Profile: David Graeber

David Graeber is one of the most popular radical leftists alive today.  Through his incredibly popular work Debt:  The First 5000 Years and his fundamental role in organizing the Occupy Wall Street movement, Graeber has become a leading voice for libertarian socialist thought.  He teaches at the London School of Economics.

The reason that economic textbooks now begin with imaginary villages is because it has been impossible to talk about real ones. Even some economists have been forced to admit that Smith's Land of Barter doesn't really exist.

The question is why the myth is perpetuated anyway. -- David Graeber, Debt:  The First 5000 Years

PDF's of David Graeber

• Debt:  The First 5000 Years 
• Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology

Video of David Graeber

• On Debt: The First 5000 Years
• David Graeber on Anarchism 
• Bureaucratic Technologies and the Future as Dream-Time 

Solidarity Against Prejudice in the Working Class (Part 2)

Solidarity Is a Process

The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it. -- Karl Marx, The German Ideology

When you live in a capitalist society, you can't help but internalize capitalist ideas.  Every society acts that way.  Every society must build its foundation of assumptions into the masses, or else it could not recreate itself with every generation, decade, year, month, or even day.  Some of these assumptions are changed through popular struggle.  Popular struggle can make a ruling class look so weak, so behind, that the ruling class must adapt to the change or fall to a revolution.

So each individual who is interested in liberation must find within themselves their attitudes which mirror the interest of the ruling class and eliminate these root and branch, finding the source and broken logic of the prejudice and replacing it with an attitude of liberation.  This is a process.  And you know it's a long one, requiring self-discipline and self-awareness and self-criticism.  But, as with most things, the difficulty of the process only ennobles itself and people who take on its challenges.

A Communist should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution; always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the collective life of the Party and strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses; he should be more concerned about the Party and the masses than about any individual, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a Communist.
[...]
Communists must be ready at all times to stand up for the truth, because truth is in the interests of the people; Communists must be ready at all times to correct their mistakes, because mistakes are against the interests of the people.  -- Mao Tse-Tung, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung

We are none of us so enlightened as to be free from this work.  You and I and everyone who wants liberation must keep vigilant, making sure we pulled every weed of division from our gardens, and making sure no more spring up.  There will be set backs and surprises as well as many victories as you come to feel more and more unity with the world's oppressed and a greater understanding of who you are and what you can become.

Solidarity Against Prejudice in the Working Class (Part 1)

A Tale of Mistaken Identity

In my years living in the US South, I have met many working class people who more or less completely agree that their bosses are useless and yet get all the money, they know the government here isn't a democracy so much as the protectors of the rich, and they almost always agree it would be a good idea to start a new government where working people had a say.  And yet, many times, after saying all of this, they will complain about Mexican immigrants.

I spoke to another worker recently who agreed to all those points above, but was very angry indeed about illegal immigrants from Mexico.  "They come here and don't have to pay taxes and they can live on less than me, so they get the jobs.  You can't tell me that doesn't hurt the average worker."

"But they are here in fear, facing brutal repression, just trying to feed their family, maybe find a better way of life.  They have nothing.  If the bosses who are paying immigrants too little and aren't hiring you at all were taken out of the picture, US workers and immigrants would have more than enough to share."

After our conversation, I realized that the whole problem was that this guy saw his differences with the illegal immigrants, not his similarities.  Those differences (or race and nation and legal status) are all from the imagination of the rulers.  Race is defined by the powerful (created and enforced by their laws which have created a racial caste system).  Nations are made up by and for the rich.  The legal statutes of the land are written up by the rich and their congressional lackeys.

As long as these fictional lines keep the oppressed from unifying against their common enemy (the bourgeoisie), we'll never be able to overpower them.

Solidarity:  a Working Class Necessity

Solidarity (the unity of all workers, impoverished, and oppressed regardless of nation, race, sex, religion, or any other imaginary division) is the only way we can overthrow capitalism.  Now more than ever, when the imperialist West controls the strongest military might in human history, when international corporations bully entire countries, when the IMF, WTO, and World Bank are more powerful than elected leaders, and when so much anti-imperialist resistance has been co-opted by religious extremists, the oppressed of the world must come together.

Some Material on Leftist Perspectives of ISIS

Meanwhile a major barrier to the spread of the ISIS plague to Lebanon is Hezbollah, a hated enemy of the US and its Israeli ally. And to complicate the situation further, the US and Iran now share a justified concern about the rise of the Islamic State, as do others in this highly conflicted region. -- Noam Chomsky, ISIS and Our Times

So ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIL and IS) has been capturing headlines as it continues to wage its reactionary, islamo-fascist war.  Now that radical left groups in the region are making great strides in fighting ISIS, and now that these groups might be getting help from NATO, another reactionary force that could eliminate the leftist groups as well, it seems a great time to understand the situation and figure out how we support the fight against both islamo-fascists and imperialists.

The radical left PKK anti-ISIS fighters.

Here are a few radical leftist videos and articles on ISIS that might interest the curious:

• Video:  Professor Chomsky on ISIS
• Article:  Kurdish Anarchist Join Fight Against ISIS
• Article:  Declaration from the Communists on Kobane, IS, and Imperialism
• Article: These Remarkable Women Are Fighting ISIS. It’s Time You Know Who They Are 

What Is Anarcho-Syndicalism?

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn that
The union makes us strong -- Solidarity Forever, lyrics by Ralph Chaplin

The Union Makes Us Strong

Anarcho-syndicalism calls for an anarchist revolution built around left-wing labor unions that will organize the economy through democracy after the overthrow of capitalism.  "Syndicalism" by itself is a group of economic theories that advocate labor union organization of an economy, but "anarcho-syndicalism" specifically calls for the immediate overthrow of the state and the wage system.

Historically, anarcho-syndicalism has been the most powerful of all anarchist traditions.  It was central to the anarchist zones that flourished during the Spanish Revolution before being crushed by fascists (and Stalinists).  Anarcho-syndicalism is the central ideology of the Industrial Workers of the World and was a popular strain in the U.S. during the Great Depression, helping popularize such heroes as Eugene V Debs and Emma Goldman.  World-renowned linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky is a well-known anarcho-syndicalist.

Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties[...] Every shop and café had an inscription saying that it had been collectivized[...] Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. -- George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

So How Does It Work?

Anarcho-syndicalism uses labor unions to organize a revolution, building the revolutionary consciousness of the workers, bringing them together, and building solidarity with the workers of the world by unifying them to fight for their interests while capitalism still exists.

Once a revolutionary period occurs, the unions are ready to act.  The strength of this idea showed itself in the Spanish Revolution.  Because the anarcho-syndicalists had already been making decisions democratically and organizing the overthrow private property and the wage system, they were able to quickly overtake the economy and run it democratically.  While the figures are hard to pin down, the local records suggest that productivity rose sharply under anarcho-syndicalism.

Anarcho-syndicalism believes that after the revolution, worker and general citizen unions become the decision making groups in society.  These groups elect delegates (always able to be recalled) who help organize the society at large.

Wildcat Strikes:  the Fight for Good Unions
 
So maybe you think unions are just corrupt, greedy clubs ran by mobsters, and maybe you think that isn't the best group to lead a revolution.  Anarcho-syndicalists are not naive, they know that most unions are not capable or willing to lead revolutions, and that is what led to Wildcat strikes.

A "Wildcat strike" is a strike action by unionized workers who plan, organize, and lead the strike on their own, without the union bosses.  This accomplishes several things all at once:  it improves worker conditions when the strike succeeds, it puts power in the hands of the workers, it shows the uselessness of union bosses, and it makes for good practice in group decision making and solidarity.

Further Reading:

• Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker 
• Official IWW Literature and Documents

Capitalism Is Not Efficient

More Effective Exploitation Is Not Efficient

Have you wondered why raw materials from the US will be shipped across the world to factories with low wages and long hours, then shipped back and still be sold on the cheap?  It's because labor makes profit.

So what is economic efficiency?  Well, efficiency requires the speaker to figure out what will be considered as important for efficiency (like, most work for least energy, most production for least pollution, etc.)

We are often told that capitalism is an efficient system compared to socialism, but capitalism seeks maximum exploitation of labor.

Labor Theory of Value

This understanding of the source of profit in capitalism comes from the Labor Theory of Value.  It essentially says this:

• Raw materials have a certain value (M)
• Labor uses these materials to build a commodity (M + L)
• The commodity is worth more than the material because labor added value (M + L = C)

That is a simplified version.  This goes into the argument with a bit more depth.

Theism and the Radical Left

Isn't the Radical Left Atheist?

A common misconception of communists and anarchists is that we are all atheists (maybe even hateful to theist beliefs).  While most leftists are secularists, wanting the religious faiths to be separate from governing all of society (certainly the state), we are not all atheists.  Like the anarchist Leo Tolstoy, many of the most respected and well loved figures on the left came to the ideas of liberation through their religious faith.

That being said, many leftists have been outspoken against religion, and leftists have made some of the strongest critiques of religion that exist.  As with many things, we are not all the same.  Below are some leftists of religious backgrounds, as well as a round up of some leftist critiques of religion, as well as a clarification of Marx's famous "opiate of the masses" line.

Liberation Theology

Liberation theology is a religious (mainly Catholic) and political doctrine advocating socialist (in
some cases social democratic) transformation of society, and it does so from an imperative to help the poor and the suffering as taught in the Christian Bible.  The Catholic church has officially dismissed the theology, but this has not stopped its influence in world events.

Especially in South America since the mid-20th century, religious people have made up a large portion of leftist revolutionary movements and resistance against imperialism and fascism.

Famous Leftists from the Civil Rights Era

The Civil Rights Era was not only a victory for justice, it started among radical left circles in the United States.  From the movement came many prominent religious leaders whose political ideals fall on the left.  The two most notable names are Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was not only religious, he was a Baptist preacher.  By the end of his life, MLK considered economic oppression to be the root of the evil he saw in society, and he was organizing the Poor People's Campaign to bring about a (peaceful) revolution towards socialism.

You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker. -- Malcolm X

Malcolm X was another religious leader and radical leftist who arose from the civil rights movement and the early black power movement.

Religion in Really Existing Socialism

The treatment of religious institutions under really existing socialism has given many people the idea that the left is inherently against religion.  Much of the thought behind the secularization of many of these states involved promoting materialist philosophy and socializing the great wealth of many churches.

Marxism and Religion

A lot of anti-left propaganda likes to say that we are all atheists, and much of this comes down to the famous quote of Karl Marx:

Religion is the opiate of the masses. -- Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

 Marx was a materialist, meaning he believed nothing being the physical existed.  He therefore rejected religion as false, but that is not the point of this quote.  Religion, in its promise to the poor and exploited (the very people who benefit from a communist revolution), are promised happiness in another realm, it cures the fears of death and the dissatisfaction with life.

So while Marxists are all atheists, not all leftists (or communists) are Marxists.


Note: if anyone has a good place to point me to find radical leftists in other religions (I'm certain of many brave Muslim leftists) please message me.