Re: [Marxism] Reimagining socialism?

[David Powers <cyborgk@xxxxxxxxx>]

The rest of this post is excellent, and I'd recommend anyone who has
time to read it. The two main points covered, the critique of Parecon,
and the idea that we urgently need a break with the two party system,
were very well put.

~David

On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 9:02 AM, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The latest issue of The Nation Magazine has an article titled
> “Reimagining Socialism” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Bill Fletcher Jr.,  as
> well as four responses by Immanuel Wallerstein, Bill McKibben, Rebecca
> Solnit and Tariq Ali. Except for Ali’s article, I had problems with most
> of the others despite their value in taking the idea of socialism
> seriously. As the financial crisis deepens, we can expect more of this.
>
> Barbara Ehrenreich is an honorary chairperson of Democratic Socialists
> of America, the U.S.’s official section of the Socialist International.
> Most of her articles and books in the recent period have had to do with
> the problems of the working poor. My most vivid memory of her thoughts
> on socialism prior to the publication of this article go back to a
> Socialist Scholars Conference in New York shortly after the collapse of
> the Soviet Union when she rebuked the audience for not understanding the
> importance of consumer goods. Unless we could supply the X-rated videos
> and bananas that East Germans were now buying after their liberation, we
> had nothing to offer the working class. At the time I felt that this was
> a prime example of lowering the socialist bar, especially in light of
> the fact that people make revolutions in order to stop being killed by
> cops and the military rather than being able to buy “Debby Does Dallas”.
> But, more to the point, the consumer goods that East Europeans hankered
> for now seem to be a thing of the past under conditions of economic ruin.
>
> full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/reimagining-socialism/
>
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