From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Wed Jan 01 2003 - 12:30:26 EST
Re Alejandro's [8256]: Whenever Marxists see sources written by conservative (reactionary) authors, there is a tendency to just dismiss it rather than _critique_ it and thereby determine whether there is a kernel of truth in the mystified shell. So I guess we should even seriously look at publications put out by the vonMises Institute and other right-wing think tanks. In the same vein, you and others might be interested in the article: "Marxism, American Style" by Mark Schmidt http://www.ocpathink.org/economics/MarxismAmericanStyle.html http://www.ntu.org/taxpayer_issues/ntuf_issue_briefs/ibntuf136.pdf Schmidt is Director of Programs for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation -- a right-wing lobbying group. Schmidt examines the 10 measures in _The Communist Manifesto_ (that workers' parties were urged to put into effect immediately following the insurrection) in terms of the contemporary experience in the U.S. and concludes (sarcastically) that: "We are all Marxists now"! Despite the fact that Schmidt takes these measures out-of-context (and thereby shows little comprehension for _why_ Marx and Engels made these proposals: namely, that they were measures intended to help consolidate state power after the insurrection and thwart a counter-revolution), a case can be made here for how capitalism and state policy in the U.S. and elsewhere has changed in some significant ways since the time of Marx and Engels. The first source above is in .html and concentrates on statistics on Oklahoma. One gets the feeling that, according to Schmidt, there is a "People's Republic of Oklahoma" (a thought that could be developed into a comic Broadway musical perhaps). The pdf source (dated May Day, 2001) has national data. In solidarity, Jerry
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