(This will very likely be the final posting on this version of the Radical Progress blog, which will be absorbed into new projects as described below. It’s been a great ride!) Dear readers, I am on the verge of a shift in my online blogging and podcasting work. I am very excited about the possibilities […]
Communism is defined as “to each according to need; from each according to ability.” The traditional wording is reversed with the “ability clause” placed first. However, the suffering of our times presses the question of need, desire, and fulfillment on us urgently. There are four clauses of the Communist principle: 1) To each – regarding […]
At the end of the 20th century, the triumph of capitalism and democracy seemed at one stage so complete that an era of global economic liberalism appeared to beckon. Today the folly of that delusion has been made obvious by the financial crisis and its political consequences. – Martin Kettle “Brexit was a revolt against […]
How many people on Wall Street have been arrested for their crimes large and small — crimes of greed and fraud that nearly bankrupted the global economy and destroyed the futures of millions of families? How many politicians have been prosecuted for taking millions of dollars from private prisons, prison guard unions, pharmaceutical companies, oil […]
As I have friends both in the “never a Democrat” camp and in the “anyone but [insert Republican nominee]” camp, I usually don’t spend a lot of time explaining – yet again – why I have no hope in the Democratic Party. I quit supporting the Democratic Party in 1992, when they nominated Bill Clinton. I […]
“I’m fighting capitalism for my own children, their children, and all future generations. Jesus compels me.” FB status 7/15/16 So, the above FB status drew a somewhat common response from an acquaintance. I’m posting the comments here. ACQUAINTANCE: Religion is the opiate of the masses. I would like a socialist society because I believe there is […]
I am dedicated to Democratic Socialism, but I also am uncertain on the question of how to take power. Right now, the socialist movement seems to be years, if not decades, from having any sort of mass power. Most of the left is scattered in silos, doing important stuff, but not working together. Capitalism makes it […]
Most men — even most men who believe in principle that this “right” is unfounded — cling hard to their right to rule the world. And most women — including many who are ashamed of the feeling — feel deep down a certain willingness to let them go on ruling it. – Dorothy Dinnerstein, The Mermaid […]
The struggle to transform the USA’s climate-destroying, poverty-perpetuating economy into one that contributes to emancipating our world will take decades, but one thing that struggle does need is a radical party that is truly dedicated the struggle of the people, not capitalist interests. The Democratic Party is not such a party, nor is it likely to become […]
In the 20th Century, Liberation Theologies emerged within Latin American Catholicism and African-American Churches almost simultaneously. Subsequently, Feminist Theologies also sought to rethink Christianity and religion more broadly. Black Feminism and Womanism emerged in tension with this latter movement, as they sought to redress blindnesses perceived in Feminist Theology as well as secular (white) feminism. […]
So, the only self-identified socialist to hold a federal elective office in the USA is now campaigning for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the USA, namely one Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In one way, this is an unlikely turn of events, as Sanders has always run as an independent for his Senate […]
Originally posted on Radical Righteous Love:
? I haven’t blogged here for real in months. I am feeling stuck, and am writing to work through it. I’ve dreamed of becoming a preacher since I was in early grade school, possibly even earlier. My father, his father, my mother’s mother, several uncles, an aunt, brother, and…
Iran’s Revolution: Religion and Revolution in a Post-Secular Register Looking back at the Iranian Revolution from the present, two events stand as critical indicators of the importance of this revolution; first, the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001; and second, the collapse of the Soviet Union and […]
My fellow Quaker, Mark Helpsmeet, creates internet radio programs relating to spirituality and activism. He recently interviewed me about my book idea, “Jesus Made Me a Communist.” Please give it a listen!
We cannot substitute a mere collection of identities for the saturated generic identity of the working class. I think we have to find the political determination that integrates the identities, the principles of which are beyond identity. The great difficulty is to do that without something like the working class. Without something that was […]
Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. Marx’s Contribution to a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right [These comments originated in a discussion of Hegel on […]
[Reposting from Disloyal Opposition to Modernity here.] (The following is my response to the “Exiting the Vampire Castle” controversy on The North Star webzine about tensions between Marxism, intersectionality, and left politics.) 1) Communism is the goal of ending human domination, exploitation, oppression, and repression in a world of abundance, justice, and harmony among all […]
[Reposting from Disloyal Opposition to Modernity originally here.] It has long seemed quite strange to me that so many atheists find Nietzsche’s assertion of the death of God attractive. God doesn’t exist at all for atheists, his “death” can only be at most the death of the theism of some part of humanity. Perhaps a […]
[I’m in the process of consolidating all my blog posts under two pages, Radical Progress and Radical Righteous Love. Here is a blog I originally wrote for Disloyal Opposition to Modernity.] from Plato onwards, Communism is the only political Idea worthy of a philosopher. – Alain Badiou Reading this line from Badiou a few years […]
“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ….” Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Ephesus “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are […]
