The “solemn” commemorations in Paris on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that finally put an end to the horrific bloodshed that had drowned Europe for just over the four years from 1914 to 1918, along with the more or less idiotic commentaries of American TV hosts on the reasons why we […]
End of a Philosophy
(from the chapter with that title in Facing Reality: The New Society … Where to look for it, How to bring it closer, A statement for our time—by CLR James, Grace C. Lee & Pierre Chaulieu, 1958) Fascism, Corporate State, One-Party State, Welfare State, Totalitarianism, all of these are ways in which rationalism attempts to […]
“Shit-Life Syndrome” (Oxycontin Blues)
The drug crisis is hard to ignore in the South – and not just in the rural areas. People keel over waiting for buses or lie slouched and zoned out in cars, as if some zombie-inducing viral contagion out of a horror flick suddenly descended. Overdosing has become such a part of the fabric of […]
“I’m A Modern Man Who Knows How to Wail”: A Hip-Hop Poet in Fin de Siecle Paris
“I’m the Outcast . . . the ‘distinguished’ chap/Who puts it all in poetry/I’m more than half crushed to bits / Between the Bourgeoisie and the Worker/I’m the bloke whose work one hates/I’m a closet of Grief/I’m the Artist, the Dreamer/The Leper of Democracies” – “Les Soliloques Du Pauvre” Back in the day, when libraries […]
Louis Proyect Reviews Hard Crackers
We are reprinting here two reviews of Hard Crackers by Louis Proyect, columnist, film reviewer and blogger, one from last week and one from two years ago: September 28, 2018 The latest issue of Hard Crackers is out, a magazine that is a continuation of “Race Traitor” and the embodiment of editor Noel Ignatiev’s sensibility. Around […]
Unnamed Harlem resident finds old letter
In the dusty book shelves of an unnamed Harlem resident’s basement we uncovered this letter written in 1912 from the man later known as Ho Chi Minh to his father back home. Dearest father, I wanted to write to you because I know you must be worried about my whereabouts. I am safely living in […]