The following is a critique of an article written by Sam Gindin before the coronavirus pandemic emerged. It is relevant to the current situation because of the current call for public ownership as a solution to the problems that we face. Mr. Gindin published an article on February 3, 2020, titled Realizing 'Just Transitions': The … Continue reading The Contradictions of Social Democracy: Mr. Gindin’s Musings on the Closure of GM’s Oshawa Plant
Tag: Sam Gindin
Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part Two
This is a continuation of a previous post. It is a response to Mr. Sam Gindin's article, We Need to Say What Socialism Will Look Like , where he argues that under socialism the government or state will not "wither away" but will expand as public services expand. Mr. Gindin's conception of the expansion of … Continue reading Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part Two
Review of Jane McAlevey’s “A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy”: Two Steps Backward and One Step Forward, Part One
Jane McAlevey is everywhere these days. Recently appointed a senior fellow at Berkeley’s Labor Center, she is now also a regular columnist for both the Nation and Jacobin. Her webinar (“Organizing for Union Power”) has a global audience. She continues to be called on to address unions and run training sessions in the United States, Canada, the … Continue reading Review of Jane McAlevey’s “A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy”: Two Steps Backward and One Step Forward, Part One
The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces
Professor Noonan, an academic leftist, argues that the Nemak return to work provides lessons for the left. Indeed, it does--but unfortunately he fails to draw further lessons from the situation. He says the following: As regards work, the structural dependence on paid employment is what makes people working class. This structural dependence is what, above … Continue reading The Poverty of Academic Leftism, Part Four: The Myth of Creating Socialist Spaces
Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part One
Mr. Gindin, in his article We Need to Say What Socialism Will Look Like argues the following: The expectations of full or near-full abundance, added to perfect or near-perfect social consciousness, have a further consequence: they imply a dramatic waning, if not end, of substantive social conflicts and so do away with any need for an “external” … Continue reading Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part One
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
Once Again on the GM Plant Closure in Oshawa and the Limitations of the Social-Reformist Left
Sam Gindin published an article on the Socialist Project website entitled GM Oshawa: Making Hope Possible. The following is a continuation of two previous posts on the closure and the inadequate nature of the social-reformist left in dealing with such closures (see Management Rights and the Crisis in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada: Limitations of the Reformist … Continue reading Once Again on the GM Plant Closure in Oshawa and the Limitations of the Social-Reformist Left
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
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
The Abolitionary 