That was a cheap shot. I think Olin Wright's "Class Crisis and the State" has a decent overview of crisis theory in it, though I don't agree w/ all of it. It was written before he abandoned the LTV and became a full-on analytical marxist.
My own understanding of Marx has evolved over the course of this blog in the direction, I think, of much greater coherence. Is there a specific beef you have?
PS. please send the link the web site you mentioned.
Oh yes, I have send you the link but you do not seem to acknowledge. How is that for individualism in N America?
In my view, America is completely destroyed. Individualism is rooted in N American institutions. It will always influence the thinking of N Americans. They are screwed. The new left initiative will have to come from South America or Europe. I do not expect anything coming out from N America.
yes i got the link. thanks. Sorry to not respond. I get a lot mail. And i have a life outside of youtube. I responded right away to every comment and message i got I would never leave the house. That makes me an individualist? Where is all this hostility coming from?
Whether or not it's the best means of communicating ideas, it's the means that an increasing amount of people use. So the left must explore it.
I get many comments and messages all the time from people (even graduate students) saying: thanks for this video it really helped my understand this or that concept that I hadn't understood before.
I recommend Ollman Bertell, Dance of the dialectic, Illinois university press, 2003. It's a collection of Ollmans best work on dialectics. Bertell Ollman's dance of the dialectic is one of the few books I know to provide a serious analysis of Marx's method.
I haven't b/c it's too expensive. If you buy it, I'll pay you to scan it into PDF and put it on one big torrent. Freeman has several essays on his website that may provide the same background that the book does.
Hey Brendan you should apply to UMass/Amherst. I know its the academia, but still, we need more people interested in Marxism like you to hopefully use the institution as a political project
That's funny... I was just making breakfast and saying to myself, "I should look into that program at UMass/Amherst." I then opened my computer and there was your comment.
This is very important, to make people read the ideas of Marx before defending them. I have seen countless people that claim to be communist and understand Marx, but actually have only read the illustrated manisfesto.
Well, you don't need to read Marx and especially not understand his thoughts on socio-economics to be a communist/socialist/anarchist or just knowing that capitalism fucks you and other workers over. There is a problem of alienation and academic/middle class influences ruining movements which we should look in to.
I'm not saying that Marx isn't important, or that one can't gain important knowledge from reading him. But we can do without pretentious bullshit and intellectuall elitism.
I agree that pretentious bullshit and intellectual elitism is bad but I also think that theory is indispensable to social movements. Every social movement I can think of has had a theoretical tradition at its core. If we just focus on action without theory we are doomed. Too often people just want easy answers and quick recipes for action when what we really need right now as a left is reflection and study.
The major importance of knowing marx ideas on economy, society, politics, etc is not to say a lie about marxism, not to defend a Stalin and be able to debate with a capaitalist using more than a kind of "faith on Marx".
What I'm saying is that knowledge of Marx isn't necessary to successfully debate with someone supporting capitalism. I would call myself a marxist and I'm currently reading anything I can get my hands on about the subject. I still believe that an attitude to politics in general, and to the Left in particular, can't be based on how thick books you've read or which academic terms you fully understand.
The idea is to show people that politics isn't what kind of talk that goes down in some assembly hall miles from your home, or that economics isn't just something abstract and hard to relate to.
However, about theory as basis for social movements. There can't be a movement which solely focuses on action, or only on the theoretical aspect. What has been seen is that theory, and debates(which has led to a wider theoretical core) rose from action and not the other way around in many cases.
I am sorry if I sound too elitist, but I only wished to remid people on the importance of knowing what Marx defended and what happened in the USSR, and notice the difference between those two.
I would like people to know well what is marxism before calling themselves such, and I only say this because I have seen many "marxists" defending ideas that are actually opposed to it.
I didn't try to attack you personally, and I'm sad if you experienced my comments like that. I get what you're saying now and I couldn't agree more. There is an urgent need to stand up for socialism and marxism, especially since there's huge bourgeois concentration on equalising socialism, marxism(anything that isn't bourgeois really) with state-capitalism and most of all Stalin and Pol-Pot.
Did you want to explain what makes "The Economics of Global Turbulence" so "highly flawed"? Or are we just supposed to take your word for it through your assumed authority?
haha. OK I guess I should have given more detail. The book starts from the premiss that marx's theory of crisis is unworkable though it's clear that Brenner doesn't even understand marx's theory of crisis. He dismisses it in a pathetic footnote that just cites the Okishio theorum blindly and then he claims that Marx was a Malthusian. Anyone who has read any Marx should know how much Marx despised Malthus.
I'm not familiar with the book at all, but i must know, what is flawed about The Economics of Global Turbulence? As soon as you said that, I was instantly very curious to know!
Very detailed historical study of de-skilling and automation in the mid twentieth century machine tools industry. The stories are dramatic and engaging, and he's got an interesting argument that the profit motive can be (and has been) trumped by the need for social control in the workplace.
You also mention Olin Wright. Do you agree with analytical marxism?
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
no.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
So your marxism is a mix of different standpoints?
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
With the final result which is incoherent?
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
That was a cheap shot. I think Olin Wright's "Class Crisis and the State" has a decent overview of crisis theory in it, though I don't agree w/ all of it. It was written before he abandoned the LTV and became a full-on analytical marxist.
My own understanding of Marx has evolved over the course of this blog in the direction, I think, of much greater coherence. Is there a specific beef you have?
PS. please send the link the web site you mentioned.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
According to all the comments, almost no viewer understands Marxism. I don't think that youtube is a good channel for spreading knowledge.
As an European academic, I'm working on a renewed Marxist text on criminality. That's the way to do it.
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
Oh yes, I have send you the link but you do not seem to acknowledge. How is that for individualism in N America?
In my view, America is completely destroyed. Individualism is rooted in N American institutions. It will always influence the thinking of N Americans. They are screwed. The new left initiative will have to come from South America or Europe. I do not expect anything coming out from N America.
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
yes i got the link. thanks. Sorry to not respond. I get a lot mail. And i have a life outside of youtube. I responded right away to every comment and message i got I would never leave the house. That makes me an individualist? Where is all this hostility coming from?
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
The individualism comment wasnt direct to you. I think you should write books. I think its the best way.
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
Whether or not it's the best means of communicating ideas, it's the means that an increasing amount of people use. So the left must explore it.
I get many comments and messages all the time from people (even graduate students) saying: thanks for this video it really helped my understand this or that concept that I hadn't understood before.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
Hi Brendan,
I recommend Ollman Bertell, Dance of the dialectic, Illinois university press, 2003. It's a collection of Ollmans best work on dialectics. Bertell Ollman's dance of the dialectic is one of the few books I know to provide a serious analysis of Marx's method.
Have you read it?
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
Comment removed
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
Have you read "The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics" by Freeman, Kliman, Wells?
If so what do you think of it? Is it worth the price tag?
RevolutionarySpectre 2 years ago
I haven't b/c it's too expensive. If you buy it, I'll pay you to scan it into PDF and put it on one big torrent. Freeman has several essays on his website that may provide the same background that the book does.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
I know a site with the complete bibliography of Olin Wright, Marx, Freeman, Ollman and many others free available in PDF format. It's huge and free.
MrEverpresent 2 years ago
In terms of a good presentation of the dialectics - Henri Lefebvre's The Sociology of Marx...
TheatetustheGreat 2 years ago
Hey Brendan you should apply to UMass/Amherst. I know its the academia, but still, we need more people interested in Marxism like you to hopefully use the institution as a political project
isedairi 2 years ago
That's funny... I was just making breakfast and saying to myself, "I should look into that program at UMass/Amherst." I then opened my computer and there was your comment.
What is your relationship to the program there?
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
Comment removed
isedairi 2 years ago
This is very important, to make people read the ideas of Marx before defending them. I have seen countless people that claim to be communist and understand Marx, but actually have only read the illustrated manisfesto.
MarxistStudant 2 years ago
Well, you don't need to read Marx and especially not understand his thoughts on socio-economics to be a communist/socialist/anarchist or just knowing that capitalism fucks you and other workers over. There is a problem of alienation and academic/middle class influences ruining movements which we should look in to.
I'm not saying that Marx isn't important, or that one can't gain important knowledge from reading him. But we can do without pretentious bullshit and intellectuall elitism.
satisatisati 2 years ago
I agree that pretentious bullshit and intellectual elitism is bad but I also think that theory is indispensable to social movements. Every social movement I can think of has had a theoretical tradition at its core. If we just focus on action without theory we are doomed. Too often people just want easy answers and quick recipes for action when what we really need right now as a left is reflection and study.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
The major importance of knowing marx ideas on economy, society, politics, etc is not to say a lie about marxism, not to defend a Stalin and be able to debate with a capaitalist using more than a kind of "faith on Marx".
MarxistStudant 2 years ago
What I'm saying is that knowledge of Marx isn't necessary to successfully debate with someone supporting capitalism. I would call myself a marxist and I'm currently reading anything I can get my hands on about the subject. I still believe that an attitude to politics in general, and to the Left in particular, can't be based on how thick books you've read or which academic terms you fully understand.
satisatisati 2 years ago
The idea is to show people that politics isn't what kind of talk that goes down in some assembly hall miles from your home, or that economics isn't just something abstract and hard to relate to.
However, about theory as basis for social movements. There can't be a movement which solely focuses on action, or only on the theoretical aspect. What has been seen is that theory, and debates(which has led to a wider theoretical core) rose from action and not the other way around in many cases.
satisatisati 2 years ago
I am sorry if I sound too elitist, but I only wished to remid people on the importance of knowing what Marx defended and what happened in the USSR, and notice the difference between those two.
I would like people to know well what is marxism before calling themselves such, and I only say this because I have seen many "marxists" defending ideas that are actually opposed to it.
MarxistStudant 2 years ago
I didn't try to attack you personally, and I'm sad if you experienced my comments like that. I get what you're saying now and I couldn't agree more. There is an urgent need to stand up for socialism and marxism, especially since there's huge bourgeois concentration on equalising socialism, marxism(anything that isn't bourgeois really) with state-capitalism and most of all Stalin and Pol-Pot.
satisatisati 2 years ago
Did you want to explain what makes "The Economics of Global Turbulence" so "highly flawed"? Or are we just supposed to take your word for it through your assumed authority?
-Kye
SSBMSynikaL 2 years ago
haha. OK I guess I should have given more detail. The book starts from the premiss that marx's theory of crisis is unworkable though it's clear that Brenner doesn't even understand marx's theory of crisis. He dismisses it in a pathetic footnote that just cites the Okishio theorum blindly and then he claims that Marx was a Malthusian. Anyone who has read any Marx should know how much Marx despised Malthus.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
Thanks for the titles Brendan. I'll be picking some of those up for sure.
RedJacobin 2 years ago
Ben Fine - Alfredo Saad-Filho: Marx's Capital (great introduction)
pretty much all books by Ben Fine (Labour Market Theory, World of Consumption etc.)
Alfredo Saad-Filho: The Value of Marx (in-depth survey of different interpretations, Saad-Filho's own take on the transf. problem and LTRPF)
John Weeks: Capital and Exploitation, Critique of neoclassical economics
Lapavitsas: Social Foundations of Markets, Money and Credit
C. Lapavitsas - M. Itoh: Political Economy of Money and Finance
viva!
tatamtatam1 2 years ago
I'm not familiar with the book at all, but i must know, what is flawed about The Economics of Global Turbulence? As soon as you said that, I was instantly very curious to know!
Barmyleatherhead 2 years ago
see below.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
David Noble, "Forces of Production".
Very detailed historical study of de-skilling and automation in the mid twentieth century machine tools industry. The stories are dramatic and engaging, and he's got an interesting argument that the profit motive can be (and has been) trumped by the need for social control in the workplace.
HebaruSan 2 years ago
Don't forget to read Žižek's In Defense of Lost Causes!
TheMariborchan 2 years ago
where do you find the time to read so much
ryler05 2 years ago
I don't have a TV.
brendanmcooney 2 years ago
Guess I have some reading to do ;-)
JFMJJ 2 years ago
Have you planned delving into the works of the Frankfurt School? If not, I recommend doing so.
Naamaesa 2 years ago
Fromm and Adorno pwn, if you pardon my language.
pastrychef1985 2 years ago
I'm looking forward to your videos inspired by the Cutting Edge book.
eskimofinn 2 years ago