Feedback on May 1 Editorial for OB Website?

[Aria Littlhous]

The Times They Are A Changin’.

 

Karl Marx lived in a time—before the advent of state socialism—when capitalists flourished because of large numbers of poorly educated workers working all together on various factory floors in a few large monopolistic industries.  Capitalism was in its infancy. The battle line between the owners of the factories (that is capital) and the workers was clear. Today things are different.

 

While there are indeed many large monopolistic industries whether the interests of workers in all of them—for instance coal and farming---not to mention those of prisoners and the homeless---are the same—is not at all clear.  What is clear is that relative to the Kings of the Universe and their minions (I speak of course of the financial services industry which it must be mentioned has no obvious social utility) none of us really have enough to live on, not decently anyway. Indeed most of us have to make due with only one house and no hired help. 

 

What Is To Be Done?

 

State socialism didn’t work because its inventors failed to see workers as entrepreneurs. Who in 1910 could see in steel workers and factory hands the dot com owners of the future? And so those revolutionaries devised a system, well intentioned but patronizing, that attempted to care for workers instead of setting them free.

 

There are ways to insure the health and well being of all citizens’ without trying to plan an economy. The state should expropriate enough profit from the private sector in the form of taxes to provide every citizen with a basic income guarantee and then step way back. Put money in the hands of consumers---say $21,000 yr---and let them make economic choices.   Eliminate all other entitlements with the exception of healthcare administered by the state and suddenly the money is there in the hands of future entrepreneurs instead of in

 

programs

the third homes of health insurance executives

malpractice attorneys’ portfolios

government payrolls and

government buildings.

 

Everyone gets it, so it’s fair and there are no strings attached so there is no disincentive to work. Instead of regulating how many Snicker’s bars a welfare recipient should be allowed to buy each month our democratically elected representatives could be influencing the price of labor by raising or lowering the basic income guarantee. This is a very useful thing to do and should not be left to the capitalist owners of any industry in any era.

 

Occupy Strategy Group Strategic Objectives #’s 2 & 5:

 

 

National healthcare

Replace All Entitlements with a Basic Income Guarantee.

 

http://interoccupy.net/occupystrategy/2013/10/occupy-strategy-groups-top-10-recommended-strategic-objectives/

 

For the Earth,

 

A.

--

"Our goal is a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits of the few." passed by Occupy Boston General Assembly 11/29/11

[Abram Spritzler]

Thank you for this update.  I work in the farmer's market industry here in MA.  So I accept EBT and can totally identify with the 'snickers' point.  

PART 1: Marxism exposed

PART 2: The real solution and a realistic way to achieve the solution that is currently being carried out by People for Democratic Revolution, Boston,  www.PDRBoston.org

I work in the farmer's market industry here in MA.  So I accept EBT and can totally identify with the 'snickers' point.  

PART 1:

About Marxism real quick:  Marxism has produced such ugly results because it agrees with capitalism about human nature.  Both agree that people are self-interested and seek only an increase in wealth and material goods.  Capitalism says this is fine, natural, and should not be tampered with.  Marxism says that the current state of people, that they are selfish and only self-interested, is necessary to drive the economy forward.  Without greed, no one would work, both capitalism and Marxism agree with this notion.  Marxism however claims that the self-interested and greedy goals of people will eventually create a classless society because the innovations spurred by self-interest and greed will make the economy so efficient that there will be enough material wealth to go around several times over thus eliminating people's need to fight with one another.  It is important to understand that the reason this fighting ceases, as Marxism understands it, is not because people have a subjective desire to live peacefully as equals, but instead because their greed is satisfied due to an increase in economic production.

Steering this economic development is the task of Marxists.  Thus the central government.  And with that central government comes a contempt for democracy.  The reason Marxist regimes have been so anti-democratic is because Marxism sees people as greedy and selfish, ignorant and dehumanized.  How can you let people like that have a say?  So Che wanted to change people, to create the new 'Socialist Man.'  Marxism is about changing people on the assumption that they are not what they should be.  But they are how they should be (evidence below), and this is why Marxism will never produce that which it claims to be trying to produce - a classless society.  Most people DO have good values that should shape the whole world.  Most people ARE egalitarians and oppose the wretched values of capitalism.

State socialism didn't produce a classless society not because those in charge did not see the entrepreneurial and innovative aspects of the working class.  The issue was that those in charge DID see those aspects, and they considered them to be a threat to the central government's planned economy, an economy that was not intended to make people's lives better today, but instead was designed to Maximize profits and production at the cost of people living fulfilling lives .  Any innovation that does not place maximizing economic production as the highest virtue is regarded as individualist, anarchist, and counter-revolutionary.  This is a backward way of thinking, especially considering that the cries of most Occupiers and others the world over is that life be about more than the economy, money, debt, getting ahead and maximizing profits.  The world cries out for life to about living together as equals.  Marxism (as opposed to Marxists)  hears this cry and regards it as the uneducated pleas of the masses who it believes will be best served by their draconian leadership.  

PART 2:

I totally support efforts to make things more equal and democratic.  And I am not alone, but I am not joined by everybody.  There is a group of people that outright oppose democracy and equality, they are the billionaires.  The billionaires control the government and the private sector.  They work to make sure that things are NOT equal or democratic.  It seems the $21,000/year proposal is presented here as something that we and the billionaires could agree on.  The premise is that we all want a healthy and robust economy, and that the guaranteed income would help make this possible.  But we don't all want the same thing - the 99% want an economy that works for everybody, whereas the 1% only want an economy that works for them.  This is a big difference of opinion.  There is a conflict of values, a conflict over what values should shape our world, with billionaires and their government on the side of inequality, greed and dog-eat-dog competition, and us, the 99%, the working class, the vast majority of ordinary people on the side of equality, democracy, cooperation and solidarity.   Because this conflict is over opposing fundamental values, it cannot be solved via an agreement or compromise between the two sides.  We will not accept that the  billionaires rule the world as dictators and tyrants, nor will they allow us to re-shape the world by our values of equality, democracy, and solidarity.  This is why there is so much class conflict today.  What is needed is an egalitarian revolution to remove the rich from power, so we can have real, not fake, democracy, with no rich and no poor.  -------------->  www.PDRBoston.org

 Some of you are thinking "easier said than done, buddy!"  That is true.  But here is something that might surprise you; at PDRBoston (People for Democratic Revolution, Boston), we go out to street corners and grocery store entrances around greater Boston and every Saturday in Grove Hall and collect signatures for the statement This I Believe ( http://media.wix.com/ugd/20615e_6c40d86078da6ea32d6379867405339e.pdf )  This statement says the following; capitalism is immoral and we should replace it with a sharing economy without money open to all who contribute reasonably, laws should only be made at the local level with large-scale coordination achieved via voluntary federation of communities, and we need a revolution to make it happen.  Guess how many people sign this statement?  Over 75% of those who stop to read it, sign it.  Doctors, teachers, nurses, vets, construction workers, fast-food workers, MBTA drivers, writers, all types of people sign This I Believe - well not all types, - the billionaires and their puppet politicians will never sign it.  That's ok, they don't need to, we outnumber them:)

So some people signed something, so what?  A list of signatures will not overthrow the dictatorship of the rich.  But it does help people see that they are not alone, which is the first step in people feeling confident about getting organized to remove the rich from power.  How many people guessed the 75%+ number?  We can only have real democracy when we have faith in the values of most ordinary people.  The This I Believe signature campaign is designed to help people see that they are NOT surrounded by greedy, ignorant, uncaring, and apathetic people.  We are in fact surrounded by caring, hard-working, intelligent people who value solidarity, democracy, and equality.  This changes everything.  This makes egalitarian revolution for a truly democratic and equal society possible.  You are not alone, and that is why we can win the class war, instead of continuing to fight it forever via reforms, or even worse, losing it.

Join us any Monday at 7:30pm for real conversation and real talk about how we can remove the rich from power, at Grove Hall Pizza.  And Saturdays at 12 noon to 1:30pm in front of the Stop n Shop in Grove Hall.

Please check out PDRBoston on Youtube and visit our site: www.PDRBoston.org

And be well!            -Abram Spritzler 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mass Occupy" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to massoccupy+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.