It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Labor and the employer by Samuel Gompers1850-1924; Robbins, Hayes, 1873-1941, ed Publication date 1920 Topics American Federation of Labor, Labor and laboring classes, Labor unions Publisher New York, E.P. Dutton & company https://archive.org/details/laborandemploye00robbgoog/page/n6/mode/2up The double edge of labor's sword; discussion and testimony on socialism and trade-unionism before the Commission on Industrial Relations by Hillquit, Morris, 1869-1933; U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations; Gompers, Samuel, 1850-1924; Hayes, Max J https://archive.org/details/doubleedgeoflabo00hilliala/page/n7/mode/2up Publication date [pref. 1914] Topics Socialist Workers Party, Labor unions -- United States Publisher Chicago : Socialist Party, National Office
Albert Brisbane was an American utopian socialist and is remembered as the chief popularizer of the theories of Charles Fourier in the United States. Brisbane was the author of several books, notably Social Destiny of Man, as well as the Fourierist periodical The Phalanx. He also founded the Fourierist Society in New York in 1839 and backed several other phalanx communes in the 1840s and 1850s... Read More
The organization of labor and association by Briancourt, Math (Mathieu); Shaw, Francis George, 1809-1882, tr Publication date 1847 Topics Fourier, Charles, 1772-1837, Labor and laboring classes, Communism, Religion and labor
WARNING AS IF I NEED TO THIS IS A WHITE SUPREMACIST TEXT FROM NEW ZEALAND WAAAAAAY BEFORE RECENT ISLAMOPHOBIC ATTACKS THIS IS LOCATED IN THE FASCIST ARCHIVE AT ARCHIVE.ORG. YOU ARE WARNED.
"The Coming Struggle," by Mary Marcy Published in The Ohio Socialist [Cleveland], whole no. 49 (Jan. 1, 1919), pg. 2. Published in USA prior to 1923, public domain.
https://archive.org/details/TheComingStruggle/page/n1/mode/2up This article by the co-editor of the recently terminated International Socialist Review gives voice to the revolutionary enthusiasm and illusions that swept the American radical movement in the aftermath of World War I. "To my mind the ultimate triumph of Socialism is as inevitable as the coming of the spring," Marcy declares. "The capitalist financial system is already crumbling. The spirit of revolution is already spreading beyond the boundaries of Russia into Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and down to Romania and far into Sweden and Finland."
In response, capital was becoming internationally organized into a single world entity, with a single world army to defend its interests, Marcy says. In order to be effective in the future, "Socialism must become more and more international," she indicates. Forthcoming conflicts would "rock every nation" and "the greed of the capitalist class, the collapsing financial system upon which it is built, the enforced rebellion of the workers will be our opportunity."
In the coming "real class war" Marcy says that equation of Socialism with electoral politics would be rejected by the working class; that instead the "rebellious force" must be organized and educated in "Industrial Socialism," which she defines as "shop-control by the workers."
Marx says: “It is the negation of negation. This re-establishes individual property, but on the basis of the acquisitions of the capitalist era, i.e., on co-operation of free workers and their possession in common of the land and of the means of production produced by labour. The transformation of scattered private property, arising from individual labour, into capitalist private property is, naturally, a process, incomparably more protracted, arduous, and difficult, than the transformation of capitalistic private property, already practically resting on socialised production, into socialised property.” [K. Marx, Das Kapital, p. 793.] [Capital, volume I, Chapter 33, page 384 in the MIA pdf file.] That is all. The state of things brought about by the expropriation of the expropriators is therefore characterised as the re-establishment of individual property, but on the basis of the social ownership of the land and of the means of production produced by labour itself. To anyone who understands plain talk this means that social ownership extends to the land and the other means of production, and individual ownership to the products, that is, the articles of consumption. And in order to make the matter comprehensible even to children of six, Marx assumes on page 56 [Chapter 1, page 48 in the MIA pdf] “a community of free individuals, carrying on their work with the means of production in common, in which the labour-power of all the different individuals is consciously applied as the combined labour-power of the community”, that is, a society organised on a socialist basis; and he continues: “The total product of our community is a social product. One portion serves as fresh means of production and remains social. But another portion is consumed by the members as means of subsistence. A distribution of this portion amongst them is consequently necessary.” And surely that is clear enough even for Herr Dühring, in spite of his having Hegel on his brain.
AMERICAN BOY The Midwest is that part of the United States usually re- garded as characteristic of the country as a whole, possessing
the manufacturing and business skills of the East and the foodproducing powers of the West. The Midwest includes the
smokestacks of Chicago, the automobile plants of Detroit, the
shipping of the Great Lakes. And the heart of this MidAmerica, the geographical center of our industrial empire, is Ohio, the birthplace of Standard Oil and the “Mother of
Presidents." It is of some interest—perhaps only in a sentimental sense—
that Cleveland, the chief city of Ohio, was also the birthplace
of the man who was to found and, until his death, lead the
Communist Party of the United States. He was C. E. Ruthenberg, the son of a dock-worker who lived in the poorer districts of that city. Charles Emil Ruthenberg was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on
July 9, 1882, of German parentage. His father, “Worker August
Ruthenberg"—as his name was written on his marriage record
—had left Germany earlier that year, February 19, taking with
him his wife, W
rilhelmina, and eight children. They reached
the United States on March 9, and went directly to Cleveland.
Charles—the ninth child—arrived four months later. RIGHT CLICK TO ENLARGE
Marxism In United States History Before the Russian Revolution (1876-1917)
People suffering from post-traumatic distress disorder report that cannabis reduces the severity of their symptoms by more than half, at least in the short term, according to a recent study led by Carrie Cuttler, a Washington State University assistant professor of psychology.
Cuttler and her colleagues analyzed data of more than 400 people who tracked changes in their PTSD symptoms before and after cannabis use with Strainprint, an app developed to help users learn what types of medical cannabis work best for their symptoms. The group collectively used the app more than 11,000 times over a 31-month period.
The study, recently published in Journal of Affective Disorders, shows cannabis reduced the severity of intrusions, returning thoughts of a traumatic event, by about 62%; flashbacks by 51%, irritability by 67%, and anxiety by 57%. The symptom reductions were not permanent, however.
"The study suggests that cannabis does reduce symptoms of PTSD acutely, but it might not have longer term beneficial effects on the underlying condition," said Cuttler. "Working with this model, it seems that cannabis will temporarily mask symptoms, acting as a bit of a band aid, but once the period of intoxication wears off, the symptoms can return."
PTSD is a disorder affecting people recovering from traumatic events and impacts women at about twice the rate as men with a 9.7% to 3.6% lifetime prevalence, respectively. While therapy is recommended as the primary treatment, Cuttler said there is growing evidence that many people with PTSD are self-medicating with cannabis.
"A lot of people with PTSD do seem to turn to cannabis, but the literature on its efficacy for managing symptoms is a little sparse," Cuttler said.
This study provides some insight into the effectiveness of cannabis on PTSD symptoms, but as the authors note, it is limited by reliance on a self-selected sample of people who self-identify as having PTSD. Also, it is not possible to compare the symptom reductions experienced by cannabis users to a control group using a placebo.
While some placebo-controlled clinical trials have been done with nabilone, a synthetic form of THC, few have examined the effects of the whole cannabis plant on PTSD.
In this study, Cuttler and her colleagues looked at a variety of variables but found no difference in the effect of cannabis with differing levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), two of the most studied constituents of cannabis. The results imply that it is some combination of THC, CBD and perhaps some of the many other parts of the cannabis plant that create the therapeutic effect. Cannabis has many molecules that can create a biological effect, including up to 120 cannabinoids, 250 terpenes and around 50 flavonoids.
"We need more studies that look at whole plant cannabis because this is what people are using much more than the synthetic cannabinoids," said Cuttler. "It is difficult to do good placebo-controlled trials with whole plant cannabis, but they're still really needed."Cannabis reduces headache and migraine pain by nearly half
More information: Emily M. LaFrance et al, Short and Long-Term Effects of Cannabis on Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Journal of Affective Disorders (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.132
New coronavirus may have emerged in summer 2019, study suggests
People visit a night market in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on June 3
A surge in hospital visits and internet searches related to COVID-19 symptoms from the Chinese city of Wuhan suggests the coronavirus may have been circulating since August 2019, according to a preliminary study by researchers at Boston University and Harvard.
The pandemic, which has been linked to a virus that crossed over from animals to humans, was initially identified in Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Market in December 2019.
Later, experts estimated a genetic ancestor to the virus emerged around mid-November 2019. A report in the South China Morning Post citing government data suggested a "patient zero" could be traced back to November 17.
The new paper, which has not yet appeared in a peer reviewed journal, comes under the relatively new field of "digital epidemiology."
A team led by Elaine Nsoesie at Boston University analyzed 111 satellite images from Wuhan between January 2018 to April 2020, as well as frequently looked up symptoms on the Chinese search engine Baidu.
"A steep increase in volume starting in August 2019" was detected at Wuhan hospital parking lots, "culminating with a peak in December 2019," the authors wrote.
Because queries for the word "cough" rise along with yearly influenza seasons, they also looked for "diarrhea" which is a more COVID-19 specific symptom.
"In August, we identify a unique increase in searches for diarrhea which was neither seen in previous flu seasons or mirrored in the cough search data," the team said.
While respiratory symptoms are the most common hallmarks of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the study suggested that diarrhea "may play an important role in community transmission."
The authors concluded that while they could not definitively confirm that the data they documented was linked to the virus, it supported conclusions reached by other research.
"These findings also corroborate the hypothesis that the virus emerged naturally in southern China and was potentially already circulating at the time of the Wuhan cluster," they said.
AFP
Two cats are first U.S. pets to be sickened with COVID-19
by Dennis Thompson, Healthday Reporter
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
The first documented cases of U.S. household cats infected with COVID-19 have emerged in New York state, a new government report shows.
Two cats—one in Nassau County, the other in Orange County—appear to have contracted COVID-19 from the humans with whom they lived, a team of veterinarians reported online June 8 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
These are the first reported companion animals to contract COVID-19 in the United States, the researchers said.
Transmission occurred from human to cat in both cases, the report noted. Importantly, the authors of the report said that there's no evidence the cats passed the coronavirus to humans or other cats living in the same household.
"This evidence supports findings to date that animals do not play a substantial role in spreading SARS-CoV-2, although human-to-animal transmission can occur in some situations," the team wrote. "Companion animals that test positive for SARS-CoV-2 should be monitored and separated from persons and other animals until they recover."
The Nassau County cat, a 4-year-old domestic shorthair, developed respiratory illness on March 24 that included sneezing, watery eyes and mild lethargy.
The cat had been living in an apartment with five people, three of whom had COVID-19 symptoms. The first person's illness began nine days before the cat became sick. The apartment complex had experienced multiple cases of human COVID-19 around the same time.
The Orange County cat, a 5-year-old Devon Rex, fell ill on April 1 with sneezing, coughing, runny nose, watery eyes, loss of appetite and lethargy. The cat lived with an employee at a Connecticut veterinary clinic who developed COVID-19 symptoms eight days before the cat became sick.
Both cats fully recovered from their COVID-19, according to Dr. Alexandra Newman and colleagues.
These cases are further confirmation that COVID-19 can spread among cats, something noted by a laboratory study published in May in the New England Journal of Medicine.
In that study, three healthy cats contracted COVID-19 after each was paired with an infected cat in their separate lab cage, researchers in the United States and Japan discovered. Within six days, all six cats were shedding coronavirus.
The study concluded that "cats may be a silent intermediate host of [COVID-19], because infected cats may not show any appreciable symptoms that might be recognized by their owners."
However, one of the researchers said the odds of human-to-cat or cat-to-cat transmission are likely greater than cats passing on the coronavirus to their humans.
"Cats are still much more likely to get COVID-19 from you, rather than you get it from a cat," researcher Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said in a University of Wisconsin news release.
Another vet agreed. "There has been no evidence yet of people getting COVID from any domestic animal. Coronavirus is no reason to abandon your pets," Dr. John Howe, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told HealthDay News in May.
