thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-17--As History Repeats Itself: What Kind of Left Are We?

This essay by our special associate editor Bruce Lerro was first published in March of 2016 .
Since few things seem to change on the surface of America ’ s duopolistic imperial politics , here we are again with a non-choice almost exactly the same as we had in 2016 , except perhaps worse , underscored by a similar failure of the left to organise outside , against , and beyond the “ grave of revolutionary movements , ” the Democratic party .
In recognition of this Groundhog Day quality of US politics , we think this analysis , if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today than four years ago .
Everything Lerro says came to pass , except he underestimated , a bit , the alienation and anger of the white working class .
—PG This 2016 election invites a rare opportunity for the radical left in the United States to define itself and play a constructive part in the crumbling infrastructure of capitalism along with the bankruptcy of both major parties .
The main issue is whether the radical left will continue to allow itself to be defined by identity politics as it has for almost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adopt a class politics towards these elections .
Obama and the Victory of Identity Politics The election of Obama in 2008 and 2012 was the culmination of identity politics .
Obama , playing the race card by not overtly playing the race card , kept radical critics more or less mute for eight years .
Over these years Obama has started more wars than George W Bush .
It is under his watch that the NSA has been caught spying on the American public .
He has expanded drone warfare overseas and drones @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He has done nothing to help black communities fight against the attack by the police .
He has done nothing in prison reform and he has never spoken publicly about Mumia Abu-Jamal , to our knowledge .
In summary , in the area of military aggression , invasion of privacy ( NSA leaks , Apple ) and police harassment , Obama would be the envy of any bible-thumping conservative .
Economically Obama has done nothing to introduce a radical restructuring of the banks to prevent the last economic crisis from happening again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capitalist institutions not been forced to pay heavy fines , let alone compensate the public for our losses , but those bankers are making more now than they did before the last crash in 2008 .
In Iceland the bankers were put in jail !
If the minimum wage were at poverty level it would be about $ 15 dollars an hour .
Obama has advocated for nothing close to this .
Obama has not introduced any progressive tax on the rich , which would shrink the gap between the rich and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world ) .
Economically Obama has been a market fundamentalist , following Milton Friedman and the University of Chicago .
Why has Obama not been torn apart by the left for continuing the policies of Bush ?
It ’ s because for the identity politics of the left , you can not severely criticize a non-white person in public office without being called a racist .
In the discipline of critical thinking , identity politics is claiming that if the source of authority seems credible ( in this case race ) , then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the logos part of the rhetorical triangle ) doesn ’ t count .
Obama has spent the last eight years carrying out a moderate Republican agenda doing the bidding of the Council of Foreign Relations ( the Rockefellers ) , The Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers ( see Political Sociologist G. William Domhoff in The Powers that Be and Who Rules America ) .When people voted for him , most of them thought it would be a change towards the left on the political spectrum – to end the wars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ banks , raise the minimum wage or lower the cost of education .
Those who voted for him assumed he would do all these things without him ever making an explicit commitment or a plan to do them .
Yet Obama talked in the vaguest of generalities : promoting “ change ” , “ hope ” , and “ yes we can ” slogans .
Why has he gotten away with this ?
Because grounding themselves in identity politics , many of those who voted for him assumed that a black man in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But the American public is not called the “ United States of Amnesia ” for nothing .
Right in front of their faces that had examples of professionals in high places , black politicians who were arch conservatives – Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court ; Secretary General Colin Powell and perhaps the most conservative of all , Condoleezza Rice .
Is this not proof that blacks can be just as conservative as Pat Robertson , Ronald Regan or Ted Cruz ?
Ready for some more identity politics ?
Here comes Hillary For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States have not had to pay for the damage they ’ ve caused economically or in the military because they ’ ve changed the color of the president .
This has allowed them to carry on their predatory pillaging of middle class , working class and poor people because the symbolic head of state was not a rich white man .
The same Council of Foreign Relations that selected Obama has selected Hillary Clinton .
They are counting on the American public being too stupid to have learned anything from the trick played @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instead of the race card being played , it will be the gender card .
Hillary Clinton , the ruling class millionaire and hawk will be presented to women as if she had something to do with feminism .
Is Hillary a liberal feminist ?
If she is , what would she promise to deliver ?
Here are some things liberal feminists want .
She would promise equal pay for equal work and institute laws accordingly .
She would promise affordable childcare centers for women .
She would put teeth into laws that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would insist that capitalists pay for all the domestic housework women now perform for free in the process of raising generations of workers for capitalists .
She would open up more Planned Parenthood clinics and settle the abortion rights issue once and for all .
Will Hillary promise these things , let alone deliver on them ?
No .
Her campaign doesn ’ t think she has to .
She is counting on women being so enthralled with a woman being president that they won ’ t expect and demand that she do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confident that women are so naïve that she sings the praises of conservative women like Nancy Reagan who are about as anti-feminist as you can get .
Will she get away with it ?
That depends mostly on the intelligence of the women in this country .
Since the early 70 ’ s , every four years the real economy ( the production of goods and services ) has has been sliding .
The Republicans react by promising to bring back that Old-Time Religion and family values to a decaying modern life brought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and rock-and-roll of the evil1960 ’ s .
The Democrats simply stand in the middle promising nothing , arousing no one .
Then when the elections heat up and Republicans begin screaming , the Democrats ’ program comes alive .
What does it consist of ?
“ You should elect us , not because we stand for anything , but because if you don ’ t this horrible Republican will win.
” Hillary will play the same game with Donald Trump .
Bernie Sanders has harshly but accurately been named as a sheep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his job is to round up moderate leftists who are disgusted with the Democratic Party over the years and bring them back to the party .
From the beginning , Bernie Sanders promised Hillary not to worry because if she won the nomination he would support her .
He has not threatened to leave the party and take the Sandernistas with him .
His program is not socialist in any meaningful use of he term .
His program is virtually identical to a New Deal liberal .
It ’ s a good program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Every real socialist knows that there are more differences between a liberal and a socialist than there are between liberals and conservatives .
Liberals and conservatives support capitalism .
Socialists do not .
Acting as if what Hillary Clinton stands for is quantitatively different from a democratic socialist program is like saying if socialist Eugene Debs did not win a nomination for president in 1912 he would tell his followers to vote for Andrew Carnegie .
So as the scene unfolds , Trump and his followers will be attacked on all sides @ @ @ @ @ @ @ press and by the Democrats .
Decrepit republican lawyers in high places will find technical means that no one understands to steal the Republican nomination from Trump and his followers .
They will change the rules of the game as it is being played .
The identity politics left will continue to attack and confront Trump and his followers acting as foot-soldiers for Hillary .
There will be riots at the Republican primaries and the members of the identity politics left will think they are the heroic defenders against fascist Trump and company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She will intervene after blood has flowed in the streets as the “ voice of reason ” .
Middle and upper middle class women will be inspired by her “ non-violent ” leadership and she will win the election in a landslide .
The identity politics left will be stuck with another moderate Republican presiding over a rapidly declining capitalism for another four to eight years .
Hillary will deliver the same thing to women that Obama delivered to non-whites .
Nothing .
She will serve the bankers just as Obama did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if we don ’ t vote for Hillary , Trump will get in This issue comes down to what we think the electoral process is all about .
If you believe that who gets the most votes from the people for the presidency will win , then you believe that the electoral process is democratic .
We believe the electoral process is rigged from the start and has been for more than 200 years .
What we are witnessing and will witness until November 2016 is political theatre among candidates who have all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ class .
Since many of you might not believe this , let me lay out a scenario and let ’ s see what happens .
The ruling class has selected Hillary and this has been in the works for at least sixteen years , if not longer .
Usually the ruling class puts their money on both parties , but because Donald Trump and his followers represent such a threat to them , many modern conservatives within the Council of Foreign Relations , the Business Round Table and the National Association of Manufacturers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign .
Bernie Sanders will do his part .
He will genuflect and tell his supporters to fold their tents , support Hillary and send money .
Some liberal feminists will congratulate the Sandernistas for being “ politically correct ” in supporting Hillary .
They will all be united in a grand show of unity in the great baptism of identity politics .
Women will be crying in public , just as many were crying when Obama won for the first time .
The identity politics of being a woman will triumph over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upper class woman , committed body and soul to finance capital .
Women will be told and tell each other “ You ’ ve come a long way , baby !
” The irony is painful .
It Ain ’ t Over Yet : Wild Cards on the Left Both Donald Trump and his followers are hated by the upper classes mostly because they are not controllable .
Trump has so much money that he doesn ’ t have to kowtow to the corporate sponsors who are expressions of big business interests .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ followers are white working-class who may not have voted before , they are not controllable either .
However there is another variable to be considered – and that is the white working class who is on the left , many of whom will feel betrayed by Sanders ’ recommendation that they simply give up and vote for Hillary .
Very few working class people identify with Hillary Clinton .
Bernie Sanders has gotten support from 80 unions .
Maybe a significant portion of those unions will decide to go on as a movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Labor Notes tracks the activities of rank and file unionists around the US who are unhappy with the lack of militancy of their union leadership .
These unionists could become allies .
Lastly on the labor front , there are those workers in the fast food industry who have struck out on their own , without unions , that might be brought into the fold .
Secondly , Bernie Sanders has not done a good job with the Black Lives Matter movement and they might be recruited as a second ally on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who participated in the Occupy movement , most of whom are anticapitalists .
Remember that the Occupy movement had a presence in 150 US cities four years ago .
Occupy was initially formed in reaction to the economic crisis caused by the banks .
Capitalism has gotten worse since then and the Occupy people are too young to have simply sunk into apathy .
Lastly there is a growing cooperative movement that is for work-place democracy and for the most part , against capitalism .
If these and many other groups can form @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then we will have the makings of the kind of political revolution that Sanders talked about , even though it might go beyond anything he would advocate .
The real political revolution would be between the followers of Donald Trump who will be furious that their candidate was robbed of the Republican Party candidacy and will be furious at Hillary before she is even sworn in .
On the left might be those renegade Sandernistas and other leftist groups without a political candidate who have the political savvy to know that it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in electoral politics .
Whether you like them or not , the Bolsheviks never participated in electoral politics and they rose to power .
What matters here is what these two forces on the right and left do collectively during the next seven months – as well as after the election .
The “ election ” itself is not very relevant because it is a selection , not an election .
The selection will be the coronation of Hillary Clinton who will preside over a rapidly decaying empire and a global capitalist system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will govern like Margaret Thatcher .

This essay by our special associate editor Bruce Lerro was first published in March of 2016. Since few things seem to change on the surface of America's duopolistic imperial politics, here we are again with a non-choice almost exactly the same as we had in 2016, except perhaps worse, underscored by a similar failure of the left to organise outside, against, and beyond the "grave of revolutionary movements," the Democratic party. In recognition of this Groundhog Day quality of US politics, we think this analysis, if anything, is more relevant and urgent today than four years ago. Everything Lerro says came to pass, except he underestimated, a bit, the alienation and anger of the white working class. —PG
This 2016 election invites a rare opportunity for the radical left in the United States to define itself and play a constructive part in the crumbling infrastructure of capitalism along with the bankruptcy of both major parties. The main issue is whether the radical left will continue to allow itself to be defined by identity politics as it has for almost 50 years, or whether it will adopt a class politics towards these elections.
Obama and the Victory of Identity Politics
The election of Obama in 2008 and 2012 was the culmination of identity politics. Obama, playing the race card by not overtly playing the race card, kept radical critics more or less mute for eight years. Over these years Obama has started more wars than George W Bush. It is under his watch that the NSA has been caught spying on the American public. He has expanded drone warfare overseas and drones are now also operating for domestic surveillance. He has done nothing to help black communities fight against the attack by the police. He has done nothing in prison reform and he has never spoken publicly about Mumia Abu-Jamal, to our knowledge. In summary, in the area of military aggression, invasion of privacy (NSA leaks, Apple) and police harassment, Obama would be the envy of any bible-thumping conservative.
Economically Obama has done nothing to introduce a radical restructuring of the banks to prevent the last economic crisis from happening again. Not only have the ten leading capitalist institutions not been forced to pay heavy fines, let alone compensate the public for our losses, but those bankers are making more now than they did before the last crash in 2008. In Iceland the bankers were put in jail! If the minimum wage were at poverty level it would be about $15 dollars an hour. Obama has advocated for nothing close to this. Obama has not introduced any progressive tax on the rich, which would shrink the gap between the rich and the poor (now the highest in the world). Economically Obama has been a market fundamentalist, following Milton Friedman and the University of Chicago.
Why has Obama not been torn apart by the left for continuing the policies of Bush? It’s because for the identity politics of the left, you cannot severely criticize a non-white person in public office without being called a racist. In the discipline of critical thinking, identity politics is claiming that if the source of authority seems credible (in this case race), then any condemning information about their policies (the logos part of the rhetorical triangle) doesn’t count.
Obama has spent the last eight years carrying out a moderate Republican agenda doing the bidding of the Council of Foreign Relations (the Rockefellers), The Business Roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers (see Political Sociologist G. William Domhoff in The Powers that Be and Who Rules America) .When people voted for him, most of them thought it would be a change towards the left on the political spectrum – to end the wars, build infrastructures, reign in the banks, raise the minimum wage or lower the cost of education. Those who voted for him assumed he would do all these things without him ever making an explicit commitment or a plan to do them. Yet Obama talked in the vaguest of generalities: promoting “change”, “hope”, and “yes we can” slogans. Why has he gotten away with this?
Because grounding themselves in identity politics, many of those who voted for him assumed that a black man in high office is automatically a liberal. But the American public is not called the “United States of Amnesia” for nothing. Right in front of their faces that had examples of professionals in high places, black politicians who were arch conservatives – Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court; Secretary General Colin Powell and perhaps the most conservative of all, Condoleezza Rice. Is this not proof that blacks can be just as conservative as Pat Robertson, Ronald Regan or Ted Cruz?
Ready for some more identity politics? Here comes Hillary
For eight years financial capitalists in the United States have not had to pay for the damage they’ve caused economically or in the military because they’ve changed the color of the president. This has allowed them to carry on their predatory pillaging of middle class, working class and poor people because the symbolic head of state was not a rich white man.
The same Council of Foreign Relations that selected Obama has selected Hillary Clinton. They are counting on the American public being too stupid to have learned anything from the trick played on them with Obama. This time instead of the race card being played, it will be the gender card.
Hillary Clinton, the ruling class millionaire and hawk will be presented to women as if she had something to do with feminism. Is Hillary a liberal feminist? If she is, what would she promise to deliver? Here are some things liberal feminists want. She would promise equal pay for equal work and institute laws accordingly. She would promise affordable childcare centers for women. She would put teeth into laws that criminalize sexual harassment and rape. She would insist that capitalists pay for all the domestic housework women now perform for free in the process of raising generations of workers for capitalists. She would open up more Planned Parenthood clinics and settle the abortion rights issue once and for all. Will Hillary promise these things, let alone deliver on them? No. Her campaign doesn’t think she has to. She is counting on women being so enthralled with a woman being president that they won’t expect and demand that she do anything in particular. Hillary is so confident that women are so naïve that she sings the praises of conservative women like Nancy Reagan who are about as anti-feminist as you can get. Will she get away with it? That depends mostly on the intelligence of the women in this country.
Here’s the Soap Opera
Since the early 70’s, every four years the real economy (the production of goods and services) has has been sliding. The Republicans react by promising to bring back that Old-Time Religion and family values to a decaying modern life brought to you by the sex, drugs and rock-and-roll of the evil1960’s. The Democrats simply stand in the middle promising nothing, arousing no one. Then when the elections heat up and Republicans begin screaming, the Democrats’ program comes alive. What does it consist of? “You should elect us, not because we stand for anything, but because if you don’t this horrible Republican will win.” Hillary will play the same game with Donald Trump.
Bernie Sanders has harshly but accurately been named as a sheep dog. What this means is that his job is to round up moderate leftists who are disgusted with the Democratic Party over the years and bring them back to the party. From the beginning, Bernie Sanders promised Hillary not to worry because if she won the nomination he would support her. He has not threatened to leave the party and take the Sandernistas with him. His program is not socialist in any meaningful use of he term. His program is virtually identical to a New Deal liberal. It’s a good program, but it’s not socialist. Every real socialist knows that there are more differences between a liberal and a socialist than there are between liberals and conservatives. Liberals and conservatives support capitalism. Socialists do not. Acting as if what Hillary Clinton stands for is quantitatively different from a democratic socialist program is like saying if socialist Eugene Debs did not win a nomination for president in 1912 he would tell his followers to vote for Andrew Carnegie.
So as the scene unfolds, Trump and his followers will be attacked on all sides from the ruling class, from the press and by the Democrats. Decrepit republican lawyers in high places will find technical means that no one understands to steal the Republican nomination from Trump and his followers. They will change the rules of the game as it is being played. The identity politics left will continue to attack and confront Trump and his followers acting as foot-soldiers for Hillary. There will be riots at the Republican primaries and the members of the identity politics left will think they are the heroic defenders against fascist Trump and company. Hillary will not lift a finger. She will intervene after blood has flowed in the streets as the “voice of reason”. Middle and upper middle class women will be inspired by her “non-violent” leadership and she will win the election in a landslide. The identity politics left will be stuck with another moderate Republican presiding over a rapidly declining capitalism for another four to eight years. Hillary will deliver the same thing to women that Obama delivered to non-whites. Nothing. She will serve the bankers just as Obama did during his 8 year run.
But if we don’t vote for Hillary, Trump will get in
This issue comes down to what we think the electoral process is all about. If you believe that who gets the most votes from the people for the presidency will win, then you believe that the electoral process is democratic.
We believe the electoral process is rigged from the start and has been for more than 200 years. What we are witnessing and will witness until November 2016 is political theatre among candidates who have all been selected for us by the ruling class. Since many of you might not believe this, let me lay out a scenario and let's see what happens.
The ruling class has selected Hillary and this has been in the works for at least sixteen years, if not longer. Usually the ruling class puts their money on both parties, but because Donald Trump and his followers represent such a threat to them, many modern conservatives within the Council of Foreign Relations, the Business Round Table and the National Association of Manufacturers will move their money into the Hillary campaign.
Bernie Sanders will do his part. He will genuflect and tell his supporters to fold their tents, support Hillary and send money. Some liberal feminists will congratulate the Sandernistas for being “politically correct” in supporting Hillary. They will all be united in a grand show of unity in the great baptism of identity politics. Women will be crying in public, just as many were crying when Obama won for the first time. The identity politics of being a woman will triumph over the class politics of her being an upper class woman, committed body and soul to finance capital. Women will be told and tell each other “ You’ve come a long way, baby!” The irony is painful.
It Ain’t Over Yet: Wild Cards on the Left
Both Donald Trump and his followers are hated by the upper classes mostly because they are not controllable. Trump has so much money that he doesn’t have to kowtow to the corporate sponsors who are expressions of big business interests. In part because some of the Trump followers are white working-class who may not have voted before, they are not controllable either.
However there is another variable to be considered – and that is the white working class who is on the left, many of whom will feel betrayed by Sanders’ recommendation that they simply give up and vote for Hillary. Very few working class people identify with Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders has gotten support from 80 unions. Maybe a significant portion of those unions will decide to go on as a movement beyond Bernie Sanders. In addition, Labor Notes tracks the activities of rank and file unionists around the US who are unhappy with the lack of militancy of their union leadership. These unionists could become allies. Lastly on the labor front, there are those workers in the fast food industry who have struck out on their own, without unions, that might be brought into the fold.
Secondly, Bernie Sanders has not done a good job with the Black Lives Matter movement and they might be recruited as a second ally on the left. Then are also all those who participated in the Occupy movement, most of whom are anticapitalists. Remember that the Occupy movement had a presence in 150 US cities four years ago. Occupy was initially formed in reaction to the economic crisis caused by the banks. Capitalism has gotten worse since then and the Occupy people are too young to have simply sunk into apathy. Lastly there is a growing cooperative movement that is for work-place democracy and for the most part, against capitalism. If these and many other groups can form a unified movement beyond Bernie Sanders, then we will have the makings of the kind of political revolution that Sanders talked about, even though it might go beyond anything he would advocate.
The real political revolution would be between the followers of Donald Trump who will be furious that their candidate was robbed of the Republican Party candidacy and will be furious at Hillary before she is even sworn in. On the left might be those renegade Sandernistas and other leftist groups without a political candidate who have the political savvy to know that it is possible to be a movement without participating in electoral politics. Whether you like them or not, the Bolsheviks never participated in electoral politics and they rose to power.
What matters here is what these two forces on the right and left do collectively during the next seven months – as well as after the election. The “election” itself is not very relevant because it is a selection, not an election. The selection will be the coronation of Hillary Clinton who will preside over a rapidly decaying empire and a global capitalist system that has seen better days. She will govern like Margaret Thatcher.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-17--WHAT IS SOCIALIST PSYCHOLOGY: CHILD DEVELOPMENT, HISTORY SHAPING, THERAPY AND REVOLUTIONARY SITUATIO

WHAT IS SOCIALIST PSYCHOLOGY: CHILD DEVELOPMENT, HISTORY SHAPING, THERAPY AND REVOLUTIONARY SITUATIONS: PART II

n Part I of this article I discussed how when Vygotsky ’ s work was exported to the United States it was narrowly defined as encompassing his work in child-development and cooperative learning .
His interest in art history , European history and his commitment to Marxian political economy is barely mentioned .
Secondly , I contrasted the differences between capitalist psychology and socialist psychology across the categories of psychological disorders , attitude towards social class , what is consciousness , motivation , emotions , intelligence , the place of the unconscious , consumptive patterns , work , free will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Marxian theories of individual human development differed from bourgeois nativist , behaviorist and constructionist theories of how people change .
Lastly , I took a closer look at the similarities and differences between Vygotsky and his great rival , Piaget , in the following areas : the relationship between language and thought ; the place of schooling in maturational development ; and the role of adults in how children learn .
In Part II , I will begin with the crisis that Vygotsky saw in western psychology .
Then we will study his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the zone of proximal development ) in terms of child development .
For the rest of the article , we will expand his theory of zones of proximal development beyond micro-psychology to three areas : • How the psychology of an of people can change when require revolutionary change in occupational work • How the rather than the individual is the focus of change in socialist therapy • How mass psychology changes during revolutionary situations that one author calls the “ zone of development ” I Vygotsky , Luria and Leontiev and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late 1970 ’ s when Vygotsky ’ s work was translated and published in paperback , neo-liberal psychologists covered up the fact that Vygotsky was a communist who wanted to build a Marxian psychology in the Soviet Union .
They preferred not to know or care to know that it was impossible to understand fully Vygotsky ’ s work because it was based on a different ontology and epistemology .
Dialectical materialist ontology and epistemology were foreign to the social contract theory that was the foundation of ontology and epistemology in the West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rationalistic systems .
It was in 1924 that Vygotsky first identified what he saw as the crisis in western psychology .
The schools of psychology in the West that were prevalent were Stern ’ s personalism , Freud ’ s psychoanalysis , Wundt ’ s introspectionism , Pavlov ’ s behaviorism and Kohler ’ s Gestalt psychology .
In terms of today ’ s schools , personalism is like humanistic psychology ; behaviorism in Vygotsky ’ s time was the conditioning of Pavlov .
It was before the behaviorist work of B.F. Skinner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cognitive psychology of today .
While Gestalt focuses on lower levels of the mind , perception in cognitive psychology includes higher levels of cognition such as interpretations , explanations and assumptions .
Vygotsky asked how do we understand the relationship between consciousness on the one hand and activity on the other ?
On the one hand he wanted to avoid the reductionism of behaviorism .
Behaviorists argue that what goes on inside of people ’ s minds ( consciousness ) really doesn ’ t matter .
Individuals are driven by past conditions and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a product of those associations .
Vygotsky criticized the behaviorists by saying higher psychological processes that take place in consciousness – thought , language , volition – originate as processes that could not be explained by association-stimulus-response .
Human consciousness is constitutionally social not individual .
We set goals with others , develop plans for taking action and develop strategies for realizing the goals .
At the same time , once we put our goals into actions with other people , we watch what happens and we learn from it .
Some strategies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this we collaborate with others and set new and more refined goals , plans and strategies .
We develop a While some simpler human conduct is the result of previous associations which are unconscious , the most important part of human consciousness is purposeful and , most importantly , conduct is not behavior .
Behaviorists have a naturalistic approach that stresses human with other animals .
This is mechanical materialism .
It doesn ’ t take into account the extent to which human society and history act as socio-ecological membranes ( a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) which house the structure for qualitative differences between humans and other animals .
Human activity , human practice is both a product and co-producer of this socio-sphere .
Vygotsky also criticized Wundt ’ s empirical introspection for only dealing with the lower levels of consciousness such as attention , sensation and emotions in lab settings .
( To be fair to Wundt , he did develop a “ folk ” branch of psychology which tried to account for the higher mental processes through the study of cultural products such as art and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ psychology limited itself to lower levels of consciousness , that is perception , which were governed by laws of Gestalt .
The problem with Gestaltists , according to Vygotsky , is they treated consciousness as an independent function .
Action for them was either a secondary derivative or they paid no attention to it .
For Vygotsky , Gestaltists were philosophical idealist rationalists .
What was in the mind had nothing to do with previous conduct or conditions .
The laws of gestalt perception seem to come from nowhere .
The crisis in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ behavior without minds or minds without actions .
Vygotsky ’ s human practice , or activity theory dissolved the schizophrenic crisis in psychology .
Human practice involves collective operations on objects through work .
This creates consciousness , with consciousness grounded in social goals , plans and strategies .
Consciousness is not floating above , or beyond human practice .
Vygotsky believed that 1 ) the type of society , 2 ) the point in history and , 3 ) one ’ s class location mediated the relationship between individual actions and how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ psychological processes .
More generally , in strict Marxist terms , the level of the development of the productive forces ( technology , methods of harnessing energy ) and the relations of production ( agricultural-bureaucratic , capitalist , socialist ) and their dynamics and conflicts shapes how coherent or incoherent individual human practice becomes in terms of the tools used , the labor processes enacted with other people and the products produced .
Human society , in its various historical expressions mediates the relationships between objects in nature and the human psyche .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ thoughts , emotions , imagination and volitions – finds its leading edge or its degeneration based on what it invents in labor together with other human beings who are part of an irreversible historical process .
At a micro-level , Vygotsky has been called the father of cooperative learning .
Vygotsky and his colleagues believed that all higher psychological processes begin and end as social processes .
They originate first in structured , meaningful , cooperative and recursive local interpersonal relations between people .
Only later do these skills become internalized , private @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out alone .
Finally , these skills are reapplied to the social world to larger contexts at a higher order of complexity .
For example , in the interpersonal local stage , a father might work together with his son baking cookies .
At first the dad does most of the complex activity himself and gives his son only the simplest tasks .
Vygotsky called this part of learning “ the zone of proximal development ” because working socially is the leading edge of new individual learning for his son .
But gradually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to his son .
In the second , internalization phase the father will cede all activities to his son to see if he can do the baking activities himself .
Now , suppose the dad wants to take his son to the next phase .
He informs him that their neighborhood block is going to have a yard sale and he wants him to bake cookies as part of the sale .
In order to involve his son in this project , he proposes again that they work together , only this time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baking cooks for a yard sale be any different from baking cookies for the son ’ s household ?
First , because they will be baking for strangers .
This involves making cookies his son might not like .
Second , he would have to think about baking for many more than two people .
Third , he would have to decide on a fair price .
While Vygotsky never coined a term for this third phase ( which I am calling “ global interpersonal ” ) I think he would be the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ultimately come back to the social world .
Famously , Vygotsky ’ s work showed that all higher psychological processes do not begin inside of people the way Piaget or Heinz Werner may claim .
Rather they begin in the structured , meaningful , recursive and cooperative relations between children and adults as they play and work .
It is only later that the skills they learn become internalized .
He called this first stage the “ zone of proximal development.
” Vygotsky ’ s work concentrated on how children learn over a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it tells us little about how adults learn over the course of generations .
I am confident that Vygotsky would agree that adults continue to go through the same three phases of learning every time they learn to use a new tool or find a new occupation .
But what about when a new economic system ( capitalism ) or technology ( the printing press ) revolutionized society as a whole ?
What happens to adults and their children when new systems emerge which require new occupations as well as upgrades of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this be traced ?
It already has !
In the former Soviet Union , Alexander Luria set out to develop a new communist psychology , separating itself from the rationalist and empiricist traditions in the West .
As we have seen , these rationalist , empiricist and behaviorist traditions treated the psychology of the individual as separated from the social and historical context in which he was produced .
In the late 1920 ’ s , Luria set out to demonstrate how the most basic psychological processes such as perception , the concept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and how people reasoned were changed by dramatic historical changes such as Russia ’ s transition to state socialism .
To do this Luria asked questions of three groups : peasants who still lived on farms relatively untouched by the revolution .
These were compared to peasants who moved from the farms to factories in the cities as well as those peasants going to school in cities .
What Luria found was very different answers to his questions depending on whether people lived on farms or in cities .
As peasants moved @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their psychology changed .
As they went to school and worked in factories , their perception , cognition , identity and categorization process became more abstract and universalistic .
His point was to show that Vygotsky ’ s zone of proximal development could be applied to an undergoing a rapid industrialization .
Luria has since been rightly criticized for his misunderstandings of some of the peasants ’ responses in his research questions .
In part because of this , contemporary followers of Vygotsky ’ s work have distanced themselves from the historical side @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ cultural psychology ” .
Mostly this is because Luria ’ s framework had embedded within it unilinear theories of social evolution as progress which have been discounted by cultural relativist anthropologists .
As far as I know , by the late 1990 ’ s , there have been no historical studies that attempted to apply Vygotsky and Luria ’ s theories to other historical periods .
My two books , From Earth-Spirits to Sky Gods and Power in Eden attempted to do this in mapping the psychological changes among the different social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Bronze to the Iron Age .
In general , changes in socio-historical institutions ( such as the emergence of science , capitalism , absolutist states and new media ( printing press , newspapers , coined money ) demand changes in occupational skills by individuals in order to do their job within the new system .
These changes in job requirements then became internalized as psychological transformations , first at work and then at home in child-rearing practices , religious beliefs and recreational habits .
As these institutional processes change over history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For example , the 17th century was a vital time in developing a scientific methodology for experiments .
It was also a time when merchants needed to increase the speed with which goods were consumed and produced .
In the case of capitalism , this resulted in the increasing use of coined money , paper money , promissory notes and bills of exchange .
In learning to use these new symbolic tokens , people had to reason differently .
It is my contention elsewhere ( Lerro , Lucifer ’ s Labyrinth , 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ development of Piaget ’ s formal operational thinking in order to invent and then use these new symbolic tokens .
Whole societies can go through a zone of proximal development .
This socio-historical zone of proximal development goes through the following transformations : • Ecological , demographic , economic and political crises require new forms of technology , economic exchange and politics in order to meet the crisis .
• Technological , economic and political changes in European society from the Middle Ages to the Gilded Age ( such as the printing press @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entry bookkeeping ) provided the scene in which cooperative learning occurs on the job ( zone of proximal development ) .
• These people ( merchants , scientists or artists ) then internalize what they ’ ve learned on the job and possess these learning skills independently for their private use as their subjective skills .
• These same workers than apply these skills to non-work social settings such as play , child-rearing or religious practices .
In other words , the movement goes from social , to psychological to social .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New ecological , demographic , economic and political crises require new forms of technology , economic exchange and politics to meet the crisis .
• This requires new kinds of social institutions which invite new kinds of work .
• As people learn new work habits , new tools to use , new symbol systems to manipulate , there develops a new zone of proximal development .
• This leads to new internalization processes , a repeat of “ 1 ” in the previous paragraph , except on a higher level .
• @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we will see a further change in child-rearing , game playing and religious practices that reflect these new work habits .
My book Lucifer ’ s Labyrinth is the story of how psychological processes that we might consider private actually evolved but they are driven by social and historical processes .
Table A traces Vygotsky ’ s three stages of learning both ontogenetically in the life of an individual and socio-historically in the lives of mental workers on the job : Vygotsky ’ s theory of three stages of learning : ontogenetically and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are private and precious .
They originate inside of people and they dissipate inside of people .
In a socialist psychology , emotions are socially produced .
Emotions as basic as sexual jealousy vary both historically and cross-culturally .
It is very useful to distinguish feelings from emotions .
Feelings may be in the body , physiological stares of arousal which are biological in origin .
Cognitive psychologists tell us that in order to have an emotion there has to be a cognitive interpretation of what the physiological state may mean .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an emotion we have to first think .
But where socialist psychology differs from cognitive psychology is in asking where the thoughts come from .
Whether thoughts are interpretations , explanations or assumptions , socialists say they do not start with the individual .
Hunter-gathering , simple horticulture , agricultural states and industrial capitalist societies all have different interpretations , explanations and assumptions about what events mean .
They form the parameters of the thinking of any particular individual in each society .
Even within a given society , different social classes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within these parameters .
Lastly , any of these types of society change over the course of history .
This means whatever emotion an individual experiences is mediated by : • The type of society it occurs in ; • The social class , ethnicity or gender within the society ; • The point in world history in which the emotion is taking place ; Let ’ s take anger as our example .
Generally , anger is a reaction to a violation of social rules , roles and expectations .
But whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are angry about varies depending on the type of society , the time in world history and the micro-social location of the individual .
These socio-historical conditions are mediators between the physiological state of arousal and the emotional state of the person .
Emotions are sociohistorical productions they are internalized in the mental life of the individual .
Let ’ s say three people are riding in a car together and Jingle Bells comes on the radio .
At that moment each person has a different reaction .
One person experiences joy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ empty his pocketbook , while another experiences a slow desperation creeping up .
Although these are three distinct emotions , they are still rooted in our western civilization concept of Christmas .
One may emote joy at the prospect of getting presents ; another resignation because Christmas is so commercialized and a third a desperation because it is a time of year when families should be close , while his is not close .
Jingle Bells in a hunting and gathering society wouldn ’ t mean anything because they have no religion with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Even the event “ Christmas ” risks making it a cultural thing without a history .
It didn ’ t always exist as the collective emotional reactions between buying presents and being close .
Christmas is the self-conscious production of a particular commercial class at one moment in history .
Marx talked about how under capitalism commodities acquire a life of their own , and disengaged from the situation which produced them .
Alienation is the inversion of subject and object , creation and creator .
It is a reversal of ends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a life if its own .
Alienation creates people who are anti-social and anti-historical .
They are anti-social in that they are atomistic .
They either internalize their conflict as their private business or they externalize the conflict as having nothing to do with them .
Most people who come into therapy are alienated from : a ) the products of their labor ; b ) the process of producing the products ; c ) other people they are producing with ; d ) the power setting in which the product is distributed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The goals of social therapy is to lessen these forms of alienation by creating a microcosm of a socialist society within the group .
The following is based my understanding of the “ social therapy ” work done in New York City developed by Fred Newman and Lois Holzman in 1989 when I studied with them for a year .
Atomistic groups under capitalism vs collective creative groups under socialism The goals of social therapy are to cultivate a “ social ” individual who gradually comes to see the activity of building and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by which individuals can solve their problems and the result of building them .
Considerations of class , race , and gender in a group setting arise not because it is politically correct to discuss them .
Rather , it is because these stratified boundaries get in the way of building the group .
In bourgeois psychology , groups are treated as : • no more than the sum of individuals ; • less than the sum of individuals ; • an entity that has a super-personally separate life from individuals .
To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach , when people join a group , they often into it , they reify the group .
They make the group a thing , above and beyond anything they can control .
When an individual withdraws from the group , the group is renounced as a resource , as the individual believes their problems are so precious that no one could possibly understand them .
When the individual the members of a group , the individual renounces the capacity of the member being tolerated to change .
The tolerating member does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also and they are not alone in putting up with members who are hard to manage .
When individuals against the group , they assume that other group members are conservative , never change or are stuck in their ways .
If the individual tries to the group , the individual renounces their ability to get what they want through the collective creativity of the group .
What withdrawing , toleration , rebelling or dominating have in common is the zero sum game , with winners and losers .
In socialist psychology the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is win-win .
In all these examples the group is a whole which is no more than the sum of its parts .
The best example of when a group is treated as than the sum of individuals , is in the Lord of the Flies novel .
A group being less than the sum of individuals exists in the hyper-conservative imagination of Gustav Lebon in his books about crowds , or in mass media ’ s depiction of mass behavior during natural disasters where crowds develop a hive mentality .
In socialist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than the sum of its parts , but the group is still the creation of concrete individuals .
The group has no mystical identity floating above individuals .
While there is no group without individuals , through the collective creativity of members , through creating zones of proximal development , the group acquires a synergy whose products are more than what any individual can do by themselves .
A socialist psychology creates win-win situations through cooperation .
A socialist psychological group challenges people who withdraw or dissolve into the group by asking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then what they want .
The group confronts those who tolerate others by asking them who and what they are putting up with .
What would need to happen for things to be different .
To those who rebel the group asks what are you rebelling against and how could we change things to make the group more attractive to you .
To those who try to dominate the group , socialist group therapy does not moralize against dominators , we simply say that you are losing out on the collective creativity of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In bourgeois group psychology the individual might say “ I feel impotent , and the group needs to do something ” .
In social therapy what might be said is “ We are impotent as a group and I need to do something about it as a group member ” .
Individuals must become tool makers , not just tool users ; we must become role makers , not just role takers .
We must act ever more inclusively and communally .
This means exposing the unconscious commonalities between people that lie beneath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long-term commitment based on the belief that the commonalities between most working class and middle class people far outweigh the differences .
We work to minimize alienation : a ) by expanding the range of what the choices are : b ) how the choices are made ; c ) for whom they are made ; d ) how they are consumed .
The therapeutic material the group works on is not the personal past history of individuals , neither is it in the world outside the group .
Rather , the subject @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the therapy group and improve it .
The idea is that if you learn to build the collective power of a therapy group , you can then go out into the world and change it by your newfound capacity to change groups wherever we go , now and into the future .
Learning how to change groups through the collective creative capacity of the group moves us from being products of history to being co-producers of it .
The purpose of social therapy is to : • Change the understanding of the dialectic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the group ; V ) The Zone of Proletarian Development in revolutionary situations One of the boldest and creative attempts to apply Vygotsky ’ s work is Mastaneh Shah-Shuja ’ s book Zones of Proletarian Development .
The title is a takeoff of Vygotsky ’ s zone of proximal development .
What Mastaneh does that is original is : • to take the zone of proximal development out of the sphere of ontogenesis and apply it to the development of • this application is not apply to normal life but group life in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and carnivals .
She applies the work of Vygotsky ’ s colleague Leontiev ’ s activity theory to an anti-poll tax riot in 1990 , anti-war demonstrations and to various May Days , all of which occurred in Britain .
She stretches activity theory far beyond its original application to show how workers move from what Marx had called “ class-in-itself ” to “ class-for-itself ” identity .
In other words , how proletarians develop over the lifetime of revolutionary situations .
I am interested in showing how this zone of proletarian development @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as natural disasters and worker takeovers of production .
I suspect that surprising to many , research in mass psychology shows that more times than not , natural disasters bring out the very in people far more often than the worst ( Miller , 2014 Introduction to Collective Behavior and Collective Action ) .
During the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco , the traffic lights had stopped functioning and I remember seeing a homeless man directing traffic at the corner of Market and Van Ness .
This is a person who , half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to get the time of day from a passerby .
He is now a spontaneous director for traffic .
Drivers are following his instructions .
Neighbors who had never spoken to each other or workers who only yesterday were completely indifferent to each other ’ s lives are mobilized into action .
Large segments of the population change from being passive order-takers to spontaneous co-creators , social engineers , most of whom had no prior experience .
I would like to relate another “ collective peak experience ” of my own to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life could be like .
The setting is the middle of the 1960 ’ s in New York City in the dead of winter .
It had been snowing for days .
Upon leaving my high school I discover that the snow drifts have smothered all traffic .
Things are eerily still .
In the distance I see a man approaching me .
He gestures for me to come towards him .
My fleeting reservation is no match for this extraordinary situation .
He asks me to help him push his car to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we begin pushing , I sense that that load is suddenly lighter , realizing now we have been joined by two or three others who spontaneously pitch in .
Having successfully achieved our goal , we proceed to help these latest arrivals dig their cars out .
More people come along .
Some suggest we all plow the entire street , since then we will all have access to the main road .
We organize ourselves into little work groups and work into the night , making slow progress since it continues to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am bustling about , shoveling here , pushing there with people I have never met and probably won ’ t ever see again .
I ’ ve forgotten about eating , worrying about school or struggles with my parents .
It is hard to believe I could become so close to so many strangers in such a short period of time .
As this street-clearing project continues we begin to relax a little .
Strangers are laughing and joking .
Grateful neighbors are now out in the street offering hot chocolate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up by .
Someone throws a snowball from across the street .
It comes from the hand of an older business man .
A man in a three piece suit ducking behind a car to avoid retaliation ?
How bizarre !
But then this whole episode suggests something forbidden , not of this world .
Time seems to have stopped .
Since no traffic is moving , the street is ours !
We can do anything from sleigh-riding to castle-building to hide-and-seek .
We did all three .
We have created a new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of clearing the street , digging out cars and chopping ice was a spontaneous collective activity , achieved without coercion from authorities and without wage labor as an incentive .
It was a zone of proximal development .
What do natural disasters have to do with revolutionary situations ?
Natural disasters are relatively short-lived .
Revolutionary situations and what has sometimes followed – workers councils – can last months , and in some cases , years .
The process of seizing control over social life and actually making decisions together with others about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ goods and services is the stuff of “ socio-historical ” peak experiences , or , as one anarchist put it , “ orgasms of history.
” The stereotype of a revolutionary situation in Yankeedom is of a “ foreign ” looking man sneakily moving together with a motley crew of followers with a bomb as they attack the White House .
In this scene revolutionaries are either madmen or in the case of The Hunger Games , they are heroes .
Nineteenth century socialists have naively presented the lower classes as downtrodden individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who , once they experience a crack in the existing order , throw off their chains , rise to the occasion , perhaps helped all by the leaders of leftist organizations .
But in real revolutions , the situations are chaotic and complex and the leaders along with the masses are Let me begin by examining the emotional predicament of the participants when the traditional institutions are weakened or , in some cases collapse .
What happens when the lights go out ?
What happens when there is no gasoline ?
How do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a stop ?
What do people do when radio and TV stations operate erratically , and credit cards can no longer be used .
Initially , we are more likely to find individuals who are disoriented , not heroic .
Further , as much as people may complain about this or that problem within the existing order , they are distraught upon realizing that no authority figures are going to restore order any time soon .
Fredy Perlman , in his great book Manual For Revolutionary Leaders describes the emotional state of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Human beings are amazingly adaptable , and that works both for and against us .
In this case , even though the objective conditions of individuals under capitalism are fairly miserable , when these conditions suddenly cease to exist , the habit of going to work and engaging these conditions over and over again ceases .
A disruption of the habit , even a miserable one , is disturbing , at least at first .
These exceptional insights require some commentary .
In order to exist , any social order must have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coercion ( the threat of force ) propaganda , entertainment on the one hand , and collusion of workers on the other .
State force and coercion involves the military and police forces that are required to protect the property of the capitalists .
However , while these violent forces are always present , they is not always active .
In fact , in a society that is relatively stable , they lie dormant .
What keeps society functioning continually in a way that is blatantly unequal economically and politically , the force @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s willingness to support and go along with this through their work , with the institutions that oppress them .
This is what I call collusion .
The point here is that when people acquire the “ habit ” of collusion they become attached and dependent on the existing order over time .
If they are conservative , they may fight to defend the existing order in revolutionary situations .
Even if workers are progressive or socialist this habit of collusion will hold them back from becoming independent and seizing the reins of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the unknown , the familiar and the new is frightening at least as much as it is liberating .
There is collective anxiety at the prospect of independence and freedom to organize social life in a new way .
As the lower classes become used to this arrangement , they have difficulty imagining that things could be any other way , and they pass on these ways of thinking to the next generation .
When the music of the dominant order slows down or even stops suddenly , the lower classes are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dependence .
All transformations from dependency to autonomy , whether they are social or psychological enter a valley of death , mystically referred to as the “ dark night of the soul ” .
There is an abyss in which the old dependencies are no longer possible but where a new autonomous way of living is still too fragile to be of reassurance .
We either learn to accept the pain of temporary confusion until we develop the self-mastery that will make the dependencies no longer necessary , or we scramble to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the power for us .
The latter is the road to cults and fascism .
The road to self-mastery and worker self-management is the road to socialism through the zone of proletarian development .
When we discussed the micro-psychology of Vygotsky , we said there were three stages of learning ; local interpersonal , internalization and global interpersonal .
The same is true when groups learn new things , as in Luria ’ s study of peasants during the revolution or when the middle classes were transformed by capitalism in the 17th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members in therapy expand their knowledge of how to create socialist groups into new groups .
So in revolutionary situations today , we have the stages of proletarian development .
In revolutionary situations , the first stage is local interpersonal where learning is with those close at hand .
In a demonstration it is a particular site .
In an occupation it would be a particular factory , store or office .
In the case of a demonstration or a riot , the tools used are no longer the pens , pencils and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they include overturned cars , billboards , railings , torn off branches of trees , as well as thrown cobblestones , jack-hammers taken from building sites , chains , street barricades , red and black flags , Molotov cocktails and cell phones .
For longer sieges groups built makeshift structures , workers cleaned up garbage , made beds from wood pallets and cardboard and designed storm drains as bathrooms .
The proletariat learned also to avert gas canisters and tear gas .
In a situation like this , it is easy to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the sense of being on unsure ground that must have gripped the participants .
But at the same time , these feelings were also mixed with feelings of delight as a result of the collective creativity of the large groups of people .
Is it so far-fetched to imagine that these experiences were similar , but on a higher level as the description of the snow storm I mentioned earlier ?
At the micro-level of individual development , internalization has to do with the process of making what was learned in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the individual on their own without the presence of a group .
But at the macro-level of proletarian development , it is the that must process what was learned in the local interpersonal stage .
Crowds have to discuss what they learned , what succeeded and what failed .
During the period of deliberation ( some may recall the general assemblies at Occupy ) for very deep and long-lasting revolutionary situations , some of the more seasoned militants will revisit the controversies between anarchists , various varieties of Leninists and social democrats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federate or centralize ; the extent of which the state is should be reformed or abolished ; which ( if any ) markets should remain in operation ; whether a political party should be mass or secret , vanguard or not ; whether or not they should participate or not participate in elections and if so , at what level .
How much power should leaders possess ?
Should political bodies use representation or delegation ?
How long can the leaders remain leaders ?
More or less permanency or rotated ?
Should they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders a longer learning curve ?
Still deeper discussions may refer to the achievements of the past for guidance in revolutionary situations : the Paris Commune , the factory committees during the Russian Revolution , the anarchist collectives in the cities and in the peasant countryside collectives during the Spanish revolution .
When we discussed the global interpersonal stage in individual development , we said that the young boy making cookies would be challenged by the prospect of making cookies for a block sale because he would have to accommodate different tastes in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ price he would sell the cookies for and he had to bake at a volume far beyond what he was used to .
Something similar goes on at the macro-level in a revolutionary situation .
As far back as the Communist Manifesto , the main objective of the Communist Party was to extend and intensify class struggle and this was done by linking the specific struggle to the general struggle .
We must demonstrate linkage between various aspects of the social movement and prevent fragmentation into single issues .
We must attempt to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cooperate at a more complex , expansive level with more people we do not know into new geographical locations and in situations they are unfamiliar with .
This is Engestrom ’ s “ expansive learning ” .
This would involve overcoming religious and nationalist conflicts , as well as racist and sexist assumptions which get in the way of expanding the revolution , age biases , the division between white collar and blue-collar proletarians , all of which have kept the authorities in power by fragmenting our struggle .
The hardest part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coordination across various locales .
In the end we should aim to create :

Up to You.
^3000US citizens have no real political representation.
We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.
I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.
What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.
And its multitude of minions and lackeys.


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-19--US torpedoed the entire global economy to stop China’s rise

his is very interesting news that Israel is now saying that US intelligence warned them in November about a potentially catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan , China , and apparently other US allies were also warned in November .
This confirms what ABC News reported earlier this week and , of course , the Trump administration denied it .
You ’ re not supposed to believe anything until it ’ s been denied maybe twice or three times .
So we ’ ll have to wait for a couple more denials before we can be sure that this is true .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ got these different sources now telling us that this is true—this is quite mind-blowing , because China did not become aware of this problem until December 31st .
So if US intelligence knew that there was a potentially catastrophic pandemic developing in Wuhan , China , in November , it means US intelligence knows what ’ s happening in Wuhan , China , better than the Chinese do .
And the only reason that that would be the case would be if the US had planted the virus there .
In any case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rise of China to number one world power status .
To do that it has to slow down Chinese economic growth considerably , which has been in double-digits for almost 40 years .
The only way to do that would be to torpedo the entire global economy and find a way to try to break the global supply chains so that the economy would become less globalized and individual countries would be looking elsewhere rather than to China for their goods , to get infrastructure through such projects as Belt and Road @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the trajectory that it was on before the coronavirus , the Chinese are going to rule the world within a decade or two .
There ’ s no question about that .
And that is absolutely unacceptable to the American decision-makers .
They had to find some way to bust up the globalized economy and in particular to try to strike at China .
This appears to be what they ’ ve done .
Now , they ’ re saying that they ’ re going to steal China ’ s investments in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trillions of dollars as supposed compensation for the virus .
So the US propaganda push among the extreme anti-China crowd here in the United States is to blame China .
The push is to use this as an excuse to destroy China ’ s economic leverage by stealing Chinese investments in US treasuries and to attempt to de-globalize the world .
All of this points straight at the usual suspects .
The same people who did 9/11 in order to launch their war on Islamic civilization as the beginning of the clash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civilization that is the most threatening to their continued hegemony in the world is Chinese civilization .
This is the first strike of World War III as the US is preemptively striking China not so much with the virus itself but with the massive publicity and the historical effect that will happen due to this virus , as they can smear China , as they can try to convince other countries to stop trading so much with China , and as they attempt to de-globalize the world economy so that they can freeze @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where the US still has the vast preponderance of military power .
Press TV ’ s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses :

OpEds
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is very interesting news that Israel is now saying that US intelligence warned them in November about a potentially catastrophic pandemic in Wuhan, China, and apparently other US allies were also warned in November.
This confirms what ABC News reported earlier this week and, of course, the Trump administration denied it. You’re not supposed to believe anything until it’s been denied maybe twice or three times. So we'll have to wait for a couple more denials before we can be sure that this is true.
But assuming it is—and we’ve got these different sources now telling us that this is true—this is quite mind-blowing, because China did not become aware of this problem until December 31st. So if US intelligence knew that there was a potentially catastrophic pandemic developing in Wuhan, China, in November, it means US intelligence knows what’s happening in Wuhan, China, better than the Chinese do. And the only reason that that would be the case would be if the US had planted the virus there.
US intelligence agencies gave Israel an advance warning of an emerging coronavirus outbreak in mid-November, according to a report. Now that sounds like an outrageous hypothesis, but it’s really not if we understand how geopolitics operates, how covert operations take place. And if we understand the complete lack of normal morality and ethics among people who are in charge of foreign policies we understand why it is far more probable than not that US intelligence was indeed behind this, although given that the Israelis are pointing their fingers at the Americans, maybe the Israelis were involved too and want to offload some of the blame—who knows. Certainly the attack on Iran would implicate the Israelis.
In any case, the US desperately needs to stop the rise of China to number one world power status. To do that it has to slow down Chinese economic growth considerably, which has been in double-digits for almost 40 years.
The only way to do that would be to torpedo the entire global economy and find a way to try to break the global supply chains so that the economy would become less globalized and individual countries would be looking elsewhere rather than to China for their goods, to get infrastructure through such projects as Belt and Road and so on.
If history continues on the trajectory that it was on before the coronavirus, the Chinese are going to rule the world within a decade or two. There’s no question about that. And that is absolutely unacceptable to the American decision-makers. They had to find some way to bust up the globalized economy and in particular to try to strike at China. This appears to be what they’ve done.
Now, they’re saying that they’re going to steal China’s investments in US treasuries to the tune of trillions and trillions of dollars as supposed compensation for the virus.
So the US propaganda push among the extreme anti-China crowd here in the United States is to blame China. The push is to use this as an excuse to destroy China’s economic leverage by stealing Chinese investments in US treasuries and to attempt to de-globalize the world.
All of this points straight at the usual suspects. The same people who did 9/11 in order to launch their war on Islamic civilization as the beginning of the clash of civilizations, now realize that the civilization that is the most threatening to their continued hegemony in the world is Chinese civilization.
This is the first strike of World War III as the US is preemptively striking China not so much with the virus itself but with the massive publicity and the historical effect that will happen due to this virus, as they can smear China, as they can try to convince other countries to stop trading so much with China, and as they attempt to de-globalize the world economy so that they can freeze the world the way it is, where the US still has the vast preponderance of military power.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:


thegreanvillepostbiasrating--2020-04-19--Barack Obama endorses Joe Biden for president (and other betrayals)

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible .
Share with kin , friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise .
ormer President Barack Obama formally endorsed his vice president of eight years , Joe Biden , as the Democratic presidential nominee for 2020 , in a 12-minute video posted Tuesday morning across various social media platforms .
Obama ’ s endorsement of Biden was no surprise , given that Biden has based his entire campaign on his role as Obama ’ s second-in-command .
Obama ’ s video follows Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day , in a coordinated effort by the Democratic Party leadership aimed at presenting the candidacy of Biden , a loyal servant of Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus his entire political career , as a progressive champion of working people .
In his endorsement of Biden , Obama larded his speech with his usual clichés and empty platitudes meant to disguise a record of reaction and subservience to the ruling class .
Reading from nearly the same script Sanders used during an equally hagiographic exercise , Obama heaped praise on “ an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” There was no acknowledgement in the media coverage that Obama ’ s fervent support for Biden entirely contradicts the play-acting engaged in during the Sanders ’ event , when Biden pretended that he would establish the most progressive administration in American history , and Sanders pretended to believe him .
Jimmy Dore and Joe Rogan comment on Democrats ’ latest betrayals .
A party built and operated for treachery , delivers again .
Barely 24 hours later , Obama and Biden presented a Biden administration as a continuation of Obama ’ s—in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government that would wage war on behalf of American imperialist interests around the world , while attacking the working class and democratic rights at home .
One only has to recall some of the main “ accomplishments ” of the Obama-Biden administration ( 2009-2017 ) to see the gross deception involved in presenting a future Biden administration as “ progressive.
” Obama bailed out Wall Street and the major banks at the expense of working people .
He “ saved ” the auto industry by slashing the wages , benefits and jobs of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack on democratic rights at home , hounding journalists , jailing Chelsea Manning , and pursuing Julian Assange and Edward Snowden for their exposures of the crimes of the US government .
Overseas , Obama continued Bush ’ s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , launched new ones in Libya , Yemen , and Syria , and carried out a policy of drone-missile assassination all over the world .
An endorsement from Obama is not a political validation , but the mark of Cain .
Obama declared in the video : “ Choosing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the best decisions I ever made , and he became a close friend .
And I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a President right now.
” One should recall that Obama ’ s selection of Biden as his running mate following the 2008 primary campaign was a gesture from Obama to the ruling class , an assurance that despite his anti-war posturing and “ hope and change ” rhetoric , there would be no encroachment on the wealth and privilege of the oligarchy , nor an end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden put it himself when speaking to major party donors at a 2019 New York fundraiser for his presidential run , under a Biden administration , “ nothing would fundamentally change.
” While Obama maintained a facade of neutrality during the primary , the wrapping up of the contests has revealed the extent to which the former president acted as a “ kingmaker ” behind the scenes .
Beginning last fall during a private dinner with the Democracy Alliance , a network of wealthy Democratic donors , Obama criticized Sanders and his so-called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters did not want to “ tear down the system.
” Obama was also instrumental in the winnowing of the Democratic field prior to the Super Tuesday primary ; advising ex-naval intelligence agent Pete Buttigieg , the former mayor of South Bend , Indiana , to drop out and support Biden , which was followed by a flood of support and endorsements from former Biden rivals , including Senator Amy Klobuchar and former Texas representative Beto O ’ Rourke , and from the entire Democratic political establishment .
In the weeks leading up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York Times reports on its web site , Obama held several conversations with Sanders himself , urging the senator to drop out of the race in an attempt to , in Obama ’ s words , “ accelerate the endgame ” and avoid a protracted primary .
Being the loyal political servant of the ruling class he is , Sanders played his role , folding up his campaign and urging his followers to vote for his “ good friend Joe.
” Obama began his prepared remarks by acknowledging the COVID-19 crisis and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professionals putting their lives on the line battling this disease , ” as well as the “ workers taking risks every day to keep our economy running.
” Echoing Sanders ’ call for “ unity ” Obama implored viewers not to “ look back ” on the record of the Obama-Biden administration , but rather to look ahead .
The former president knows very well that any serious consideration of the record of his eight years in office would explode the illusions that he , Biden , Sanders and all the Democrats are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election of a Democratic president would represent a vast improvement for working people over the Trump administration .
Particularly significant is Obama ’ s declaration : “ Joe was there as we rebuilt from the Great Recession and rescued the American auto industry … That ’ s why I asked him to implement the Recovery Act , which saved millions of jobs and got people back on their feet , because Joe gets stuff done.
” Far from rescuing the auto industry and saving “ millions of jobs , ” the bailout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further attacks on the wages and benefits US autoworkers earned through years of struggle .
As for the bailout of Wall Street as a whole , prior to the passage last month of the grossly misnamed CARES act , the $ 787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the US from the working class to the super-rich .
The growth of the “ gig ” economy , which forces workers to take multiple low-paying , part-time , contract jobs , was a hallmark @ @ @ @ @ @ @ estimated 10 million people , including families with children , lost their homes following the recession .
This , Obama wants us to believe , is part of the “ incredible progress that we made together during my presidency.
” Obama also touted his and Biden ’ s administration ’ s alleged competency in relation to the handling of global pandemics such as the H1N1 flu and the Ebola outbreak .
What Obama fails to mention is that the reason so many health care workers are “ risking their lives ” currently without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration allowed the Strategic National Stockpile of N95 masks to be depleted and never replenished it , a policy of negligence that was continued seamlessly under Trump .
Obama touted his signature “ Affordable Care Act , ” as an accomplishment , despite that fact over 30 million people within the US still are without insurance , and those that do have it can testify to its lack of affordability .
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the folly of the system of employer-based health care coverage , as nearly 30 million people have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of losing what inadequate coverage they have .
Finally , Obama ended his endorsement with a call for “ Americans of all political stripes to get involved in our politics and our public life like never before , ” and to “ join us , join Joe.
” This echoes Sanders ’ call the day before for a campaign to unite Democrats , Republicans and independents .
The alternatives being presented by capitalist politics in America in the 2020 elections are either a continuation of the fascistic Trump administration , or its replacement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will serve the same interests—corporate America and the CIA .
Puke if you must

Please make sure these dispatches reach as many readers as possible. Share with kin, friends and workmates and ask them to do likewise.
By Jacob Crosse
15 April 2020
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]ormer President Barack Obama formally endorsed his vice president of eight years, Joe Biden, as the Democratic presidential nominee for 2020, in a 12-minute video posted Tuesday morning across various social media platforms. Obama’s endorsement of Biden was no surprise, given that Biden has based his entire campaign on his role as Obama’s second-in-command.
Obama's video follows Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ joint online event with Biden the previous day, in a coordinated effort by the Democratic Party leadership aimed at presenting the candidacy of Biden, a loyal servant of Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus his entire political career, as a progressive champion of working people.
In his endorsement of Biden, Obama larded his speech with his usual clichés and empty platitudes meant to disguise a record of reaction and subservience to the ruling class. Reading from nearly the same script Sanders used during an equally hagiographic exercise, Obama heaped praise on “an incredible partner” and “close friend.”
There was no acknowledgement in the media coverage that Obama’s fervent support for Biden entirely contradicts the play-acting engaged in during the Sanders’ event, when Biden pretended that he would establish the most progressive administration in American history, and Sanders pretended to believe him.
SIDEBAR • 19 April 2020
Jimmy Dore and Joe Rogan comment on Democrats' latest betrayals.
A party built and operated for treachery, delivers again.
Progressives Won’t Acknowledge Bernie Or Warren’s Stimulus Vote
Barely 24 hours later, Obama and Biden presented a Biden administration as a continuation of Obama’s—in other words, a right-wing, pro-corporate government that would wage war on behalf of American imperialist interests around the world, while attacking the working class and democratic rights at home. One only has to recall some of the main “accomplishments” of the Obama-Biden administration (2009-2017) to see the gross deception involved in presenting a future Biden administration as “progressive.”
Obama bailed out Wall Street and the major banks at the expense of working people. He “saved” the auto industry by slashing the wages, benefits and jobs of auto workers. He prosecuted a ruthless attack on democratic rights at home, hounding journalists, jailing Chelsea Manning, and pursuing Julian Assange and Edward Snowden for their exposures of the crimes of the US government. Overseas, Obama continued Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, launched new ones in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and carried out a policy of drone-missile assassination all over the world.
An endorsement from Obama is not a political validation, but the mark of Cain.
Obama declared in the video: “Choosing Joe to be my Vice President was one of the best decisions I ever made, and he became a close friend. And I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a President right now.”
One should recall that Obama’s selection of Biden as his running mate following the 2008 primary campaign was a gesture from Obama to the ruling class, an assurance that despite his anti-war posturing and “hope and change” rhetoric, there would be no encroachment on the wealth and privilege of the oligarchy, nor an end to US imperialist wars. Or as Biden put it himself when speaking to major party donors at a 2019 New York fundraiser for his presidential run, under a Biden administration, “nothing would fundamentally change.”
While Obama maintained a facade of neutrality during the primary, the wrapping up of the contests has revealed the extent to which the former president acted as a “kingmaker” behind the scenes. Beginning last fall during a private dinner with the Democracy Alliance, a network of wealthy Democratic donors, Obama criticized Sanders and his so-called “revolutionary” policies, claiming that voters did not want to “tear down the system.”
Obama was also instrumental in the winnowing of the Democratic field prior to the Super Tuesday primary; advising ex-naval intelligence agent Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to drop out and support Biden, which was followed by a flood of support and endorsements from former Biden rivals, including Senator Amy Klobuchar and former Texas representative Beto O’Rourke, and from the entire Democratic political establishment.
In the weeks leading up to his campaign suspension, as the New York Times reports on its web site, Obama held several conversations with Sanders himself, urging the senator to drop out of the race in an attempt to, in Obama’s words, “accelerate the endgame” and avoid a protracted primary. Being the loyal political servant of the ruling class he is, Sanders played his role, folding up his campaign and urging his followers to vote for his “good friend Joe.”
Obama began his prepared remarks by acknowledging the COVID-19 crisis and paying lip service to “the medical professionals putting their lives on the line battling this disease,” as well as the “workers taking risks every day to keep our economy running.” Echoing Sanders’ call for “unity” Obama implored viewers not to “look back” on the record of the Obama-Biden administration, but rather to look ahead.
The former president knows very well that any serious consideration of the record of his eight years in office would explode the illusions that he, Biden, Sanders and all the Democrats are seeking to peddle this year: that the election of a Democratic president would represent a vast improvement for working people over the Trump administration.
Particularly significant is Obama’s declaration: “Joe was there as we rebuilt from the Great Recession and rescued the American auto industry ... That’s why I asked him to implement the Recovery Act, which saved millions of jobs and got people back on their feet, because Joe gets stuff done.”
Far from rescuing the auto industry and saving “millions of jobs,” the bailout of General Motors laid the groundwork for further attacks on the wages and benefits US autoworkers earned through years of struggle. As for the bailout of Wall Street as a whole, prior to the passage last month of the grossly misnamed CARES act, the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the US from the working class to the super-rich.
The growth of the “gig” economy, which forces workers to take multiple low-paying, part-time, contract jobs, was a hallmark of the Obama-Biden “recovery.” An estimated 10 million people, including families with children, lost their homes following the recession. This, Obama wants us to believe, is part of the “incredible progress that we made together during my presidency.”
Obama also touted his and Biden’s administration's alleged competency in relation to the handling of global pandemics such as the H1N1 flu and the Ebola outbreak. What Obama fails to mention is that the reason so many health care workers are “risking their lives” currently without proper safety equipment is because the Obama-Biden administration allowed the Strategic National Stockpile of N95 masks to be depleted and never replenished it, a policy of negligence that was continued seamlessly under Trump.
Obama touted his signature “Affordable Care Act,” as an accomplishment, despite that fact over 30 million people within the US still are without insurance, and those that do have it can testify to its lack of affordability. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the folly of the system of employer-based health care coverage, as nearly 30 million people have lost their jobs and are at risk of losing what inadequate coverage they have.
Finally, Obama ended his endorsement with a call for “Americans of all political stripes to get involved in our politics and our public life like never before,” and to “join us, join Joe.” This echoes Sanders’ call the day before for a campaign to unite Democrats, Republicans and independents. The alternatives being presented by capitalist politics in America in the 2020 elections are either a continuation of the fascistic Trump administration, or its replacement by a right-wing Democratic Party administration that will serve the same interests—corporate America and the CIA.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author is a commentator working with wsws.org , a Marxian publication.
While using Marxian methods of historical analysis, and working toward a non-capitalist future, The Greanville Post does not endorse Trotkyism or any other specific faction. Thus we republish only those views we regard as useful and largely free of sectarian distortions. In a world in which truth and the correct path to social change, equality and peace are increasingly difficult to discern due to the proliferation of ideologies, information and disinformation sources, and the confusing imperfections and contradictions of many progressive voices, we try hard to give our audience the most reliable roadmap to effective struggle.
Puke if you must
This bloodsoaked monster is probably the most evil person on planet earth https://t.co/nGq2H1EPHt — Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) April 9, 2020