Kasama wants to share the following announcement. For those wanting to circulate the statements, they are available in printable form: English, Spanish, Italian, French.
People want revolution
Proletarians want the Party of the Revolution
Communists want internationalism and a new international organization
This year’s May Day comes at a time of unprecedented protests and uprisings all around the world. In the Arab world and Persian Gulf, the youth, the proletarians and the broad masses took to the streets and toppled or tried to topple, one after the other, the dictatorial regimes subservient to imperialism.
In the heart of the imperialist countries, working class struggles, general strikes, rebellions of students and youth are opposing the policy of reactionary governments and the development of a modern fascism aimed at shifting the burden of the crisis on to the backs of the masses, bringing layoffs, job insecurity, intensification of exploitation and attacks on education, health care and basic social services.
Struggles and rebellions are ranging from China to the US, from Russia to Latin America. Particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, imperialism, mainly U.S. imperialism, is suffering blows that prevent it from realizing its plans of occupation, invasion and geo-strategic control on important areas of the world. Its plans to sanctify Zionist occupation in Palestine through sell-out leaders have been checked.
During 1885 a circular passed hand to hand through the ranks of the proletariat in the United States. With the following words it called for class-wide action on May 1, 1886:
“One day of revolt – not rest! A day not ordained by the bragging spokesmen of institutions holding the world of labor in bondage. A day on which labor makes its own laws and has the power to execute them! All without the consent or approval of those who oppress and rule. A day on which in tremendous force the unity of the army of toilers is arrayed against the powers that today hold sway over the destinies of the people of all nations. A day of protest against oppression and tyranny, against ignorance and war of any kind. A day on which to begin to enjoy ‘eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will.’”
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A century ago, on May 1, 1886, a general strike broke across the United States. Within days it would culminate in the events forever associated with the name Haymarket. In 1889 the founding congress of a new, second, Marxist International named that day, May Day, for worldwide actions of the proletariat.
Through all the twists and explosions of these past hundred years, the tradition of May Day has developed and spread: as a day when class-conscious proletarians of all countries take stock of their situation, make their plans for the year ahead, celebrate proletarian internationalism, and declare their determination to carry their struggle through to the final goal of communism throughout the world.
In many countries, battles rage to proclaim May Day as a day of revolutionary struggle after years where it has been suppressed or gutted by revisionists.
in 1984 the newly formed Revolutionary Internationalist Movement issued its Declaration on May First and since then has called for celebrations and struggle on May First in countries across the planet under unified revolutionary slogans. Today, just as throughout the past century, May Day concentrates in embryo the leaps and prospects of the world revolution.
In light of this May Day tradition, we offer a look at the Haymarket events.
Badiou and post-Maoism: Marxism and Communism Today
Sat. Apr. 30 from 2:45-4:15PM, in 112 S. Michigan Ave. building of the School of the Art Institute, Chicago
Presenters: John Steele, Joe Ramsey, Mike Ely, and Chris Cutrone of Platypus.
Panel Description:
How does the prominence of Alain Badiou’s approach to communism today speak to the present historical moment and its emancipatory possibilities? Badiou has prioritized May 1968 in France and the contemporaneous Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China for his conception of communism and its potential future. As a former student of Louis Althusser and follower of Jacques Lacan, as well as a philosopher of mathematics, Badiou’s work has emphasized a radical ontology of the “event” to describe revolutionary transformation. In describing the politics of communism, Badiou has traced its modern history to the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution, periodizing modern communism’s two great “sequences” from 1792-1871 and 1917-76. How does Badiou’s conception of communism relate to the history of Marxism in the 20th century, with its roots in the 19th century? How does Badiou’s work address the problem of capital, in Marx’s terms, or not, and what are the implications of Badiou’s communism for anticapitalist politics, moving forward? What does Badiou’s work say about the relation of Marxism and communism today?
“What function does monarchy play in modern society? We can say it’s an “antiquated” institution, and confidently predict its historical demise. But we should try to understand its lingering basis of strength too.”
by Gary Leupp
I wasn’t going to write anything about this, or read or watch anything about “the royal wedding.” It’s all so pathetic. On the other hand I have a few thoughts so here goes…
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Kingship is as old as class society, and compatible with all kinds of class systems. What all forms seem to have in common is some sort of religious legitimization. The Japanese emperor is supposed to be a descendent of the Sun Goddess, the Chinese emperor was the Son of Heaven possessing the Mandate of Heaven, the Dalai Lamas are incarnations of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, caliphs derived authority from their descent from Muhammad, European kings possess the “divine right of kings” and are appointed by God (Romans 13:1), etc. Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Church of England.
The connection between religion and rulership is indicated by the evolution of the priest-king in ancient Sumeria into the king-priest; the sacerdotal function, initially primary, becomes secondary and the method of control evolves from use of magic and spiritual control to use of armed bodies of men. This suggests that the figure of the shaman, whom in pre-class societies with minimal social distinctions has a special status, merges with that of the chief and evolves into the king.
“The Third Circuit’s ruling, if left standing, requires Philadelphia prosecutors to call for a whole new sentencing hearing if they want to try and reinstate the death penalty.
“That would require the impaneling of a whole new jury, to hear and consider evidence regarding mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances in the case, and then to decide for either execution of life-without-possibility of parole–the only two options legally available.
“Abu-Jamal has exhausted his avenues of appeal of his conviction, absent new evidence in the case.”
We have received this important news. This article comes to us from Land, a long-time activist in the struggle to free Mumia. There are different interpretations of what this means. Reuters wrote: “PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that high profile death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal should get a new sentencing hearing.”
3rd Circuit Appeal Ruling Favoring Abu-Jamal Smacks Down US Supreme Court
by Linn Washington Jr.
The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, in a stunning smack at the U.S. Supreme Court, has issued a ruling upholding its earlier decision backing a new sentencing hearing in the controversial case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted killer of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Thanks to CD for this suggestion. This appeared in the Huffington Post.
Arizona Uprising:
Chained Ethnic Studies Students Take Over School Board in Tucson
Has Wisconsin finally come to Arizona?
In an extraordinary uprising at the Tucson Unified School District board meeting last night, Ethnic Studies/Mexican American Studies (MAS) students chained themselves to the board members chairs and derailed the introduction of a controversial resolution that would have terminated their acclaimed program’s core curriculum accreditation.
“Just like the people of Wisconsin took a stand and said ‘enough is enough’, the youth of Tucson are standing up and letting it be known that they are fed up with these attacks on their education and on their future,” said Sal Baldenegro, Jr., a TUSD Ethnic Studies alum and member of the Southern Arizona Unity Coalition. “They have been under relentless assault by Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and by the Arizona State Legislature, and they have had enough.”
Members of the band Ozomatli Ulises Bella, Jiro Yamaguchi and Raul Pacheco perform Bob Dylan’s scathing “Masters of War.” It was part of a 2007 reading of Voices of a People’s History of the United States in Pasadena. Thanks to Jimmy Higgins.
There is great urgency in finding the ways to expose the Indian government’s genocidal and counterrevolutionary Operation Green Hunt.
Please help us creatively circulate this talk by Indian author Arundhati Roy, at a convention against Green Hunt, held at the University Institute Hall, Kolkata, April 14, 2010.
Americans don’t know (or rather don’t remember) what a monarchy is.
Through the prism of American mass culture, a monarchy is the ultimate celebrity. A royal wedding becomes a time for schoolgirl daydreams of princes, carrages, gowns, and beefy men in bear hats.
It all seems quaint, fun, and utterly harmless — and filled with a frothy mix of formality and fantasy.
Even American radicals don’t quite understand how revolutionary it was to topple a monarchy in Nepal, or what it means to uproot such a feudal past in the customs and thinking of a country. It is as if creating a “federal republic” out of a theocratic monarchy would be just “ho-hum” — and as if we should be irritated until they move on to those higher problems of industrialized socialism that we anticipate.
Which brings me to my mother. My beloved mother, by contrast, grew up in a country with a monarchy. She had a real belly-feel of what it meant to “honor” a family of do-nothings simply for their “blood lines.” Monarchy is a central social statement of inequality — of honoring innate differences. And since these differences are obviously not differences of intelligence or merit or accomplishment, it is obviously a statement of innate and completely arbitrary differences in worth. It is about class.
I can hear my mother (usually so laid-back) mutter “As if their very value is fixed by what hole they plopped out of.”
Kasama is publishing a series of articles this week on the destruction of the environment and socialist solutions. These articles will represent opposing views, and (as usual) the posting by Kasama does not imply endorsement of specific arguments. Thanks to the Kasama team that has been researching and debating these questions. We started this series with One Struggle‘s statement.
We received the following submission from New Zealand, where it previously appeared as a leaflet of the Workers Party distributed at the New Zealand Climate Camp 2010.
Climate change: reform or revolution?
by Ian Anderson
This leaflet is for people who’ve figured out that climate change is happening, and that it’s driven in large part by industrial greenhouse gas emissions. If you’re here, you want to stop it in its tracks.
Despite the attempts of industrial capitalists to distort the flow of information, the findings of climatologists remain consistent. Since the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century, greenhouse gas emissions have rapidly increased, driving a long-term process of global warming.
Resources were sucked out of the countryside and the developing world to fuel economic growth, while workers were packed into polluted and cramped living spaces. This transformation continues to this day, as capitalists seek new blood and soil to develop; from Iraq to Mount Aspiring.
This leaves one central question: what is to be done? It is possible to match human and environmental need. We just have to figure out how.
Kasama has produced the following interview, and hopes you will help us circulate it widely. This interview took place in June of 2010, as the Nepali Maoist leader Biplap spoke with a revolutionary journalist .
A revolutionary movement, especially in a poor and isolated country, faces intense challenges: Can we defeat the reactionary internal powers? Can we take the socialist road alone in a hostile world?
There has been an intense and public debate over this within the Maoist party of Nepal — precisely because their movement has reached the point where a stalemate has emerged in negotiating efforts and a new revolutionary impatience has spread
In this interview, Biplap argues that it is possible to press ahead on the revolutionary road: both seizing power by overthrowing the Nepali government and carrying through radical changes in the world today. Biplap is a member of the Standing Committee member of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).
Kasama is publishing a series of articles this week on the destruction of the environment and socialist solutions. These articles will represent opposing views, and (as usual) the posting by Kasama does not imply endorsement of specific arguments. Thanks to the Kasama team that has been researching and debating these questions. We started this series with One Struggle‘s statement.
The internationalist activist Vittorio Arrigoni was killed in Palestine under highly suspicious circumstances. Here is his funeral. Thanks to Jed for pointing this out.
Karl Marx, the founder of modern communism, wrote in Capital (Vol. III Part VI Transformation of Surplus-Profit into Ground-Rent)
“…. the slave-holder considers a Negro, whom he has purchased, as his property, not because the institution of slavery as such entitles him to that Negro, but because he has acquired him like any other commodity, through sale and purchase. But the title itself is simply transferred, and not created by the sale. The title must exist before it can be sold, and a series of sales can no more create this title through continued repetition than a single sale can.
“What created it in the first place were the production relations. As soon as these have reached a point where they must shed their skin, the material source of the title, justified economically and historically and arising from the process which creates social life, falls by the wayside, along with all transactions based upon it.
“From the standpoint of a higher economic form of society, private ownership of the globe by single individuals will appear quite as absurd as private ownership of one man by another.
“Even a whole society, a nation, or even all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the globe. They are only its possessors, its usufructuaries, and, like boni patres familias, they must hand it down to succeeding generations in an improved condition.”
Kasama is publishing a series of articles this week on the destruction of the environment and socialist solutions. These articles will represent sharply opposing views, and (as usual) the posting by Kasama does not imply endorsement of specific arguments. Thanks to the Kasama team that has been researching and debating these questions. We started this series with One Struggle‘s statement.
The following is an excerpt from Draft Program written around 2001 within the Revolutionary Communist Party,USA. The RCP did not (in the end) adopt this program because of their course change after 2003. Nonetheless these ideas of socialist sustainability and Maoist urban planning deserve continuing attention and development.
The New Socialist Economy:
Agriculture, City and Countryside, Ecology, and Planning
Introduction
Maoism approaches economic development as an interdependent whole. It strives for integrated and egalitarian development. It takes account of the immediate and pressing needs of society and of the long-term goals and long-term effects of economic-social development.
Capitalism mobilizes human and material resources according to the dictates of profit and evaluates economic performance within that narrow framework. Socialism, by contrast, insists on a kind of social balance sheet. For instance, agricultural land-use has health and environmental repercussions; what is called the ‘built environment’ of residential dwellings, public buildings and spaces, and transport systems reflects society’s values and shapes the experience of daily life. These sorts of issues are part of the framework of economic calculation and planning under socialism.
Kasama wants to share the following announcement. For those wanting to circulate the statements, they are available in printable form: English, Spanish, Italian, French.
