The struggle for a just society is long, requiring action on many fronts

An interview with Fred Magdoff on a farming community in Venezuela

by Farooque Chowdhury and Fred Magdoff

Fred Magdoff is Professor Emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and author of many articles including “A rational agriculture is incompatible with capitalism” (Monthly Review, March 2015) and “An ecologically sound and socially just economy” (Monthly Review, September 2014), and of books including The Great Financial Crisis (with John Bellamy Foster, editor, Monthly Review) and Agriculture and Food in Crisis (edited with Brian Tokar) (both from Monthly Review Press). A frequent Monthly Review contributor, Magdoff is closely associated with struggles of the working people.

In this interview conducted in March 2019 by Farooque Chowdhury, Magdoff discusses the problems produced by capitalist agriculture in rural Venezuela.

Farooque Chowdhury: The Venezuelan people’s struggle to transform their society is evident throughout the society. In the rural areas, the struggle is occurring in a number of places, and on many different levels. About a decade ago, in 2009 you worked with people in a rural part of Venezuela. What brought you to there in the first place?

‘A fully automated society is science fiction’—Michael D. Yates on the state of U.S. labor

by Farooque Chowdhury and Michael D. Yates

MR Online | April 30, 2019

May Day is one of the most important days to the exploited workers of the world. Michael D. Yates, director of Monthly Review Press and former Associate Editor of Monthly Review magazine, and a retired professor of economics. In his many books and articles, as well as in the following interview conducted in early April 2019 by Farooque Chowdhury, Yates reflects on the state of U.S. labor—from recent history to new initiatives within the labor movement at the grassroots level, where workers are defying and contesting “official” labor leadership.

Farooque Chowdhury: You have been closely associated with labor in the United States for more than 30 years. You have worked as a labor educator, as negotiator representing unions, as union organizer, and as labor activist. Moreover, you have covered labor widely in your articles and books. Based on these interactions and experiences, please tell us about the present state of labor in the U.S.

Imperialist capitalism is heading towards a cataclysmic crisis: John Smith on imperialism

by Farooque Chowdhury

Countercurrents.org | April 05, 2019

John Smith, former oil rig worker, bus driver, telecommunications engineer, longtime activist in the anti-war and Latin American solidarity movements, and author of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis (Monthly Review Press, January 2016), discusses the question of imperialism in the following interview taken by Farooque Chowdhury during July 2018-February 2019. The interview, in slightly abridged form, originally appeared on MR Online on March 19, 22, and 23, 2019.

Following is the 3^rd part of the four-part interview.

Constraints of imperialism

Imperialism is revealing its character — increasing parasitism: John Smith on imperialism

by Farooque Chowdhury

Countercurrents.org | March 31, 2019

John Smith, former oil rig worker, bus driver, telecommunications engineer, longtime activist in the anti-war and Latin American solidarity movements, and author of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis (Monthly Review Press, January 2016), discusses the question of imperialism in the following interview taken by Farooque Chowdhury during July 2018-February 2019. The interview, in slightly abridged form, originally appeared on MR Online on March 19, 22, and 23, 2019.

The analyses, interpretations and observations made, the narratives presented, the terms used, and the way persons, politics, ideologies and trends characterized in the interview are completely of John Smith, and, those don’t always correspond to the interviewer’s opinion, interpretation, etc.

Following is the 2^nd part of the four-part interview.

Dispossessed workers, farmers, small producers still await their day of liberation: John Smith on imperialism

by Farooque Chowdhury

Countercurrents.org | March 27, 2019

Today, it’s impossible to ignore the question of imperialism in any discussion concerning people as imperialism is distorting and destroying all aspects and areas of life. Ignoring the question of imperialism is synonymous to betrayal of people’s cause. John Smith, former oil rig worker, bus driver, telecommunications engineer, longtime activist in the anti-war and Latin American solidarity movements, and author of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis (Monthly Review Press, January 2016), discusses the question of imperialism in the following interview taken by Farooque Chowdhury during July 2018-February 2019. The interview, in slightly abridged form, originally appeared on MR Online on March 19, 22, and 23, 2019.

The analyses, interpretations and observations made, the narratives presented, the terms used, and the way persons, politics, ideologies and trends characterized in the interview are completely of John Smith, and, those don’t always correspond to the interviewer’s opinion, interpretation, etc.

Following is the 1^st part of the four-part interview.

Fidel, Comrade, Red Salute

By Farooque Chowdhury

Telesur | 26 Novmber, 2016

 

Fidel, dear comrade, red salute.

You embodied humanity’s struggle for a free, dignified life, a life free from exploitation, a life full of love and with flowering of humane living.

You are alive in our struggle. You are alive in humanity’s struggle against all forms of exploitation, against all forms of bondage, all forms of indignity.

Your stand made you friend and comrade of all struggling parts of humanity around the world. You wrote in April 15, 1954: “I am sure that all the people could be happy, and for them I would be ready to incur the hatred and ill will of a few thousand few individuals, including some of my relatives, half of my acquaintances, two-third of my professional colleagues, and four-fifths of my former school-mates.” [Fidel Castro, “Letters from prison, 1953-1955”, My Early Years, ed. Deborah Shnookal and Pedro Alvarez Tabio, Ocean Press, Melbourne, New York, 2005] A U.S. intelligence report in the later part of the 1940s said about you: “[A] typical example of a young Cuban of a good background who, because of lack of parental education or real education, may soon become a fully-fledged gangster.” [Cited in Herbert Matthews, The Cuban Story] The imperialists considered you their arch enemy, a gangster. And to us, you are the hero, a bright star.  

Questions following coup in Brazil

[Part VII: The incapacity]

By Farooque Chowdhury

Frontier | 22 August, 2016

[Parts I-V have been published here earlier]

Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson raise two questions: “Why does a nondemocratic elite ever democratize? Since democracy will bring a shift of power in favor of the citizens, why would the elite ever create such a set of institutions? […T]his only occurs because the disenfranchised citizens can threaten the elite and force it to make concessions. These threats can take the form of strikes, demonstrations, riots, and – in the limit – a revolution. Because these actions impose costs on the elite, it will try to prevent them. It can do so by making concessions, by using repression to stop social unrest and revolution, or by giving away its political power and democratizing. Nevertheless, repression is often sufficiently costly that it is not an attractive option for elites. Concessions may take several forms – particularly policies that are preferred by the citizens, such as asset or income redistribution – and are likely to be less costly for the elite than conceding democracy.” (op. cit.)

Questions following coup in Brazil

[PartVI: Grab back]

By Farooque Chowdhury

Frontier | 15 August, 2016

 

Along with the gains by the lower part of the population, another factor came forward: “When interest rates reached the lowest rate ever of 2% it became clear it was time to punish Dilma. By withholding their investments they forced a general increase in prices. Brazilian businesses argued that they were withholding their investment due to high risk levels. With low interest rates, rather than invest, as occurs in the United States, they decided to increase their prices – given the way the Brazilian economy is structured – starting in 2014 inflation rates quickly expanded.(Mello and Muniz, op. cit.)

Questions following coup in Brazil

[Part V: And rights]

By Farooque Chowdhury

Frontier | 07 August, 2016

 

During the Lula-Dilma phase, Brazil’s commoners have experienced increased income transfer, economic and social rights that include employment, minimum wage increases, unemployment insurance, agrarian reform, solidarity cooperatives, education, health, housing. Literature on the basis of respectable research on the above mentioned issues with findings of positive impact is now in abundance.

What’s The Condition Of Labor? A May Day Question

By Farooque Chowdhury

Countercurrents.org | 01 May, 2016

Condition of labor in today’s world is not difficult to gauge. News on labor’s working and living condition is in abundance, which help comprehend the conditions within which labor survive in the present day world.

State of societies also gives a picture of labor’s condition. Afghanistan or Iraq, Libya or Syria, Greece or Ukraine, Egypt or Sudan, the UK or the USA is only a few examples. A number of societies have already experienced imperialist onslaught or financial and other crises related to capitalism or the so-called austerity measures, which brought devastation and death, eviction from home and unemployment, slashed real wage and anti-labor legislation. Everyday existence is the only question that life faces there in these societies. There’s little scope for labor to get mobilized, chalk out and raise demands, express opinion. A number of laws in a number of advanced capitalist societies virtually make unionization difficult, which is hard to identify at first and easy glance. In countries, unionization is falling. It requires serious search to get the fact from these societies. Modern slaves are now well-known fact in many modern economies.