Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for the American writer, David Halberatam, most famous for his revealing look at the underside of American foreign policy in Vietnam, "The Best and the Brightest.
BOOK REVIEW
THE FIFTIES, DAVID HALBERSTAM
Although I am a member of the Generation of ’68, a political characterization, I am also by accident of birth a child of the Fifties. In some recollections of that period, including the present book, those times appear almost as a ‘golden age’. For those who were either too young to remember fully some of the early events of the Fifties or those who were not born at that time this book is a nice overview of the various political, social, economic, technological and cultural events of the period.
In a sense Mr. Halberstam has tried to accomplish too much under one cover, despite the book's several hundred page length. He has taken a panoramic view of the whole event- filled decade and with few exceptions given only a surface skimming of events, personalities and the impact that they had on the times. Notwithstanding that limitation, which can be addressed by reading other material on particular topics suggested by each chapter this is a solid journalistic piece of work. For an analysis of the meaning of the times or their place in the overall scheme of American history one can look elsewhere.
One thing is clear from Mr. Halberstam’s sweep of the decade and that is that many of the trends just coming to the surface then are still recognizable today. He tackles the vast changes in mass consumption brought on by the end of World War II that include the rise of the automobile, the suburbanization of America and the revolution in communications headlined by the use of television. This in turn triggered new mass service industries like airlines, hotels and fast food joints. These were also times of changes in cultural appreciations from an earlier more Victorian (at least on the surface) time and so on. Remarkably what has not changed despite massive changes in the forms of political packaging is the shallowness of political discourse. The banalities of the Eisenhower-Nixon years can easily compete with the banalities of today’s Bush era. The maturation of the age of the information super-highway since then has not brought a concurrent rise in political maturity.
Those of us who were alive during the period have our own take on the Fifties. I would make two points here that underscore what the Fifties mean to me. First, a lot of hoopla has been made over that generation that survived the Great Depression and fought World War II, my parents’ generation. In some cases they have been called the ‘greatest generation’. That is pure bunk. They sold their birthright to a more just society for a mess of pottage. However the Fifties was their time, the time that they came to maturity, and one cannot understand why they did or did not do better without and understanding of the period. Secondly, for my family, the saga that Mr. Halberstam presents was not our 1950’s. The promised abundance never reached down to my family, a family of the marginally working poor. In some ways the picture he presents is of a different society from the one I grew up in. There is no reason now to cry over it but those are the facts and that helps explain why my political trajectory took the course that it ultimately did.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
HO HUM-THE DEMOCRATS FOLD ON IRAQ
COMMENTARY
DON’T MOURN-BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS!
ORGANIZE ANTI-WAR RANK AND FILE TROOP SOLIDARITY COMMITTEES
Well, as I have predicted since the first parliamentary moves were made in January, not without some bitterness, the Democrats in Congress have folded on the Iraq War budget by withdrawing their timetable conditions on the approval of appropriations. Now there are only some vague benchmarks which have to be hurdled. Of course the person who has to certify those benchmarks is none other than President Bush. One does not have to be a wizard to know that approval of those benchmarks will a no-brainer. Nor does it take a Marxist view of the world, although that certainly helps, to have seen the Congressional collapse coming.
The whole logic of the strategy was misguided, to say the least. Hiding behind a social patriotic 'support the troops' rationale there was never ever any question that the Iraq war budget was not going to be funded. Except for a few isolated left Democrats the question of not funding was not on the table. The net effect of all of this manuevering is that it is definitely no longer possible to separate out President Bush and his coterie as solely responsible for this war. This is now also a Democratic-sponored war, as it really always has been. Only now it is signed, sealed and delivered. If this war is ever to be ended it is necessary to break with the Democrats now. No more anti-war platforms for Democrats! No more political strategies based on popular fronts with Democrats.
Once again, for those who have been depending politically on the Democrats to save their hides on Iraq , it is necessary to bring the bitter truth home. That truth has been self-evident for at least a year now. This damn war is not going to be ended by parliamentary means. The fight to end the war now has to be brought to the factories, the schools, the offices and from there to the streets. Above all there is a desperate need to get to the military bases and get to the rank and file troops. That today, dear readers, is merely the beginning of wisdom.
DON’T MOURN-BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS!
ORGANIZE ANTI-WAR RANK AND FILE TROOP SOLIDARITY COMMITTEES
Well, as I have predicted since the first parliamentary moves were made in January, not without some bitterness, the Democrats in Congress have folded on the Iraq War budget by withdrawing their timetable conditions on the approval of appropriations. Now there are only some vague benchmarks which have to be hurdled. Of course the person who has to certify those benchmarks is none other than President Bush. One does not have to be a wizard to know that approval of those benchmarks will a no-brainer. Nor does it take a Marxist view of the world, although that certainly helps, to have seen the Congressional collapse coming.
The whole logic of the strategy was misguided, to say the least. Hiding behind a social patriotic 'support the troops' rationale there was never ever any question that the Iraq war budget was not going to be funded. Except for a few isolated left Democrats the question of not funding was not on the table. The net effect of all of this manuevering is that it is definitely no longer possible to separate out President Bush and his coterie as solely responsible for this war. This is now also a Democratic-sponored war, as it really always has been. Only now it is signed, sealed and delivered. If this war is ever to be ended it is necessary to break with the Democrats now. No more anti-war platforms for Democrats! No more political strategies based on popular fronts with Democrats.
Once again, for those who have been depending politically on the Democrats to save their hides on Iraq , it is necessary to bring the bitter truth home. That truth has been self-evident for at least a year now. This damn war is not going to be ended by parliamentary means. The fight to end the war now has to be brought to the factories, the schools, the offices and from there to the streets. Above all there is a desperate need to get to the military bases and get to the rank and file troops. That today, dear readers, is merely the beginning of wisdom.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
IN DEFENSE OF MITT ROMNEY'S GREAT-GRANDFATHER-AND GREAT GRANDMOTHERS
COMMENTARY
FIVE WIVES AT THE SAME TIME SHOW REAL EXECUTIVE ABILITY-RIGHT?
In a recent interview on CBS's Sixty Minutes Republican presidential hopeful ex- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a professed Mormon, declared that he thought that the fact that his great-grandfather took (or was ordered to take) five wives was ‘terrible’. As the fiercely persecuted Mormons settled in Utah apparently the numerical balance between men and women was off and polygamy was therefore encouraged. Naturally, being a male-dominated religious variant of Christianity that necessary was couched in theological terms, as well. The practice was officially banned by that denomination in 1890. However, the practice, as witnessed by some recent court cases in the West, still flourishes in some areas amount Old Style Mormons.
One can see that for someone who is running on a ‘family values’ platform highlighted by support for the proposition that marriage is between one man-one woman and is touting personal fidelity to one wife and one set of children in order to grab the brass ring of the presidency that such a family history may in fact be 'terrible'. But step back a minute Mitt, aside from being very disrespectful to your family line, what is the harm of having five, or for that matter, ten wives? Or a woman having ten husbands? As long a there is effective consent among and between the parties whose business is it anyway? And why be ashamed of that ‘skeleton’ in the family closet?
We socialists are not as squeamish as brother Romney appears to be about either the details of his family history or about how people arrange their personal lives. There has been a great hue and cry lately in the West over some Old Style Mormon instances of polygamy, including the usual allegations of coercion. Coercion or forcing “shot gun” weddings, singly or in multiples, is not what we mean by effective consent. However, absent coercion it is not the state’s business to interfere. We may have a different take than Mormons on what we think personal relationships will look like under socialism once the nuclear family (or what today stands for that proposition) recedes into the background as the basis unit of society but for now the variety of human experiences in interpersonal relationships is way beyond the scope of what the state needs to interfere in.
I, personally, want to learn more about old Great-Grandpa Romney and Joseph Smith-the founder of Mormonism and a Free Soiler candidate for office before he was murdered in the 1840’s. On the face of it those individuals seem, unlike Mitt, interesting personalities. Certainly everyone must concede that old Great-Grandfather Romney seems more interesting than his progeny. And had to have more real executive ability than latter monogamous Romneys. Hell, I had my hands full when, back in the days, I had two girlfriends at one time. Hands Off the Old Style Mormons! Government Out of the Bedrooms!
COMMENTARY
FIVE WIVES AT THE SAME TIME SHOW REAL EXECUTIVE ABILITY-RIGHT?
In a recent interview on CBS's Sixty Minutes Republican presidential hopeful ex- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a professed Mormon, declared that he thought that the fact that his great-grandfather took (or was ordered to take) five wives was ‘terrible’. As the fiercely persecuted Mormons settled in Utah apparently the numerical balance between men and women was off and polygamy was therefore encouraged. Naturally, being a male-dominated religious variant of Christianity that necessary was couched in theological terms, as well. The practice was officially banned by that denomination in 1890. However, the practice, as witnessed by some recent court cases in the West, still flourishes in some areas amount Old Style Mormons.
One can see that for someone who is running on a ‘family values’ platform highlighted by support for the proposition that marraige is between one man-one woman and is touting personal fidelity to one wife and children in order to grab the brass ring of the presidency that such a family history may in fact be 'terrible'. But step back a minute Mitt, aside from being very disrespectful to your family line, what is the harm of having five, or for that matter, ten wives? Or a woman having ten husbands? As long a there is effective consent among and between the parties whose business is it anyway? And why be ashamed of that ‘skeleton’ in the family closet?
We socialists are not as squeamish as brother Romney appears to be about either the details of his family history or about how people arrange their personal lives. There has been a great hue and cry lately in the West over some Old Style Mormon instances of polygamy, including the usual allegations of coercion. Coercion or forcing “shot gun” weddings, singly or in multiples, is not what we mean by effective consent. However, absent coercion it is not the state’s business to interfere. We may have a different take than Mormons on what we think personal relationships will look like under socialism once the nuclear family (or what today stands for that proposition) recedes into the background as the basis unit of society but for now the variety of human experiences in interpersonal relationships is way beyond the scope of what the state needs to interfere in.
I, personally, want to learn more about old Great-Grandpa Romney and Joseph Smith-the founder of Mormonism and a Free Soiler candidate for office before he was murdered in the 1840’s. On the face of it those individuals seem, unlike Mitt, interesting personalities. Certainly everyone must concede that old Great-Grandfather Romney seems more interesting than his progeny. And had to have more real executive ability than latter monogamous Romneys. Hell, I had my hands full when, back in the days, I had two girlfriends at one time. Hands Off the Old Style Mormons! Government Out of the Bedrooms!
FIVE WIVES AT THE SAME TIME SHOW REAL EXECUTIVE ABILITY-RIGHT?
In a recent interview on CBS's Sixty Minutes Republican presidential hopeful ex- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a professed Mormon, declared that he thought that the fact that his great-grandfather took (or was ordered to take) five wives was ‘terrible’. As the fiercely persecuted Mormons settled in Utah apparently the numerical balance between men and women was off and polygamy was therefore encouraged. Naturally, being a male-dominated religious variant of Christianity that necessary was couched in theological terms, as well. The practice was officially banned by that denomination in 1890. However, the practice, as witnessed by some recent court cases in the West, still flourishes in some areas amount Old Style Mormons.
One can see that for someone who is running on a ‘family values’ platform highlighted by support for the proposition that marriage is between one man-one woman and is touting personal fidelity to one wife and one set of children in order to grab the brass ring of the presidency that such a family history may in fact be 'terrible'. But step back a minute Mitt, aside from being very disrespectful to your family line, what is the harm of having five, or for that matter, ten wives? Or a woman having ten husbands? As long a there is effective consent among and between the parties whose business is it anyway? And why be ashamed of that ‘skeleton’ in the family closet?
We socialists are not as squeamish as brother Romney appears to be about either the details of his family history or about how people arrange their personal lives. There has been a great hue and cry lately in the West over some Old Style Mormon instances of polygamy, including the usual allegations of coercion. Coercion or forcing “shot gun” weddings, singly or in multiples, is not what we mean by effective consent. However, absent coercion it is not the state’s business to interfere. We may have a different take than Mormons on what we think personal relationships will look like under socialism once the nuclear family (or what today stands for that proposition) recedes into the background as the basis unit of society but for now the variety of human experiences in interpersonal relationships is way beyond the scope of what the state needs to interfere in.
I, personally, want to learn more about old Great-Grandpa Romney and Joseph Smith-the founder of Mormonism and a Free Soiler candidate for office before he was murdered in the 1840’s. On the face of it those individuals seem, unlike Mitt, interesting personalities. Certainly everyone must concede that old Great-Grandfather Romney seems more interesting than his progeny. And had to have more real executive ability than latter monogamous Romneys. Hell, I had my hands full when, back in the days, I had two girlfriends at one time. Hands Off the Old Style Mormons! Government Out of the Bedrooms!
COMMENTARY
FIVE WIVES AT THE SAME TIME SHOW REAL EXECUTIVE ABILITY-RIGHT?
In a recent interview on CBS's Sixty Minutes Republican presidential hopeful ex- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a professed Mormon, declared that he thought that the fact that his great-grandfather took (or was ordered to take) five wives was ‘terrible’. As the fiercely persecuted Mormons settled in Utah apparently the numerical balance between men and women was off and polygamy was therefore encouraged. Naturally, being a male-dominated religious variant of Christianity that necessary was couched in theological terms, as well. The practice was officially banned by that denomination in 1890. However, the practice, as witnessed by some recent court cases in the West, still flourishes in some areas amount Old Style Mormons.
One can see that for someone who is running on a ‘family values’ platform highlighted by support for the proposition that marraige is between one man-one woman and is touting personal fidelity to one wife and children in order to grab the brass ring of the presidency that such a family history may in fact be 'terrible'. But step back a minute Mitt, aside from being very disrespectful to your family line, what is the harm of having five, or for that matter, ten wives? Or a woman having ten husbands? As long a there is effective consent among and between the parties whose business is it anyway? And why be ashamed of that ‘skeleton’ in the family closet?
We socialists are not as squeamish as brother Romney appears to be about either the details of his family history or about how people arrange their personal lives. There has been a great hue and cry lately in the West over some Old Style Mormon instances of polygamy, including the usual allegations of coercion. Coercion or forcing “shot gun” weddings, singly or in multiples, is not what we mean by effective consent. However, absent coercion it is not the state’s business to interfere. We may have a different take than Mormons on what we think personal relationships will look like under socialism once the nuclear family (or what today stands for that proposition) recedes into the background as the basis unit of society but for now the variety of human experiences in interpersonal relationships is way beyond the scope of what the state needs to interfere in.
I, personally, want to learn more about old Great-Grandpa Romney and Joseph Smith-the founder of Mormonism and a Free Soiler candidate for office before he was murdered in the 1840’s. On the face of it those individuals seem, unlike Mitt, interesting personalities. Certainly everyone must concede that old Great-Grandfather Romney seems more interesting than his progeny. And had to have more real executive ability than latter monogamous Romneys. Hell, I had my hands full when, back in the days, I had two girlfriends at one time. Hands Off the Old Style Mormons! Government Out of the Bedrooms!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
The Age Of Andrew Jackson-A Plebeian VIew
BOOK REVIEW
LIBERTY AND POWER, HARRY L. WATSON, THE NOON DIAL PRESS, NEW YORK, 1990
The central story line of the Jacksonian period economically, socially and politically was the fight over the establishment, continuation and rechartering of the Bank of the United States which despite its name was a privately owned corporation headed by the notorious Nicholas Biddle. In short the story was, as almost always under capitalism, about the money. Hard money, paper money, metallic money, federal money, state money, no money. It is all there. As confusing and, frankly, somewhat trivial as the issues may seem to the 21st century mind the various fights determined the path of capitalist formation for the rest of the 19th century. One does not have to be a partisan of any particular monetary policy to know that if the Biddle-led forces had won then capital formation in the United States would have taken a very different turn. Thus, the essential Jacksonian victory on the bank question is one that militants today can give a retroactive endorsement. This is the story the author tries to bring to life. I believe that Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s Age of Jackson is still the definitive general work on the period but if you need a shorter overview this book will suffice.
Although control of the money was the underlying premise for the political fights of the day they also represented some very different appreciations of what American society should look like. Watson goes to great pains to highlight the various factions within each of the coalescing parties that would come to form the Democratic and Republican two-party system that we are familiar with today. Watson does a better job on the formation of the party system than Schlesinger. The fights outlined had different implications for differing sections of the country. In that regard the names Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay and their various congressional devotees can generally stand to represent the various sectional interests. One might also note that names that became familiar in the immediate pre-Civil War period, like Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, John Bell, Gideon Welles, William Seward, etc. started to receive political notice as secondary figures during this period.
One should also note that this was a period of political realignment and that the political situation was fluid enough that with changing political winds the various leading personalities were as likely to change sides as not. Readers should pick up the trail that is only alluded to here on the importance on the third party Liberty and Free Soil Parties. Despite that lapse dealing with the various political manifestations of the period is the strongest part of Mr. Watson's book.
LIBERTY AND POWER, HARRY L. WATSON, THE NOON DIAL PRESS, NEW YORK, 1990
The central story line of the Jacksonian period economically, socially and politically was the fight over the establishment, continuation and rechartering of the Bank of the United States which despite its name was a privately owned corporation headed by the notorious Nicholas Biddle. In short the story was, as almost always under capitalism, about the money. Hard money, paper money, metallic money, federal money, state money, no money. It is all there. As confusing and, frankly, somewhat trivial as the issues may seem to the 21st century mind the various fights determined the path of capitalist formation for the rest of the 19th century. One does not have to be a partisan of any particular monetary policy to know that if the Biddle-led forces had won then capital formation in the United States would have taken a very different turn. Thus, the essential Jacksonian victory on the bank question is one that militants today can give a retroactive endorsement. This is the story the author tries to bring to life. I believe that Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s Age of Jackson is still the definitive general work on the period but if you need a shorter overview this book will suffice.
Although control of the money was the underlying premise for the political fights of the day they also represented some very different appreciations of what American society should look like. Watson goes to great pains to highlight the various factions within each of the coalescing parties that would come to form the Democratic and Republican two-party system that we are familiar with today. Watson does a better job on the formation of the party system than Schlesinger. The fights outlined had different implications for differing sections of the country. In that regard the names Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay and their various congressional devotees can generally stand to represent the various sectional interests. One might also note that names that became familiar in the immediate pre-Civil War period, like Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, John Bell, Gideon Welles, William Seward, etc. started to receive political notice as secondary figures during this period.
One should also note that this was a period of political realignment and that the political situation was fluid enough that with changing political winds the various leading personalities were as likely to change sides as not. Readers should pick up the trail that is only alluded to here on the importance on the third party Liberty and Free Soil Parties. Despite that lapse dealing with the various political manifestations of the period is the strongest part of Mr. Watson's book.
Monday, May 21, 2007
BUT WHO WILL BRING IN THE CROPS?
COMMENTARY
FULL CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS FOR ALL WHO MAKE IT HERE!
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Apparently Congress is getting ready to pass an immigration reform bill that contains many provisions in it that are, frankly, bizarre from a militant leftist point of view. Let us be clear at the start. We do not support this bill. We are not in the business of advising capitalist society about how to better rationalize its immigration policies. Over the last year or so I have argued that we call for and support a general amnesty but that is far removed from the nuts and bolts of this legislation. To the extent that this bill triggers a general amnesty we support that, and that alone. The rest of it is an immigrant’s nightmare. Hell, I think the ‘choice’ of my forbears to come on the ‘famine’ ships from Ireland and sneak ashore made more sense. Today, if I were an immigrant from Mexico I would rather take my chances of coming over through the desert than get caught up in the bureaucratic red tape and cost of becoming a ‘second class’ citizen under the provisions of this program.
One comment about the pending legislation sticks in my mind as it really epitomizes the thinking behind these ‘reforms’. One unnamed immigrant, on hearing that the legislation would favor those who had skills or education, noted that there was no lack of ‘native’ Americans with such qualifications. What he and his like do is bring in the crops and other dirty and dangerous tasks that ‘native’ Americans no longer will do. Thus, he is in need of legal protection far more the those middle class types the legislation is tilted toward. Simply put, those types are not coming here. And that unnamed immigrant's statement makes sense. Virtually no one who has anything going for themselves in their own country voluntarily leaves home and hearth to go elsewhere except under extreme conditions. Those twelve million ‘illegal’ immigrants speak to the desperate plight of many in Mexico and other places in Latin America in the wake the impact of NAFTA- type treaties. Thus, at the end of the day our call is still the same. Full Citizenship Rights for All Who Make It Here.
FULL CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS FOR ALL WHO MAKE IT HERE!
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Apparently Congress is getting ready to pass an immigration reform bill that contains many provisions in it that are, frankly, bizarre from a militant leftist point of view. Let us be clear at the start. We do not support this bill. We are not in the business of advising capitalist society about how to better rationalize its immigration policies. Over the last year or so I have argued that we call for and support a general amnesty but that is far removed from the nuts and bolts of this legislation. To the extent that this bill triggers a general amnesty we support that, and that alone. The rest of it is an immigrant’s nightmare. Hell, I think the ‘choice’ of my forbears to come on the ‘famine’ ships from Ireland and sneak ashore made more sense. Today, if I were an immigrant from Mexico I would rather take my chances of coming over through the desert than get caught up in the bureaucratic red tape and cost of becoming a ‘second class’ citizen under the provisions of this program.
One comment about the pending legislation sticks in my mind as it really epitomizes the thinking behind these ‘reforms’. One unnamed immigrant, on hearing that the legislation would favor those who had skills or education, noted that there was no lack of ‘native’ Americans with such qualifications. What he and his like do is bring in the crops and other dirty and dangerous tasks that ‘native’ Americans no longer will do. Thus, he is in need of legal protection far more the those middle class types the legislation is tilted toward. Simply put, those types are not coming here. And that unnamed immigrant's statement makes sense. Virtually no one who has anything going for themselves in their own country voluntarily leaves home and hearth to go elsewhere except under extreme conditions. Those twelve million ‘illegal’ immigrants speak to the desperate plight of many in Mexico and other places in Latin America in the wake the impact of NAFTA- type treaties. Thus, at the end of the day our call is still the same. Full Citizenship Rights for All Who Make It Here.
THE GOOD OL' BOYS OF THE GOP-OUCH!
COMMENTARY
WHERE ARE THE WHIGS WHEN YOU NEED THEM?
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Forgive me, dear reader, for not stopping everything to immediately comment on the recent Republican presidential ‘debate’ in South Carolina. Frankly this cattle call production of Republican hopefuls was even more dismal than that of their Democratic counterparts earlier, if that is possible. Fortunately I have been spending my time not commenting on the debate reading a book on the Age of Jackson. Interestingly, all the essentials of the party (two party, that is) system were established during this period. Although the historic interest of this period for militants today centers on the Liberty and Free Soil parties the Whigs, the forerunners of today’s Republican Party, look positively revolutionary in comparison with their pale progeny down south last week. When the deal went down in the 1850’s over the question of the expansion of slavery into the territories and other questions the Whigs went ‘belly up’ but for a while they expressed a rational political program in a period of progressive capitalist expansion in America. Today’s Republicans apparently live in a bubble. And here is why.
On the central question of the day-Iraq, Iraq and again Iraq- with the exception of libertarian Congressman Paul from Texas all the Republicans are going down the line, one way or the other, with the Bush Administration strategy for ‘victory’ and the indefinite American occupation in Iraq. If the 2008 presidential campaign and election hinges on this question, as I believe it will, these guys are doomed. And no tears will be shed in these quarters over it. Even a cursory glance at the daily newspaper confronts one with the reality that things continue to deteriorate in that benighted country. And, Republican hopefuls please note, they ain’t getting better.
Particularly interesting is Senator McCain’s slow death rattle attempt to ‘revive’ his campaign by being more Bush than Bush on this question. Know this- whichever bourgeois candidate ‘wins’ the presidency he or she will have the albatross on Iraq hanging around their necks. McCain’s plight may be explained by his “Manchurian Candidate” term as a POW in Vietnam. But what excuse do the draft-dodgers like Guiliani and Romney have for their toadyism.
More generally on the question of the ‘war on terrorism’ former Massachusetts Governor Mitt “Flip-Flop” Romney has really outdone himself with his support for ‘doubling’ the torture chambers at Guantanamo. They say that every real presidential candidate has to have ‘fire in the belly’ in order to debase him or herself enough to win this ‘prize’. Apparently Mr. Romney is in such ‘heat’ to get the nomination that he is willing to say anything, anywhere, anytime in order to appease the hard-core conservative base of the Republican Party that takes such pronouncements as red meat.
Old Mitt makes his weak-kneed father George seem like the height of rationality in contrast. While even moderate conservatives are cringing over the treatment at “Gitmo”, if for no other reason than to protect America’s image in the world, he is blithely calling for more torture. I would not want to be a member of his political staff if this sadistic fool ever gets within a few hundred delegates of the nomination. Presumably then the Mittster will come out in defense of drawing and quartering.
As if to add insult to injury, with the somewhat honorable exception of Rudy Guiliani, the Republican field fell all over itself on the ‘family values’ issues that in reality comes down to the question of abortion. The deal is already in the process of being done in the Supreme Court against a women’s right to choose (to speak nothing of our historic demand for free abortion on demand) but the candidates just wanted to let the base know that a return to the days of back alley abortions (for those who are unconnected or poor, that is) is just fine with them.
Overall the tenor of the ‘debate’ was what one expected from men who genuinely do not have a clue about what is going on for the average American worker or the average international one either. That is par for the course. As most commentators have mentioned the 2008 Presidential election is the Democrats’ to lose. This Republican field does nothing to negate that prediction. One would almost (a very long almost) wish the Democrats fair weather except that when the deal really goes down there is no essential difference between the parties. They almost all vote early and often, if they are a position to, for the Iraq war budgets. What else is new? Damn, those long forgotten Whigs look pretty good today.
THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES OF COMMENTARY ON THE 2006-2008 ELECTION CYCLE UNDER THE HEADLINE- FORGET THE DONKEYS, ELEPHANTS, GREENS-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!
WHERE ARE THE WHIGS WHEN YOU NEED THEM?
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Forgive me, dear reader, for not stopping everything to immediately comment on the recent Republican presidential ‘debate’ in South Carolina. Frankly this cattle call production of Republican hopefuls was even more dismal than that of their Democratic counterparts earlier, if that is possible. Fortunately I have been spending my time not commenting on the debate reading a book on the Age of Jackson. Interestingly, all the essentials of the party (two party, that is) system were established during this period. Although the historic interest of this period for militants today centers on the Liberty and Free Soil parties the Whigs, the forerunners of today’s Republican Party, look positively revolutionary in comparison with their pale progeny down south last week. When the deal went down in the 1850’s over the question of the expansion of slavery into the territories and other questions the Whigs went ‘belly up’ but for a while they expressed a rational political program in a period of progressive capitalist expansion in America. Today’s Republicans apparently live in a bubble. And here is why.
On the central question of the day-Iraq, Iraq and again Iraq- with the exception of libertarian Congressman Paul from Texas all the Republicans are going down the line, one way or the other, with the Bush Administration strategy for ‘victory’ and the indefinite American occupation in Iraq. If the 2008 presidential campaign and election hinges on this question, as I believe it will, these guys are doomed. And no tears will be shed in these quarters over it. Even a cursory glance at the daily newspaper confronts one with the reality that things continue to deteriorate in that benighted country. And, Republican hopefuls please note, they ain’t getting better.
Particularly interesting is Senator McCain’s slow death rattle attempt to ‘revive’ his campaign by being more Bush than Bush on this question. Know this- whichever bourgeois candidate ‘wins’ the presidency he or she will have the albatross on Iraq hanging around their necks. McCain’s plight may be explained by his “Manchurian Candidate” term as a POW in Vietnam. But what excuse do the draft-dodgers like Guiliani and Romney have for their toadyism.
More generally on the question of the ‘war on terrorism’ former Massachusetts Governor Mitt “Flip-Flop” Romney has really outdone himself with his support for ‘doubling’ the torture chambers at Guantanamo. They say that every real presidential candidate has to have ‘fire in the belly’ in order to debase him or herself enough to win this ‘prize’. Apparently Mr. Romney is in such ‘heat’ to get the nomination that he is willing to say anything, anywhere, anytime in order to appease the hard-core conservative base of the Republican Party that takes such pronouncements as red meat.
Old Mitt makes his weak-kneed father George seem like the height of rationality in contrast. While even moderate conservatives are cringing over the treatment at “Gitmo”, if for no other reason than to protect America’s image in the world, he is blithely calling for more torture. I would not want to be a member of his political staff if this sadistic fool ever gets within a few hundred delegates of the nomination. Presumably then the Mittster will come out in defense of drawing and quartering.
As if to add insult to injury, with the somewhat honorable exception of Rudy Guiliani, the Republican field fell all over itself on the ‘family values’ issues that in reality comes down to the question of abortion. The deal is already in the process of being done in the Supreme Court against a women’s right to choose (to speak nothing of our historic demand for free abortion on demand) but the candidates just wanted to let the base know that a return to the days of back alley abortions (for those who are unconnected or poor, that is) is just fine with them.
Overall the tenor of the ‘debate’ was what one expected from men who genuinely do not have a clue about what is going on for the average American worker or the average international one either. That is par for the course. As most commentators have mentioned the 2008 Presidential election is the Democrats’ to lose. This Republican field does nothing to negate that prediction. One would almost (a very long almost) wish the Democrats fair weather except that when the deal really goes down there is no essential difference between the parties. They almost all vote early and often, if they are a position to, for the Iraq war budgets. What else is new? Damn, those long forgotten Whigs look pretty good today.
THIS IS PART OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES OF COMMENTARY ON THE 2006-2008 ELECTION CYCLE UNDER THE HEADLINE- FORGET THE DONKEYS, ELEPHANTS, GREENS-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY!
Friday, May 18, 2007
THE UNITED STATES IS.........
BOOK REVIEW
LIBERTY AND UNION, DAVID HERBERT DONALD,LITTLE, BROWN AND CO., BOSTON, 1978
For better or worst, and I think for the better, the bloody American Civil War of 1861-65 was a key turning point in the creation of a unitary American state. The successful completion of the twin tasks of eliminating slavery and the creation of a transcontinental state based on a single capitalist economy, a common communications network and common cultural aspirations by any standard represented the type of progress that a historical materialist can salute. Thus, in order to better understand the political tasks that are before us today and make sense of the promise that those long ago results produced it is necessary to study in some detail the trends that led up to the Civil War, what the conflict itself resolved and those trends that were accelerated by the Union victory. For those not familiar with, or who have forgotten some of the details of those events, Professor Donald’s book is a little refresher course that will steer you into further study of the issues.
Professor Donald’s main thesis is that as trying as the Civil War experience was the results of that clarifying act, with the usual fits and starts, allowed for a more normal democratic discourse and thereafter placed the military option for the resolution of political problems in the shade. In defense of that argument he does a more than adequate analysis of the political, social and economic trends in the North, South and critically the West that prefigured the crisis of 1860 when all hell broke loose. Of decisive importance was the fate of slavery in the territories that were critical to creating a national state but also were critical to the survival of slavery. The resolution, or rather lack of resolution of that issue acted as the catalyst to break the sections apart.
As for the war itself the professor makes an interesting point about how the political, military and diplomatic strategies for both North and South ran on parallel courses. And that makes sense in a situation where the leaderships learned from a common experience. One should also note that while, in hindsight, the Northern victory seemed almost inevitable as late as 1964 that was certainly not the case. A decisive military breakthrough by Lee could have turned the political winds toward defeatism in the North around quite quickly.
Professor Donald’s post-war analysis is the weakest part of his book. Although he has done a good job of setting up the key political, economic and social trends of the period there is a just a little too much of a sense historical inevitability of the leading role of the United States and the exemplar of its institutions for my taste. Although he recognizes that blacks were continually aggrieved during Reconstruction and after; that Native Americans were essentially exterminated in the interests of white settlers; that the working class took a serious beating from the ‘robber barons’; that the family farmers were beginning to go under; that no serious national culture developed he nevertheless, on balance, believes that political stabilization and economic growth were the main results of the Civil War. In short, on balance, a classic liberal interpretation of post-Civil War history. The reader will therefore have to dig deeper to understand the real impact on of the Civil War on the American psyche. But here is a place to start.
LIBERTY AND UNION, DAVID HERBERT DONALD,LITTLE, BROWN AND CO., BOSTON, 1978
For better or worst, and I think for the better, the bloody American Civil War of 1861-65 was a key turning point in the creation of a unitary American state. The successful completion of the twin tasks of eliminating slavery and the creation of a transcontinental state based on a single capitalist economy, a common communications network and common cultural aspirations by any standard represented the type of progress that a historical materialist can salute. Thus, in order to better understand the political tasks that are before us today and make sense of the promise that those long ago results produced it is necessary to study in some detail the trends that led up to the Civil War, what the conflict itself resolved and those trends that were accelerated by the Union victory. For those not familiar with, or who have forgotten some of the details of those events, Professor Donald’s book is a little refresher course that will steer you into further study of the issues.
Professor Donald’s main thesis is that as trying as the Civil War experience was the results of that clarifying act, with the usual fits and starts, allowed for a more normal democratic discourse and thereafter placed the military option for the resolution of political problems in the shade. In defense of that argument he does a more than adequate analysis of the political, social and economic trends in the North, South and critically the West that prefigured the crisis of 1860 when all hell broke loose. Of decisive importance was the fate of slavery in the territories that were critical to creating a national state but also were critical to the survival of slavery. The resolution, or rather lack of resolution of that issue acted as the catalyst to break the sections apart.
As for the war itself the professor makes an interesting point about how the political, military and diplomatic strategies for both North and South ran on parallel courses. And that makes sense in a situation where the leaderships learned from a common experience. One should also note that while, in hindsight, the Northern victory seemed almost inevitable as late as 1964 that was certainly not the case. A decisive military breakthrough by Lee could have turned the political winds toward defeatism in the North around quite quickly.
Professor Donald’s post-war analysis is the weakest part of his book. Although he has done a good job of setting up the key political, economic and social trends of the period there is a just a little too much of a sense historical inevitability of the leading role of the United States and the exemplar of its institutions for my taste. Although he recognizes that blacks were continually aggrieved during Reconstruction and after; that Native Americans were essentially exterminated in the interests of white settlers; that the working class took a serious beating from the ‘robber barons’; that the family farmers were beginning to go under; that no serious national culture developed he nevertheless, on balance, believes that political stabilization and economic growth were the main results of the Civil War. In short, on balance, a classic liberal interpretation of post-Civil War history. The reader will therefore have to dig deeper to understand the real impact on of the Civil War on the American psyche. But here is a place to start.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
*ON FURTHER OIL NATIONALIZATIONS IN VENEZUELA
Click on title to link to the Leon Trotsky Internet Archive's copy of his classic 1938 exposition, The Mexican Oil Expropriations", defending what more recently have been called "third world" nations and their rights to exploit their own natural resources and to expropriate those controlled by the colonial (and neo-colonial)powers, if necessary.
COMMENTARY
HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!
Word comes this week, the week of May 1, 2007, that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has ordered the nationalization of its oil industry, or at least a dramatic increase in the state’s percentage of the oil revenues. The situation is a little murky because the international oil cartel that runs the Venezuelan oil industry still retains an undetermined share of revenue. Although there have been no lack of nationalizations by capitalist states over the last century usually done to either placate a restless working class or, more frequently, to bail out a bankrupt industry such as the coal industry in Britain after World War II nationalizations, per se, are not the road to socialism. The key to that socialist road historically, unfortunately based on only one chemically pure workers’ revolution- the the early days of the Russian, has been workers’ control of production as expressed through workers’ councils.
nationalizations, particularly by colonial and semi- colonial nations trying to assert their rights over their own natural resources. (The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, while calling for the defense of Mexico’s nationalization of its oil industry in the late 1930’s, wrote the definite leftist argument on our attitude toward such developments, see Leon Trotsky Internet Archives-1938) Thus any attempt by the imperialist powers, particularly in this case, the United States or its agents, to militarily or otherwise take those resources back must be opposed. One should also note that in the case of Venezuela such a defense may become operative more quickly than one might expect as many indigenous capitalists have either fled, taken their money out of the country or are hoarding in order to create some kind of crisis situation. The imperialists have stopped investing, as well. More, probably much more, on this later. Meanwhile HANDS OFF VENEZUELA. DEFEND THE OIL NATIONALIZATIONS!
COMMENTARY
HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!
Word comes this week, the week of May 1, 2007, that Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has ordered the nationalization of its oil industry, or at least a dramatic increase in the state’s percentage of the oil revenues. The situation is a little murky because the international oil cartel that runs the Venezuelan oil industry still retains an undetermined share of revenue. Although there have been no lack of nationalizations by capitalist states over the last century usually done to either placate a restless working class or, more frequently, to bail out a bankrupt industry such as the coal industry in Britain after World War II nationalizations, per se, are not the road to socialism. The key to that socialist road historically, unfortunately based on only one chemically pure workers’ revolution- the the early days of the Russian, has been workers’ control of production as expressed through workers’ councils.
nationalizations, particularly by colonial and semi- colonial nations trying to assert their rights over their own natural resources. (The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, while calling for the defense of Mexico’s nationalization of its oil industry in the late 1930’s, wrote the definite leftist argument on our attitude toward such developments, see Leon Trotsky Internet Archives-1938) Thus any attempt by the imperialist powers, particularly in this case, the United States or its agents, to militarily or otherwise take those resources back must be opposed. One should also note that in the case of Venezuela such a defense may become operative more quickly than one might expect as many indigenous capitalists have either fled, taken their money out of the country or are hoarding in order to create some kind of crisis situation. The imperialists have stopped investing, as well. More, probably much more, on this later. Meanwhile HANDS OFF VENEZUELA. DEFEND THE OIL NATIONALIZATIONS!
Monday, May 14, 2007
ON POLITCAL TRENDS AMONG AMERICAN YOUTH
COMMENTARY
WELL, BACK IN MY DAY WE………
Although a number of my political efforts these days are linked to appealing to the youth to learn the lessons of our history, working class history, I make no bones about feelings of trepidation when I take up the subject of youth, their hopes and their aspirations. That said, I recently read an interesting review article based on polls taken of youth (18-24) and their political aspirations. The major conclusion of the article was that today’s youth are trending (the poll’s expression, not mine) to vote Democratic in greater numbers than previous youth generations. A couple of minor conclusions were that youth have more potential impact on politics today than my generation, the generation of 1968, and that the current more technologically savvy generation was not reachable by traditional methods of communication and thus political organizations needed to catch up with the wave. Fair enough. Let me make some observations.
The generation of 1968 made every mistake in the political book. And that ain’t no lie. In our defense I will add that we were in uncharted waters facing such legitimate political monsters as Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace who were fully capable of using all of the methods of political repression. Nevertheless we tried non-violent protest in the civil rights movement under Martin Luther King. We tried peaceful protest against Vietnam under Dr. Spock and others. We tried parliamentary politics under Bobby Kennedy and Gene McCarthy. We tried to drop out with Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary and other counter-cultural heroes. We tried to make music the revolution. When things started to get grim in 1967 we tried to ‘raise’ the Pentagon. When things got grimmer still we tried to act as a second front for the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. When they got really grim we were ready to declare revolutionary war on America. Ah, those were the days. We were, however, for a number of reasons, politically defeated. A defeat from which we still have not recovered.
Obviously, every political generation will find its own means of expressing itself in a world that it has not made. Also fair enough. However, after a few years of opposition to this Iraq war I find that the current ‘youth’ generation seems much more politically passive and lacking in political imagination than the poll mentioned above would indicate. One of the most striking points about the survey is the apparent faith that today’s youth have in letting governmental agencies and officials resolve certain questions. By this I assume that Mr. Bush or his successor, probably Hillary Clinton at this point, is duly appointed to resolve the conflict in Iraq and such other questions as the on-going genocide in Dhafur.
In my day, while we had more than our share of illusions in the good graces of the government we were much more ready to face it down than rely on it. As a case in point, someone like Hillary Clinton (nee Rodham) who may have passed for a ‘radical’ at sedate 1960’s Wellesley would not even have gotten, nor should she have gotten, a hearing from the more thoughtful radical political types in the Boston area of the time. The time of waving the Vietnamese National Liberation Front flag at the front of anti-war marches was not Hillary’s time. Her time, if it is now, is the time of many, many defeats for progressive movements and a time of youth ‘trending’ Democratic. To put the situation in perspective I would argue that the political development of today’s youth was about what my generation’s was in 1962. Plenty of spunk, a desire to serve humanity, and plenty of illusions and faith in the ‘fairness’ of the democratic process. But, which way will they jump?
Seemingly each generation develops their own tribal language, fashions and other such cultural gradients to distinguish it from the OTHER. Once again fair enough. The survey mentioned above made an express point that today’s youth cannot be reached by traditionally methods of communication and/or advertising. And that makes sense about a generation nurtured on iPods, e-mails, chat rooms and cell phones. In short, today’s youth are light years ahead of my generation on the information super-highway. Or are they?
No one can reasonably deny that the Internet has a great potential as an aid to political development and organization. However, it is no substitute for face-to-face polemics and argument to develop strategy and to clarify political positions. From my own personal experience I find that one can spent so much time on the Internet that there is little time to get out and do the necessary political spade work. Multiply that by ubiquitous cell phone and iPod use and where is there time for organizing real people in real time. And that brings us back to that point I made above about the political passivity of this generation. If the revolution will not be televised it will also certainly not spring forth from a laptop. More on this later.
WELL, BACK IN MY DAY WE………
Although a number of my political efforts these days are linked to appealing to the youth to learn the lessons of our history, working class history, I make no bones about feelings of trepidation when I take up the subject of youth, their hopes and their aspirations. That said, I recently read an interesting review article based on polls taken of youth (18-24) and their political aspirations. The major conclusion of the article was that today’s youth are trending (the poll’s expression, not mine) to vote Democratic in greater numbers than previous youth generations. A couple of minor conclusions were that youth have more potential impact on politics today than my generation, the generation of 1968, and that the current more technologically savvy generation was not reachable by traditional methods of communication and thus political organizations needed to catch up with the wave. Fair enough. Let me make some observations.
The generation of 1968 made every mistake in the political book. And that ain’t no lie. In our defense I will add that we were in uncharted waters facing such legitimate political monsters as Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace who were fully capable of using all of the methods of political repression. Nevertheless we tried non-violent protest in the civil rights movement under Martin Luther King. We tried peaceful protest against Vietnam under Dr. Spock and others. We tried parliamentary politics under Bobby Kennedy and Gene McCarthy. We tried to drop out with Ken Kesey, Timothy Leary and other counter-cultural heroes. We tried to make music the revolution. When things started to get grim in 1967 we tried to ‘raise’ the Pentagon. When things got grimmer still we tried to act as a second front for the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. When they got really grim we were ready to declare revolutionary war on America. Ah, those were the days. We were, however, for a number of reasons, politically defeated. A defeat from which we still have not recovered.
Obviously, every political generation will find its own means of expressing itself in a world that it has not made. Also fair enough. However, after a few years of opposition to this Iraq war I find that the current ‘youth’ generation seems much more politically passive and lacking in political imagination than the poll mentioned above would indicate. One of the most striking points about the survey is the apparent faith that today’s youth have in letting governmental agencies and officials resolve certain questions. By this I assume that Mr. Bush or his successor, probably Hillary Clinton at this point, is duly appointed to resolve the conflict in Iraq and such other questions as the on-going genocide in Dhafur.
In my day, while we had more than our share of illusions in the good graces of the government we were much more ready to face it down than rely on it. As a case in point, someone like Hillary Clinton (nee Rodham) who may have passed for a ‘radical’ at sedate 1960’s Wellesley would not even have gotten, nor should she have gotten, a hearing from the more thoughtful radical political types in the Boston area of the time. The time of waving the Vietnamese National Liberation Front flag at the front of anti-war marches was not Hillary’s time. Her time, if it is now, is the time of many, many defeats for progressive movements and a time of youth ‘trending’ Democratic. To put the situation in perspective I would argue that the political development of today’s youth was about what my generation’s was in 1962. Plenty of spunk, a desire to serve humanity, and plenty of illusions and faith in the ‘fairness’ of the democratic process. But, which way will they jump?
Seemingly each generation develops their own tribal language, fashions and other such cultural gradients to distinguish it from the OTHER. Once again fair enough. The survey mentioned above made an express point that today’s youth cannot be reached by traditionally methods of communication and/or advertising. And that makes sense about a generation nurtured on iPods, e-mails, chat rooms and cell phones. In short, today’s youth are light years ahead of my generation on the information super-highway. Or are they?
No one can reasonably deny that the Internet has a great potential as an aid to political development and organization. However, it is no substitute for face-to-face polemics and argument to develop strategy and to clarify political positions. From my own personal experience I find that one can spent so much time on the Internet that there is little time to get out and do the necessary political spade work. Multiply that by ubiquitous cell phone and iPod use and where is there time for organizing real people in real time. And that brings us back to that point I made above about the political passivity of this generation. If the revolution will not be televised it will also certainly not spring forth from a laptop. More on this later.
*KEEP IRAQ FRONT AND CENTER BUT KEEP AN EYE ON AFGHANISTAN
Click on title to link to Wikipedia's entry for the Soviet Union's entry into Afghanistan in 1979. I provide this link for informational purposes only I do not assume to guarantee the politcal or literary correctness of the article.
COMMENTARY
IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S/ALLIED TROOPS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN!
With the recent flurry of activity by Congress in Washington over the Iraq and Afghanistan war budgets and the ‘surge’ strategy in Iraq Afghanistan has fallen below the newspaper fold. That is a mistake. In one of the ironies of history Afghanistan was the pivotal start of the whole ‘war of civilizations’ going back to the fight by the Soviet Union in the 1980’s that was fought, at least partially, to bring Afghanistan into the 20th century (or maybe even the 19th). If the Soviet Union had waged more than a half-hearted fight then world history might have looked significantly difference today. The Islamic fundamentalist forces, notably those committed to Bin Laden and an Al Qaeda strategy, got their first taste of blood there. And they liked it.
The current political situation in that benighted country is that the Karzai government’s writ does not extend outside of Kabul and that the U.S./NATO presence there is the only thing propping up that government. And this is the rub. There has been a recent spate of articles on the fighting in Afghanistan centered on the allied forces indiscriminate bombing of various outlining villages and the killing of innocent civilians. While not now a matter of widespread public knowledge the American strategy in Afghanistan is essentially the same as in Iraq. In order to defeat the Taliban (and other) insurgencies those allied forces have relied on the old tried and true imperialist method of bringing overwhelming military force and then letting “God” separate out the innocent from the guilty. Of course, this nice little strategy has its blow back effect as previously disinterested Afghans have now begun, on their own, to fight against the imperialist presence. One village that was bombed by the United States during the past week did just that. One can expect more to come.
American imperialism, for public consumption, will bring out the candy bars and soap to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local populace but when the deal goes down the bomb is the persuader of choice. So much for all those vaunted pacification programs. In justification for the aerial bombing policy one of the Allied ground commanders stated that without the use of such power hundreds of thousands of additional ground troops would be necessary. Nobody in the political and military establishment in Washington, or anywhere else, wants to, at this point, get into that hornet’s nest. The long and the short of it is that while we keep the fight against the war in Iraq on the front burner we had better bring the demand for immediate withdrawal in Afghanistan up to the front as well. In fact, United States Hands Off The World!
COMMENTARY
IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL OF U.S/ALLIED TROOPS FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN!
With the recent flurry of activity by Congress in Washington over the Iraq and Afghanistan war budgets and the ‘surge’ strategy in Iraq Afghanistan has fallen below the newspaper fold. That is a mistake. In one of the ironies of history Afghanistan was the pivotal start of the whole ‘war of civilizations’ going back to the fight by the Soviet Union in the 1980’s that was fought, at least partially, to bring Afghanistan into the 20th century (or maybe even the 19th). If the Soviet Union had waged more than a half-hearted fight then world history might have looked significantly difference today. The Islamic fundamentalist forces, notably those committed to Bin Laden and an Al Qaeda strategy, got their first taste of blood there. And they liked it.
The current political situation in that benighted country is that the Karzai government’s writ does not extend outside of Kabul and that the U.S./NATO presence there is the only thing propping up that government. And this is the rub. There has been a recent spate of articles on the fighting in Afghanistan centered on the allied forces indiscriminate bombing of various outlining villages and the killing of innocent civilians. While not now a matter of widespread public knowledge the American strategy in Afghanistan is essentially the same as in Iraq. In order to defeat the Taliban (and other) insurgencies those allied forces have relied on the old tried and true imperialist method of bringing overwhelming military force and then letting “God” separate out the innocent from the guilty. Of course, this nice little strategy has its blow back effect as previously disinterested Afghans have now begun, on their own, to fight against the imperialist presence. One village that was bombed by the United States during the past week did just that. One can expect more to come.
American imperialism, for public consumption, will bring out the candy bars and soap to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the local populace but when the deal goes down the bomb is the persuader of choice. So much for all those vaunted pacification programs. In justification for the aerial bombing policy one of the Allied ground commanders stated that without the use of such power hundreds of thousands of additional ground troops would be necessary. Nobody in the political and military establishment in Washington, or anywhere else, wants to, at this point, get into that hornet’s nest. The long and the short of it is that while we keep the fight against the war in Iraq on the front burner we had better bring the demand for immediate withdrawal in Afghanistan up to the front as well. In fact, United States Hands Off The World!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
*Goodbye Tony Blair, But With No Tears-Build A Militant Labor Party In The Britsh Isles-Now!
Click on title to link to Wikipedia's entry for the histroy of the Labor Party in Britain.
COMMENTARY
BUSH LOSES HIS POODLE, BUT HE STILL HAS A BULLDOG FOR A FRIEND
BUILD A MILITANT WORKERS PARTY IN THE BRITISH ISLES
The face of bourgeois politics in Europe has changed over the last year. However, there is no need for leftist militants internationally to rejoice. Although there have been changes in governmental control in a number of countries including France, Northern Ireland and presently in Great Britain no picture has emerged that, except for the general opposition to the United States-led Iraqi War, links any of these developments to an increase in social struggles. On the contrary, except perhaps for the far-left in France, the opposite appears to be the case. Obviously, the situation in France is the most worrisome for leftists and the situation in Northern Ireland appears almost tragic against the original IRA/Sinn Fein struggle to get the British out. Today, however, I want to focus on the recent resignation announcement of one Anthony Blair, British Prime Minister-President George Bush’s pet poodle but also seemingly the last major international political player who unequivocally went down the line with American imperialist policy on Iraq.
Mr. Blair made no bones about his desire of turning the tepid reformist Labor Party into a mini-version of the United States Democratic Party. He carried this transformation out with Mr. Gordon Brown the heir presumptive to the leadership of the British Labor Party and probable next Prime Minister. In this endeavor they were, sad to say, successful. New Labor is dependent on the trade unions but that is less so than in the past. It is clear that in Britain a new workers party is necessary. That means that militants there must put themselves in a position to split the left-wing of New Labor and create a new party based on a socialist program. That means it is necessary to be in that New Labor Party even if one has to hold one's nose in doing so.
To state the task is easy. To do it is obviously much harder given the British labor movement’s seeming undying commitment to the traditions of the old Labor Party. But damn there is no other way forward. One last point that should shame all militant leftists. After ten years Mr. Blair is going to be able to resign. For his criminal role in Iraq as Mr. Bush’s publicity agent and spear carrier Mr. Blair should have, for starters, been booted out on a vote of no confidence by Parliament long ago. Real justice still waits to be served.
COMMENTARY
BUSH LOSES HIS POODLE, BUT HE STILL HAS A BULLDOG FOR A FRIEND
BUILD A MILITANT WORKERS PARTY IN THE BRITISH ISLES
The face of bourgeois politics in Europe has changed over the last year. However, there is no need for leftist militants internationally to rejoice. Although there have been changes in governmental control in a number of countries including France, Northern Ireland and presently in Great Britain no picture has emerged that, except for the general opposition to the United States-led Iraqi War, links any of these developments to an increase in social struggles. On the contrary, except perhaps for the far-left in France, the opposite appears to be the case. Obviously, the situation in France is the most worrisome for leftists and the situation in Northern Ireland appears almost tragic against the original IRA/Sinn Fein struggle to get the British out. Today, however, I want to focus on the recent resignation announcement of one Anthony Blair, British Prime Minister-President George Bush’s pet poodle but also seemingly the last major international political player who unequivocally went down the line with American imperialist policy on Iraq.
Mr. Blair made no bones about his desire of turning the tepid reformist Labor Party into a mini-version of the United States Democratic Party. He carried this transformation out with Mr. Gordon Brown the heir presumptive to the leadership of the British Labor Party and probable next Prime Minister. In this endeavor they were, sad to say, successful. New Labor is dependent on the trade unions but that is less so than in the past. It is clear that in Britain a new workers party is necessary. That means that militants there must put themselves in a position to split the left-wing of New Labor and create a new party based on a socialist program. That means it is necessary to be in that New Labor Party even if one has to hold one's nose in doing so.
To state the task is easy. To do it is obviously much harder given the British labor movement’s seeming undying commitment to the traditions of the old Labor Party. But damn there is no other way forward. One last point that should shame all militant leftists. After ten years Mr. Blair is going to be able to resign. For his criminal role in Iraq as Mr. Bush’s publicity agent and spear carrier Mr. Blair should have, for starters, been booted out on a vote of no confidence by Parliament long ago. Real justice still waits to be served.
*JOIN PDC CONTINGENTS ON MAY 17TH TO FREE MUMIA NOW!
Click on the title to link to the Partisan Defense Committee Web site
THIS INFORMATION IS PASSED ON FROM THE PARTISAN DEFENSE COMMITTEE. MUMIA'S CASE IS AT A CRITICAL POINT. ALL ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS SHOULD REDOUBLE THEIR EFFORTS TO FREE THIS INNOCENT MAN. BE AT THE LOCATIONS INDICATED, IF YOU CAN. DOWN WITH THE DEATH PENALTY!
Join PDC Contingents—Philadelphia and San Francisco, May 17!
For Class-Struggle Defense to Free Mumia Now!
On May 17 in Philadelphia the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in what could well be the final legal appeal in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Shot and arrested on 9 December 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal—a talented journalist known as the "voice of the voiceless," a former Black Panther, a supporter of the MOVE organization and an outspoken opponent of racist oppression—was framed and falsely convicted for the mur¬der of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Any ruling by the Third Circuit, which could come within weeks or months, will likely be appealed to the reactionary U.S. Supreme Court.
Mumia is the victim of the forces of racist capitalist "law and order," who see in him a voice of defiant opposition to the oppression of black people that is a cornerstone of American capitalism. In the last week, the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) harassed and made threats of terror that forced a change of venue for a birthday celebration for Mumia in Philadelphia on April 24, as well as of a hip-hop event for Mumia in New York City on April 15. The state's determination to carry out his execution is a warning to ail who challenge cop repression, to workers who stand up for their rights on picket lines, to those who protest U.S. imperialist depredations in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.
From the unions to the campuses, all out to support Mumia's fight on the day of oral arguments! The kind of pressure that will have an impact on the courts is the social power of the multiracial labor movement demanding that this innocent man be freed now. It is with this understanding that we are mobilizing Partisan Defense Committee contingents for the May 17 rallies which are called by Mumia supporters, including, in Philadelphia, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the New York Coalition to Free Mumia and, in San Francisco, the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Join the PDC's contingent under the slogans: "Mumia Abu-Jamal Is Innocent—For Class-Struggle Defense to Free Him Now! There Is No Justice in the Capitalist Courts! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!"
In August of 1995, Mumia won a stay of execution based on worldwide protests, crucially involving the labor movement. From 1995 through 1999, new evidence was revealed in his case that further blew the state's frame-up to bits. All the evidence proving Mumia's innocence, including the testimony of William Singletary and Veronica Jones who saw the shooter run away, was rejected by the courts. Around this same time a number of reformist socialist organizations such as Workers World Party, Socialist Action, the International Socialist Organization and the Revolutionary Communist Party (and their front groups), raised the call for a "new trial" for Mumia. Instead of mobilizing to free Mumia as an innocent man and victim of a political and racist frame-up, these groups mobilized on the basis that Mumia could get a new and fair hearing in federal court, leading to a new and fair trial in the same Philadelphia courts that sent him to death row. These fake socialists promote illusions that Mumia can get justice from the same capitalist state that killed some 38 Panthers under its murderous COINTELPRO operations, and that massacred eleven black people, including women and children, in the 1985 fire-bombing of MOVE's Osage Avenue home in Philadelphia.
Many of these so-called socialist organizations now raise "freedom for Mumia" in conjunction with calls for a "new trial." However, their politics remain in the framework of reliance on the bourgeois state. Behind the attempts to misdirect the struggle for Mumia to a call for a "new trial" is a political program premised on reliance on the capitalist state—a program directly counterposed to a mobilization of working-class power for his freedom. This political program of tying the masses to their class enemies and pushing faith in the capitalist state demobilized millions who once filled the streets in support of Mumia.
Mumia's case lays bare the workings of the capitalist state. His frame-up conviction was not the act of one "rogue" cop or prosecutor or judge, but that of an entire system that cannot be reformed. Mumia's innocence has been attested to by mountains of evidence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, killed Faulkner. Arnold Beverly stated that he was hired to kill Faulkner, whose interference with prostitution, gambling and payoffs made him a problem for the mob and corrupt cops. More than five years ago, Mumia's attorney submitted this confession to the courts, but to the racists in black robes, a court of law is no place for evidence of the innocence of this fighter for the oppressed.
The frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal symbolizes what the racist death penalty in the U.S. is all about: a legacy of chattel slavery, the lynch rope made legal. We oppose the death penalty on principle—we do not accord the state the right to say who lives and who dies. With the execution in December 2005 of Stanley Tookie Williams, over substantial popular opposition, the ruling class sent a signal that they are deadly serious that Mumia will soon be another victim of the barbaric death penalty.
In the international fight to save Sacco and Vanzetti, James P. Cannon of the International Labor Defense pointed out, as the rulers geared up in 1927 for the legal lynching of the two anarchist workers: "It is, of course, absolutely right to exhaust every legal possibility and technicality in the fight, provided—that the workers have no illusions." He emphasized: "We must appeal at the same time to the laboring masses of America and the whole world who are the highest court of all." This is the class-struggle defense strategy that the Partisan Defense Committee stands on.
The worldwide movement for Mumia must be revived on the basis that Mumia is an innocent man who must be freed now, that his conviction is a racist, political frame-up, that there is no justice in the capitalist courts. The capitalist state and its courts are not neutral institutions but organs of repression against the working class and the oppressed. Mumia's freedom will not be won through reliance on the rigged "justice" system or on capitalist politicians, whether Democratic, Republican or Green.
The PDC, a class-struggle legal and social defense organization associated with the Marxist Spartacist League, fights to mobilize the social power of the multiracial labor movement— those who create the wealth of this society and who can shut it down. That is why our contingents in Philadelphia and the Bay Area on May 17 are based on the need for class-struggle defense to free Mumia and the understanding that the capitalist state serves the interests of the racist ruling class. Labor must be mobilized independently of the very forces of the capitalist state that framed up this innocent man! The road to victory in Mumia's case begins with the understanding that the class enemy is determined to carry out his execution. The multiracial working class has every interest in fighting against that outcome, which would further bolster the machinery of capitalist state violence whose ultimate target is the working class.
We are building contingents in Philadelphia and the Bay Area as a step toward the labor-centered, mass united-front mobilizations needed to free Mumia. Such mobilizations must send the court the message: We will not let Mumia die or rot another day in prison! Free Mumia Now!
—Partisan Defense Committee, 26 April 2007
THIS INFORMATION IS PASSED ON FROM THE PARTISAN DEFENSE COMMITTEE. MUMIA'S CASE IS AT A CRITICAL POINT. ALL ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS SHOULD REDOUBLE THEIR EFFORTS TO FREE THIS INNOCENT MAN. BE AT THE LOCATIONS INDICATED, IF YOU CAN. DOWN WITH THE DEATH PENALTY!
Join PDC Contingents—Philadelphia and San Francisco, May 17!
For Class-Struggle Defense to Free Mumia Now!
On May 17 in Philadelphia the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in what could well be the final legal appeal in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Shot and arrested on 9 December 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal—a talented journalist known as the "voice of the voiceless," a former Black Panther, a supporter of the MOVE organization and an outspoken opponent of racist oppression—was framed and falsely convicted for the mur¬der of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Any ruling by the Third Circuit, which could come within weeks or months, will likely be appealed to the reactionary U.S. Supreme Court.
Mumia is the victim of the forces of racist capitalist "law and order," who see in him a voice of defiant opposition to the oppression of black people that is a cornerstone of American capitalism. In the last week, the Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) harassed and made threats of terror that forced a change of venue for a birthday celebration for Mumia in Philadelphia on April 24, as well as of a hip-hop event for Mumia in New York City on April 15. The state's determination to carry out his execution is a warning to ail who challenge cop repression, to workers who stand up for their rights on picket lines, to those who protest U.S. imperialist depredations in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.
From the unions to the campuses, all out to support Mumia's fight on the day of oral arguments! The kind of pressure that will have an impact on the courts is the social power of the multiracial labor movement demanding that this innocent man be freed now. It is with this understanding that we are mobilizing Partisan Defense Committee contingents for the May 17 rallies which are called by Mumia supporters, including, in Philadelphia, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the New York Coalition to Free Mumia and, in San Francisco, the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Join the PDC's contingent under the slogans: "Mumia Abu-Jamal Is Innocent—For Class-Struggle Defense to Free Him Now! There Is No Justice in the Capitalist Courts! Abolish the Racist Death Penalty!"
In August of 1995, Mumia won a stay of execution based on worldwide protests, crucially involving the labor movement. From 1995 through 1999, new evidence was revealed in his case that further blew the state's frame-up to bits. All the evidence proving Mumia's innocence, including the testimony of William Singletary and Veronica Jones who saw the shooter run away, was rejected by the courts. Around this same time a number of reformist socialist organizations such as Workers World Party, Socialist Action, the International Socialist Organization and the Revolutionary Communist Party (and their front groups), raised the call for a "new trial" for Mumia. Instead of mobilizing to free Mumia as an innocent man and victim of a political and racist frame-up, these groups mobilized on the basis that Mumia could get a new and fair hearing in federal court, leading to a new and fair trial in the same Philadelphia courts that sent him to death row. These fake socialists promote illusions that Mumia can get justice from the same capitalist state that killed some 38 Panthers under its murderous COINTELPRO operations, and that massacred eleven black people, including women and children, in the 1985 fire-bombing of MOVE's Osage Avenue home in Philadelphia.
Many of these so-called socialist organizations now raise "freedom for Mumia" in conjunction with calls for a "new trial." However, their politics remain in the framework of reliance on the bourgeois state. Behind the attempts to misdirect the struggle for Mumia to a call for a "new trial" is a political program premised on reliance on the capitalist state—a program directly counterposed to a mobilization of working-class power for his freedom. This political program of tying the masses to their class enemies and pushing faith in the capitalist state demobilized millions who once filled the streets in support of Mumia.
Mumia's case lays bare the workings of the capitalist state. His frame-up conviction was not the act of one "rogue" cop or prosecutor or judge, but that of an entire system that cannot be reformed. Mumia's innocence has been attested to by mountains of evidence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, killed Faulkner. Arnold Beverly stated that he was hired to kill Faulkner, whose interference with prostitution, gambling and payoffs made him a problem for the mob and corrupt cops. More than five years ago, Mumia's attorney submitted this confession to the courts, but to the racists in black robes, a court of law is no place for evidence of the innocence of this fighter for the oppressed.
The frame-up of Mumia Abu-Jamal symbolizes what the racist death penalty in the U.S. is all about: a legacy of chattel slavery, the lynch rope made legal. We oppose the death penalty on principle—we do not accord the state the right to say who lives and who dies. With the execution in December 2005 of Stanley Tookie Williams, over substantial popular opposition, the ruling class sent a signal that they are deadly serious that Mumia will soon be another victim of the barbaric death penalty.
In the international fight to save Sacco and Vanzetti, James P. Cannon of the International Labor Defense pointed out, as the rulers geared up in 1927 for the legal lynching of the two anarchist workers: "It is, of course, absolutely right to exhaust every legal possibility and technicality in the fight, provided—that the workers have no illusions." He emphasized: "We must appeal at the same time to the laboring masses of America and the whole world who are the highest court of all." This is the class-struggle defense strategy that the Partisan Defense Committee stands on.
The worldwide movement for Mumia must be revived on the basis that Mumia is an innocent man who must be freed now, that his conviction is a racist, political frame-up, that there is no justice in the capitalist courts. The capitalist state and its courts are not neutral institutions but organs of repression against the working class and the oppressed. Mumia's freedom will not be won through reliance on the rigged "justice" system or on capitalist politicians, whether Democratic, Republican or Green.
The PDC, a class-struggle legal and social defense organization associated with the Marxist Spartacist League, fights to mobilize the social power of the multiracial labor movement— those who create the wealth of this society and who can shut it down. That is why our contingents in Philadelphia and the Bay Area on May 17 are based on the need for class-struggle defense to free Mumia and the understanding that the capitalist state serves the interests of the racist ruling class. Labor must be mobilized independently of the very forces of the capitalist state that framed up this innocent man! The road to victory in Mumia's case begins with the understanding that the class enemy is determined to carry out his execution. The multiracial working class has every interest in fighting against that outcome, which would further bolster the machinery of capitalist state violence whose ultimate target is the working class.
We are building contingents in Philadelphia and the Bay Area as a step toward the labor-centered, mass united-front mobilizations needed to free Mumia. Such mobilizations must send the court the message: We will not let Mumia die or rot another day in prison! Free Mumia Now!
—Partisan Defense Committee, 26 April 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
*For Class Struggle Defense To Free Mumia- A Guest Commentary
Click on the headline to link to an article about the need for class struggle defense in the death penalty case of black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
*From The Partisan Defense Committee- Labor: Defend Immigrant Rights- A Guest Commentary
Click on the title to link to the article described in the headline from the Partisan Defense Committee.
'DEMOCRACY' IN IRAQ
AT LEAST SOME IRAQIS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR
COMMMENTARY
Apparently the ‘dark Prince'Vice President Cheney has a bull’s eye on his head. Every time he has moved out of the confines of Washington D.C. some angry group is taking dead aim militarily at him. A couple of months ago it was on a ‘surprise’ visit to Afghanistan. This week it is in the heavily guarded Green Zone of Baghdad. Clearly it does no pay to apply for a job on his staff, or the American Embassy in Baghdad for that matter. That is life in the fast lane, however, and such inconveniences come with the territory. But, that is no what has drawn my attention today. It is rather the purposes of Mr. Cheney’s mission.
The Bush Administration has staked it political head on ‘success’ for the current military 'surge' operation and its consequent stabilizing effect on the Iraqi puppet government. Congress has, weakly, challenged that strategy by attempting to tie timetables and/or benchmarks to the war budget funding. Fair enough. Enter Mr. Cheney. His current trip to Baghdad is to push on the Iraqis the need to make good on those benchmarks so the money can keep flowing for the American troops. But here is the kicker.
While in America the parliamentary political temperature has heated up dramatically with all parties ready to bring out the big guns in Iraq the parliamentarians are discussing a two-month summer recess. In short, no action on those beloved American benchmarks. All this writer can say is turnabout is fair play. The Americans wanted a ‘democracy’ in Iraq and in emulation of their patrons in Washington the Iraqis have apparently learned one lesson quite well. Enough said.
COMMMENTARY
Apparently the ‘dark Prince'Vice President Cheney has a bull’s eye on his head. Every time he has moved out of the confines of Washington D.C. some angry group is taking dead aim militarily at him. A couple of months ago it was on a ‘surprise’ visit to Afghanistan. This week it is in the heavily guarded Green Zone of Baghdad. Clearly it does no pay to apply for a job on his staff, or the American Embassy in Baghdad for that matter. That is life in the fast lane, however, and such inconveniences come with the territory. But, that is no what has drawn my attention today. It is rather the purposes of Mr. Cheney’s mission.
The Bush Administration has staked it political head on ‘success’ for the current military 'surge' operation and its consequent stabilizing effect on the Iraqi puppet government. Congress has, weakly, challenged that strategy by attempting to tie timetables and/or benchmarks to the war budget funding. Fair enough. Enter Mr. Cheney. His current trip to Baghdad is to push on the Iraqis the need to make good on those benchmarks so the money can keep flowing for the American troops. But here is the kicker.
While in America the parliamentary political temperature has heated up dramatically with all parties ready to bring out the big guns in Iraq the parliamentarians are discussing a two-month summer recess. In short, no action on those beloved American benchmarks. All this writer can say is turnabout is fair play. The Americans wanted a ‘democracy’ in Iraq and in emulation of their patrons in Washington the Iraqis have apparently learned one lesson quite well. Enough said.
DOWN WITH "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" LEGISLATION
REPEAL THE “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” LEGISLATION
COMMENTARY
FIGHT DISCRIMINATION WHEREVER IT IS FOUND
A recent newspaper article highlighted the fact that a previously discharged sailor who while on active duty had openly admitted to his superior that he was gay was recalled by the Navy due to his specialized skills and the stretched out military due to the strain of Iraq and Afghanistan. Under Clinton-era legislation a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was the ‘compromise’ reached with the military brass so that gays and lesbians could serve without the military services having to recognize sexual orientation. That policy was de facto discriminatory then and it is now and should be repealed. Recently soon to be retired Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Martin Meehan has introduced legislation to repeal the ban. Militants support such a repeal.
Over the past few years I have made many commentaries in opposition to the Iraq War and by implication the negative role of military personnel in that war. As a general proposition militant leftists are opposed to the imperialist military. We are not, however, indifferent to the fate and the rights of individual service personnel. We fight all manifestations of any form of discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation, wherever it is found. Thus, we opposed and continue to oppose the convenient policy (for the military brass) that allows the military to discriminate in situations where it would be prohibited in civilian life. This is particularly true when ‘outing’ subjects one to a discharge from military service and therefore could have repercussions over a lifetime. Simply put- DOWN WITH THE “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” LEGISLATION! REPEAL IT NOW!
COMMENTARY
FIGHT DISCRIMINATION WHEREVER IT IS FOUND
A recent newspaper article highlighted the fact that a previously discharged sailor who while on active duty had openly admitted to his superior that he was gay was recalled by the Navy due to his specialized skills and the stretched out military due to the strain of Iraq and Afghanistan. Under Clinton-era legislation a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was the ‘compromise’ reached with the military brass so that gays and lesbians could serve without the military services having to recognize sexual orientation. That policy was de facto discriminatory then and it is now and should be repealed. Recently soon to be retired Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Martin Meehan has introduced legislation to repeal the ban. Militants support such a repeal.
Over the past few years I have made many commentaries in opposition to the Iraq War and by implication the negative role of military personnel in that war. As a general proposition militant leftists are opposed to the imperialist military. We are not, however, indifferent to the fate and the rights of individual service personnel. We fight all manifestations of any form of discrimination, including that based on sexual orientation, wherever it is found. Thus, we opposed and continue to oppose the convenient policy (for the military brass) that allows the military to discriminate in situations where it would be prohibited in civilian life. This is particularly true when ‘outing’ subjects one to a discharge from military service and therefore could have repercussions over a lifetime. Simply put- DOWN WITH THE “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” LEGISLATION! REPEAL IT NOW!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
***IN THE TIME OF THE 'LOCO-FOCOS'- The Age Of Jackson
Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for the Loco-Focos.
BOOK REVIEW
THE AGE OF JACKSON, ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, Jr., LITTLE BROWN, 1953
The recently deceased bourgeois historian Arthur Schlesinger first won prominent for his landmark studies later collected and published under the title The Age of Jackson. Along the way he was also a top ‘braintruster’ for the Kennedy New Frontier and stalwart intellectual defender of the traditions of Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” long after that had lost its cache in Democratic Party circles. Thus, Schlesinger was a long time political opponent of mine and of all militants who have called for a break from the twin bourgeois parties of capitalism, Democratic or Republican.
Nonetheless, his Age of Jackson is an important book to study as an overall guide to understanding the formation of American capitalism, particularly finance capitalism, as it emerged in the 1820’s and the rudiments of creation of a politically conscious working class movement. The Age of Jackson may not be the last place to stop, given the immense increase in scholarship concerning this period since Schlesinger’s book was written in the 1950’s, but it is certainly the place to start. His copious footnotes and source references will aid one in studying the available sources from fifty year ago.
The central story line of the Jacksonian period economically, socially and politically was the fight over the establishment, continuation and rechartering of the Bank of the United States which despite its name was a privately owned corporation headed by the notorious Nicholas Biddle. In short the story was, as almost always under capitalism, about the money. Hard money, paper money, metallic money, federal money, state money, no money. It is all there. As confusing and, frankly, somewhat trivial as the issues may seem to the 21st century mind the various fights determined the path of capitalist formation for the rest of the 19th century. One does not have to be a partisan of any particular monetary policy to know that if the Biddle-led forces had won then capital formation in the United States would have taken a very different turn. Thus, the essential Jacksonian victory on the bank question is one that militants today can give a retroactive endorsement.
While this book does not go into the slavery question in any great detail or into the cultural and social milieu of the times except tangentially this Jacksonian victory is why, in a previous review on William Jennings Bryan, I noted that the last time militant leftists could seriously consider supporting a Democratic Party presidential candidate was in the time of Andrew Jackson. Just to list later presidential names and their political programs should make every progressive shutter. I also, however, noted in that review - "But damn, that was long ago". The continued dependence political support of the Democrats by the likes of Schlesinger and his progeny has politics in this country spinning in circles. It is time, more than time, to move on.
Although control of the money was the underlying premise for the political fights of the day they also represented some very different appreciations of what American society should look like. Schlesinger goes to great pains to highlight the various factions within each of the coalescing parties that would come to form the Democratic and Republican two-party system that we are familiar with today. Moreover, these fights had different implications for differing sections of the country. In that regard the names Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay and their various congressional devotees can generally stand to represent the various sectional interests.
One might also note that names that became familiar in the immediate pre-Civil War period, like Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, John Bell, Gideon Welles, William Seward, etc. started to receive political notice as secondary figures during this period. One should also note that this was a period of political realignment and that the political situation was fluid enough that with changing political winds the various leading personalities were as likely to change sides as not. Readers should pick up the trail that Schlesinger only alludes to on the importance on the third party Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the 1840's. Despite that lapse dealing with the various political manifestations of the period is the strongest part of the professor’s book.
Of particular importance to those who want to learn about working class history in this country and are baffled by the lack of political class consciousness of today’s working class, as represented by an independent class party, is the story of the rise and fall of the first trade unions and working class parties. Although this is a period of the rise of industrial capitalism in America it is nevertheless still fairly rudimentary and agrarian concerns still dominate the political landscape. This is reflected in the programs, concerns and the organizations that various parts of the working class formed at this time mainly, it appears, among the more skilled workers. One should note that on a political level, although not uniformly, the American working class of the 1830’s was more politically class conscious than today’s working class. Which pretty well defines our problem today.
One should also note the tendency of working class organization to block with other forces, mainly urban Democratic Party Jacksonians. Today such a policy is called the ‘popular front’ and is the sole strategy of the American labor bureaucracy (the only question seemingly being which bourgeois faction to block with). Militants today, as a matter of principle, are opposed to that strategy. However, back in the 1830’s there were issues on which working class organizations could have, and should have, blocked with bourgeois parties. That, unfortunately, would not have saved them from oblivion as it was just too early, the forces were too small and unorganized and too politically immature to break out of the general Jacksonian democratic aura.
BOOK REVIEW
THE AGE OF JACKSON, ARTHUR SCHLESINGER, Jr., LITTLE BROWN, 1953
The recently deceased bourgeois historian Arthur Schlesinger first won prominent for his landmark studies later collected and published under the title The Age of Jackson. Along the way he was also a top ‘braintruster’ for the Kennedy New Frontier and stalwart intellectual defender of the traditions of Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” long after that had lost its cache in Democratic Party circles. Thus, Schlesinger was a long time political opponent of mine and of all militants who have called for a break from the twin bourgeois parties of capitalism, Democratic or Republican.
Nonetheless, his Age of Jackson is an important book to study as an overall guide to understanding the formation of American capitalism, particularly finance capitalism, as it emerged in the 1820’s and the rudiments of creation of a politically conscious working class movement. The Age of Jackson may not be the last place to stop, given the immense increase in scholarship concerning this period since Schlesinger’s book was written in the 1950’s, but it is certainly the place to start. His copious footnotes and source references will aid one in studying the available sources from fifty year ago.
The central story line of the Jacksonian period economically, socially and politically was the fight over the establishment, continuation and rechartering of the Bank of the United States which despite its name was a privately owned corporation headed by the notorious Nicholas Biddle. In short the story was, as almost always under capitalism, about the money. Hard money, paper money, metallic money, federal money, state money, no money. It is all there. As confusing and, frankly, somewhat trivial as the issues may seem to the 21st century mind the various fights determined the path of capitalist formation for the rest of the 19th century. One does not have to be a partisan of any particular monetary policy to know that if the Biddle-led forces had won then capital formation in the United States would have taken a very different turn. Thus, the essential Jacksonian victory on the bank question is one that militants today can give a retroactive endorsement.
While this book does not go into the slavery question in any great detail or into the cultural and social milieu of the times except tangentially this Jacksonian victory is why, in a previous review on William Jennings Bryan, I noted that the last time militant leftists could seriously consider supporting a Democratic Party presidential candidate was in the time of Andrew Jackson. Just to list later presidential names and their political programs should make every progressive shutter. I also, however, noted in that review - "But damn, that was long ago". The continued dependence political support of the Democrats by the likes of Schlesinger and his progeny has politics in this country spinning in circles. It is time, more than time, to move on.
Although control of the money was the underlying premise for the political fights of the day they also represented some very different appreciations of what American society should look like. Schlesinger goes to great pains to highlight the various factions within each of the coalescing parties that would come to form the Democratic and Republican two-party system that we are familiar with today. Moreover, these fights had different implications for differing sections of the country. In that regard the names Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay and their various congressional devotees can generally stand to represent the various sectional interests.
One might also note that names that became familiar in the immediate pre-Civil War period, like Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan, John Bell, Gideon Welles, William Seward, etc. started to receive political notice as secondary figures during this period. One should also note that this was a period of political realignment and that the political situation was fluid enough that with changing political winds the various leading personalities were as likely to change sides as not. Readers should pick up the trail that Schlesinger only alludes to on the importance on the third party Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the 1840's. Despite that lapse dealing with the various political manifestations of the period is the strongest part of the professor’s book.
Of particular importance to those who want to learn about working class history in this country and are baffled by the lack of political class consciousness of today’s working class, as represented by an independent class party, is the story of the rise and fall of the first trade unions and working class parties. Although this is a period of the rise of industrial capitalism in America it is nevertheless still fairly rudimentary and agrarian concerns still dominate the political landscape. This is reflected in the programs, concerns and the organizations that various parts of the working class formed at this time mainly, it appears, among the more skilled workers. One should note that on a political level, although not uniformly, the American working class of the 1830’s was more politically class conscious than today’s working class. Which pretty well defines our problem today.
One should also note the tendency of working class organization to block with other forces, mainly urban Democratic Party Jacksonians. Today such a policy is called the ‘popular front’ and is the sole strategy of the American labor bureaucracy (the only question seemingly being which bourgeois faction to block with). Militants today, as a matter of principle, are opposed to that strategy. However, back in the 1830’s there were issues on which working class organizations could have, and should have, blocked with bourgeois parties. That, unfortunately, would not have saved them from oblivion as it was just too early, the forces were too small and unorganized and too politically immature to break out of the general Jacksonian democratic aura.
AND THE WAR GOES ON
COMMENTARY
THE ANTI-WAR STRATEGY IS NOT WORKING-BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS!
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Watching the daily maneuverings of the Congress on the question of the Iraq war and its funding is frankly painful even for those of us, like myself, who have had no illusions that this war could be settled by parliamentary means. Everyone knows by now that President Bush has vetoed the original Congressional Iraqi war budget bill. What may not be familiar is that, as is the nature of such proceedings, the Congress is getting ready to pull in its horns on the question of timetables and proceed to a piecemeal budgetary authorization. Jesus, even in the context of their own lame response to the war this is parliamentary cretinism at its extreme. Once again this writer will note, as he has on previous occasions, that this war will not be over as long as President Bush draws political breathe. Unless we do something to end it. Bush made his position clear long ago and damn it he is sticking to it. The Congress obviously is another matter. They are seemingly intent of giving him his way at the first obstacle. However that is not what concerns me today.
As noted above some anti-war militants have had no illusions about a parliamentary resolution to the war. Unfortunately there are not enough of us. That said, I have recently read two articles that shed a great deal of light on the why Bush is in the catbird seat and thus can ignore the mass of the anti-war movement. The first article concerns the anti-war strategy of the Internet-driven MoveOn. Org movement. While no one should, at this point, underestimate the power of the Internet one should not overrate it as a vehicle for social change either. Not when war is the subject. MoveOn’s strategy has been to work with parliamentary lobbyists, essentially behind the scenes, to ‘pressure’ Congress, particularly the Democrats, on the war funding bills. The trick here is that these lobbyists tend to have been former congressional doers and fixers. In short, now that they have gotten ‘religion’ on the war issue these lobbyists are working with their old bosses to ‘push’ them. Jesus,Iraq really will, as I have noted before, freeze over before that tactic ends anything.
The second article is related to the first on the issue of the war budget in that one of the few Democratic Congressmen who is today (and was yesterday) ready to vote down the Iraqi war budget on a straight vote has noted in an interview that the mass of politicians in this country are way behind ( I would add way, way behind) the people in their willingness to get the hell out of Iraq NOW. And that is the rub. What joins the two articles together is the point I have been making for the last few years. This war will not end NOW by parliamentary means. Any strategy that is predicated on that notion is doomed to failure. Hell, let us call a thing by its right name. On this issue if you do not get to the streets, the factories, offices and to the military bases (in order to get to the rank and file troops) you are in the wrong places. You have no strategy for immediate withdrawal. To the mass of the anti-war movement here is my little piece of wisdom. BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS! NOW!
THE ANTI-WAR STRATEGY IS NOT WORKING-BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS!
FORGET REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS AND GREENS! BUILD A WORKERS PARTY THAT FIGHTS FOR SOCIALISM!
Watching the daily maneuverings of the Congress on the question of the Iraq war and its funding is frankly painful even for those of us, like myself, who have had no illusions that this war could be settled by parliamentary means. Everyone knows by now that President Bush has vetoed the original Congressional Iraqi war budget bill. What may not be familiar is that, as is the nature of such proceedings, the Congress is getting ready to pull in its horns on the question of timetables and proceed to a piecemeal budgetary authorization. Jesus, even in the context of their own lame response to the war this is parliamentary cretinism at its extreme. Once again this writer will note, as he has on previous occasions, that this war will not be over as long as President Bush draws political breathe. Unless we do something to end it. Bush made his position clear long ago and damn it he is sticking to it. The Congress obviously is another matter. They are seemingly intent of giving him his way at the first obstacle. However that is not what concerns me today.
As noted above some anti-war militants have had no illusions about a parliamentary resolution to the war. Unfortunately there are not enough of us. That said, I have recently read two articles that shed a great deal of light on the why Bush is in the catbird seat and thus can ignore the mass of the anti-war movement. The first article concerns the anti-war strategy of the Internet-driven MoveOn. Org movement. While no one should, at this point, underestimate the power of the Internet one should not overrate it as a vehicle for social change either. Not when war is the subject. MoveOn’s strategy has been to work with parliamentary lobbyists, essentially behind the scenes, to ‘pressure’ Congress, particularly the Democrats, on the war funding bills. The trick here is that these lobbyists tend to have been former congressional doers and fixers. In short, now that they have gotten ‘religion’ on the war issue these lobbyists are working with their old bosses to ‘push’ them. Jesus,Iraq really will, as I have noted before, freeze over before that tactic ends anything.
The second article is related to the first on the issue of the war budget in that one of the few Democratic Congressmen who is today (and was yesterday) ready to vote down the Iraqi war budget on a straight vote has noted in an interview that the mass of politicians in this country are way behind ( I would add way, way behind) the people in their willingness to get the hell out of Iraq NOW. And that is the rub. What joins the two articles together is the point I have been making for the last few years. This war will not end NOW by parliamentary means. Any strategy that is predicated on that notion is doomed to failure. Hell, let us call a thing by its right name. On this issue if you do not get to the streets, the factories, offices and to the military bases (in order to get to the rank and file troops) you are in the wrong places. You have no strategy for immediate withdrawal. To the mass of the anti-war movement here is my little piece of wisdom. BREAK WITH THE DEMOCRATS! NOW!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
*Hard Times In Babylon- Growing Up Among The Working Poor In The 1950s
COMMENTARY
GROWING UP DIRT POOR IN THE 1950’S
Recently I wrote a personal commentary about a childhood friend from back in the old neighborhood where I grew up in the 1950’s (see "An Uncounted Casualty of War", May 8, 2007 archives). I have also been re-reading the recently deceased investigative journalist David Halberstam’s book "The Fifties" that covers that same period. Halberstam’s take on the trends of the period in contrast to the reality of my own childhood experiences as a child of the working poor that missed most of the benefits of that ‘golden age’ rekindled some memories. It is no exaggeration to say that these were hard times in Babylon. Those events have also made me reflect on why the hard anti-communist politics of the period left people like my parents high and dry. The defeat and destruction of the left-wing movement, principally pro-communist organizations, of that period has continued to leave a mark on today’s political landscape and on this writer.
There are many myths about the 1950’s to be sure. However, one cannot deny that the key public myth was that those who had fought World War II and were afterwards enlisted in the anti-Soviet Cold War fight against communism were entitled to some breaks. The overwhelming desire for personal security and comfort on the part of those who had survived the Great Depression and fought the war was not therefore totally irrational. That it came at the expense of other things like a more just and equitable society is a separate matter. Moreover, despite the public myth not everyone benefited from the ‘rising tide’. The experience of my parents is proof of that. Thus this commentary is really about what happened to those, like my parents, who did not make it and were left to their personal fates without a rudder to get them through the rough spots. Yes, my parents were of the much ballyhooed and misnamed ‘greatest generation’ but they were not part of it.
I will not go through all the details of my parents’ childhoods, courtship and marriage for such biographic details of the Depression and World War II are plentiful and theirs fits the pattern. One detail is, however, important and that is that my father grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky, Hazard, Harlan County to be exact, coal mining country made famous in song and by Michael Harrington in his 1960s book "The Other America". This was, and is, hardscrabble country by any definition. Among whites these ‘hillbillies’ were the poorest of the poor. There can be little wonder that when World War II began my father left to join the Marines, did his fair share of fighting, settled in the Boston area and never looked back.
By all rights my father should have been able to take advantage of the G.I. Bill and enjoyed home and hearth like the denizens of Levittown described in Halberstam’s book and shown on the classic television shows "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave It To Beaver". But life did not go that way. Why? He had virtually no formal education. And moreover had three young sons born close together in the immediate post-war period. Furthermore he had no marketable skills usable in the Boston labor market. There is no call for coal miners here. My father was a good man. He was a hard-working man; when he was able find work. He was an upright man. But he never drew a break. Unskilled labor, to which he was reduced, is notoriously unstable, and so his work life was one of barely making ends meet. Thus, well before the age when the two parent working family became the necessary standard to get ahead my mother went to work to supplement the family income. She too was an unskilled laborer. Thus, even with two people working we were always dirt poor.
Our little family started life in the housing projects, at that time not the notorious hell holes of crime and deprivation that they later became but still a mark of being low, very low, on the social ladder at a time when others were heading to the Valhalla of the newly emerging suburbs. By clawing and scratching my parents saved enough money to buy an extremely modest single-family house. The house was in a neighborhood that was, and is, one of those old working class neighborhoods where the houses are small, cramped and seedy, the leavings of those who have moved on to bigger and better things. The neighborhood nevertheless reflected the desire of the working poor in the 1950’s, my parents and others, to own their own homes and not be shunted off to decrepit apartments or dilapidated housing projects, the fate of those just below them on the social ladder. This is social progress?
But enough of all that. Where in this story is there a place for militant political class-consciousness? Not the sense of social inferiority of the poor before the rich (or the merely middle class). Damn, there was plenty of that consciousness in our house. But where was there an avenue in the 1950’s, when it could have made a difference, for a man like my father to have his hurts explained and have something done about them? Nowhere. So instead it went internally into the life of the family and it never got resolved. One of his sons, this writer, has had luxury of being able to fight essentially exemplary propaganda battles in small left-wing socialist circles and felt he has done good work in his life. My father’s hurts needed much more. The ‘red scare’ aimed mainly against the American Communist Party but affecting wider layers of society decimated any possibility that he could get the kind of redress he needed. That, dear reader, in a nutshell is why I proudly bear the name socialist today. And the task for me today? To insure that future young workers, unlike my parents in the 1950’s, will have their day of justice.
GROWING UP DIRT POOR IN THE 1950’S
Recently I wrote a personal commentary about a childhood friend from back in the old neighborhood where I grew up in the 1950’s (see "An Uncounted Casualty of War", May 8, 2007 archives). I have also been re-reading the recently deceased investigative journalist David Halberstam’s book "The Fifties" that covers that same period. Halberstam’s take on the trends of the period in contrast to the reality of my own childhood experiences as a child of the working poor that missed most of the benefits of that ‘golden age’ rekindled some memories. It is no exaggeration to say that these were hard times in Babylon. Those events have also made me reflect on why the hard anti-communist politics of the period left people like my parents high and dry. The defeat and destruction of the left-wing movement, principally pro-communist organizations, of that period has continued to leave a mark on today’s political landscape and on this writer.
There are many myths about the 1950’s to be sure. However, one cannot deny that the key public myth was that those who had fought World War II and were afterwards enlisted in the anti-Soviet Cold War fight against communism were entitled to some breaks. The overwhelming desire for personal security and comfort on the part of those who had survived the Great Depression and fought the war was not therefore totally irrational. That it came at the expense of other things like a more just and equitable society is a separate matter. Moreover, despite the public myth not everyone benefited from the ‘rising tide’. The experience of my parents is proof of that. Thus this commentary is really about what happened to those, like my parents, who did not make it and were left to their personal fates without a rudder to get them through the rough spots. Yes, my parents were of the much ballyhooed and misnamed ‘greatest generation’ but they were not part of it.
I will not go through all the details of my parents’ childhoods, courtship and marriage for such biographic details of the Depression and World War II are plentiful and theirs fits the pattern. One detail is, however, important and that is that my father grew up in the hills of eastern Kentucky, Hazard, Harlan County to be exact, coal mining country made famous in song and by Michael Harrington in his 1960s book "The Other America". This was, and is, hardscrabble country by any definition. Among whites these ‘hillbillies’ were the poorest of the poor. There can be little wonder that when World War II began my father left to join the Marines, did his fair share of fighting, settled in the Boston area and never looked back.
By all rights my father should have been able to take advantage of the G.I. Bill and enjoyed home and hearth like the denizens of Levittown described in Halberstam’s book and shown on the classic television shows "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave It To Beaver". But life did not go that way. Why? He had virtually no formal education. And moreover had three young sons born close together in the immediate post-war period. Furthermore he had no marketable skills usable in the Boston labor market. There is no call for coal miners here. My father was a good man. He was a hard-working man; when he was able find work. He was an upright man. But he never drew a break. Unskilled labor, to which he was reduced, is notoriously unstable, and so his work life was one of barely making ends meet. Thus, well before the age when the two parent working family became the necessary standard to get ahead my mother went to work to supplement the family income. She too was an unskilled laborer. Thus, even with two people working we were always dirt poor.
Our little family started life in the housing projects, at that time not the notorious hell holes of crime and deprivation that they later became but still a mark of being low, very low, on the social ladder at a time when others were heading to the Valhalla of the newly emerging suburbs. By clawing and scratching my parents saved enough money to buy an extremely modest single-family house. The house was in a neighborhood that was, and is, one of those old working class neighborhoods where the houses are small, cramped and seedy, the leavings of those who have moved on to bigger and better things. The neighborhood nevertheless reflected the desire of the working poor in the 1950’s, my parents and others, to own their own homes and not be shunted off to decrepit apartments or dilapidated housing projects, the fate of those just below them on the social ladder. This is social progress?
But enough of all that. Where in this story is there a place for militant political class-consciousness? Not the sense of social inferiority of the poor before the rich (or the merely middle class). Damn, there was plenty of that consciousness in our house. But where was there an avenue in the 1950’s, when it could have made a difference, for a man like my father to have his hurts explained and have something done about them? Nowhere. So instead it went internally into the life of the family and it never got resolved. One of his sons, this writer, has had luxury of being able to fight essentially exemplary propaganda battles in small left-wing socialist circles and felt he has done good work in his life. My father’s hurts needed much more. The ‘red scare’ aimed mainly against the American Communist Party but affecting wider layers of society decimated any possibility that he could get the kind of redress he needed. That, dear reader, in a nutshell is why I proudly bear the name socialist today. And the task for me today? To insure that future young workers, unlike my parents in the 1950’s, will have their day of justice.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
An Uncounted Causality Of War- The Never-Ending Vietnam War Story On The Anniversary Of The Fall Of Ho Chi Minh City 1975 (Then Saigon)
As The Burns-Novick Vietnam War Documentary AirsAn Uncounted Causality Of War- The Never-Ending Vietnam War Story
Markin comment:
THERE IS NO WALL IN WASHINGTON-BUT, MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE
This space is usually devoted to ‘high’ politics and the personal is usually limited to some experience of mine that has a direct political point. Sometimes, however, a story is so compelling and makes the point in such a poignant manner that no political palaver is necessary. Let me tell the tale.
Recently I returned, while on some unrelated business, to the neighborhood where I grew up. The neighborhood is one of those old working class neighborhoods where the houses are small, cramped and seedy, the leavings of those who have moved on to bigger and better things. The neighborhood nevertheless reflected the desire of the working poor in the 1950's, my parents and others, to own their own homes and not be shunted off to decrepit apartments or dilapidated housing projects, the fate of those just below them on the social ladder. While there I happened upon an old neighbor who recognized me despite the fact that I had not seen her for at least thirty years. Since she had grown up and lived there continuously, taking over the family house, I inquired about the fate of various people that I had grown up with. She, as is usually the case in such circumstances, had a wealth of information but one story in particular cut me to the quick. I asked about a boy named Kenny who was a couple of years younger than I was but who I was very close to until my teenage years. Kenny used to tag along with my crowd until, as teenagers will do, we made it clear that he was no longer welcome being ‘too young’ to hang around with us older boys. Sound familiar?
The long and the short of it is that he found other friends of his own age to hang with, one in particular, from down the street named Jimmy. I had only a nodding acquaintance with both thereafter. As happened more often than not during the 1960’s in working class neighborhoods all over the country, especially with kids who were not academically inclined, when Jimmy came of age he faced the draft or the alternative of ‘volunteering’ for military service. He enlisted. Kenny for a number of valid medical reasons was 4-F (unqualified for military service). Of course, you know what is coming. Jimmy was sent to Vietnam where he was killed in 1968 at the age of 20. His name is one of the 58,000 plus that are etched on that Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington. His story ends there. Unfortunately, Kenny’s just begins.
Kenny took Jimmy’s death hard. Harder than one can even imagine. The early details are rather sketchy but they may have involved drug use. The overt manifestations were acts of petty crime and then anti-social acts like pulling fire alarms and walking naked down the street. At some point he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. I make no pretense of having adequate knowledge about the causes of mental illnesses but someone I trust has told me that such a traumatic event as Jimmy’s death can trigger the condition in young adults. In any case, the institutionalizations inevitably began. And later the halfway houses and all the other forms of control for those who cannot survive on the mean streets of the world on their own. Apparently, with drugs and therapy, there were periods of calm but for over three decades poor Kenny struggled with his inner demons. In the end the demons won and he died a few years ago while in a mental hospital.
Certainly not a happy story. Perhaps, aside from the specific details, not even an unusual one in modern times. Nevertheless I now count Kenny as one of the uncounted casualties of war. Along with those physically wounded soldiers who can back from Vietnam service unable to cope with their own demons and sought solace in drugs and alcohol. And those who for other reasons could no adjust and found themselves on the streets, in the half way shelters or the V. A. hospitals. And also those grieving parents and other loved ones whose lives were shattered and broken by the lost of their children. There is no wall in Washington for them. But, maybe there should be. As for poor Kenny from the old neighborhood. Rest in Peace.
Markin comment:
THERE IS NO WALL IN WASHINGTON-BUT, MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE
This space is usually devoted to ‘high’ politics and the personal is usually limited to some experience of mine that has a direct political point. Sometimes, however, a story is so compelling and makes the point in such a poignant manner that no political palaver is necessary. Let me tell the tale.
Recently I returned, while on some unrelated business, to the neighborhood where I grew up. The neighborhood is one of those old working class neighborhoods where the houses are small, cramped and seedy, the leavings of those who have moved on to bigger and better things. The neighborhood nevertheless reflected the desire of the working poor in the 1950's, my parents and others, to own their own homes and not be shunted off to decrepit apartments or dilapidated housing projects, the fate of those just below them on the social ladder. While there I happened upon an old neighbor who recognized me despite the fact that I had not seen her for at least thirty years. Since she had grown up and lived there continuously, taking over the family house, I inquired about the fate of various people that I had grown up with. She, as is usually the case in such circumstances, had a wealth of information but one story in particular cut me to the quick. I asked about a boy named Kenny who was a couple of years younger than I was but who I was very close to until my teenage years. Kenny used to tag along with my crowd until, as teenagers will do, we made it clear that he was no longer welcome being ‘too young’ to hang around with us older boys. Sound familiar?
The long and the short of it is that he found other friends of his own age to hang with, one in particular, from down the street named Jimmy. I had only a nodding acquaintance with both thereafter. As happened more often than not during the 1960’s in working class neighborhoods all over the country, especially with kids who were not academically inclined, when Jimmy came of age he faced the draft or the alternative of ‘volunteering’ for military service. He enlisted. Kenny for a number of valid medical reasons was 4-F (unqualified for military service). Of course, you know what is coming. Jimmy was sent to Vietnam where he was killed in 1968 at the age of 20. His name is one of the 58,000 plus that are etched on that Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington. His story ends there. Unfortunately, Kenny’s just begins.
Kenny took Jimmy’s death hard. Harder than one can even imagine. The early details are rather sketchy but they may have involved drug use. The overt manifestations were acts of petty crime and then anti-social acts like pulling fire alarms and walking naked down the street. At some point he was diagnosed as schizophrenic. I make no pretense of having adequate knowledge about the causes of mental illnesses but someone I trust has told me that such a traumatic event as Jimmy’s death can trigger the condition in young adults. In any case, the institutionalizations inevitably began. And later the halfway houses and all the other forms of control for those who cannot survive on the mean streets of the world on their own. Apparently, with drugs and therapy, there were periods of calm but for over three decades poor Kenny struggled with his inner demons. In the end the demons won and he died a few years ago while in a mental hospital.
Certainly not a happy story. Perhaps, aside from the specific details, not even an unusual one in modern times. Nevertheless I now count Kenny as one of the uncounted casualties of war. Along with those physically wounded soldiers who can back from Vietnam service unable to cope with their own demons and sought solace in drugs and alcohol. And those who for other reasons could no adjust and found themselves on the streets, in the half way shelters or the V. A. hospitals. And also those grieving parents and other loved ones whose lives were shattered and broken by the lost of their children. There is no wall in Washington for them. But, maybe there should be. As for poor Kenny from the old neighborhood. Rest in Peace.
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