Parallel
Perspectives
Dear Comrades,
MARCH - APRIL 2009
Dear Comrades,
This is my spot to politically vent a little—ok, a lot—as well as
a section to post letters from other socialist individuals & organizations.
The opinions I express here do not represent the views of other people
associated with Parallel Perspectives.
Regards,
JEFarrow
Previous Postings:
Dear Comrades #1 [April 2008] California budget woes; Red Army in Afghanistan;
Humans unwilling to modify their behavior.
Dear Comrades #2 [May 2008] Treacherous Arab Oligarchy; Capitalists & the Environment.
Dear Comrades #3 [August – December 2008] Stimulus package; Animal Rights Terrorists;
Castro praises Russian Orthodox Church.
Quote of
the Month:
I have become a Socialist.
I love Humanity…but I hate people.
From ARIA
DA CAPO
Edna St. Vincent Millay
___________________________________________________________
No time like the present…
19 March 2009
Dear Comrades,
Well, I guess I wasn’t the only person really peeved by the whole corporate bailout scheme
(see below.)
As a matter of fact, at a Congressional hearing yesterday, the “new” CEO of AIG read from letters
threatening to torture & kill the capitalist honchos who received million$ of personal pin money
from the bailout. Now I think that’s going too far—but not by much. This really is an extraordinary
time in history. It proves with a certainty the Marxist/dialectical historic position that in times of
crisis such as we are witnessing, the working class political consciousness can take quantum leaps.
This may galvanize socialist groups to overcome sectarianism & strive to build an new International
of Social Revolution.
We should stand united together now more than ever.
PS.
I watched a DVD called THE MYSTERY OF EVA PERON.
The film was made in Argentina and is in Spanish with English
subtitles. Although created in 1987, the overall quality is more
like 1970’s. At times it’s hard to follow because the timeline
jumps around a lot, but evens out near the middle. If you don’t
understand Spanish the subtitles make it difficult to watch the
action. There are brief interviews with the players pro or
contra Peronism. Other than these, the entire movie is composed
of fascinating archival footage that compensate for the technical
flaws. Although I believe Eva Peron’s fanaticism was as much
fascist as populist, the film really gave me a new respect for this
dynamic woman & 1950’s iconic character. It presents a portrait
much more complex than the musical EVITA & the other movies
about her. There are interesting revelations—such as the suggestion
supported by just about everybody that Eva’s relationship with Peron
was politically intimate but non- sexual. The real Evita appears
much more sympathetic as well.
Anyone interested in the era, Argentine politics, etc. will probably like
it too.
Regards,
JEFarrow
___________________________________________________________
Their
Chutzpah Faileth Human Understanding
3. March
2009
Dear
Comrades,
Is it
just me, or does anybody else see in the various State “bailout” schemes just
about the most incredible chutzpah Capitalists have ever shown? First
the corporation heads bled their own company’s—now they threaten to quit if
their handouts aren't big enough!
It’s
astounding, incredible!
While thousands of workers are
being tossed out on the streets, the big wigs laugh all the way
to wherever they stash their $$$
these days. After all, they don’t care about their employees, they don’t care
about the quality—or safety—of the products their firms produce. They care only
for the disgustingly opulent life-style that they’ve become very accustomed to.
The
staggering sum$ the State is doling out (first under the War Criminal, now
under Obama) belong to THE PEOPLE. Why the incompetent vampires are
being awarded for…well, for their vamping…is something we’re not supposed to
question. We’re just supposed to believe whatever technocrats & financial
wizards tell us. It would make a lot more sense (and yes, I’ve said this
before) to return that $$$ to the People—then we could all run out & spend
it on those big ticket items so cherished by the Oligarchy—not to mention those
necessities of life with those alarmingly inflated price tags; things like
food, utilities, clothing & shelter. One thing’s for sure, you can bet that
we’d spend it on the economy. Then we
could afford to really “Go Green” in a significant way that would spare
the environment too.
Never
before has the underlying greed & corruption of Capitalism been so
starkly—and globally—revealed for all to see.
If the
extent of this financial crisis doesn’t wake people up, then what will? To
paraphrase Trotsky: The time for social revolution is not only ripe, it’s
getting downright rotten.
The
political choices are clear in this New Age of Capitalist Chutzpah:
International
Socialism or Barbarism.
Regards,
JEFarrow
_________________________________________________________
The
Disarming Myth of the Liberal Bourgeoisie
2. January
2009/Updated 3/1/09
Dear
Comrades,
The
Obama Phenomena brings to mind a Stalinist doctrine first
promoted during World War II.
Before
the U.S. entered that war, it was touch-and-go if the Allies (Britain, France
& the USSR) could win it. The Soviet Union in particular was in desperate
straights. Stalin was trying to drag the USSR into the industrial age, a
necessary task long impeded by the backward Czarist
autocracy. The Allies desperately needed the US to join the struggle
against Nazi Germany. In order to overcome the anti-Soviet prejudice &
political animosity in the U.S., the Myth of the Liberal Bourgeoisie was born.
This
doctrine asserts that the capitalist political strata included a “Progressive”
wing that could be rallied to support the socialist agenda. This concept flies
in the face of the Marxist
analysis of society & the State, and represents just one of a many
political contortions initiated by Stalin. This also included Stalin's
previous non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that fueled Nazi aggression.
There is nothing in unadulterated Marxist literature that points to the
progressive nature of any capitalist social layer.
Stalin
just made it up.
See
also,
During
World War II the CPUSA supported capitalist President FDR. Depression Era
capitalism was in a critical state of near collapse, and the more significant
“reforms” launched by FDR were reversed or significantly diluted later. They
were momentary diversions used to effectively distract workers from the real
socialist agenda: The unequivocal overthrow of the capitalist system.
During the McCarthy 1950’s and
early 60’s, the reincarnation of the “Progressive wing” doctrine was formulated
into a new, reformist “Party Line.” This new agenda asserted that capitalism
& socialism could indefinitely “peacefully coexist.” In support of this new
Stalinist mythology, yet another “dogma” was created: The myth that the USSR
had successfully created socialism in a lone, politically & economically
isolated country. The true Marxist view is that socialism, even in the more
technologically advanced nations like Germany or the United Sates, could not
exist for long without more countries joining the international,
anti-capitalist, revolutionary process.
There
are 3 more recent events that reflect the reactionary Stalinist “Myth of the
Liberal Bourgeoisie”:
1. The
Cuban Revolution
2. The
Iranian Revolution
3. The
Obama Phenomena
The 1959
ouster of the corrupt Cuban Oligarchs & the Mafia casinos was a social revolution
indeed. The USA was furious in its condemnation. The USA launched a punitive, crippling economic blockade against Cuba. That
blockade continues to this day—with the ultimate intention to bomb, invade, or
otherwise setup a U.S. puppet Government in Cuba, just like the one in Iraq
today. Under these threats & conditions, all U.S. machinations against Cuba
must unhesitatingly be opposed by socialists who have an internationalist
perspective.
Does
this mean revolutionary socialists also have an imperative to support the
Castro Regime—and a brother by any other name, etc?
Hell NO.
Trotsky’s
analysis of Cuba today would be to define it as a classically “deformed worker’s
state.” This means that, while it calls itself “Socialist,” the revolution
is not based on the organization of the working class, and is a worker’s state
in name only. If anything, Cuba smacks of neo-Peronism. At best it is
national socialist—and that’s not good either. If socialism cannot be achieved
in a single, advanced, but “degenerated worker’s state” like Russia (again,
Trotsky—Ed.), it certainly cannot be achieved in a small island under constant
threat by the major capitalist power in the world.
The Cuban economy, already
devastated by the blockade, was thrown into total disarray by the collapse of
the Soviet Union. Perhaps even worse, the cushion of military defense was lost
as well.
Now that Russia is again
squaring off with the U.S., Castro’s hope is to look to capitalist Russia for
economic & military support. It recently prompted him to fulsomely praise the Russian
Orthodox Church in a unbelievable episode of “Stalinism-Gone-Wild.”
See also,
Comrades #3: What the hell is
Fidel smokin’?
Incidentally,
Castro’s Cuba has a notoriously negative human rights record, including extreme
homophobia.
See
also,
That brings us to #2, the
Iranian Revolution
During the Iranian Revolution
that toppled the autocratic Shah,
certain socialist organizations claimed that the anti-Shah clerics (religious
leaders) were fulfilling a progressive role in the revolution. Again, this view
turns Marxism upside-down. The idea of a progressive religious organization is
in complete contradiction with everything written by Marx-Lenin-Trotsky. As we
have seen, Islam is not exactly a poster child for liberalism. By ignoring this
reality & siding with the clerics, the Iran revolution quickly degenerated
into being one of the most reactionary regimes in recent times. The Qur’an became the
constitutional basis on which to persecute women, homosexuals, artists, writers
& free thinkers—as well as socialists & communists.
See
also,
Communists for the
imam’s line/CPGB
Re#3 The Obama Phenomena.
The
depth of racism in the United States was, and in some situations still is, a
social pollution. Its images have been seared into the American consciousness
to such an extent that racist images still lurk even in the subconscious of
anti-racists. Now that 2 generations, almost 3, have been born in a America
with at least no legal segregation on the books, no one can really be blamed in
thinking it was time for that special electoral change.
No one
for the exception of Marxists who should have known better.
The American
Presidency marks the summit of imperial capitalism. Neither it, or the
reactionary system on which it rests, are capable of fundamental change. One
could point to my own words above, to impeach this observation: If the
anti-racist nature of capitalist society can change, can be “reformed,” then
why is it not possible to reform capitalism itself?
As great
as the social changes have been in the post-60’s U.S. (including the role of
women), they have not affected the capitalist status quo. American capitalism
is as entrenched as ever, buoyed by a compliant labor bureaucracy and a
narcissistic & violent society. Two generations of the most morally &
politically backward (Bush) dynasty in U.S. history have been allowed to seize
the Presidency. These war criminals have turned the White House into control
central for international violence, murder, graft & crime. It’s not just
the Bush-Cheney gang either. The Presidential office itself is corrupt and
rooted in the most vile traditions of nationalist capitalism. It can no more be
“reformed” than the U.S. military can be peacefully disarmed.
One can
only wonder if there would have been any Obama Phenomena without
“The
Horror of Bush II.”
So how
do we extricate ourselves from this political, environmental, & economic
capitalist mess? Well, for starters don’t vote for capitalist politicians.
So-called “real” or “pragmatic politics” counters this most basic of socialist
principles, with the stale argument that workers should support the “lesser
evil” choice at the ballot booth. Almost without exception, the “lesser evil”
is a Democratic Party candidate.
The
Democratic Party is viewed by its apologists as “The Party of the Working
Class” and the Republican Party as the bastion of “Big Business.” There is a
certain, very broad legitimacy to this view—but it really doesn’t matter
because the Oligarchs who
own the USA, have learned to hedge their bets. The million$ & millions$
they pour into both capitali$t parties, cancels out any superficial
distance between the two. In reality, they represent the single face of
American capitalism.
Just for
the sake of argument, let’s imagine the “pragmatic” approach to capitalism is
applied to the spread of Early Christianity: According to the “real politick”
Christian leaders, the Pagan population is too entrenched in its beliefs to convert or to accept an executed Hebrew
carpenter as a god. So the leaders create an organizing ruse. In order to win
over the Pagan constituency, they simply remove the figure of Jesus Christ from
their public work. What kind of Christianity would that create?
This is
what pragmatic socialist/communists do—they take the “M” out of Marxism &
the “R” out of Revolution (and replace the remaining “e” as in evolution with
“con”.)
All this
is bad enough, but when you factor in the environmental break down & the
high level of destructive technology in the world today—AND a violent &
corrupt social “order”—the tendency is to look for an easy fix.
But
there isn’t one.
There’s
nothing I would like more than to be able to tell young people that there were
solid socialist organizations they could join in the fight to over turn State
Capitalism, as well as to positively transform the planet while protecting the
environment.
But
there aren’t any—at least not in the United States.
As long
as socialist organizations remain mired in sectarianism—and they all are—and
cannot or will not learn to cooperate on the most marginal level, then why
should anybody think that these same organizations can collectively function to
create a liberated & liberating new world? Frankly, I am ashamed of the
pettiness & dysfunction of the Marxist milieu. Perhaps Karl Marx had a
vision of this future state of his philosophy when he remarked, “I am no
Marxist.”
See
also,
CONCLUSION:
LET IT BURN
So,
after participating in the socialist political process 30 + years—as well as being
forced to witness the inhumanity & jaw-dropping mendacity of terminal stage
capitalist society—my personal political “slogan” is simplicity itself: Let it
burn.
Notice I
don’t say “set the fire”—that’s already been done (in more ways than one) by the
Oligarchs.
Neither is it a collective call
for senseless violence & destruction.
It
represents a position of political & religious apostasy.
It seems obvious to me that the System must break down more or less completely
before people get the message. All attempts to shore up the System are just so
much window dressing, extending the death throes of Global State Capitalism.
I would
like nothing better than to be proven wrong on this. For example, I would
retract every bitter word I’ve written re. the folly of trusting socialist
organizations—IF the leadership from the major groups would call for (and
attend) an international conference to create a revitalized & United Left
Opposition capable of embracing all revolutionary Marxists & dedicated
anti-Capitalists.
See
also,
Regards,
JEFarrow
Updated 04/09
www.gnostics.com