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Plays: 321
How ‘Communism’ Brought Racial Equality To The South
Tell Me More continues its Black History Month series of conversations with a discussion about the role of the Communist Party. It was prominent in the fight for racial equality in the south, specifically Alabama, where segregation was most oppressive. Many courageous activists were communists. Host Michel Martin speaks with historian Robin Kelley about his book “Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression” about how the communist party tried to secure racial, economic, and political reforms.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123771194
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History of the Communist Party of the United States, by William Z. Foster, International Publishers, New York, 1952.
The history of the Communist Party of the United States is the history of the vanguard party of the American working class. It is the story and analysis of the origin, growth, and development of a working class political party of a new type, called into existence by the epoch of imperialism, the last stage of capitalism, and by the emergence of a new social system—Socialism.
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Austerity and the Economic Crisis
1. What is austerity?
Dictionary definitions: ”Austerity” was named the word of the year by Merriam-Webster in 2010. Wikipedia: In economics, austerity refers to a policy of deficit-cutting by lowering spending often via a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided…
In the United States, the term “austerity” is used in more sophisticated op-eds and business reporting. But the popular term is belt-tightening. As in, “After all, small businesses and families are tightening their belts. Their government should, too.”
These definitions of austerity imply that it is a legitimate response to a crisis, a response to a budgetary problem. This is the implication:
We have been spending too much. We are not working hard enough. We are enjoying too many entitlements. We have to cut back. We have to tighten our belts. There is not enough to go around, so we have to consume less. And note that we is undefined.
But are we consuming too much? That is not the case. Whether we are talking about Europe, or the US, or Japan, behind all the facade of financial crisis, and with all the changes that 150 years have brought, we are talking about a capitalist crisis of overproduction as described by Marx — a crisis of plethora.
Posted on July 19, 2012 with 1 note
Source: politicalaffairs.net
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Capitalism is killing you
Lenin has the cure.


