This must be the dumbest motherfucker to have ever existed, I can't believe people consider them to be a genius in anything other than gaslighting and projection. Almost every single line could be ranked among the most absurd takes I have ever read. I did not know that it was possible to experience such intense feelings of cringe outside of Twitter. The industrial revolution and its consequences indeed.

These countries have the citizenry usually unarmed, while the military is usually highly homogeneous (usually ethnic and class unity within the military, and fiercely loyal to their masters).

Many of the citizens and residents that would benefit from material conditions improvement are also some of the least connected to the land, as they are usually immigrants whose families are elsewhere. They would not be protecting their families in any conflict, and would not benefit from the improvement to the lives of legal citizens.

It just seems that the periphery is better equipped for revolution, and Maoist third-worldism is more correct at analyzing the world. But maybe I am going about this analysis completely wrong, so please feel free to correct and link me to resources. Thanks guys

I adapt part of Kevin Carson's Studies in Mutualist Political Economy to hopefully shed more light on the issue. Exploring 1) the Statist origins of Capitalism, 2) the Mercantilist and Colonialist policies used to bolster State-Capitalism, and 3) the Four Monopolies that maintain Capitalist hegemony in the market.

I've found a few .pdfs but nothing I can read on my e-reader.

There will definitely be duplicate books.

• Verso

• Haymarket

• Pluto Press

• Decolonize Palestine

• Palestinian Youth Movement

• Leeds Palestine Film Festival

• Palestine Festival of Literature

• Islamic Literary Society

• The New Arab

• Settler Colonialism w/ Palestine Reading List

• Dr. Hatem Bazian

• Pink Jinn

• Skin Deep Actions

• Stanford Islamic Studies

A longish, but fascinating, look at the computational constraints surrounding Soviet-style central planning, and some thoughts about how such planning might work with the assistance of modern computing power. You might know Cosma Shalizi from his excellent essay "Cognitive Democracy," which argues that coalitions of people who are more diverse (in all senses) tend to make better decisions.

Excerpt of Condition of the Working Class in England, by Engels, 1845

from the section titled "The Attitude of the Bourgeoisie Towards the Proletariat"

Let no one believe, however, that the "cultivated" Englishman openly brags with his egotism. On the contrary, he conceals it under the vilest hypocrisy. What? The wealthy English fail to remember the poor? They who have founded philanthropic institutions, such as no other country can boast of! Philanthropic institutions forsooth! As though you rendered the proletarians a service in first sucking out their very life-blood and then practising your self-complacent, Pharisaic philanthropy upon them, placing yourselves before the world as mighty benefactors of humanity when you give back to the plundered victims the hundredth part of what belongs to them! Charity which degrades him who gives more than him who takes; charity which treads the downtrodden still deeper in the dust, which demands that the degraded, the pariah cast out by society, shall first surrender the last that remains to him, his very claim to manhood, shall first beg for mercy before your mercy deigns to press, in the shape of an alms, the brand of degradation upon his brow. But let us hear the English bourgeoisie's own words. It is not yet a year since I read in the Manchester Guardian the following letter to the editor, which was published without comment as a perfectly natural, reasonable thing:

"MR. EDITOR,– For some time past our main streets are haunted by swarms of beggars, who try to awaken the pity of the passers-by in a most shameless and annoying manner, by exposing their tattered clothing, sickly aspect, and disgusting wounds and deformities. I should think that when one not only pays the poor-rate, but also contributes largely to the charitable institutions, one had done enough to earn a right to be spared such disagreeable and impertinent molestations. And why else do we pay such high rates for the maintenance of the municipal police, if they do not even protect us so far as to make it possible to go to or out of town in peace? I hope the publication of these lines in your widely- circulated paper may induce the authorities to remove this nuisance; and I remain,– Your obedient servant, "A Lady."

There you have it! The English bourgeoisie is charitable out of self-interest; it gives nothing outright, but regards its gifts as a business matter, makes a bargain with the poor, saying: "If I spend this much upon benevolent institutions, I thereby purchase the right not to be troubled any further, and you are bound thereby to stay in your dusky holes and not to irritate my tender nerves by exposing your misery. You shall despair as before, but you shall despair unseen, this I require, this I purchase with my subscription of twenty pounds for the infirmary!" It is infamous, this charity of a Christian bourgeois! And so writes "A Lady"; she does well to sign herself such, well that she has lost the courage to call herself a woman! But if the "Ladies" are such as this, what must the "Gentlemen" be? It will be said that this is a single case; but no, the foregoing letter expresses the temper of the great majority of the English bourgeoisie, or the editor would not have accepted it, and some reply would have been made to it, which I watched for in vain in the succeeding numbers. And as to the efficiency of this philanthropy, Canon Parkinson himself says that the poor are relieved much more by the poor than by the bourgeoisie; and such relief given by an honest proletarian who knows himself what it is to be hungry, for whom sharing his scanty meal is really a sacrifice, but a sacrifice borne with pleasure, such help has a wholly different ring to it from the carelessly-tossed alms of the luxurious bourgeois.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condition-working-class/ch13.htm

The metaphysical concept is thus constructed with logic and the syllogism. A syllogism is a group of three propositions: the first two are called premises, which means “sent before”; the third is the conclusion. Another example: “In the Soviet Union, before the last constitution, a dictatorship of the proletariat existed. Dictatorship is dictatorship. The U.S.S.R. is a dictatorship. Hence, there was no difference between the U.S.S.R., Italy and Germany, all countries of dictatorship.” Here, for whom and on whom the dictatorship is exercised is not taken into consideration; the same as when one boasts of bourgeois democracy, it is not mentioned for whose profit this democracy is exercised. In this way problems are stated, things and the social world are seen as belonging to separate circles and these circles are inserted into each other. These are certainly theoretical questions, but they entail a certain way of acting in practice. We can cite the unfortunate example of the Germany of 1919, where social-democracy, in order to maintain democracy, destroyed the dictatorship of the proletariat without seeing that by so doing it allowed capitalism to subsist and gave rise to nazism.

- Georges Politzer, Elementary Principles of Philosophy

(Georges Politzer was killed by the Nazis in May 1942)

I want to understand more about these two crises of capitalism. How do they happen? How do they relate to each other?what is the context on the debate in leftist circles around them, as I know some groups prefer to emphasise one over the other. I have read a bit on Michael Roberts' blog, he definitely prefers to emphasise the falling rate of profit but some of it goes over my head.

Any books/articles on this stuff that comrades would recommend?

here is the summary and analysis, feel free to use this to follow along

This chapter is by far my favorite and the most interesting chapter. It is very much detached from the rest of the work, so if you are not caught up with the reading feel free to skip ahead to this one. Once again, I will be leaving the discussion open. Feel free to highlight your favorite parts, ask questions, put in your favorite questions. Try to respond to one other person's comment. Great work comrades for everyone who has completed the reading and keep it going to everyone getting caught up!

English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The Wretched Of The Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damnés_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

soundcloud audio book english https://soundcloud.com/listenleft/sets/frantz-fanon-the-wretched-of-the-earth

Schedule

8/20/23 - pre-face and chapter one On violence

8/27/23- chapter two Grandeur and Weakness of Spontaneity

9/3/23- chapter three The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness

9/10/23- chapter four On National Culture

9/17/23 chapter five Colonial war and Mental Disorders and conclusion

its been a fun ride yall and I will eventually responed to every comment, its been a long week and im getting drunk tonight.

1892 English Edition Introduction to Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels

here is the summary and analysis, feel free to use this to follow along

We are continuing from last week with no discussion questions this week to try to encourage a more natural dialogue. Just talk about what you liked, didn't like, didn't understand. Try to respond to one other person's comment even if it is just something short or to ask a question.

English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The Wretched Of The Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damnés_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

soundcloud audio book english https://soundcloud.com/listenleft/sets/frantz-fanon-the-wretched-of-the-earth

Schedule

8/20/23 - pre-face and chapter one On violence

8/27/23- chapter two Grandeur and Weakness of Spontaneity

9/3/23- chapter three The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness

9/10/23- chapter four On National Culture

9/17/23 chapter five Colonial war and Mental Disorders and conclusion

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm

People don't read prefaces enough. It's fully of juicy deets:

Nevertheless, when it appeared [The Communist Manifesto], we could not have called it a socialist manifesto. In 1847, two kinds of people were considered socialists. On the one hand were the adherents of the various utopian systems, notably the Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France, both of whom, at that date, had already dwindled to mere sects gradually dying out. On the other, the manifold types of social quacks who wanted to eliminate social abuses through their various universal panaceas and all kinds of patch-work, without hurting capital and profit in the least. In both cases, people who stood outside the labor movement and who looked for support rather to the “educated” classes. The section of the working class, however, which demanded a radical reconstruction of society, convinced that mere political revolutions were not enough, then called itself Communist. It was still a rough-hewn, only instinctive and frequently somewhat crude communism. Yet, it was powerful enough to bring into being two systems of utopian communism — in France, the “Icarian” communists of Cabet, and in Germany that of Weitling. Socialism in 1847 signified a bourgeois movement, communism a working-class movement. Socialism was, on the Continent at least, quite respectable, whereas communism was the very opposite. And since we were very decidedly of the opinion as early as then that “the emancipation of the workers must be the task of the working class itself,” [from the General Rules of the International] we could have no hesitation as to which of the two names we should choose. Nor has it ever occurred to us to repudiate it.

I think it's interesting how words change meaning. How Lenin and Stalin both treated Communism and Social Democracy as synonymous in the 1900s, but by the mid 1920s Social Democracy was regarded openly as the moderate wing of fascism, by Stalin. It makes me wonder how much confusion this causes.

The essay focuses on bananas as a symbol of the fruits of imperialism enjoyed by workers in the imperial metropole. As global revolution happens, the predatory and inhumane supply chains that currently bring bananas to the core will be dismantled while new supply chains are established; there cannot be a simple 'transference' of these chains from the imperialists to the workers and so there will be a period without bananas in the imperial core.

One note I want to add is to emphasize the joy of international solidarity during this process. We should not mourn bananas. Instead, we should celebrate our sisters in the Global Periphery breaking the brutal chains that bind them to plantations, to artisan mines, to unventilated factories. The joy of liberation is infinitely greater than the joy of consumption.

As an injury to one is an injury to all, so is the liberation of one the liberation of all!

From: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1906/12/x01.htm

The most widespread, mass organisations are trade unions and workers' co-operatives (mainly producers' and consumers' co-operatives). The object of the trade unions is to fight (mainly) against industrial capital to improve the conditions of the workers within the limits of the present capitalist system. The object of the co-operatives is to fight (mainly) against merchant capital to secure an increase of consumption among the workers by reducing the prices of articles of prime necessity, also within the limits of the capitalist system, of course. The proletariat undoubtedly needs both trade unions and co-operatives as means of organising the proletarian masses. Hence, from the point of view of the proletarian socialism of Marx and Engels, the proletariat must utilise both these forms of organisation and reinforce and strengthen them, as far as this is possible under present political conditions, of course.

But trade unions and co-operatives alone cannot satisfy the organisational needs of the militant proletariat. This is because the organisations mentioned cannot go beyond the limits of capitalism, for their object is to improve the conditions of the workers under the capitalist system. The workers, however, want to free themselves entirely from capitalist slavery, they want to smash these limits, and not merely operate within the limits of capitalism. Hence, in addition, an organisation is needed that will rally around itself the class-conscious elements of the workers of all trades, that will transform the proletariat into a conscious class and make it its chief aim to smash the capitalist system, to prepare for the socialist revolution.

Such an organisation is the Social-Democratic Party of the proletariat.

This Party must be a class party, and it must be quite independent of other parties—and this is because it is the party of the proletarian class, the emancipation of which can be brought about only by this class itself.

This Party must be a revolutionary party—and this because the workers can be emancipated only by revolutionary means, by means of the socialist revolution.

This Party must be an international party, the doors of the Party must be open to all class-conscious proletarians—and this because the emancipation of the workers is not a national but a social question, equally important for the Georgian proletarians, for the Russian proletarians, and for the proletarians of other nations.

Hence, it is clear, that the more closely the proletarians of the different nations are united, the more thoroughly the national barriers which have been raised between them are demolished, the stronger will the Party of the proletariat be, and the more will the organisation of the proletariat in one indivisible class be facilitated.

Hence, it is necessary, as far as possible, to introduce the principle of centralism in the proletarian organisations as against the looseness of federation — irrespective of whether these organisations are party, trade union or co-operative.

It is also clear that all these organisations must be built on a democratic basis, in so far as this is not hindered by political or other conditions, of course.

What should be the relations between the Party on the one hand and the co-operatives and trade unions on the other? Should the latter be party or non-party? The answer to this question depends upon where and under what conditions the proletariat has to fight. At all events, there can be no doubt that the friendlier the trade unions and co-operatives are towards the socialist party of the proletariat, the more fully will both develop. And this is because both these economic organisations, if they are not closely connected with a strong socialist party, often become petty, allow narrow craft interests to obscure general class interests and thereby cause great harm to the proletariat. It is therefore necessary, in all cases, to ensure that the trade unions and co-operatives are under the ideological and political influence of the Party. Only if this is done will the organisations mentioned be transformed into a socialist school that will organise the proletariat—at present split up into separate groups—into a conscious class.

Such, in general, are the characteristic features of the proletarian socialism of Marx and Engels.

Lenin: "The difference between the revolutionary Marxists and the anarchists is not only that the former stand for centralised, large-scale communist production, while the latter stand for disconnected small production..."

My thoughts: It's fairly obvious now that "Bigger is Always Better" is wrong. It would have seemed more convincing 100 years ago. Bigger is sometimes better. Small-scale production has some advantages. (Do I need to state them? I'll leave it to the reader as an exercise.)

If Big Communism and Small Anarchism both have their uses in their contexts, some sort of dual-track economy is needed, two parallel ways of organising the means of production.

Not only the modern standing army, but even the modern militia—and even in the most democratic bourgeois republics, Switzerland, for instance—represent the bourgeoisie armed against the proletariat. That is such an elementary truth that it is hardly necessary to dwell upon it. Suffice it to point to the use of troops against strikers in all capitalist countries.

here is the summary and analysis, feel free to use this to follow along

Im gonna switch it up and say no discussion question this week to try to encourage a more natural dialog socratic seminar style. just talk about what you liked, didn't like, didn't understand, and try to respond to one person in the comments! lets just give it a try! English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The Wretched Of The Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damnés_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

soundcloud audio book english https://soundcloud.com/listenleft/sets/frantz-fanon-the-wretched-of-the-earth

Schedule

8/20/23 - pre-face and chapter one On violence

8/27/23- chapter two Grandeur and Weakness of Spontaneity

9/3/23- chapter three The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness

9/10/23- chapter four On National Culture

9/17/23 chapter five Colonial war and Mental Disorders and conclusion

Apparently Gramsci wrote about it in his prison notebooks. I searched around a bit but couldn't find them for free online, and I don't feel like giving money to Amazon.

Hey guys! welcome to chapter two of the Wretched of the Earth! Here is the summary and analysis we will be using for this book, feel free to use this to follow along if you cant complete the reading or need help catching up.

Chapter two is one of my favorites. It paints a wonderful painting of the colonized society and its potential paths and pitfalls to revolution. The key to this chapter is understanding the different players involved in a colonized society and the tensions between each other.

Some (optional) discussion questions:

1.Who is the lumpenproletariat? Why are the essential to a revolution, why is discounting their potential a mistake?

2. Who are the urban proletariat? what kind of positions do they have? why do they represent the "bourgeoisie fraction of the colonized population"?

3. Who are the rural masses, why are they often a hindrance to revolutions in the past, why are they also crucial? What role do witch doctors and tribal chief play in the lives of the rural masses?

4. Where will the political education of the masses come from? Why is it important?

5. What is the weakness of spontaneity?

Bonus: Try to tie in the concepts from chapter two to a real life countries, such as the events in Niger or Haiti (who is the lumpenproletariat, what are they doing ect).

feel free to ignore the discussion questions if they dont serve you, and just comment any thought, questions, and critiques you have of the chapter! also due dates are not conducive to a real education people! always go at your own pace you don't have to comment today.

English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The Wretched Of The Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damnés_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

soundcloud audio book english https://soundcloud.com/listenleft/sets/frantz-fanon-the-wretched-of-the-earth

Schedule

8/20/23 - pre-face and chapter one On violence

8/27/23- chapter two Grandeur and Weakness of Spontaneity

9/3/23- chapter three The Trials and Tribulations of National Consciousness

9/10/23- chapter four On National Culture

9/17/23 chapter five Colonial war and Mental Disorders and conclusion

hello comrades here we shall be discussing The Wretched of the earth preface and chapter one On Violence i was gonna write my own summry for yall but this summary and analysis i found would serve you all better than what I could write this morning, my sincere apoligies I wiil start us off with some optional question promts!

what did you think of satare's preface?

what does Fanon mean by "replacing one species with another"?

who is the colonized intellectual? what role does he serve?

what does Fanon say about nationalist reformist movements? what are their failings?

why must decolonization be total and all encompassing?

why is the allocation of instruments of force important? I also want to encourage everyone to try to make critique of the reading.

these are just a few things to get the ball rolling, please let me know what I can do better! Please keep commenting and contributing to this thread through out the week for those of you not caught up, this isnt school there is no late work, in fact i hope people come back to these threads many times to see other comrades thoughts. lastly it seems like you guys really like the summary and study guide I found so I will keep using it in future post (its pretty cool its like sparknotes)

English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The Wretched Of The Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damnés_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

Subscribe to them here: https://hexbear.net/search?q=!theorygroup%40lemmygrad.ml&type=All&listingType=All&page=1&sort=TopAll

Now that we're a Federal People's Republic, we can get more comrades participating in study across the two domains.

I will be making the post for The Wretched of the Earth. I have also taken it upon my self to make short summaries of what we read for each post. I think we can split the book up by chapters in five parts. We would be counting the foreword and conclusion as part of the first and final chapters respectively. My thought process is that we take one week per chapter so that you guys can take your time with the book. Please let me know if that is too slow of a pace. regardless we will be having our first post on Sunday so have the forward, preface and chapter one On Violence read. the importance of this book cannot be understated, if you cant keep up with the post please read the summary and discussion in the comments.

The Wretched of the Earth (Les Damnés de la Terre) is a 1961 book by Frantz Fanon. It analyses the dehumanizing effects of colonization upon the individual and the nation, and the broader social, cultural, and political implications of establishing a social movement for the decolonization of a person and of a people.

• English translation by Richard Philcox – https://ia801708.us.archive.org/3/items/the-wretched-of-the-earth/The%20Wretched%20Of%20The%20Earth.pdf – you'd be reading from page 42 to 311 of this PDF, 270 pages

• English translation by Constance Farrington – https://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf

• Original French text – https://monoskop.org/images/9/9d/Fanon_Frantz_Les_damn%C3%A9s_de_la_terre_2002.pdf

• English audio version – https://inv.tux.pizza/playlist?list=PLZ_8DduHfUd2r1OOCtKh0M6Q9xD5RaR3S – about 12h20m – Alternative links

Counting the preface by Sartre and the conclusion, there are 15 chapters/sections, so I would suggest taking about 15 days at it. I won't be able to take the initiative posting daily readings in the coming weeks because of reasons, so maybe @MF_COOM or @TraschcanOfIdeology or somecomrade else will volunteer to do that?