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  •  I don't see the time frame -- (6+ / 0-)

    of late capitalism the way you do.

    Don't hold your breath.  It probably won't happen in our lifetimes.  We'll have to see a lot of death and environmental damage before the capitalists fall that far out of favor.

    In your calculations please consider:

    1. the spread of microminiaturization and satellite-directed communication has sped up the time frame for the organization of social action by exponential degrees.  Global protests in early 2003 happened with how much time for prior organization, again?
    1. we are now in an era when the environmental calculations of the eco-capitalists can be proven palpably wrong for all to see.  This is at the heart of my project, here, on DKos.  As "Cassiodorus" I am organizing a "Vivarium" here on DKos, composed of the great texts that this era will need to understand what will be necessary to survive the end of capitalism, just as the original Cassiodorus (Senator) created a library to survive the coming Dark Ages.  (If you want to know more about the original Cassiodorus, btw, please consult James O' Donnell's online text.)
    1. The thread upon which the existing order hangs is pretty damn thin at present, and getting thinner with each successive year.  What's lagging, mainly, is the spread of ideas which actually work.  Regardless of the timespan involved, I am doing hard work in spreading ideas necessary to what Gramsci called the War of position.  What are you doing in that regard?

    "Imagine all the people/ Sharing all the world" -- John Lennon

    by Cassiodorus on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 01:51:19 PM PDT

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    •  Wow... a Gramsci diary. (1+ / 0-)

      Recommended by:
      Cassiodorus

      I'll tip that just for boldness!

      "the people have the power to redeem the work of fools" --Patti Smith

      by Immigrant Punk on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:00:48 PM PDT

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      •  Also -- (1+ / 0-)

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        Immigrant Punk

        there's a Marx diary...

        "Imagine all the people/ Sharing all the world" -- John Lennon

        by Cassiodorus on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:02:10 PM PDT

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        •  Well, it's on to the 16K question, then. (1+ / 0-)

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          Cassiodorus

          Historian? or Economist?

          "the people have the power to redeem the work of fools" --Patti Smith

          by Immigrant Punk on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:06:09 PM PDT

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          •  Interdisciplinary scholar (nmi) (2+ / 0-)

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            MarketTrustee, Immigrant Punk

            "Imagine all the people/ Sharing all the world" -- John Lennon

            by Cassiodorus on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:40:20 PM PDT

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            •  Ahh-- hahaha! (1+ / 0-)

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              Cassiodorus

              I meant, as in how Marx is to be read, as a historian or as an economist?

              And yes, those of us into... interdisciplinarity, do indeed tend to heart our Gramsci... to whatever degree... though that doesn't always translate into a mention by name. Thus the conclusion of your boldness. Generally, I find that G's more like... invoked, when one wants to "do" hegemony for a moment, like one invokes Foucault before going all "body" on something, for example. On the way to somewhere else, undoubtedly.

              Or so it seems to me.

              BTW, I hear some of the anarchos are out to "get" Gramsci now, as one of the largest remaining red threats to, um.... anarcho hegemony, let's say, on the far left.

              But will that help get Dems elected? :-)

              Stay tuned to... As the Thread Turns!

              "the people have the power to redeem the work of fools" --Patti Smith

              by Immigrant Punk on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 03:20:05 PM PDT

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              •  Probably more a historian than an economist (1+ / 0-)

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                Immigrant Punk

                I thought Capital was intended more as an "anti-economics" than a treatise on economics... Marx is saying to the economists of his era, both in volume 1 and in volume 3, look, your whole house of cards will eventually collapse.

                Now, me, generally in arguments on history I tend to side with Kees van der Pijl, generally regarded as a neo-Gramscian, whose book Transnational Classes and International Relations can be read as an elaboration of a portion of The German Ideology...

                "Imagine all the people/ Sharing all the world" -- John Lennon

                by Cassiodorus on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 03:37:54 PM PDT

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    •  Thanks for the interesting post... (2+ / 0-)

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      Cassiodorus, Jocelyn

      I'm more in agreement with you than not; I'm playing devil's advocate for the most part.

      You are a true believer-- and I respect that.  You ask:

      What are you doing in that regard?

      Trust me, I'm not doing as much as you are.  Suffice to say, I am a highly educated and trained professional who has spent my lifetime learning a very defined set of technical skills.  I'm not blowing my own horn, I'm merely stating facts.  

      I'm not alone.  The most highly "educated" folks in our society feel that they have little time to march in the streets against capitalism, and they'll ride this horse as long as it's in their best interests.

      I live in the middle of America, in a middle-sized town-- the type that has disproportionately borne the cost of our ill-fated carbon-based economic wars.  They have given their sons and their dollars to George W. Bush, and feel no regret.  This county would re-elect him again if given the chance.

      I can't talk sense into them.  And if I can't, then I know pointy-headed liberals from Berkeley and Boston won't either.  So, with all due respect, keep up the fight my brother, and I'll continue to do my duty to keep the self-abusing masses in the Great Flyover healthy, so that when the paradigm shifts, we'll have a viable society left to be converted to Socialism.

      "Hope and fear chase each other's tails." --Buddha

      by Grodge on Sun Apr 08, 2007 at 02:32:20 PM PDT

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