Inert State Research Articles

Reflections On Malecki's Thesis of Universal Revolution

T HE relatively inert state of in this country is underscored by the fact that there are only a handful of Marxist post-mortems on the American New Left (a phenomenon that spanned the better part of a decade), while volumes have been devoted to analyses of the events of one month (May of 1968) in France. Thus, one can only welcome Edward Malecki's study as an entry into a field that has relatively few serious participants.1 Moreover, those studies we do have often dissolve into interminable debate over the respective capacities of twentieth-century strategies (Leninist, Maoist, social-democratic, etc.) to effect radical political change in the United States. By seeking to evaluate the New Left in terms of what he understands as classical Marxism Malecki presents us with a unique opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Marx's original theory within the context of a recently shared political experience. However, while I strongly endorse Malecki's conviction that the best source of Marxist theory is in the thought of Marx himself and the corollary belief that this thought can still enlighten our political understanding -I want to indicate in this commentary that there are grounds in Marx's writings for a less deterministic reading than Malecki's and, consequently, a somewhat different perspective on the New Left.2 Malecki's interpretation of Marx's theory of revolution appears to be derived mainly from Marx's repeated emphasis upon the international character of the proletariat. Since the is that class which emerges as the historical negation of capital, Malecki concludes that until capitalism has become an international system the will remain fragmented and underdeveloped. While monopoly capitalism is beginning to break through those economic barriers that are peculiar to the nation-state, the process of internationalizing capitalism is still in its infancy and will not be completed until roughly 2500 A.D. Only then will the world have achieved the universal state of industrialization which is prerequisite for the liberation of humanity from scarcity, toil and the disproportionate allocation of material resources, and only then will Marxian socialism become a realistic political alternative to capitalism. Malecki's interpretation is by no means as simplistic as this brief outline might indicate. On the contrary he recognizes many of the questions his arguments might evoke and makes a consistent effort to address them. As I read it his response speaks to two related concerns: what are we to make of those contemporary societies that are at least nominally recognized as and to what extent is the designation proletariat an adequate description of the working class in modern industrialized societies? In Malecki's analysis the differences between capitalist, socialist, and Third World nations are overshadowed by the extent to which each occupies a stage within the epoch of capitalism. Socialist (or neo-capitalist Communist) and Third World nations all display the ethos of efficiency in production and delayed

Erythrocuprein and singlet oxygen

FEBS LettersVolume 21, Issue 2 p. 183-185 Full-length articleFree Access Erythrocuprein and singlet oxygen Alessandro Finazzi Agro', Alessandro Finazzi Agro' Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorCarlo Giovagnoli, Carlo Giovagnoli Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorPasquale De Sole, Pasquale De Sole Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorLilia Calabrese, Lilia Calabrese Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorGuiseppe Rotilio, Guiseppe Rotilio Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorBruno Mondovi', Bruno Mondovi' Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this author Alessandro Finazzi Agro', Alessandro Finazzi Agro' Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorCarlo Giovagnoli, Carlo Giovagnoli Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorPasquale De Sole, Pasquale De Sole Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorLilia Calabrese, Lilia Calabrese Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorGuiseppe Rotilio, Guiseppe Rotilio Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this authorBruno Mondovi', Bruno Mondovi' Istituti di Chimica Biologica e di Biochimica Applicata della Università di Roma e Centro di Biologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche, Roma, ItalySearch for more papers by this author First published: March 15, 1972 https://doi.org/10.1016/0014-5793(72)80132-7Citations: 61AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume21, Issue2March 15, 1972Pages 183-185 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Biological entropy pump.

THE recent exchange between Woolhouse1 and Popper2 presents the enigma of the low entropy content of living systems. The means whereby their rapid decay into the inert state of “equilibrium” is avoided are serious problems to the theoretical biologist. It is, of course, to Schrodinger3 that we owe the classic analysis of biological entropy. It was the source of negentropy which Schrodinger was unable to discover, as the recent discussion indicates. That from, one generation to the next, a complex coding and decoding can occur without net loss of negentropy is problem enough, but in the large sequence of generations through geological time, we see that, if anything, the informational system becomes fuller and the organization of many species more improbable. It is my purpose here to show what I believe to be the answer to this seeming paradox and to describe the “entropy pump” whereby the species of living matter not only prevent a drop into a position of greater positive entropy at each generation, but may in fact acquire more negentropy as their reproduction continues. This will involve only principles widely known and easily defended.

Nitrate Supplies and the Nitrogen Industry

THE Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau has recently issued a report on the nitrate industry of the British Empire and of foreign countries, containing all available statistics with regard to the production and prices of nitrates during the war period. In conjunction with this report may be considered a paper dealing with the nitrogen industry contributed by H. E. Fischer to the Journal of the Franklin Institute (August, 1920, vol. cxc, No. 2). This paper gives a comprehensive survey of the sources of the world's nitrogen supply, particularly as it affects America. Nitrogenous compounds are absolutely necessary to agriculture, to the manufacture of munitions, to refrigeration, and to the general applications of chemistry, and although nitrogen in its inert gaseous state forms four-fifths of the atmosphere, yet this is of no use for the above objects until it has been combined or “fixed” by some method.