Introduction In a previous post, I criticized John Clarke's social-democratic views on exploitation and decent wages. In this post I will extend such a criticism to his views on economic coercion and basic income. Economic Coercion Parallel to Mr. Clarke's reference to exploitation as a rhetorical addition to his social-democratic or social-reformist position of advocating … Continue reading Critique of a Limited Definition of the Problem: The Case of the Toronto Radical John Clarke, Part Two
The Radical Left Underestimate the Ideological Power of Employers and Overestimate Their Own Ideological Struggle
Leftists frequently refer to themselves and others as the left. This is vague to the point of being useless. Often, what is meant by being left is being paying lip-service to being anti-capitalist--without in reality doing anything to oppose the power of the class of employers as such, either ideologically or in practice. A good … Continue reading The Radical Left Underestimate the Ideological Power of Employers and Overestimate Their Own Ideological Struggle
The Rate of Exploitation of the Workers of the Bank of Montreal (BMO), One of the Largest Private Employers in Canada
Introduction In two others posts I presented the twenty largest employers in Toronto according to level of employment (see A Short List of the Largest Employers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and the twenty largest employers in Canada according to profit (see A Short List of the Largest Private Employers in Canada, According to Profit). I … Continue reading The Rate of Exploitation of the Workers of the Bank of Montreal (BMO), One of the Largest Private Employers in Canada
The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Nine: The Nature of Capitalism
Introduction It is interesting that social democrats express themselves in different ways. Thus, Professor Noonan, a professor at the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada), who teaches Marxism, among other courses, presents what he considers one of the major issues at stake in the struggle of the left against the right in his "post (really a … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Nine: The Nature of Capitalism
Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Eight: The Mind-Body Problem
This is a continuation of earlier posts. When I was a French teacher at Ashern Central School, in Ashern, Manitoba, Canada, I started to place critiques, mainly (although not entirely) of the current school system. At first, I merely printed off the articles, but then I started to provide a summary of the article along … Continue reading Critical Education Articles Placed in the Teacher Staff Lounge While I Was a Teacher, Part Eight: The Mind-Body Problem
The Real World of the Rule of Law: Courts as Oppressive Organizations, Part One
Introduction The following series of posts are meant to complement the series of posts on the issue of reforming versus abolishing the police (see for example Reform or Abolition of the Police, Part One or Reform Versus Abolition of the Police, Part 8: The Police and the Political Economy of Capitalism). The following is mainly a series … Continue reading The Real World of the Rule of Law: Courts as Oppressive Organizations, Part One
A Worker’s Resistance to the Capitalist Government or State and Its Representatives, Part Eight
Introduction This is a continuation of a previous post that illustrates how politically biased the capitalist government or state and its representatives (such as social-democratic social workers) are when it comes to determining real situations--especially when a person self-declares as a Marxist. Just a recap: I filed a complaint with the Manitoba Institute of Registered … Continue reading A Worker’s Resistance to the Capitalist Government or State and Its Representatives, Part Eight
Economics for Social Democrats–but Not for the Working Class, Part One: Critique of Jim Stanford’s One-Sided View of Job Creation in a Capitalist Society
Introduction The title of this post--and the series of posts that will follow--comes from the title of Jim Stanford's book (2008) Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism. If I remember correctly, perhaps less than a year after I had came to Toronto (in 2013), I heard Mr. Stanford present at … Continue reading Economics for Social Democrats–but Not for the Working Class, Part One: Critique of Jim Stanford’s One-Sided View of Job Creation in a Capitalist Society
The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Six
The following issue deserves a separate post. As I have tried to stress throughout these posts, unions in Canada (and undoubtedly elsewhere) are inadequate organizations for representing the interests of the working class The issue illustrates how union reps limit the development of a critical approach to a society dominated by a class of employers. … Continue reading The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part Six
Critique of the Limited Aim (Solution)–Decent Wages–of a Radical Social Democrat: The Case of the Toronto Radical, John Clarke: Part One
Introduction There are some people among the social-democratic left whom I can respect more than others. John Clarke, former leader of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), is one of them. Here is what one reads on Wikipedia about him: John Clarke is an anti-poverty activist who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of 2019, he was teaching at York … Continue reading Critique of the Limited Aim (Solution)–Decent Wages–of a Radical Social Democrat: The Case of the Toronto Radical, John Clarke: Part One
The Abolitionary 