Peacekeeper
12th June 2008, 02:22
A reactionary you say? Really? :confused:
I present to you the work of an hour in the school library:
I'll cover a series of issues, including my views on class conflict and antagonisms, the problems of bourgeois democracy, worker organization, the vanguard party, worker control of the means of production, and the issue of post-revolutionary society, both under a socialist state and afterwards, in a communist society.
To begin with, class conflict. Starting with the rise of unequal economic systems (pre-capitalism), there have been economic classes. In feudal society, for example, there was the landlord class, which owned the fields and the manors and the serfs or slaves. In addition, of course, there were the serfs, and the bureaucrats who collected tax money or undertook other administrative tasks. Then there were the "enforcers," the brute force of the feudal lord, which could take the form of a small private army or "foreman" who would beat the serfs if they did not work.
In modern capitalist society, the means of production changes, but parallels of the feudal class structure can be seen. The capitalist now owns factories, and buys the labor of the proletarian working in "his" factory.
To see the origin of class conflict in a capitalist society, we must examine the actual economics of factory work and production. If the workers shows up and works, he creates a product, with the use of the factory equipment owned by the capitalist. The capitalist then pays the proletarian a sum of money for his labor. However, if we examine the following course of events, we can establish that the worker is being paid less than the product is worth, to produce it!
For instance, the capitalist sells a product to a middle man for $100 the middle man sells the product to a retailer for $150. The retailer then sets the product on the shelf at the price of $200, where a consumer buys it.
Now, we return to the factory. The capitalist, receiving $100 for the product manufactured by the worker, pays the proletarian at the end of the week for his work. If you add up the amount of products he produced, and divide his pay by it, we find that he is being paid far less than the capitalist is selling the product for!
Therefore, a factory worker may produce 50 products in a day. At the end of a six-day week, that means he has produced 300 products. Should he not be able to then buy 300 o the products he has manufactured then, with his pay? But he is not able to. This is where the alienation between worker and product begins, when he is producing something he himself cannot afford.
Where does the difference go, between the money taken in from the sale of the product to a middle man and the money the worker is paid? It becomes profit, and the capitalist pockets it. Has he done any work, contributed any sweat to the process of production?
No – he benefits monetarily only because of what he owns, what his bourgeois property is. He can sit at home all day, enjoying luxuries he can afford through the labor of the workers, while they toil away in the factory to make him richer. The workers, seeing this, become discontented. He does no work, why should he benefit from our labor?
The capitalist, wishing to enjoy greater and greater profits to perhaps open up another factory to exploit the wage labor of more workers, must do one of two things to ensure greater profits. He must either sell the product at a higher cost, which will likely alienate middle man or retailer, or he can pay his worker's less, and take the extra as profit.
This cycle will lead to greater and greater discontent among the working class, leading to the formation of labor unions, strikes, and worker's parties, all of which are weapons to hit back against the system of wage slavery.
The capitalists, feeling threatened, may shut down factories, or hire thugs as "union-busters" to intimidate, beat, and kill union leaders and members, and intimidate non-unionized labor, saying they will be fired at the first hint of unionization. This causes more resentment against the capitalists, and so on and so on, until violent revolution and seizure of the means of production by the working class is the only logical conclusion.
To address the issues of the bourgeois democracy, we can say this: democracy in a capitalist society is not representative of the masses, but representative of the propertied "elite" upper class of capitalists. "But from this capitalist democracy-inevitably narrow, subtly rejecting the poor, and therefore hypocritical and false to the core - progress does not march onward, simply, smoothly, and directly, to "greater and greater democracy," as the liberal professors and petty-bourgeois opportunists would have us believe." (Lenin, State and Revolution).
A bourgeois democracy is a democracy influenced by the system of capitalism. The masses are manipulated and misled by corporate media and the upper class politicians. Government is unresponsive to the demands of the workers, as the ultimate master of bourgeois government is the capitalist class, whom it serves with fewer restrictions on free trade, pollution of power plants and factories, and other laws that give the capitalists an opportunity to reach ever-higher profits.
For this reason, the reformist socialists are poorly misguided. Fundamental change in the capitalist system cannot occur with the help of the bourgeois state. You cannot seek solutions through democratic means, as the only solution to class antagonism and economic & social injustice is a worker's revolution.
The vanguard party should be made up of the revolutionary working class, an organized center for the training of the working class for the eventual revolution against the capitalist exploiters and bourgeois state.
The vanguard party should have close ties with the various labor unions, and encourage them to merge together into larger and larger unions of workers, hopefully fulfilling the IWW dream of One Big Union, who could hold the capitalists accountable, all a precursor to the revolution.
The party leadership should be democratically elected representatives of the interests of the revolutionary working class, and a base for the whole organization to rely on for necessities of revolution, such as securing mass support, then the arming of the party militants, and the coordinating of the revolution.
After the revolution, the capitalists will cease to exist as an economic class. The worst of them should be tried and executed, while others should be given the chance to be rehabilitated and labor for the socialist cause.
The workers at a particular factory will now manage the administration and production within a given factory, and be in communication with the central planning division of the new socialist state, so as to determine where their products are most needed by the people. In this way, all communities will be linked through mutual assistance through central planning, rather than the global or national markets.
In a post revolutionary society, there will be many changes to the economic and social structure of the nation. For example, communal cafeterias, community day care and schooling, the destruction of the family as an economic unit, nationalization of major industry and businesses, etc.
Some good general guidelines of what makes a nation socialist can be seen in the Communist Manifesto.
"1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c."
Media that is contrary to the new socialist state should be banned, in such cases as movies or pamphlets advocating racist hate or discrimination. Also, prostitution and pornography should be abolished, as they are in nearly all cases created by wealthy men, and women who are experiencing economic hardship. Alexandra Kollontai stipulates that prostitution, as a result of socialist society, will be eliminated without even putting restrictions on it, as it will no longer be economically necessary. "This evil, which is a stain on humanity and the scourge of hungry working women, has its roots in commodity production and the institution of private property. Once these economic forms are superseded, the trade in women will automatically disappear." (Communism and the Family).
In the same essay, she describes how the duties previously associated with the family (cleaning, cooking, raising children), will be taken care of by the State and communal cafeterias, so the family will eventually cease to be a relevant aspect of a communist or socialist society.
As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels said, the socialist State must do its job, and then wither away. Once the workers are firmly in control of the means of production, then the State can gradually lose its political character, and will merely act in an administrative position, assuring that resources move in an effective way, to where they are needed most, and that builders are creating enough housing in the right places, etc.
I hope this explains my current view of things, and that I am worthy of being an un-restricted member of the RevLeft community. As always, feel free to take issue with any ideological errors you see (other than fundamental ones, ie criticism from anarchists, etc).
With socialist greetings,
-Comrade Demopolous (Peacekeeper)
I present to you the work of an hour in the school library:
I'll cover a series of issues, including my views on class conflict and antagonisms, the problems of bourgeois democracy, worker organization, the vanguard party, worker control of the means of production, and the issue of post-revolutionary society, both under a socialist state and afterwards, in a communist society.
To begin with, class conflict. Starting with the rise of unequal economic systems (pre-capitalism), there have been economic classes. In feudal society, for example, there was the landlord class, which owned the fields and the manors and the serfs or slaves. In addition, of course, there were the serfs, and the bureaucrats who collected tax money or undertook other administrative tasks. Then there were the "enforcers," the brute force of the feudal lord, which could take the form of a small private army or "foreman" who would beat the serfs if they did not work.
In modern capitalist society, the means of production changes, but parallels of the feudal class structure can be seen. The capitalist now owns factories, and buys the labor of the proletarian working in "his" factory.
To see the origin of class conflict in a capitalist society, we must examine the actual economics of factory work and production. If the workers shows up and works, he creates a product, with the use of the factory equipment owned by the capitalist. The capitalist then pays the proletarian a sum of money for his labor. However, if we examine the following course of events, we can establish that the worker is being paid less than the product is worth, to produce it!
For instance, the capitalist sells a product to a middle man for $100 the middle man sells the product to a retailer for $150. The retailer then sets the product on the shelf at the price of $200, where a consumer buys it.
Now, we return to the factory. The capitalist, receiving $100 for the product manufactured by the worker, pays the proletarian at the end of the week for his work. If you add up the amount of products he produced, and divide his pay by it, we find that he is being paid far less than the capitalist is selling the product for!
Therefore, a factory worker may produce 50 products in a day. At the end of a six-day week, that means he has produced 300 products. Should he not be able to then buy 300 o the products he has manufactured then, with his pay? But he is not able to. This is where the alienation between worker and product begins, when he is producing something he himself cannot afford.
Where does the difference go, between the money taken in from the sale of the product to a middle man and the money the worker is paid? It becomes profit, and the capitalist pockets it. Has he done any work, contributed any sweat to the process of production?
No – he benefits monetarily only because of what he owns, what his bourgeois property is. He can sit at home all day, enjoying luxuries he can afford through the labor of the workers, while they toil away in the factory to make him richer. The workers, seeing this, become discontented. He does no work, why should he benefit from our labor?
The capitalist, wishing to enjoy greater and greater profits to perhaps open up another factory to exploit the wage labor of more workers, must do one of two things to ensure greater profits. He must either sell the product at a higher cost, which will likely alienate middle man or retailer, or he can pay his worker's less, and take the extra as profit.
This cycle will lead to greater and greater discontent among the working class, leading to the formation of labor unions, strikes, and worker's parties, all of which are weapons to hit back against the system of wage slavery.
The capitalists, feeling threatened, may shut down factories, or hire thugs as "union-busters" to intimidate, beat, and kill union leaders and members, and intimidate non-unionized labor, saying they will be fired at the first hint of unionization. This causes more resentment against the capitalists, and so on and so on, until violent revolution and seizure of the means of production by the working class is the only logical conclusion.
To address the issues of the bourgeois democracy, we can say this: democracy in a capitalist society is not representative of the masses, but representative of the propertied "elite" upper class of capitalists. "But from this capitalist democracy-inevitably narrow, subtly rejecting the poor, and therefore hypocritical and false to the core - progress does not march onward, simply, smoothly, and directly, to "greater and greater democracy," as the liberal professors and petty-bourgeois opportunists would have us believe." (Lenin, State and Revolution).
A bourgeois democracy is a democracy influenced by the system of capitalism. The masses are manipulated and misled by corporate media and the upper class politicians. Government is unresponsive to the demands of the workers, as the ultimate master of bourgeois government is the capitalist class, whom it serves with fewer restrictions on free trade, pollution of power plants and factories, and other laws that give the capitalists an opportunity to reach ever-higher profits.
For this reason, the reformist socialists are poorly misguided. Fundamental change in the capitalist system cannot occur with the help of the bourgeois state. You cannot seek solutions through democratic means, as the only solution to class antagonism and economic & social injustice is a worker's revolution.
The vanguard party should be made up of the revolutionary working class, an organized center for the training of the working class for the eventual revolution against the capitalist exploiters and bourgeois state.
The vanguard party should have close ties with the various labor unions, and encourage them to merge together into larger and larger unions of workers, hopefully fulfilling the IWW dream of One Big Union, who could hold the capitalists accountable, all a precursor to the revolution.
The party leadership should be democratically elected representatives of the interests of the revolutionary working class, and a base for the whole organization to rely on for necessities of revolution, such as securing mass support, then the arming of the party militants, and the coordinating of the revolution.
After the revolution, the capitalists will cease to exist as an economic class. The worst of them should be tried and executed, while others should be given the chance to be rehabilitated and labor for the socialist cause.
The workers at a particular factory will now manage the administration and production within a given factory, and be in communication with the central planning division of the new socialist state, so as to determine where their products are most needed by the people. In this way, all communities will be linked through mutual assistance through central planning, rather than the global or national markets.
In a post revolutionary society, there will be many changes to the economic and social structure of the nation. For example, communal cafeterias, community day care and schooling, the destruction of the family as an economic unit, nationalization of major industry and businesses, etc.
Some good general guidelines of what makes a nation socialist can be seen in the Communist Manifesto.
"1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c."
Media that is contrary to the new socialist state should be banned, in such cases as movies or pamphlets advocating racist hate or discrimination. Also, prostitution and pornography should be abolished, as they are in nearly all cases created by wealthy men, and women who are experiencing economic hardship. Alexandra Kollontai stipulates that prostitution, as a result of socialist society, will be eliminated without even putting restrictions on it, as it will no longer be economically necessary. "This evil, which is a stain on humanity and the scourge of hungry working women, has its roots in commodity production and the institution of private property. Once these economic forms are superseded, the trade in women will automatically disappear." (Communism and the Family).
In the same essay, she describes how the duties previously associated with the family (cleaning, cooking, raising children), will be taken care of by the State and communal cafeterias, so the family will eventually cease to be a relevant aspect of a communist or socialist society.
As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels said, the socialist State must do its job, and then wither away. Once the workers are firmly in control of the means of production, then the State can gradually lose its political character, and will merely act in an administrative position, assuring that resources move in an effective way, to where they are needed most, and that builders are creating enough housing in the right places, etc.
I hope this explains my current view of things, and that I am worthy of being an un-restricted member of the RevLeft community. As always, feel free to take issue with any ideological errors you see (other than fundamental ones, ie criticism from anarchists, etc).
With socialist greetings,
-Comrade Demopolous (Peacekeeper)