Burritoboy’s Comments (group member since Sep 18, 2021)

Burritoboy’s comments from the Reading with Comrades group.

Wednesday, July 27th at 6:30 PDT
Zoom: bit.ly/capitalism-post-pandemic

Join us for a discussion with William I. Robinson, author of Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic. William, a historian of modern capitalism, has mapped out the trajectory it carves in the wake of the pandemic, wielding the new tools of the so-called fourth industrial revolution—AI, surveillance, automation, virtual reality. Citing popular revolts from around the world, William will spotlight key insights and strategies for those who brave the frontlines of resistance and the fight for an alternative future.

Publisher link to the book: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=produ...

Ask me any questions!

The next session - on chapters 2 and 3 will be on July 20th, 9pm Eastern.

The future schedule is projected to be:

August 3 - chapter 4
August 17 - chapter 5
August 31 - chapter 6
September 14 - chapters 7
September 28 - chapters 8,9
October 12 - chapter 10
October 26 - chapter 11 (last session)

Just wanted to encourage people to join DSA National's Discussion Group on Eric Blanc's new book, Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire 1882-1917. I know that sounds very academic, but it's a fascinating look at the massively broad spectrum of socialist organizing during a critical period and place(s) just before the 1917 Revolution. It will change your understanding of that Revolution, as well as much else. This group is with Eric Blanc himself, who immersed himself in largely forgotten or ignored archival material for over 10 years (and learning 8 languages along the way) to write this book.

Next session is July 8th, and we haven't actually begun to read the book, so now's a great time to jump in!

More about Eric: https://keywiki.org/Eric_Blanc

Goodreads' link to the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...


Leo Panitch said of this book “Through impressive research and erudite argumentation, this monumental study of the broad array of ‘revolutionary social democratic’ parties that operated in the non-Russian borderlands of the Tsarist Empire in the decades leading to 1917 definitively shows why there was no ‘one-size-fits-all’ revolutionary practice and why there is no reason to overgeneralize the international relevance of the form taken by the October Revolution. A tour de force which provides strong historical foundations for all those today working to develop an anticapitalist, democratic socialist political strategy for renewed working-class formation and state transformation.”

You can view the book launch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZf7h...

Feel free to ask me any questions!

DSA members and Jacobin writers Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht wrote Bigger Than Bernie in 2020 and revised it in 2021. It should prove to be a useful read for assessing where as socialists we see ourselves and the world today. There will be two discussions at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St this Thursday, April 21, and April 28 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. There is also a Zoom option for those who want to participate remotely - registration link here!

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regis...

I just came across a book called Punishment and the History of Political Philosophy that might be very useful in getting at the heart of the matter, which many books don't do. There's likely something wrong or grossly inadequate in how modern social contract regimes think about justice, and we need to find a place outside of modernity to start. This book starts with Plato, and may be the right method to getting there. Haven't read it yet!

We read Alex Vitale's book last year. I am of two minds about the book. On one hand it describes the situation extremely well. On the other hand, it gives neither substantive reasons why the situation is what it is, nor any concrete proposals of what to do about it. So, in one critical respect it's wonderful and on the other, it simply doesn't do anything.

We at DSA SF are having a session on Stuart Hall's essay Race - The Floating Signifier . Here's the info:

Everybody welcome! No need to be a DSA member!

Zoom info:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regis...

Looking to solidify your own understanding of race? Hope to sharpen your understanding Stuart Hall's essay “Race as Floating Signifier” is one of the most important and penetrating pieces ever written to help you explore how the concepts of race can be understood.

Stuart Hall (1932-2014) was one of the most influential intellectuals of the last half of the twentieth century. Born in Jamaica, and initially trained as a literature scholar at Oxford, he went on to found much of what is now called cultural studies. Joining the University of Birmingham, he was a leading figure in the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies along with such luminaries as Richard Hoggart. Hall also founded and edited the seminal theory journal New Left Review, and eventually became such a major figure within British sociology as to become President of the British Sociological Association.
Stuart Hall additionally helped incorporate significant ideas from French theory into Anglo-American socialist theory.

email alexander.gorelik@gmail.com if you want the text, a summary or discussion questions

So we had a great session last Saturday, and would be happy to put up some of our pieces that we are writing up on our thoughts on Groundings with My Brothers, if people want to see them. You folks can then add or critique (in a comradely way, of course) or extend if you wish!

Here's another class we are doing: Introduction to Socialism, March 10, 7-8:30pm (PST)

Please forward around - we would love to see people from anywhere. We don't care if you're a DSA member - this is open to everyone!

It's a physical class, so we need people to RSVP if they are coming in person:

Intro to Socialism Just what is democratic socialism, anyway? Why are people finally talking about it in the US today? How can understanding socialism help us fight for a better world? Join us for a free course to discuss these questions and more.  

Session 1Class, political economy, labor theory of value. Connotations/Denotations: capitalism/socialism/communism. 

March 10; 7-8:30 PM SFDSA Office
1916 McAllister  

Zoom Link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83202189690... 

Relevant readings: (you don't need to do them before the class)

Socialism for Beginners - Anna Paczuska
Marx for Beginners - Rius
Value, Price and Profit (Wages, Price, and Profit) - Karl Marx

I honestly don't think I've been radicalized or that I'm a radical. I would argue that socialism is more conventional and more mainstream throughout history than capitalism is. It's capitalism that is the outlier, not socialism. What is usually considered the first book of political thought is Plato's Republic - which argues for various forms of socialism. (Plato's later book of politics - The Laws - is not as strident for socialism, but does advocate a form of more moderated socialism with very strictly limited private property.)

Second session: March 12th at 3pm-4:30pm PST

We will have an 1 1/2 hour free-form discussion of the last three chapters of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers, chapters 4-6.
 
In this classic work published in the heady days of anti-colonial revolution, Groundings with My Brothers follows the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from the black students of North America to the Rasta counterculture of Jamaica and beyond. The book is striking in its simultaneous ability to survey the wide and heterogeneous international context while remaining anchored in grassroots politics, as Rodney offers us first-hand accounts of mass movement organizing. Having inspired a generation of revolutionaries, this new edition will re-introduce the book to a new political landscape that it helped shape, with reflections from leading scholar-activists.

Please look at our calendar to register: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/...

We at DSA SF are having our second session on Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers. Here's the info:

Second session:

March 12, 3pm-4:30pm (PST) - Everyone welcome!

We will have an 1 1/2 hour free-form discussion of the last three chapters of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers, chapters 3-6.
 
In this classic work published in the heady days of anti-colonial revolution, Groundings with My Brothers follows the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from the black students of North America to the Rasta counterculture of Jamaica and beyond. The book is striking in its simultaneous ability to survey the wide and heterogeneous international context while remaining anchored in grassroots politics, as Rodney offers us first-hand accounts of mass movement organizing. Having inspired a generation of revolutionaries, this new edition will re-introduce the book to a new political landscape that it helped shape, with reflections from leading scholar-activists.

Zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81883604468

Burritoboy wrote: "We at DSA SF are having a two-session discussion of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers Here's the blurb:

Sat, February 26, 3:00pm – 4:30pm

We will have an 1 1/2 hour free-form discussion..."

To clarify: 3pm PST

We at DSA SF are having a two-session discussion of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers Here's the blurb:

Sat, February 26, 3:00pm – 4:30pm PST

We will have an 1 1/2 hour free-form discussion of the first three chapters of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers

In this classic work published in the heady days of anti-colonial revolution, Groundings with My Brothers follows the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from the black students of North America to the Rasta counterculture of Jamaica and beyond. The book is striking in its simultaneous ability to survey the wide and heterogeneous international context while remaining anchored in grassroots politics, as Rodney offers us first-hand accounts of mass movement organizing. Having inspired a generation of revolutionaries, this new edition will re-introduce the book to a new political landscape that it helped shape, with reflections from leading scholar-activists.

Zoom Link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82785338000

lindsi wrote: "awesome!! is this open to non-DSA members?"

Absolutely. Open to everyone. Should/could I post this notice up on the top level of the discussion board as well?

We at DSA SF are having a two-session discussion of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers Here's the blurb:

Sat, February 26, 3:00pm – 4:30pm

We will have an 1 1/2 hour free-form discussion of the first three chapters of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers

In this classic work published in the heady days of anti-colonial revolution, Groundings with My Brothers follows the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from the black students of North America to the Rasta counterculture of Jamaica and beyond. The book is striking in its simultaneous ability to survey the wide and heterogeneous international context while remaining anchored in grassroots politics, as Rodney offers us first-hand accounts of mass movement organizing. Having inspired a generation of revolutionaries, this new edition will re-introduce the book to a new political landscape that it helped shape, with reflections from leading scholar-activists.

Zoom Link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82785338000

Since this group has a readership worldwide, I'm not certain what times would be best for a discussion on Zoom. A weekend morning here in California would be a weekend night for those of you in Europe, but that hardly solves the problem for the rest of the world. If we do go that route, I would suggest we avoid the weekend of February 12 and 13th, as that is the weekend of the American Lupercalia festival - that is, the weekend of the Superbowl.

We've certainly moved away from the Memory Police :)

One question that might be interesting is: (and I'm still in the middle of Memory Police at 131 pages, so the book may end up going elsewhere.) Orwell's 1984 is, as others have correctly pointed out, hardly the beginning of dystopian works nor the endpoint. In what relation does the Memory Police stand to that now-quite long and storied history of dystopia? 1984 was part of a wave of dystopian books that seem to have been driven by the end of WWII, but Memory Police comes from a much different time, location, language and even seems to (possibly?) be set in a fantasy world or an alternative history. The technology level in Memory Police seems to be that of the early twentieth century, though the setting seems to be intentionally written to be unrealistic, whereas Orwell in 1984 takes on a stance of pretended realism to the point where that text includes purported non-fictional manuals and government documents from the future dystopian government.

There seem to be some elements of Memory Police that recall 1984, but they are so general at this point in 2021 that Ogawa may be in a conversation with 1984, or may not.

lindsi wrote: "wait are we still talking about george orwell? because that man was a straight up while supremacist. there’s no amount of ideological overlap in other areas that will make me sympathetic to white s..."

Well, I read Orwell's essay. It's not what Louis wants to portray it as.

I'm going to suggest a book that may appear strange to many people at first, but is, I think, been particularly useful to me about communism: Diskin Clay's Four Island Utopias, which explores many usually unknown aspects of the long history of communist utopian philosophizing.