Strangling North Dakota with no mercy
So is a Workers' State possible?
The only way I see it happening is by gradually replacing BIG private companies by increasingly SMALL private companies, until ALL companies end up having a dozen or less employees, all of them equal shareholders. And with technological progress (robots doing manual labor), this is increasingly possible, in every field of economy.
Anything else would be a sham.
Interesting. How would this happen?
Great presentation Graeme. Thank you for the hard work putting that together and the even flow and readability - great lesson for all, even the capitalists.
-Pasha
@antipov
Graeme,
How would this happen?
It's already happening... GM and Chrysler are already going under, other big corporations will follow...
The difference between the anarchist and Marxist positions really boils down to semantics and a minor difference in analysis. Both agree that counter-revolution will have to be suppressed by the armed working people. Both favor governance by councils/assemblies made of recallable delegates. Marxists call it a workers STATE because of the armed workers suppressing counter-revolution, and in Marxism, this class suppression the ultimate function of a state. Anarchists view the state DESCRIPTIVELY - the "really existing state", which has a bureaucracy, is top-down, has a police/army separate from the people etc.
I am in the process of writing an article on "State and Revolution", from an anarchist perspective. Not to make points against Lenin, but overcome the unnecessary division over a minor issue.
Cool Larry. I look forward to reading it.
Sonia,
Competition compels companies to grow (grow or die). Are you to have capitalism without competition?
Despite GM's woes, industry is still largely in the hands of a few massive multi-national companies.
Graeme, this was a badass post, in every sense of the word. Solid analysis of state power vis-à-vis class struggle. Cheers!
What Sonia is advocating, is similar to what is going on, in Venezuela. Many workers have cooperative businesses. I would say that worker-managers is a transitional form by nature.
I can count on my fingers, the number of anarchists I know, who have an understanding of the state like Larry does.
Dave: I haven't heard from you in awhile.
I think Larry is correct about semantics, that as soon as you replace "state" with "commons" Anarchists become more comfortable.Communists are also wary of the State,viewing the shift from private to public as inadequate if it means just continuing pragmatism,management,delegation, representation etc..
As for the Paris commune, I will quote Spinoza: "Caution! When the passions are mobilized towards the construction of political structures of freedom." In other words, zeal could not take the place of the constant, critical hard work of organization.Our task is to see the NEW conditions of historical materialism, how capitalism has morphed as well as the revolutionary agents.
What Sonia is advocating, is similar to what is going on, in Venezuela.
I wish... The reality is unfortunately quite different. Opposition politicians have to flee the country to avoid being killed by Chavez's goons. iT'S NAZI gERMANY ALL OVER AGAIN. cHAVEZ IS A MONSTER AND YOU'RE TOO STUPid and idiotic to see go to hell!!!!!!
Thanks Dave. Nice to hear from you.
"Opposition politicians have to flee the country to avoid being killed by Chavez's goons"
How I wish!
If this were true the media would be proclaiming it from the rooftops. I would give all these right-wing ass holes a one way ticket to Miami where they belong.
In Venezuela no matter what decree Chavez initiates, the state is still capitalist. Mass layoffs are against the law, but Mitsubishi found a judge to OK it, and a governor to send troops, to enforce it.
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