop it

Too many people in the bourgeois media today throw around the F-bomb with little or
no understanding of what the word means or represents. It has become the new trend for the Right-wing reactionaries to label people on the left as Fascists, culminating in ridiculous and oxymoronic accusations such as "commie fascists" (I didn't make that up, I have seen a conservative nutjob use exactly those words). Libertarians of all stripes attempt to group the fascist with the communist as "statist" or "authoritarian", which is really an attempt for the Right to wash their hands of the fascist movements and project them on the left. However, the Right has never objectively analyzed fascism and it's economic roots. All attempts at such were hindered by their bourgeois intellectual limitations and class bias.

So what is fascism? I will try not to be too long winded but describe it as concisely as possible. Fascism is ultimately a system dominated literally by capitalist executives and their corporations. The fascist state consists of the largest corporations in industry each taking a place of power over that facet of society (health corporation, communication corporation, etc). CEOs act as both corporation overseers and dictators within the government as they set prices and wages for their workers. Power is "delegated" to them from a sort of fascist "labor union" which includes not only workers but the CEOs and management themselves! This situation is intentionally lopsided, giving the latter complete sway within the "union" and its decisions. The workers are left utterly powerless as strikes are outlawed, seen as a product of class war. The fascist state's official ideology is one of class collaboration and devotion to the state monopoly government (i.e. the large corporation dictators). The state, being an instrument of force, actively pursues militarism as a means of protecting monopoly capitalist power from proletarian demands and taking foreign markets/resources.

Property relations remain as they do in capitalist society, which is private ownership.
Entrepreneurship and competition is encouraged by the state, so long as these smaller private enterprises do not interfere or challenge the supreme economic authority over capital of the state monopoly corporations. Despite the claims of fascists themselves that the system they support is anti-capitalist, they are the most violent and ravenous protectors of private greed. Adolf Hitler himself was involved in creating private businesses for his family members. If Fascism is anti-capitalist socialism, then ask yourself if Lenin ever started a private business. Nazi Germany would have never been possible if it weren't for the power of big capitalists such as the Thyssen family. Ultimately, fascist economics is violent monopoly capitalism which upholds the profit and power of the monopoly class over the proletariat.

As I stated earlier, fascist philosophy entails that the individual dedicate himself entirely to the nation and its state monopoly government. He must entrust those CEOs, fascist party leaders, and generals with control over his life. To him, his country and government is first; being a proud and true German or Italian, for instance, is most important. Those people who are deemed alien to their culture can never be assimilated. Racial purity for the fascist is the key and minority populations are the problem. As a Jew or other minority, you are not seen as able to overcome your "selfish" pursuit of your own greedy aspirations which are separate from that of being German, Italian, British, etc. Should the minority or Jew be able to overcome this "selfishness", then they would be exploited and separated into their own societies cut-off from majority populations; a sort of racist conception not too different from "separate but equal" scams. As you can see, the minority is treated as a disease capable of destroying the unity of nation and state. Therefore, these potential "problems" are to be dealt with in the harshest degree by the fascist state.

In short, the fascist society has a few central components. First is private ownership of property with slightly limited competition. Secondly, fanatic devotion to the culture, nation, and state (CEOs and generals as supreme government dictators, legitimized militarism\xenophobia). Third, class collaboration; the working class giving up their power to the monopoly capitalists and abandoning class war, including the right to organize unions and strike. Lastly, the worship of the individual as a driving force in society. These ideological foundations are not only anti-socialist in general but completely born of Right wing paradigm. Fascist society is impossible without laissez-fair and late imperialist capitalism. For instance, the progression of the capitalist market and competition created huge corporations which grew larger after each economic crisis. As many businesses fell through, these corporations ate them up and dominated the market. Finance would grow to such an extent that it would merge with industrial capital and later literally obtain seats of power within government. The capitalists, now inseparable from the state, would protect themselves from collapse and profit loss using force/coercion from state mechanisms. As capitalism falters and grasps for air in this late stage of development which Lenin called imperialism (our current stage of development), nothing but more force could protect the legitimacy of the claim the capitalist giants have over distribution of wealth. Thus, the only way to keep private profit alive would be fascism. This could not have been, however, without the central tenants of laissez-fair. These include the sanctity of private property, no government interference with the market. This last facet of market fundamentalism is most important as it allows the formation of business associations, cartels, corporations who hold unrivaled wealth and power. With little government control over economy or economic procedure, CEOs are fully capable of entering government and acting in their own favor. Furthermore, traditional conservative trends such as negation of class conflict and fear of labor rights play perfectly into the hands of monopoly capitalist interest. All the while, the working class is exploited by selling their labor for not even a fraction of the wealth they generate for the capitalist.It is appropriate to quote George Dimitrov, a great Marxist-Leninist thinker, from his report to the 7th World Congress of the Comintern:

"...fascism in power ... [is]the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinist and most imperialist elements of finance capital. (p.2)"

The privileged bourgeois who triumph their individual wealth stores over their fellow human being will gladly embrace force to keep the working class in a state of destitution; exploited and oppressed in the utmost violent manner. The capitalists knows nothing more than reducing profit loss.

As Dimitrov points out, Fascism is no ideology of working class origin:

"No, fascism is not a power standing above class, nor government of the petty bourgeoisie or the lumpen-proletariat over finance capital. Fascism is the power of finance capital itself. It is the organization of terrorist vengeance against the working class and the revolutionary section of the peasantry and intelligentsia. In foreign policy, fascism is jingoism in its most brutal form, fomenting bestial hatred of other nations."

The power of finance capital can only survive if it remains imperialistic, always gobbling up new markets and resources like a ravenous beast. Profit can only be gained by dividing up the world and it's labor.

So how do we prevent this from happening? The proletariat, i.e. the sector of society which has only their labor to sell, must seize the means of production and destroy the old bourgeois property relations and create new ones; common ownership of property. The working class must organize their own party and government which represents their interests. The government must be of the proletariat for the proletariat, against bourgeois reaction and imperialism. We must rid ourselves of nationalism/xenophobia and embrace socialist internationalism. Bourgeois dictatorships must always be resisted as they are the reason for concentration of wealth, poverty, disease, racism, sexism, and war. Class war must never be negated or forgotten but accepted and fought as a proletariat defender. No amount of private bail outs, printing of money, or war will alleviate the suffering from capitalism's contradictions; the whole system is falling and we must hasten it to create a socialist society. Failure to do such will be catastrophic for the proletariat and the human species in general. Fascism, a 100% Right-wing ideology, comes to fruition in the absence of socialism.


*For Georgi Dimitrov's complete report to the 7th Congress of the Communist International, follow this link:
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/08_02.htm

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Lie of Soviet Anti-Semitism

Another piece from my good comrade and friend Micheal Wood of the Gus Hall Action Club.


The Lie of Soviet Anti-Semitism

(A few preliminary words: V.I. Lenin was right: "Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews!" Down with the lie that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism! Zionism is reactionary bourgeois nationalism that upholds Israel's state policies of aggression in league with the forces of Wall Street imperialism. "It is U.S. imperialism which has bolstered and dominated the Israeli economy and has supplied Israel with arms (and billions in grants, credits and cash). It has followed such a policy because it accords with the interests of the dominant sections of U.S. finance capital in the Middle East, with their desire to use Israel as a weapon against the Arab liberation movement and its threat to U.S. oil investments."--Hyman Lumer.)

Gus Hall, Marxist-Leninist former leader of the Communist Party of the United States, said that "Zionism is an unmitigated force for reaction and deadly enemy of the Jewish (and Palestinian) people.
"
Instead of condemning the Zionist expansionist imperialist state policies of the aggressive Israeli ruling class, capitalist propaganda screams that Jews were persecuted in the former socialist Soviet Union! The USSR is slandered as the land of anti-Semitism.
But this lie, as Gus Hall expressed eloquently, "turns historical facts on their head!" Victor Perlo noted that "such propaganda is forced to nitpick at dubious or marginal cases (in order to) distract attention away from the massive and continuous expressions of anti-Semitism and racism in the United States and other capitalist countries, as well as the racist actions and anti-Semitic actions--stoning of synagogues, etc., which have no counterpart in the USSR.
" Gus Hall, the great Communist, tore through the lie about the USSR: "the truth is there is anti-Semitism. But it is in the capitalist world. And, like racism, it is on the rise right here in the United States.
"
(Victor Perlo, Economics of Racism USA, 1980, Third Printing, International Publishers; Gus Hall, "The Big Lie and the Jewish-American Community," in Anti-Semitism and Zionism, First Printing, 1987, International Publishers)

Before the October Socialist Revolution of 1917, anti-Semitism was whipped up and frenzied chauvinist mobs attacked Jewish communities. The Tsar used anti-Semitism as a weapon to divide working class, peasant and oppressed peoples in order to carry out a monstrous robbery of the people. The great Communist leader V.I. Lenin, an enemy of anti-Semitism, spoke out: "Shame on accursed Tsarism which tortured and persecuted the Jews.
Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews!" And Lenin ripped the smokescreen off of anti-Semitism: "Capitalists foment hatred towards the Jews in order to blind the workers, to divert their attention away from the real enemy of the working people--capital.
"
(Lenin, Anti-Jewish Pogroms, 1919)


(V.I. Lenin: ’It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the working people are the capitalists of all countries.’)

Socialism in the former Soviet Union, by smashing capitalism’s material basis for racism, achieved unprecedented gains for Jews and masses of distinct nationalities.
Anti-Semitism, rotten in every fiber, was a "throwback to the past" days of an exploitative society and, as Hall revealed: "Soviet socialism completely wiped out the degrading oppression, the poverty-stricken, pogrom ridden ghetto existence of the Jewish people under czarism.
" Henry Winston, a deceased African-American militant with the Communist Party USA, witnessed the gains made by oppressed peoples in the USSR and spoke out boldly: "the Soviet Union (was) a multi-racial, multinational society born out of a struggle based on the solidarity of the Russian working classes of more than 50 oppressed nations and peoples.
" The great Communist Gus Hall was indignant: "The Soviet Union is accused of anti-Semitism but it (was) the only country in the history of the world that had pursued a policy of affirmative action, the Leninist policy of equality and justice for all peoples and nationalities!" And in the former socialist Soviet Union, racist, nationalist and anti-Semitic propaganda and actions were illegal.
(Henry Winston, Strategy for a Black Agenda; Gus Hall, "The Big Lie and the Jewish-American Community," in Anti-Semitism and Zionism, First Printing, 1987, International Publishers)

Jews were educated, not persecuted, in the working class' first homeland of socialism.
A book which examined the socialist countries reveals that "more Jews attended college in the USSR than in Israel, despite the fact that the Jewish population of the USSR was smaller than that of Israel. The percentage of Jews among Soviet college students (was) twice as high as the percentage of Jews in the Soviet population as a whole." And "according to Soviet sources, the USSR (had) a greater proportion of college graduates per 1,000 Jews than any other country in the world.
" (Erwin Marquit, The Socialist Countries, 1981, Third Printing, MEP)

Capitalist America, not the former Soviet Union, is a cesspool of anti-Semitism.
As Gus Hall said, "the Jewish people in the U.S. (overwhelmingly working class) are subjected to discrimination in employment, housing and other aspects of life. And they are a chief target of the fascist ultra-Right.
" We must fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish discrimination in the United States! We also have to speak out in America, along with progressive Jewish people, against Zionist "bourgeois nationalism" that is "a base of support to Israel’s policies of aggression.
"
Down with the Zionist lie that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism! Zionist government policies make Israel U.S. imperialism’s expansionist watchdog in the Middle East, oppressing Arab peoples and "separating Jewish working people from other workers and (tying) them to the Jewish capitalists.
" As Black Communist Henry Winston said: "Zionism is imperialism; it is racism.
"
(Gus Hall, Our Nation’s Crisis and How to Solve It; Henry Winston, "Against Apologists for Imperialism, Zionism, Racism," Anti-Semitism and Zionism, First Printing, 1987, International Publishers)

Check out the Gus Hall Action Club blog at http://gushallactionclub. blogspot. com/

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Some People Say I am Biased

Another piece of proletarian poetry by our own comrade Matt.
Enjoy!
(Btw, look out for a new blog post covering the topic of a vanguard party)

Some people say I am biased

Some people say I am biased
They say you know you got a lot to say
About how bad this country really is
But what about the other side huh
What are we gonna do about all these illegal aliens
Listen up assholes
Cause I am only going to say this once
First off
No you know what
Fuck that
Illegal aliens? Illegal aliens?
What the fuck you talking about man
Bootlegged copies of ET
Cause I know damn sure
You are not talking about members
Or friends of my family
Cause if you are let me assure you
I am not related to ewoks
Extra terrestrials or Marvin the fucking Martian
Some people say I am biased
You are God damn right I am biased
You are talking about destroying families
Wrecking communities and not in some distant land
You are talking about people I grew up with
Cause mom's got papers son's got papers
But dad doesn’t
And though my birth certificate reads American
I am not more you than I am them
And personally I wouldn’t whipe my ass
With your documents
They might stain my bowels
Some people say I am biased
They say you know you got a lot to say
About our economic system
But which side are you really on?
How do you propose we win the war on terrorism
To which I respond
I don’t see how that correlates but
Terrorism? Really? Terrorism?
Be they the Taliban, UNITA, ARENA,
Pol Pot after being deposed by Vietnamese communists
The contras, the KLA or the KKK
This country does business with terrorists
In fact those cats are just subcontract
America is in the business of terrorism
And they are in it to win it
Don’t believe check out the financial stats
On Boeing and McDonnell Douglas
They stay in the black
Like Blackwater
A whole army of mercenaries
Running roughshod in Iraq
Accountable to no one
You know after Katrina
They were patrolling New Orleans
And in much stronger force than FEMA
Terrorism how about the racist PD’s
Seems every few months they make the news
But they are gunning down dudes
Daily
Don’t talk to me about terrorism
I have lived ghettoes and barrios
I know terrorism all to well
Some people say I am biased
Saying you know you talk a lot about problems
But I don’t hear a whole lot of solutions
Whats your answer
That’s easy
Abolishing private property
The complete abolition of capitalism
That’s easy
Getting there is the hard part
Cause you see I am talking revolution
And I know the odds
And I know the historical conditions
And at this point in history
I know how ridiculous that must seem
But when this shit does pop off
I wanna be eagle scout ready
I am talking revolution
And you are God damn right I am biased
And you are God damn right I am angry
But I am not using poetry
To be some dystopian
Offering no solutions
Misanthropic …. Loser!!!
NO I AM TALKING REVOLUTION
And I am in it to win it
Some people say I am biased
But then again
Some people aint got shit to say