Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, October 14, 2020
- Liberalism and Fascism: Partners in Crime by Gabriel Rockhill from CounterPunch. (Note: Rockhill is using the term "liberalism" in the classic sense which means the ideology of capitalism.) My commentary follows:
I agree with most of this article with the exception being that he does not distinguish capitalist "democracy" or, a more familiar and equivalent term, "bourgeois democracy", from socialist democracy. Lenin laid down the theoretical framework for the latter, but immediately after the Russian Revolution, Russia was under attack mainly by Britain, France, Japan, and the USA--especially by Britain which interfered with Lenin's plans. Also the quashing of the Communist party in Germany contributed to the distortion of Lenin's plans and resulted in a bureaucratic ruling class headed by the authoritarian Stalin.
A socialist democracy has yet to be created or established, and it doesn't seem likely to appear given the limited amount time humans have due to the threat posed by the ecological crisis and the bellicose and aggressive nature of the US/Anglo/Zionist Empire. The latter poses the threat of a catastrophic nuclear war.
To be sure, after WWII the Western intellectual apologists for
capitalism had to extensively ignore the reality of the fascist roots
in capitalism, and went on to extensively rewrite the history of WWII
that is de rigueur throughout the present day Empire.
I think there is a basic conflict between capitalism
and socialism, and that is the question of allegiance to the extended
family versus society. If one chooses family, capitalism provides the
means to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of families which
are the owners of economic property (and their supporters) over those
who don't own economic property.
This is a powerful motive force which is the basis for
many conflicts among humans, particularly those who, otherwise
support socialist policies; but faced with the loss of jobs and
careers, that would bring poverty to their families, many choose a
capitalist path. The choice of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was
capitalism, and she greatly benefited from her choice. She described
her choice in a nutshell that embarrassed a number of members of the
capitalist class because it was so true. She said there was no such
thing as society, there were only families, and added that maybe
neighbors as well.
Capitalist ruling classes have often used this control
over jobs and careers in an exaggerated way to co-op people into
activities that they would otherwise not engage. This is especially
true of highly educated people necessary to maintain and protect all
the capitalist machinery necessary for the system to enhance the
wealth and power of the ruling class. This practice has led to the
corruption of many highly trained professional and managerial people
throughout every institution in the Empire.
- James Corbett Encourages You To Do Your Own Research from Corbett's website. (My reaction: The only problem with Corbett's views is that he blames the "media" for using experts as a way to support their authoritarian directions. He doesn't yet see that a capitalist ruling class controls major media corporations.)