Suchergebnisse

This item is part of the Political & Rights Issues & Social Movements (PRISM) digital collection, a collaborative initiative between Florida Atlantic University and University of Central Florida in the Publication of Archival, Library & Museum Materials (PALMM).

IN THIS ESSAY EINSTEIN DESCRIBES WHAT HE CONSIDERS TO BE THE EVILS OF CAPITALISM, INCLUDING PRODUCTION FOR PROFIT, NOT FOR USE, WHICH, IN CONJUNCTION WITH COMPETITION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR AN INSTABILITY IN THE ACCUMULATION AND UTILIZATION OF CAPITAL AND EMPLOYMENT. EINSTEIN CONSIDERS THE WORST EVIL OF CAPITALISM TO BE THE CRIPPLING OF INDIVIDUALS THROUGHOUT THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM THOUGH INCULCATION OF AN EXAGGERATED COMPETETIVE ATTITUDE WHICH TRAINS CHILDREN TO WORSHIP ACQUISITIVE SUCCESS.

A review essay on five books by Kim Stanley Robinson, (1) Red Mars; (2) Green Mars; (3) Blue Mars; (4) Antarctica; & (5) The Martians (all, New York: Bantam, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, & 1999, respectively). The reviewer argues that Stanley's widely popular science fiction works need to be given serious consideration as part of the socialist utopian tradition. He identifies key socialist concepts at work in Robinson's novels as well as in other critical reviews: including class conflict, capitalist institutionalization, & historical dialectics. He addresses Robinson's apparent disregard for central Marxist concepts such as the exploitation of the working class (most of Robinson's major character are scientists & other professionals), but concludes that class-consciousness is a major thematic element in the novels, as is the utopian envisioning of a socialist future. K. Coddon

Every insurgency is a small advance toward the society of our dreams. Sometimes the small advances accumulate, as in the history of social democracy: two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes, as we all know, what happens is more like one step forward, two steps back. Things get better for some people in some places; persecuted, exploited, and oppressed groups learn to protect themselves and actually win effective protection. Some of these victories are permanent; some are not. We have to defend democracy, regulation, and welfare against constant erosion and adversarial capture; sometimes we do that well, sometimes not. The work is steady, the benefits come mostly in spurts. But the goodness is in the work as much as in the benefits—so it doesn't matter if the work goes on and on, as it does. It is important and worthwhile work because of its mutuality, because of the talents and capacities it calls forth, and because of the moral value it embodies. That work is socialism-in-the making, and that is the only socialism we will ever know.