Issue Of MR Research Articles

Notes from the Editors, October 2003

» Notes from the EditorsSamir Amin’s “World Poverty, Pauperization, and Capital Accumulation,” the Review of the Month in this issue of MR, addresses the growing phenomena of landlessness and pauperization among rural populations in the periphery. He reminds us that half of the people in the world are peasants, a group largely unseen by liberals and radicals. The dispossession of the peasantry throughout the third world represents one of the central problems of our time—for reasons of straightforward humanity. Amin points out that the worsening position of the peasantry, their forced migration to cities, and the growth of hunger among the poor cannot be adequately dealt with by treating these problems as mere aberrations of the system. Mounting occasional “anti-poverty” programs or “humanitarian” assistance or even projects to enhance farm productivity offer no real long-term solutions. In fact, the inherent contradictions in the third world are such that even increases in the productivity of peasants so that more food is producedin the absence of employment opportunities for rural labor that is no longer needed in agriculture—can seriously worsen the problem of displacement and hunger! The enormous humanitarian problem that Amin describes is rather a result of the way capitalism works on a world scale. The clear lesson to be drawn from his article is that the anti-globalization struggle needs to be aimed at the real problem—the capitalist systemThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Notes from the Editors, June 2002

» Notes from the EditorsIn the May issue of MR, we published an article by James Petras, written in March, entitled “The U.S. Offensive in Latin America.” The article raised the issue of an impending military coup in Venezuela, then being actively promoted by Washington, aimed at replacing the democratically elected president Hugo Chávez with what the Bush administration had already been publicly calling a “transitional government” (or, as Petras termed it, a “transitional civic-military junta”). “Washington,” Petras wrote, “is implementing a civil-military approach to overthrow President Chávez in Venezuela….U.S. strategy is multiphased and combines media, civic, and economic attacks with efforts to provoke fissures in the military, all aimed at encouraging a military coup.” The object of the coup, from Washington’s standpoint, was threefold: to regain control of Venezuela’s oil industry which accounts for 15 percent of U.S. oil imports, to eliminate the indirect support that Venezuela has been giving to guerrillas in Colombia and to insurgent forces in Ecuador, and to put an end to Chávez’s attempt to break away from the imperialistic network—Venezuela’s step toward independenceThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Cuba: An Island Against All Odds

The following article represents the impressions about Cuban life and Cuban economic and political possibilities gained during a two month stay in February and March 1994. As this issue of MR is going to press coverage of U.S.-Cuban relations has returned to the front pages of newspapers.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Anti-Semitism and the Legacy of Columbus; A Reply to Prago

The July/August issue of MR is a superb addition to the articles (and books) which are aimed at the multi-faceted myths surrounding Columbus and his trans-Atlantic voyages. Understandably, major emphasis in the myth-destroying quincentennial literature is on Amerindians and African-Americans. Lamentably few deal with the impact of Columbus' exploits on Jews; and none of the articles in MR remotely touched on this matter.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

AIDS: Systemic and Individual Levels of Analysis

Recent issues of Monthly Review have contained three responses to my article on U.S. medicine and the growing AIDS epidemic. The November issue of MR contained Nick McCombie's "The 'North American' Medical System" and Bob Sutcliffe's "AIDS and Civil Liberties: A Comment." The December issue of MR contained "AIDS, Capitalism, and Technology" by A. Joseph Layon and Robert D'Amico. D'Amico and Layon have also published an article in the summer 1988 issue of the journal Telos entitled "AIDS and the Politics of Morbidity," a criticism of my article on U.S. medicine and AIDS. I have read these responses with great interest and would like to respond to them.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Problems of the Soviet Economy—Alleged and Real; The Fraudulent Nobel Prize

The following brief article by Hans Blumenfeld was received shortly before his death in January (see our note in the "Notes from the Editors" in the March issue of MR). —The EditorsThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Science, Technology and Capitalism: Introduction

A special issue of MR devoted to science seems odd, somehow out of place, even stranger than the issue two years ago on religion. People on the left tend either to condemn science or to worship it—to see science as the cause of our problems or as the solution. Both views end up with pretty much the same result; we leave science alone. The concepts of science are regarded as inevitable, and the products of science are passively received. This issue of MR is aimed against this passivity and not-so-benign neglect.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Church and Revolution in Nicaragua: An Interview with Peter Marchetti

It was our original hope to include in this issue of MR a commentary on Carl Marzani's article by Peter Marchetti, a U.S. Jesuit priest working with the revolutionary government of Nicaragua in the field of agrarian reform and agricultural development, whom we had the good fortune to become acquainted with when we were in Managua last December (see "Notes from the Editors" in the issue of January 1982). Since this proved to be impossible, we are doing the next-best thing by reprinting here the major part of an interview with Father Marchetti which appeared in Working Papers, March-April 1982. It is reproduced by permission of the editors of Working Papers (186 Hampshire St., Cambridge, MA 02139, subscription $18 a year); ©1982 by The Trusteeship Institute. —The EditorsThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Cold War, Inflation, and Controls

In last month's issue of MR we published an article by James Petras entitled "U.S. Foreign Policy: Revival of Interventionism" which argued, persuasively we think, that for several years now U.S. administrations have been struggling to rebuild, following the disastrous setback in Vietnam, the internal and external supports necessary to conduct an aggressive, interventionist global policy. Petras's article was written just before the outbreak of the hostage crisis in Iran and of course long before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In other words, it analyzes the situation on which these events impinged and thus provides the background needed to understand the reactions they evoked.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

More on the Crisis in Canada; More on the International Flow of Funds

The anonymous writer of "Crisis in Canada," published in the December issue of MR, makes a gross error…. The author wrote: "On Saturday, October 17, Labor Minister Laporte was executed by the FLQ. The Trudeau government responded with the War Measures Act.... " (italics added) Six paragraphs before, the author wrote: "Last Friday the Liberal government of Prime Minister Trudeau passed the War Measures Act.... " (italics added ) You cannot respond to something that hasn't happened. The War Measures Act came beforethe execution of Laporte.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Weak Reeds and Class Enemies

A large part of this issue of MR is devoted to the monetary problems and crises of the world capitalist system. This is a difficult area of economics which laymen often shun as beyond their comprehension, leaving the field to the experts who may know all about the intricacies of balance-of-payments statistics and the seemingly mysterious workings of central banks and foreign exchange markets but may be quite unable to relate their specialized knowledge to the larger realities of the international scene. The result tends to be generalized ignorance about the meaning and implications of what goes on in the international monetary realm, hence also an inability to evaluate some of the most important forces and tendencies at work in the world capitalist system.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

From Castro's Closing Speech

We reproduce here a part of Fidel Castro's closing speech at the Tricontinental Conference, delivered in Havana on January 15th. This is the part which attacks Trotskyism and singles out Adolfo Gilly, a frequent contributor to MR, for special condemnation. Gilly's reply, containing his assessment of the results of the Conference, is included in this issue of MR beginning on page 21. Our own comments will be found in the Review of the Month above. —The Editors.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Colonial War at Home

By the time this issue of MR reaches readers, it will be just a year since the Birmingham demonstrations and riots. Commenting on these events, we noted that the Negro liberation movement as then constituted had no meaningful program for dealing with the real problems of American Negroes—extreme poverty, ghettoization, unemployment—and that for this reason every apparent success it might achieve would only bring it closer to crisis.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

The Split in the Socialist World

The Review of the Month in the December, 1961, issue of MR was on the subject of the Sino-Soviet dispute. Since then a lot has happened, and a large amount of new or previously relatively inaccessible material has been published. In the light of these developments, we have to say quite frankly that our earlier analysis of the dispute does not stand up. It contains serious inaccuracies, the emphases are misplaced, and it now seems to us that the conclusions are untenable. But much more serious, the whole argument rested on a misconception of what the dispute is all about.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Where the World Stands

We are putting this issue of MR to bed early in January preparatory to departing on a long-planned but long-delayed trip to South America. There are many people to be seen in the leading South American countries—editors, publishers, writers. We hope to be able to work out with them plans and arrangements that will result in an improved two-way flow of ideas and information between progressive forces in the United States and in Latin America. Being preoccupied with preparations for the trip, as well as with urgent MR Press matters that could not be postponed, we decided to devote this space in the February issue to a guest Review of the Month. The author is a man with long and rich experience as a writer and editor, whose present job requires him to travel extensively. In this piece, he articulates what many must feel about the historic crisis through which we are living. —The EditorsThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

A Left-Wing French View of Israel and Egypt

In the April issue of MR, we published "An Asian View of Israel and Egypt," by K. B. Thakore, an Indian. This month we publish the view of Gilles Martinet, one of the editors of the independent left-wing Paris weekly France-Observateur. Martinet wrote the piece early in April immediately after a trip to Israel. Somewhat abridged, it is translated by permission of the author, from France-Observateur, April 4. —The EditorsThis article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Problems of American Socialism: No Short Cuts; Attitude vs. Behavior; Deeply Resented; Fourteen Theses on American Socialism; The Errors of Mr. Woodard; Socialism and the American Working Class

In the January, 1954, issue of MR we published three articles under the heading "Problems of American Socialism," inviting readers to participate in discussion of the "problems they raise, or of related problems which they do not specifically consider." Below we print a small but representative selection from the contributions submitted in answer to this invitation. We begin with excerpts from one which gives a convenient, if not entirely sympathetic, summary of the main arguments of two of the January articles. In every case, omissions are indicated by the customary three dots ("…"). We originally intended to conclude with our own reflections on the issues which aroused the greatest amount of controversy, but for reasons of space have been unable to do so in this issue. We have therefore postponed our own contribution to the discussion until the June issue. (Responses from: A Los Angeles Subscriber, A Detroiter, A California Subscriber, Hugh Weston, A New York Subscriber, E. B. Brown.)This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Marxism and Literature

In the article devoted to F. O. Matthiessen's labor and political activities, in the Matthiessen memorial issue of MR (October 1950), the following passage occurs: "He agreed to appear as a defense witness in the Foley Square trial of the Communist leaders [the first trial of Communists under the Smith Act] and prepared a brief paper on 'Marxism and Literature' as a basis for his evidence. But the rulings of the presiding judge forced the defense to give up its original intention of presenting a rounded picture of Marxism as a body of ideas, and Matty was never called." At the time, we were unable to locate this paper and assumed that it must have been lost or destroyed. Recently, however, a copy was found and made available to MR for publication.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Reflections on Freedom Under Socialism

We publish below further contributions to the discussion of "Freedom under Socialism" begun by Howard Kaminsky in the November, 1950, issue of MR and continued by the Editors in the December issue.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

On the Question of "Marxist Infallibility"

The articles concerning "Cooperation on the Left" in the July issue of MR were especially interesting to me. The following is confined to one point made by Allen H. Barton in "Unity with Communists Impossible Under Present Conditions." I am not a member of any political party. My views are the result of an intensive study of Marxist philosophy.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.