A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog. We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by
The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony
Formal complaint against Robert Watt Anthony
RTE bias complaint Anthony
Public Inquiry >>
A Blog About Human Rights
UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights
5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights
Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights
Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights
Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights
Human Rights in Ireland >>
As More and More Patients Opt For Private Healthcare, the NHS Continues to Sink into the Mire Mon May 29, 2023 07:00 | In-house doctor
Recent data reveal that record numbers of patients are opting for private healthcare because they can't get the treatment they need on the NHS. The Daily Sceptic's in-house doctor thinks things will only get worse.
The post As More and More Patients Opt For Private Healthcare, the NHS Continues to Sink into the Mire appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Mon May 29, 2023 01:08 | Toby Young
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
What if Putin Falls From Power? Sun May 28, 2023 17:00 | Toby Young
Duncan Allan, a fellow of Chatham House, has written a report speculating about what might happen if Ukraine's counter-offensive is successful and Putin is deposed. He fears that may not end well.
The post What if Putin Falls From Power? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Why Should I Spend £40,000 Making My House More Energy Efficient, Given It Will Take 25 Years to Ear... Sun May 28, 2023 15:00 | Guy de la Bédoyère
Guy de la Bédoyère in the Daily Sceptic says the Government is having a laugh if it expects him to pay £40,000 on making his house more energy efficient, including sticking a wind turbine on his roof.
The post Why Should I Spend £40,000 Making My House More Energy Efficient, Given It Will Take 25 Years to Earn That Back in Savings on My Energy Bills? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Deliberately Exaggerating the Risks of Climate Change is Undermining Public Trust in Science and Des... Sun May 28, 2023 13:00 | Chris Morrison
The Washington Post recently reported that climate change has raised the risk of flight turbulence. In fact, the number of accidents or injuries per flight due to turbulence has fallen dramatically in the last 30 years.
The post Deliberately Exaggerating the Risks of Climate Change is Undermining Public Trust in Science and Destroying Young People?s Mental Health appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9There are a number of really useful sites with reading guides to capital.
Harry Cleavers Study Guide to Capital Volume I is one place to start...
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/357ksg.html
Excellent to see that this course is going online.It's a pity that there isn't an institute like New York's Brecht Institute in Ireland where such classes could be held in a real space. I think that Capital study group(s) in this period could help bring people on the left together on a practical basis .It's amazing to think that just a few years ago we were being told that capitalism had completely triumphed and that marxism was finished .
I'm not sure though if I agree with what the link you give says about beginining the study at chapter V111 because of it being "less abstract than chapter one " . It is certainly very difficult, but chapter one is the most important . Was it Rosa Luxemburg who said that if you were to give yourself a year to read the whole of Capital ,you should spend the first eleven months reading Chapter 1?
Ilyenkov argued that Capital is anything but an 'abstract' work in his 'Dialectics of the Concrete and Abstract in Marx's Capital' ,which can be read on the MIA:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/abstract...f.htm
That link is down ,see:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/works/abstract...x.htm
was just beginning it myself, this will be very useful. hs
Thanks for that
I once dipped into the opening chapter and found it too dull, so gave up. Why study Das Kapital now? Wasn't state marxism tried and abandoned in the Soviet Union, and hasn't China turned towards market economics, today inviting foreign capitalists to invest along with 'joint ventures' and whatever state enterprises the China Govt has decided to hold on to? Granted western capitalism leaves an underclass in countries like the US, the UK and places like Limerick in Ireland.
Capital doesn't contain within it any particular model of a future society. If you read it looking for Marx's description of what a socialist society would look like you will be sadly disappointed, and in fact Marx would probably have been surprised and horrified to see the former Soviet Union described as "Marxist".
Capital is an analysis of capitalism. And as we live under capitalism, there are many reasons to study one of the most perceptive analyses of that system ever written. You can agree or disagree with what Marx argues, but either way what he argues is important. This course is a very useful way to get at the nub of Marx's argument.
The CYM has a study group beginning this course. Further information is available here: http://connollyyouth.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/studying-...ital/
"Too dull" - I wouldn't consider it dull prose, but it is heavy!! This is the same with any 'academic' work, but once you get used to the style and language of the author it gets a lot easier, and in Capital's case quite fun - in a geeky way! Although, this may not float your boat... ...I recommend watching David Harvey's first lecture.
"redundant" - I'd read it first yourself before you draw those conclusions...
"State marxism" - what's that friend? Anyway, Capital has very little to do with the workings of any socialist state, save to provide an understanding of the social system, capitalism, it is born out of.
SP - Horror at the Soviet Union? Well, although I don't think this has any relevance to responding to the previous poster:
The Soviet Union was started by a socialist revolution, would you not agree? Does this not mean it was at least a new stage in human history? Even Trotsky agreed the USSR was a transitional state in the process of building socialism. The Soviet Union was a reality of socialist construction. It was theory meeting practice. We have to start at this stage before we can say anything else. Unless one is to accept the erroneous conception of the USSR as 'state capitalist', in which case one removes 1917 of it's content and easily excuses oneself from the reality of history and socialist construction - sounds rather utopian to me!
I don't think Marx would have excused himself from history, and whatever way you look at it, the USSR certainly made it, and in my opinion, for better.
Finally, Marx is and was not an infallible authority, and there is little point in second guessing history once it's been made!
Nioclás
While the Russian Revolution may have started a process of created a new form of society within a few years of Stalin coming to power the USSR had ditched the gains of the Revolution and was developing in a reactionary fashion. Trotsky definitively outlined how Stalinism had dismantled the gains of the revolution in 'Revolution Betrayed' (and also debunks the 'state capitalism' theory). It is utter nonsense to suggest that the USSR was 'theory meeting practice'. One of the most fundemental tenets of socialism - worker's democracy - was smashed by the Stalinists in the USSR. It would have been physically impossible for Stalinism to remain in control if it had allowed worker's democracy to exist. The Soviet Union was so far removed from the 'reality of socialist construction' that even the someone with only a passing interest in politics would laugh at the suggestion. To equate the USSR with socialism, one is dancing to the tune of capitalist propaganda. The sole remenents of the October Revolution to exist in the USSR after 1935 were central planning and a state monopoly of foreign trade, both of which were bureaucratically mismanaged to the detriment of the working class.
As for Marx's attitude towards the suggestion of the 'USSR made it for the better' - he would have been abhorred at the brutality and repression wrought on the Russian people by Stalinism in the name of socialism. But even more he would have given a definitive statement on the need for the overthorw of Stalinism and it replacement with worker's democracy.
It really is quite surprising to find an old die-hard Stalinist still trying to defend Stalinism as socialism in action.