“He deported himself like an unappreciated genius, whom the world takes for a simpleton.”—Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (Daniel De Leon translation) “Bonaparte would like to appear as the patriarchal benefactor of all classes; but he can give to none without taking from the others.”—Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (Daniel De […]
Category Archives: Comment
The New York Times of August 29 featured the recent unveiling of a monument to Fascist general Rodolfo Graziani (“Village Tribute Reignites a Debate About Italy’s Fascist Past“) in the Italian town of Affile, one paid for in part for by public funds no less. Graziani can legitimately be called a war criminal on two […]
The new issue of Against the Current features a long essay by historian Alan Wald on the U.S. Socialist Workers Party (“A Winter’s Tale Told in Memoirs“), of which he was a member in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is safe to characterize the piece as largely an exercise in SWP nostalgia and […]
Several weeks ago, Criticism &c. noticed a statement released by the Marxist-Humanist Initiative on the subject of the Libyan revolt and U.S. and NATO intervention (“Support Libyan Rebels While Opposing U.S./NATO Intervention“—March 12, 2011). At that time, comment was not deemed worth the effort involved. Upon a second reading, however, at least one distortion of […]
The long-delayed arrest of the butcher Ratko Mladic (he had friends in higher places than Radovan Karadzic—it took longer for them to decide it was no longer worth protecting him) dreges up memories of the Balkan intervention debates of the 1990s. Criticism &c. recently came across an article by Marko Attila Hoare—author of The History […]
The regime of Muammar el-Qaddafi is richly deserving of a definitive overthrow and Criticism &c. is in firm sympathy with the Libyans who are attempting—against long odds—to achieve one. The pathetic intervention of Britain, France, Italy (Libya’s fomer colonial master and present neo-colonial patron) and the U.S., with the blessing of the sclerotic Arab League, […]
Allen Willis, pioneering African-American filmmaker and Marxist-Humanist, passed away in February. He led a long and extremely productive life and was involved in radical politics since his youth in Washington, D.C. He lived in Chicago for a time in the 1930s (where he was active in the Revolutionary Workers League) before moving to San Francisco, […]
I have created a list on OCLC’s WorldCat titled “Books Reviewed on Criticism &c.” As of this writing, there are just a total of 41 titles on it, but I’m sure I’ve missed a few books that I may have mentioned in passing. WorldCat isn’t much fun to look at, but the sheer volume of […]
The French philosopher and political theorist Claude Lefort has passed away at the age of 86. Lefort was a co-thinker of Cornelius Castoriadis when the two worked together on the journal Socialisme or Barbarie (Lefort’s pseudonym was Montal). He last contributed to the journal in 1956 and split with Henri Simon to form a group […]
The fever pitch of commentary on the racist and reactionary political phenomenon that goes by the name “Tea Party” since the recent primary elections necessitates at least an attempt at a class analysis of this movement. The often-used term “populist” is an inadequate description, as there have been strong movements in U.S. history with what […]
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