Leer este post en español The following is a continuation of an earlier post (Socialism, Part Two: What It May Look Like) about the nature of socialism--which is a solution to problems that capitalism, characterized by the domination of a class of employers, cannot solve. Socialism is not something that emerges from a utopian view … Continue reading Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part Three
The Canadian Left’s Lack of a Vision of the Good Life Beyond a Class of Employers
Stanley Aronowitz, in his book The Death and Life of American Labor: Toward a New Workers’ Movement (New York: Verso, page 162) , points out how the left has in effect abandoned any real intention of developing a movement powerful enough to challenge a system dominated by the class of employers: Professional intellectuals need not … Continue reading The Canadian Left’s Lack of a Vision of the Good Life Beyond a Class of Employers
Confessions of a Union Representative Concerning the Real Power of Employers
In the context of the process of passing legislation related to the Westray mining disaster (ultimately diluted to satisfy the interests of employers), a union representative explicitly expressed the reality that workers face when they work for employers. The problem with this explicit admission of the power of employers is that it does not play … Continue reading Confessions of a Union Representative Concerning the Real Power of Employers
Unions and Safety on Jobs Controlled by Employers
The following tries to explain why unions do not adequately address the safety concerns of rank-and-file workers who work for an employer. Of course, safety conditions in non-unionized settings may be even worse, but we should not idealize unionized settings either. They are better than non-unionized settings, generally, but they remain inadequate since workers' safety … Continue reading Unions and Safety on Jobs Controlled by Employers
What’s Left, Toronto? Part One
I wrote the following around six years ago. It is still pertinent today. Indeed, we read the following from a recent "Marxist" last year: When there once existed a mass international socialist movement, polemics were hard-edged because the movement was everywhere bidding for power. But the polemical texts were typically substantial, factual, and challenging and … Continue reading What’s Left, Toronto? Part One
Social-Reformist Leftist Activists Share Assumptions with the Right
In an earlier post (Basic Income: A Critique of the Social-Reformist Left’s Assumptions and Analysis: Part Two), I argued that the social-reformist leftist activist Mr. Bush used Karl Marx's theory of surplus value for conservative (reformist purposes). This post will expand on this view by pointing out, in a more theoretical way, how Mr. Bush, … Continue reading Social-Reformist Leftist Activists Share Assumptions with the Right
Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario, or: How the Social-Democratic Left Ignore Them
Management Rights The social-democratic left typically is incapable of dealing with the issue of the power of management. There is little or no discussion over such issues despite the existence of the power of the class of employers at various levels of society: economic, political, social and cultural. This silence expresses both the power of … Continue reading Management Rights, Part Four: Private Sector Collective Agreement, Ontario, or: How the Social-Democratic Left Ignore Them
Getting Away with Murder and Bodily Assault: Employers and the Law
Steven Bittle, in his doctoral dissertation, Still Dying for a Living: Shaping Corporate Criminal Liability After the Westray Mine Disaster (Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University argues the following (from page ii): Overall, the dissertation suggests that the assumptions that animated Canada’s corporate criminal liability legislation and the meanings inscribed in its provisions throw serious doubt on … Continue reading Getting Away with Murder and Bodily Assault: Employers and the Law
A Case of Silent Indoctrination, Part Two: The Ontario History Curriculum and Its Lack of History of Employers and Employees
This post is a continuation of a previous post on the Manitoba history curriculum (see A Case of Silent Indoctrination, Part One: The Manitoba History Curricula and Its Lack of History of Employers and Employees). The background to the post is provided in that previous post. But just a reminder: the research question is: … Continue reading A Case of Silent Indoctrination, Part Two: The Ontario History Curriculum 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 Two
Leer este post en español The following is a continuation of an earlier post (Socialism, Part One: What It May Look Like) about the nature of socialism--which is a solution to problems that capitalism, characterized by the domination of a class of employers, cannot solve. Socialism is not something that emerges from a utopian view … Continue reading Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part Two
