Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part One

Introduction I am dividing the post into two parts, with the first part devoted to more concrete concerns, and the second part to more theoretical concerns. David Bush, in an April 26, 2017 article published on the Socialist Project website (Basic Income and the Left: The Political and Economic Problems), argues that the proposal for … Continue reading Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part One →

Comments from John Urkevich, AESES-UM Business Agent, to my Critique of the Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: Letter to the Editor, Inside The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services (AESES), Vol. 17, No. 4, May 1994

As I wrote in my last post (Critique of the Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: Letter to the Editor, Inside The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services (AESES), Vol. 17, No. 4, May 1994), I would provide the business agent's reply to my letter to the editor in the same volume of the union newsletter. Here … Continue reading Comments from John Urkevich, AESES-UM Business Agent, to my Critique of the Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: Letter to the Editor, Inside The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services (AESES), Vol. 17, No. 4, May 1994 →

Critique of the Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: Letter to the Editor, Inside The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services (AESES), Vol. 17, No. 4, May 1994

In a previous post, I provided the current management rights clause between AESES and the University of Manitoba (Management (Employer) Rights, Part Three: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Manitoba). This is a continuation, of sorts. The title indicates what the content of this post will be about. In 1994, I worked on a project at Dafoe … Continue reading Critique of the Grievance and Arbitration Procedure: Letter to the Editor, Inside The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services (AESES), Vol. 17, No. 4, May 1994 →

The Socialist Project’s Critique of Doug Ford’s Attack on Local Democracy Falls Short

The following was written almost six years ago; it is still relevant. The Socialist Project has rightly condemned Doug Ford (the new Premier of Ontario, Canada) for his unilateral reduction of the number of Toronto city councilors (in the midst of Toronto elections, no less--indeed, an autocratic act) (see Ford's Attack on Local Democracy in … Continue reading The Socialist Project’s Critique of Doug Ford’s Attack on Local Democracy Falls Short →

Management (Employer) Rights, Part Three: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Manitoba

I worked on a library project at the Dafoe Library at the University of Manitoba (Canada) around 1993. The union to which I belonged was AESES (The Association of Employees Supporting Educational Services). I wrote to the editor of the union newsletter, criticizing the limitations of unions. The business agent of the union responded by … Continue reading Management (Employer) Rights, Part Three: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Manitoba →

Workers and Community Members Need to Discuss Their Experiences and Lives Openly

John Dewey, one of the greatest philosophers of education of the twentieth century, argued that we need to take seriously our experiences in this world--because our experiences are really all that we have in this world. He did not mean by this that all experiences are on the same level of accuracy, but he did … Continue reading Workers and Community Members Need to Discuss Their Experiences and Lives Openly →

Management Rights, Part Two: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario

Workers in the public sector are used just as much as means for purposes over which they have little or no control (see The Money Circuit of Capital). The left often denies this implicitly by idealizing the public sector over the private sector. Workers in the public sector, however, are employees, and as employees they … Continue reading Management Rights, Part Two: Public Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario →

Intelligent Activity According to John Dewey: Its Political Implications for the Left

John Dewey, one of the greatest philosophers of education of the twentieth century, has this to say about intelligent activity. From Democracy and Education. Pennsylvania State University, 2001, page 108: The net conclusion is that acting with an aim is all one with acting intelligently. To foresee a terminus of an act is to have a … Continue reading Intelligent Activity According to John Dewey: Its Political Implications for the Left →

A Case of Silent Indoctrination, Part One: The Manitoba History Curricula and Its Lack of History of Employers and Employees

I submitted a longer essay to the popular Canadian educational journal Our Schools Our Selves for publication. It was never published. The idea for the following has a personal basis: when my daughter was studying grade 11 Canadian history in Manitoba (Manitoba is one of 10 provinces in Canada, with three additional territories), I decided to look … Continue reading A Case of Silent Indoctrination, Part One: The Manitoba History Curricula and Its Lack of History of Employers and Employees →

Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part One

Leer este post en español [Utilicé ChatGPT (Inteligencia Artificial) para traducir la versión en inglés al español.] My wife asked me what other kind of society could we live than the one we are living now. I suspect that most people have the same kind of question. It is difficult to imagine another kind of … Continue reading Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part One →