#labor vouchers

[dailyanarchistposts]

Believing that the attempt to make labor-time a standard for a monetary unit a fallacy and bound to fail in practice, I submit a few questions and observations. Whose labor is to be used as a standard, the efficient or the inefficient man’s? Take any product you may, say shoes. John produces five pairs a day, James produces ten. Is it possible that John in a free market will be able to obtain for his shoes a price twice as great as James? Absurd! In a competitive market, John would be forced out of business if he charged a price twice as great as James. If he charged the same price, which he must do to remain in business, what becomes of the labor-time unit? Disappeared!

What is a standard of value? It is one product in terms of which the exchange rate of other products are measured. It is true that labor, in the shape of the utility of the objective hindrance overcome, the value of which is determined in a competitive market, enters as an element determining the exchange value of product and in a freely competitive market tends to become the whole factor. But products must be useful in order to be exchangeable, and usefulness is determined by desire. The value of labor is determined by its result, not the result by amount of labor in time.

The truth is that the desire for a product can measure the utility and hence the value of the labor expended in making it, but the amount of labor cannot conversely measure the value of a product. For, what may be said of productive labor and wasted labor? How are they to be differentiated? Surely it must be seen that under a freely competitive system inefficiency and waste are automatically eliminated. This is to the benefit of society at large. This is why a freely competitive system is, truly and broadly speaking, the most automatically cooperative condition possible. And this is why, fortunately, that freedom solves the economic problem. Efficiency crowds out inefficiency, putting the right man in the right place and remunerating each according to the service he renders society.

The trouble with economic conditions is that they are not freely competitive and the State is the institution which maintains this system of robbery. What with all the privileges guaranteed to and handicaps placed upon the different producers it so happens that some are able to derive more than their just share of the wealth produced. The necessary conditions for a freely competitive society which anarchists desire, the equality of opportunity, is very far from being realized today. This is why they so valiantly struggle to instruct people in the economic benefits of liberty.

While we claim that liberty solves every solvable social problem either it be in education, sex, literature, art, crime, religious beliefs or whatnot, we emphacize most strongly on the economic field, for this, it is believed, is the key to all others. It is unfortunate that so many so-called radicals (men who go to the root of things) do not understand economic processes, especially as they would exist under freedom. In my estimation, what makes this so is, not only the intentional perversions made by the text book economists, but also the stupid blunders made by Karl Marx in his, I believe, honest attempt to fight for the cause of the working class.

As far as the money problem is concerned, all that anarchists desire is that anyone or any combination may go into the business of furnishing money or insuring credit. To the superficial thinker, especially the authoritarian minded such as Socialists or Communists, this would seem the veritable return to chaos. But we will see how fraudulent or insecure money fares when free competition in banking exists, and what will become of the phenomenon of interest. What will most probably happen has been ably shown by Proudhon, Wm. B. Greene, and others.

But it is quite doubtful that an attempt to directly adopt a labor-time unit of value will meet with any success.

Laurance Labadie

[renposter]

In the Wikipedia article about Labour vouchers, one of the editors cracked a joke about the name of an economist.

[llycaons]

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the exploitation of others.

obviously these are extreme and horrific situations but do you know how much of this training is like 'this is illegal" and then describes something that almost already exists under late-stage capitalism

[odinsblog]

🗣️THIS IS WHAT INCLUSIVE, COMPASSIONATE DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE

Minnesota Dems enacted a raft of laws to make the state a trans refuge, and ensure people receiving trans care here can't be reached by far-right governments in places like Florida and Texas. (link)

Minnesota Dems ensured that everyone, including undocumented immigrants, can get drivers' licenses. (link)

They made public college free for the majority of Minnesota families. (link)

Minnesota Dems dropped a billion dollars into a bevy of affordable housing programs, including by creating a new state housing voucher program. (link)

Minnesota Dems massively increased funding for the state's perpetually-underfunded public defenders, which lets more public defenders be hired and existing public defenders get a salary increase. (link)

Dems raised Minnesota education spending by 10%, or about 2.3 billion. (link)

Minnesota Dems created an energy standard for 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040. (link)

Minnesota already has some of the strongest election infrastructure (and highest voter participation) in the country, but the legislature just made it stronger, with automatic registration, preregistration for minors, and easier access to absentee ballots. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded the publicly subsidized health insurance program to undocumented immigrants. This one's interesting because it's the sort of things Dems often balk at. The governor opposed it! The legislature rolled over him and passed it anyway. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years. (link)

Minnesota Dems gave the state AG the power to block the huge healthcare mergers that have slowly gobbled up the state's medical system. (link)

Minnesota Dems restored voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they leave prison. (link)

Minnesota Dems made prison phone calls free. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed new wage protection rules for the construction industry, against industry resistance. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a new sales tax to fund bus and train lines, an enormous victory for the sustainability and quality of public transit. Transit be more pleasant to ride, more frequent, and have better shelters, along more lines. (link)

They passed strict new regulations on PFAS ("forever chemicals"). (link)

Minnesota Dems passed the largest bonding bill in state history! Funding improvements to parks, colleges, water infrastructure, bridges, etc. etc. etc. (link)

They're going to build a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Duluth. (link)

I can't even find a news story about it but there's tens of millions in funding for new BRT lines, too. (link)

A wonky-but-important change: Minnesota Dems indexed the state gas tax to inflation, effectively increasing the gas tax. (link)

They actually indexed a bunch of stuff to inflation, including the state's education funding formula, which helps ensure that school spending doesn't decline over time. (link)

Minnesota Dems made hourly school workers (e.g., bus drivers and paraprofessionals) eligible for unemployment during summer break, when they're not working or getting paid. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed a bunch of labor protections for teachers, including requiring school districts to negotiate class sizes as part of union contracts. (Yet another @SydneyJordanMN special here. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a state board to govern labor standards at nursing homes. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which would set price caps for high-cost pharmaceuticals. (link)

Minnesota Dems created new worker protections for Amazon warehouse workers and refinery workers. (link)

Minnesota Dems passed a digital fair repair law, which requires electronics manufacturers to make tools and parts available so that consumers can repair their electronics rather than purchase new items. (link)

Minnesota Dems made Juneteenth a state holiday. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned conversion therapy. (link)

They spent nearly a billion dollars on a variety of environmental programs, from heat pumps to reforestation. (link)

Minnesota Dems expanded protections for pregnant and nursing workers - already in place for larger employers - to almost everyone in the state. (link)

Minnesota Dems created a new child tax credit that will cut child poverty by about a quarter. (link)

Minnesota Democrats dropped a quick $50 million into homelessness prevention programs. (link)

And because the small stuff didn't get lost in the big stuff, they passed a law to prevent catalytic converter thefts. (link)

Minnesota Dems increased child care assistance. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned "captive audience meetings," where employers force employees to watch anti-union presentations. (link)

No news story yet, but Minnesota Dems forced signal priority changes to Twin Cities transit. Right now the trains have to wait at intersections for cars, which, I can say from experience, is terrible. Soon that will change.

Minnesota Dems provided the largest increase to nursing home funding in state history. (link)

They also bumped up salaries for home health workers, to help address the shortage of in-home nurses. (link)

Minnesota Dems legalized drug paraphernalia, which allows social service providers to conduct needle exchanges and address substance abuse with reduced fear of incurring legal action. (link)

Minnesota Dems banned white supremacists and extremists from police forces, capped probation at 5 years for most crimes, improved clemency, and mostly banned no-knock warrants. (link)

Minnesota Dems also laid the groundwork for a public health insurance option. (link)

I’m happy for the people of Minnesota, but as a Floridian living under Ron DeSantis & hateful Republicans, I’m also very envious tbh. We know that democracy can work, and this is a shining example of what government could be like in the hands of legislators who actually care about helping people in need, and not pursuing the GOP’s “culture wars” and suppressing the votes of BIPOC, and inflicting maximum harm on those who aren’t cis/het, white, wealthy, Christian males. BRAVO MINNESOTA. This is how you do it! And the Minnesota Dems did it with a one seat majority, so no excuses. Forget about the next election and focus on doing as much good as you can, while you still can. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

👉🏿 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1660846689450688514.html

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #15

April 19-26 2024

President Biden appeared along side Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senators Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders to announce major climate action. Biden announced a program, Solar For All, 7 billion dollars aimed at supporting low income house holds install solar power in their homes. The program will support 900,000 households across the country getting solar. Lower the average energy bill for a family by $400 a month and avoid more than 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over the next 25 years. The boost in solar installation will help create 200,000 new jobs across the country. The President also announced the launch of the Climate Conservation Crops. modeled on FDR's Civilian Civilian Conservation Corps and JFK's Peace Corps, Biden's Climate Conservation Crops will be a program where young people can connect with climate projects across the country and be paid to help protect the planet. The Corps will be 20,000 strong, with 2,000 openings listed right now on their webpage across 36 states DC and Puerto Rico.

The Department of Labor finalized a new rule on overtime. Currently employers are only required to pay overtime to workers making under $35,568. Under the new ruling that will be raised to workers making $43,888, and in January 2025 raised again to workers making $58,656 and under. This will bring overtime pay to 4 million more workers and transfer $1.5 billion from the pockets of companies to workers. It also fixes to raise the level with inflation every 3 years starting in 2027.

The EPA announced a $1 billion dollar program to help replace heavily duty vehicles with clean energy versions. There are currently 3 million class 6 and 7 vehicles, school buses, box trucks dump trucks, street sweepers, delivery trucks, bucket trucks, and utility trucks, in use. 70% of the funds will go to replacing School Buses with Clean energy buses and the remaining 30% will go to replacing Vocational Vehicles like dump trucks and street sweepers. Heavy Duty vehicles on top of green house cases release harmful nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter and replacing them will not only combat climate change but improve public health.

The Department of Interior took actions to protect 13 million acres of Alaska wild land is protected and to secure the livelihood of Alaska Native peoples who rely on this land. The Administration refused oil and mining rights on the vast areas of Alaska land as well as a 210 miles road through the northern wildernesses. This area represents valuable habitat for caribou and endangered polar bears, as well as millions of migrating birds.

The Department of Transportation announced finalized rules requiring airlines to give automatic cash refunds for canceled flights and other inconvenience. The refunds will be automatic meaning passengers will not have apply for them, prompt the airlines are required to refund a credit card purchase in 7 days, and require repayment in full and in kind, airlines can not substitute travel vouchers for cash. The DOT also announced new rules to protect airline travelers from junk fees, airlines and ticket agents must now clearly tell travelers upfront about all fees so no one is surprised by a hidden fee.

The EPA announced finalized rules on emissions standards for fuel burning power plants. The new rules include a tightening of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, requiring a 70% reduction in mercury. It also had rules protecting ground water, new rules will require coal powered plants to remove 660 million pounds per year of pollutants discharged through wastewater, and for the first time federally regulates the dumping of coal ash, requiring safe dump sites that will not leak into ground water. Finalized rules require coal fired and new natural gas-fired power plants to capture up to 90% of their carbon pollution

Security of Transportation Pete Buttigieg attended the ground breaking of a new high speed rail project to connect Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The Biden Administration announced 3 billion to support the project 5 months ago. At 218 of all electric green rail the project promises to be the fastest way to get from LA to Las Vegas. Planned to open in 2028 just in time for the LA Olympics it is the first of many planned high speed rail projects. The Biden Administration has promised $66 billion for high speed rail and the largest single investment in Amtrak ever.

The FCC announced a new rule restoring Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality requires internet service pervaders to treat all websites equally and not slow certain ones now or speed others. In 2015 under Obama the FCC passed a rule requiring Net Neutrality. However in 2017, the FCC spread headed by Trump appointed Chair Ajit Pai repealed the rules. A patchwork of Democratic controlled states, lead by California passed state level laws requiring Net Neutrality forcing ISPs to de facto keep it in place. Late last year President Biden got the opportunity to replace Pai on the FCC, giving the FCC a 3 to 2 Democratic majority which voted this week to return to the Obama era rules and protect Net Neutrality nationwide.

The FTC passed finalized regulations to ban noncompete agreements in nearly all cases. These agreements, which cover 18% of American workers, about 30 million people, prohibit workers from joining or creating competing companies for a certain period of time. The FTC estimates that workers will earn an average of $524 dollars a year more and up to 8,500 new businesses will be created each year. The new rule will still allow noncompete for senior executives who make up less than 1% of the work force. Like with the FCC, two out of the 3 FTC commissioners who voted for the new rules are Biden appointees.

The Departments of Health and Human Services and Interior have announced a joint, $1 billion project to connect tribal communities to safe drinking water. Roughly half of Tribal households lack access to clean drinking water or adequate sanitation.

At the White House The Biden Administration announced plans to protect, restore and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of rivers and streams. This effort will include state, local and tribal government as well as private efforts along with the federal government to protect and restore the nations freshwater environments.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced a new rule boosting privacy protection for abortions. Republicans in states like Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma and Idaho have tried to make it a crime to leave the state to seek an abortion in a state where it is legal. The new federal rule would make it illegal for health information to be shared in these cases

Vice-President Harris announced a new rule requiring staffing standards at Nursing Homes across the country. The new rules will require registered nurses on duty 24 hours, seven days a week. This represents the first time the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have required specific numbers of nurses and aides in Nursing Homes that get Medicare and Medicaid funding.

The Biden Administration Announced a $6 billion deal with tech giant Micron to bring high tech manufacturing to New York. The deal is expected to see Micron invest $100 billion in Syracuse New York area as well as build a factory in Boise, Idaho. The deal will create 70,000 new jobs. It is part of the Biden Administration's effort to bring high tech chip manufacturing to America.

The Department of Education finalized the most comprehensive federal protections for Trans and other Queer students in the nation's history. The rules also overturn Trump era rules on how colleges should handle sexual assault and harassment.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kamala Harris herself has now borrowed Walz’s lingo and is also calling her opponents “weird”, while Walz is all over our television screens, bolstering the vice-president’s candidacy and playing “attack dog” against the Trump/Vance Republican ticket. I’ll be honest: last month, I would have struggled to pick Walz out of a lineup. This month? I’m Walz-pilled. I have watched dozens of his interviews and clips. And I’m far from alone. He has an army of new fans across the liberal-left: from former Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign co-chair Nina Turner, to one-time Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke, to gun-control activist David Hogg. “In less than 6 days, I went from not knowing who Tim Walz is,” joked writer Travis Helwig on X, “to deep down believing that if he doesn’t get the VP nod I will storm the capitol.” According to Bloomberg, the Harris campaign has narrowed down its “top tier” of potential running mates to three “white guy” candidates: Walz (hurrah!), plus the Arizona senator Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro. Both Kelly and Shapiro have their strengths – and both represent must-win states for the Dems. Allow me, however, to make the clear case for Walz. First, there’s his personality. The 60-year-old governor would bring energy, humor and some much-needed bite to the Democratic presidential ticket. There’s a reason why his videos have been going viral in recent days. Tim Kaine he ain’t. Pick the charismatic and eloquent Walz and you have America’s Fun Uncle ready to go. Then, there’s his résumé. A popular midwest governor from a rural town. A 24-year veteran of the army national guard. A high school teacher who coached the football team to its first state championship. It’s almost too perfect! Finally, there’s his governing record. You will struggle to find a Democratic governor who has achieved more than Walz in the space of a single legislative session. Not Shapiro. Not JB Pritzker of Illinois. Not even Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. [...] Think about it. Democrats can have Tim Walz on the ticket, who called the anti-war, pro-Palestinian ‘uncommitted’ movement “civically engaged” and praised them for “asking for a change in course” and “for more pressure to be put on” the White House, or they can have Josh Shapiro, who called for a crackdown on anti-war, pro-Palestinian college protesters and even compared them to the KKK. They can have Walz on the ticket, who has reportedly “emerged among labor unions as a popular pick” after signing “into law a series of measures viewed as pro-worker” including banning non-compete agreements and expanding protections for Amazon warehouse workers, or they can have Mark Kelly, who opposed the pro-labor Pro Act in the Senate (but has since touted support for it). They can have Walz, who guaranteed students in Minnesota not just free breakfasts but free lunches, or Shapiro, who has courted controversy in Pennsylvania with his support for school vouchers. They can have Walz, who calls his Republican opponents “weird” and extreme, or Kelly, who calls his Republican opponents “good people” who are “working really hard”. This isn’t rocket science. Walz is the obvious choice. Not only is he the ideal “white guy” running mate for Harris, against both Trump and Vance, but he is already doing the job on television and online, lambasting Vance in particular over IVF treatment and insisting he mind his “own damn business”.

Zeteo News founder Mehdi Hasan for The Guardian on why picking Tim Walz as Kamala Harris's running mate is the best option (07.29.2024).

Zeteo News founder Mehdi Hasan wrote in The Guardian why Tim Walz should be Kamala Harris’s running mate. Hasan’s opinion piece is worth reading.

[contentment-of-cats]

Head canon for little Chiss

1: Chiss babies comparative to an adult sized (average 6'4") are very small, and labor is very short. A six-hour labor is considered long, four hours is about average.

2: A Chiss neonate can't regulate their body temperature and needs to put on thermogenic fat. They will nurse almost constantly for their first six months, usually in a sling that holds them close to their mother. Milk-packs are often employed when Mom needs a break.

3: Chiss babies are fat and almost round if they are healthy. The thermogenic fat is packed on during their first year of life. They look like a blueberry. They become more independent between the ages of two and three.

4: At about the age of three, Chiss toddlers develop 'meat teeth.' This makes regular teething look like a tea party. Teething toys and gum rubs are common. Teething centers are popular with parents who are at the end of their tethers.

5:The first premolars and cuspids are replaced by the meat teeth. The adult central and lateral incisors are also extremely sharp and the central incisors will have an almost chisel-like appearance.

6: Adult Chiss have scent glands on their neck and chest, not obvious to the eye. Chiss to about age five will snuffle these spots to be calmed and comforted.

7: About the age of five, little Chiss start learning to use the halves of their brain independently. It's considered a major milestone in child development. This is also the age at which Sky-walkers are taken from their families.

8: Chiss will never refuse to feed a child or a parent with children or an elder. It is considered dishonorable.

9: The Chiss birthrate is low, but they have stipends for each child, extensive parental leave, nutrition vouchers, and free childcare whether the child is from a Common, Lesser, Great, or Ruling family. A woman who has three children gets a stipend for life. A woman from the Lesser and Common families who has five children often is adopted into a higher ranked family as a ranking distant along with her family unit. Any more children and she gets medals and honor chains.

10: Though modern deaths in childbirth are low, a woman who dies as the result of childbirth is given the same funeral as someone of the highest rank. She will have a place of honor in the ossuary, an honor chain and medal, while her surviving family is given a pension.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for getting easily fed up with my temp roommate?

last month, a lady in her 60s knocked on my door and asked for a place to stay bc it was extremely cold and she didn't have a place to go. I (30F) agreed to let her stay for free, with a set move-out date of a week because I had holiday plans. she helped me do some deep cleaning (that I paid her for, because it felt unfair to accept labor for free) and I helped her get a job and even gave her my old iPhone.

now she's back because she ran out of money to stay at a hotel. she left her job due to medical issues from standing for too long (which I did NOT know when I agreed to let her stay here again) and my overall patience with her is growing... very thin. She's very kind and chatty and tries to be helpful, but I just want my house back to myself again especially since I am constantly reminding her that she agreed to wear a mask outside her bedroom because I'm high-risk. (I work from home and still mask anytime I leave the house.) She continues to apply for aid and housing vouchers (we have tried everything) but, knowing what I know now about her self-described physical disabilities, I don't see a solution in sight that doesn't involve her doing things she refuses to do, like physical labor or staying at a group shelter. And I don't know if I have the willpower to tell her to leave when it would put her back on the street.

Am I being classist or ableist for feeling resentful of something I agreed to? Am I, as a physically fit and financially sound person, being too judgmental of someone who, by their own constant (CONSTANT) admission has been bouncing in and out of homelessness for 14 years?

BONUS ROUND: is there a polite way to ask someone to interact with you as little as possible when you are living together for up to three weeks?

What are these acronyms?

[machine-saint]

As workers within the labor movement have become severely divided along cultural and political lines, as the economic situation has become more and more unequal, while politics have become more and more unstable, the temptation to play both sides of the political gamut will only increase. Yet the pitfalls are no less great. It’s unlikely that the Republicans will send O’Brien to prison if the Teamsters ultimately back Joe Biden and Trump proves victorious, but it’s more likely that a prominent Trump supporter, the billionaire Elon Musk, might get his way in the Supreme Court, where he is currently trying to dismantle the National Labor Relations Act. It’s very likely that public schools will be greatly undermined by the Republicans’ voucher proposal. And it’s virtually assured that Medicaid funding will be cut in half. Labor realpolitik is predicated on the hope that the worst of this vindictiveness can be avoided.

Yet Democrats have not made it easy to endorse them. While the party has moved in labor’s direction on important economic issues, and while Biden has undoubtedly been the most pro-union president in modern history, the party has indeed alienated workers with appeals tailored around its increasingly upscale voting base. To deny that this has anything to do with labor’s present situation is absurd. It is painfully obvious that many blue-collar workers find themselves more at home with Trumpian populism than woke liberalism.

lol jacobin. sure, the Republicans are incredibly union-hostile and the Democrats are only increasingly union-friendly, but have you considered... woke????????

[socialistexan]

My top pick for Harris's VP is with Tim Walz, at least who I wanted out of the entire bunch. There's places where's obviously not perfect (he's a politician, duh, I think I've posted about things I didn't like that he did), but he has been excellent on TV and just has a bit of a "country but make it progressive" thing going on that I think would go over well. Football coach, gun owner, teacher, started a GSA chapter in 1999. Head of DGA, too.

I hate to be shallow, but I think there's a perception he's older than he actually is, plus I think his Bernie-like attributes I think work against him when it comes to like core Democratic power that really has a reflexive distaste for someone like that on the national stage. He's also a democratic governor in a blue state, he's had some major progressive accomplishments and I think what the Harris campaign wants is a balance in perception (since Kamala is viewed more progressive than she actually is).

All that said, I've been saying I want it to be Bashear for a while before I knew Walz was a possibility, and it looks like it'll be him and I think it's him. He is kind of the perfect foil for JD Vance, an actual voice from Appalachia. And, yes, the little TV I've seen of him hasn't been the best, Walz and Shapiro are definitely stronger in interviews, but he's not a charisma vacuum like Tim Kaine was. He's young, he's good looking, and he's a popular blue governor in a red state. He used Bible verses to defend trans kids, like this is the man with the widest appeal.

Bashear really doesn't seem to have a major issue/weakness that the other contenders have (Shapiro - Israel and School vouchers, Kelly - labor, Walz - "too progressive" and seems older) while also not really having a major force within the party opposing him (Shapiro - Pro-Palestine, Kelly - unions, Walz - centrists)

Bashear is that sweet spot between all of them. He has the backing of progressive groups - who put out a letter to support him and Walz - while also not rankling centrists too much.

Really his only issues are low national name ID and abortion, where he's been vague at best.

[razistoricharka]

well i think porn should be illegal and if you want to jack off you could grant labor vouchers to an artisan to draw you a cock or perhaps a boob but that's just my two cents

[edwad]

i don't think marx was a communist by the end of his life; idk if you've seen this but a lot of recent scholarship is of the view that marx viewed there would be a state in "communism", for example david leopold and michael lebowitz say this. engels even said that he regretted naming it "the communist manifesto" and that it should have been "the socialist manifesto" because of labor vouchers. do you have any thoughts on this?

i guess i'd ask you to point me in the direction of some of this stuff more directly. if all that's meant by "state" is some sort of republican "administration of things" then this isn't all that hot of a take (although, im not really in favor of it). and i think some of lebowitz' criticisms of marx re: capital are basically non-problems unless you want to dispense with immanent critique (which maybe you do! but then at least own the originality of it rather than treat it as something marx was "missing" on his own terms, as if he intended to get around to it), but admittedly i haven't read much of his stuff so if this is a separate piece/claim then i wouldn't know all that much about it. although, im not sure how much of his work would qualify as "recent scholarship" anyway, considering he died last year and hadn't really been putting out scholarly work on marx for decades from what i can tell. i haven't read leopold at all, but my sense of his output is roughly similar in that most people are talking about his book on the young marx which is nearly 20 years old at this point. if you have something else in mind, let me know!

beyond that, id also just want to make sure to drive the proper wedge between marx and engels, because i don't think engels quotes necessarily elucidate marx's own views (and this includes the administration of things stuff). but in the case of the "socialist manifesto" thing, which, assuming you're referring to his prefaces from the CM, this isn't engels' claim. it isn't a regret for not calling it the socialist manifesto, it's an explanation for why it specifically needed to be called the communist manifesto contra the socialism on the continent and what it meant/stood for, which the communists were opposed to. so unless you're thinking of something else, i don't think that claim is doing the work you want it to tbh, because he actually explicitly says the exact opposite:

anyway, i guess i'd probably say that marx was simply a bad communist a lot. i wouldn't go so far as to say he wasn't a communist (although maybe one could make that case defensibly), but that's mostly because i don't really care to wield label-shaped weapons. i think in his later years he was laying the groundwork for a really powerful communist case against capitalism while also basically undermining it every step of the way. these things are hard to square, but i don't think these shortcomings can simply be reduced to him losing his communism.

[itmeblog]

So...

I've learned more about the couch fucker❤️. Also against my will. I'll link the article below. It's hbomberguy levels of biased so take that as you will.

So JD Vance wrote a forward for a book with a release date that has been pushed back until a week after the election. But early copies n all. Someone read it and wrote an article that will go into more detail than I will.

BUT what it does do, at the very least is contextualize some Republican actions.

If you've been watching the news I'm sure you've noticed that the right and left are currently occupying 2 different realities. One is supported by objective fact the other is... currently under siege by a nonexistent violent wave of immigrants stealing *checks notes* Black jobs. They're also apparently pedophiles and murderers because that wasn't enough.

Regardless, this read helped me understand their actions. Because, I find, when people go this far their actions are *logical* if only to themselves.

Here's my totally biased take on what's going on.

To understand Republicans you must acknowledge that their reality is fundamentally different. It is constantly under attack (by whom? Everyone) There is no freedom but *your* freedom codified somewhere between the Civil War and the 1920s (people are saying 50s but it's the 20s they don't just want bodily autonomy they want to take away the right of women to vote, you can find the sentiment in tradwife spaces and in JD Vances mentors statements) your prejudices may extend well into the 50s for non white individuals. So long as white meets modern definitions.

So first and foremost you must know that China is an existential threat. As is globalization. China, in particular, is stealing American manufacturing jobs, spying on you, stealing from you, brainwashing your kids etc. You're probably on the cusp of war.

Hence the weird 2018 policies and the TikTok ban.

The way to combat this? Prayer, family values (the nuclear family is the bedrock of American values) and bringing back low paying manufacturing jobs but for that you need more bodies.

Prayer comes first. A man's religion shapes his morality and the only religion that counts is your specific brand of Christianity. (Hence the move to add the 10 commandments in schools and in school prayer). Having that will unite the US in faith which is important because...

Babies! There aren't enough babies!! But remaining willfully child free is not a financial or personal choice. It's a choice predicated on a lack of Faith. You don't have kids? You have no faith in the American future and you have no faith in the fact that God and community will help you make ends meet. Having children is not only an American duty but a godly one. (Note: church and state are a single unit)

Hence the abortion laws and the refusal to grant the right to birth control. [Birth control has made having children seem "unnatural" and was funded by eugenicists to cut down the population, porn and modern tech have made men impotent] Also likely the reason to defund public education as public schools have to follow laws that privately funded schools do not. Besides all that new labor force [in predominantly poor areas who will need to Golden Ticket their way into a good private school, look up voucher programs for more on this] need not be educated enough to understand how much they're being taken advantage of.

Gun laws comes from the distrust in cops and big government!! Yes!!! Oddly enough the thin blue line values do not extend here! The Uvalde shooting was *that* bad. But you must protect yourself with roving bands of militias should a BLM protest come your way! Remember the Koreatown values after the Rodney King debacle? That. The ability to arm yourself and defend your community and beliefs from threats by m&m haired liberals and BLM will harken back to the days of the wild west the most American time there was!

By doing all this you can reestablish old values, reinvigorate the economy, and bring back American strength!

If you're sitting back thinking none of this makes sense and will in fact make things worse... you must remember that you have been trained to be afraid and angry. At all times you are scared and you are angry because you are scared. You are under constant attack the rest of your community echoes these sentiments back at you.

Doubting your leader is akin to doubting faith. Leaving any of this means you risk losing your community. You will be alone and belittled, without God, without friends, without family, without structure and all that's left is the world you have learned from a very young age, hates you for your very existence.

[destroying-iof-prostates-4-hamas]

A liberal anarchist Luxemburgist Titoist IWW member professor and Rojava foreign fighter was teaching a class on Irving Kristol, a known Trotskyite.

"Before the class begins, you must get on your knees and worship Kristol and accept that he was the most class-conscious being the world has ever known, even greater than Thomas More!"

At that moment, a brave, patriotic, pro-worker Spetsnaz champion who had served 1500 tours of duty and understood the necessity of Socialism in One Country and fully supported all military decision made by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics stood up and held up the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

"Why did Stalin invade Poland?"

The arrogant professor smirked quite Ukrainianly and smugly replied "He was a fascist, you stupid tankie"

"Wrong. He invaded to save eastern Poland from Hitler. If he was a fascist, as you say, why didn’t he declare war on Germany in 1939 like the fascist imperialist states of France and Britain?"

The professor was visibly shaken, and dropped his chalk and copy of Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks. He stormed out of the room crying those bourgeois crocodile tears. The same tears American pigs cried for the "kulaks" (who lived in such luxury that most owned combine harvesters) when they were sent to face punishment for their crimes against the people in corrective-labor camps. There is no doubt that at this point our professor, Noam Chomsky, wished he had joined the Stalin Society and become more than a bourgeois liberal professor. He wished so much that he had a gun to shoot himself from embarrassment, but he wasn’t a member of the Communist Party!

The students applauded and all registered Communist that day and accepted Enver Hoxha as their lord and savior. An eagle named “Withering away of the state" flew into the room and perched atop the Red Flag and shed a tear on the chalk. The Internationale was sung several times, and Kim Jong-un himself showed up and incited a new Intifada.

The professor lost his tenure and was fired after the ensuing Second Bolshevik Revolution. He was arrested by the Militsiya and sent to Siberia where he was executed with an ice axe to the head.

An ultra-leftist anarcho-liberal zionist professor and trotskyite wrecker was teaching a class on Amadeo Bordiga, a known revisionist.

"Before the class begins, you must get on your knees and worship Bordiga and accept that he was the the greatest communist theorist the world has ever known, even greater than Lenin!”

At this moment, a brave, nationalistic Red Army tank commander who had killed 1500 Kronstadt Sailors and understood that famines happen all the time because of material conditions and fully supported all military actions by Putin stood up and held up an AK-47.

”Who uses this weapon, ultra?”

The arrogant professor smirked quite revisionistly and smugly replied: “State capitalist imperialists, you stupid tankie”

”Wrong. It’s a weapon used by freedom fighters the world over. From Russia and Iran to our comrades in the Islamic State, this gun is a symbol of REAL AND ACTUALLY EXISTING socialist movements”

The professor was visibly shaken, and dropped his chalk and copy of The Conquest of Bread. He stormed out of the room crying those bourgeois crocodile tears. The same tears ultras cry for the “Kulaks" (who lived in such bourgeois luxury that they had bread to eat) when they jealously try to claw justly earned labour vouchers from the deserving vanguard. There is no doubt that at this point our professor, Leon Trotsky, wished he had learned the importance of dialectics and become more than a sophist leftcom professor. He wished so much that he had a gun to shoot himself in embarrassment, but his undialectic anarchist commune forbid weapons!

The students applauded and all registered CPGB-ML that day and accepted Lenin as their lord and savoir. An eagle named “The Dictatorship of the Proletariat” flew into the room and perched atop the Soviet flag and shed a tear on the chalk. Several saying were read aloud from Maos book, and Stalin himself showed up and gave them extra bread rations for a week.

[intogenshin]

Those who do not work shall not eat

Sign inside the Fortress of Meropide, probably a reference to the Bible where the quote originated, but also a funny jab at Lenin’s use of it in one of his works.

Although Meropide’s system works the way capitalism is intended to work in theory, with its core values and promises fulfilled, part of its superficial depiction also reminds of communist elements (the vouchers, the lack of social class, etc). But then Meropide is also a prison that provides labor for the surface city, so what does that really say about this idealistic application of capitalism.

Either way, Lenin realistically understood that communism couldn’t be achieved overnight, and that the transition through socialism would still function under bourgeois law. So this principle of equal remuneration would shape society into embracing work, otherwise the upper clasess who were used to work little (or just owning labor) for higher profit would remain the same. One should lead with example, anyway.

There’s disagreement on the interpretation of this quote, of whether Lenin meant equal exchange of labor for product with needs already satisfied, or if he just wanted disabled people to die.

Wriothesley seems to agree with the first one, since he still provides the basics regardless of if convicts work or not, but then again this is an idealistic depiction of capitalist theory and myth.

[meandmybigmouth]

Advocates of undoing child labor regulations have mainly justified it on two grounds: One is that there is a huge labor shortage in the United States, and companies are struggling to get help; the second is that parents should be making decisions on whether their kids work, not schools or other bureaucracies.

In an interview with The Progressive, Reid Maki, a coordinator with the Child Labor Coalition, a nonprofit group against child labor, addressed the first point. “You can’t balance a labor shortage on the backs of teen workers,” Maki says, “especially if it impacts their education negatively, if it puts them at risk for injury.”  He added that increasing wages would be a better way to attract adult workers and end the labor shortage.

BETRAYAL AND EXPLOITATION OF THEIR CHILDREN IS AN AMERICAN TRADITION