Before I obtained a so-called permanent teaching position (I will explain in a much later post why I use the word "so-called"), I worked for a number of years as a substitute teacher (with short periods of term teaching positions). I became an executive member of the Winnipeg Teachers' Association (WTA) (in the province of … Continue reading The Radical Left Needs to Call into Question Existing Social Institutions at Every Opportunity, Part One
Tag: employers
Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part One
This will be a two-part post, with the second part being a brief focus on the inadequate methodology of social democrats and trade unionists. The radical left need to take measures against such inadequate methodology. I demonstrate briefly their inadequate methodology by referring to John Dewey's philosophy of human nature and contrast it with one … Continue reading Social Democracy or Social Reformism and Trade Unionism: Their Social Limitations and Methodology, Part One
A Short List of the Largest Private Employers in Canada, According to Profit
When belonging to a leftist organization called the Toronto Labour Committee (Ontario, Canada), I worked on, in a minor position, on some statistics related to financial campaign contributions for the Toronto elections. Not being satisfied with this, I proposed that we start trying to develop a class analysis of Toronto. I indicated, though, that I … Continue reading A Short List of the Largest Private Employers in Canada, According to Profit
Working for an Employer May Be Dangerous to Your Health, Part One
The title is a variation of one of the subsections in chapter two of Jeremy Reiman's The Rich Get Richer … and the Poor Get Prison. In a couple of earlier posts, I pointed out that working for an employer involves needless deaths and injuries (The Issue of Health and Safety in the Workplace Dominated by … Continue reading Working for an Employer May Be Dangerous to Your Health, Part One
Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part Four
Leer este post en español The following is a continuation of previous posts on the possible nature of socialism that excludes the power of employers as a class. In the following, Tony Smith elaborates on the democratic nature of the workplace, which is subject to control not only by the workers at the particular workplace … Continue reading Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part Four
Socialism, What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers, Part Three
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
Ontario Election of Conservatives: Will the Social-Reformist Left Learn?
Leer este post en español The following was written over six years ago. The next election saw the "Progressive" Conservatives elected once again--and the following election again. The article still applies--to the social-reformist left. Now that the "Progessive" Conservatives have won a clear majority of seats in the provincial legislature, should not the social-reformist left … Continue reading Ontario Election of Conservatives: Will the Social-Reformist Left Learn?
Basic Income: A Critique of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty’s Stance
Leer este post en español In the pamphlet published on the Socialist Project website, Basic Income in the Neoliberal Age (Toronto, 2017), the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) implies that only a social-reformist vision--maintaining the welfare-state--is a viable option; it implicitly assumes that going beyond it is not viable. Its argument combines both a realistic … Continue reading Basic Income: A Critique of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty’s Stance
The Limitations of the Social-Reformist Left
Leer este post en español Introduction I used to belong to a leftist organization in Toronto. I started, slowly, to realize that it really has little to do with challenging the power of employers as a class despite the rhetoric concerning class issues being a priority. This view was confirmed when a movement for the … Continue reading The Limitations of the Social-Reformist Left
The Abolitionary 