Socialists and all fighters for the working class should record the passing last week of Howard Zinn. He was 88 years old. My mother taught at Spelman College for one or two years while Zinn taught there. She always used to talk about how much he was beloved by his students, both for the intellectual stimulation he offered as well as for his kindly attitude. Of course, Zinn will be best remembered for his "A People's History of the United States", and rightly so. This book is an absolute classic as far as a serious history of this country. Zinn was not a Marxist, in fact, he was something of a liberal, but a decent and courageous one as far as possible. "People's History" does not provide a clear analysis of the class forces at work in the United States, but it is a brilliant expose of the real history, of the bloodthirstiness of the US capitalist class and of the resistance to it on the part of many sectors of society, from the native Americans to workers (including slaves) to youth. If the purpose of life is to leave the Earth a slightly better place for our presence here, this one book accomplished that for Zinn, quite aside from his other contributions.

Wages, Prices and Profits

(Note: This title is borrowed from Karl Marx, who wrote a brilliant piece of this same title. Likewise for much of the content. I don’t think old Karl would mind. As the postal worker told the poet in the film “Il Postino”: “Poems don’t belong to those who write them; they belong to those who need them.” The same is true for ideas in general.)

Many mainstream economists are predicting that if the economy picks up, there will be increased inflation. In fact, the signs are already present. For instance, the World Food Price index from March-December, 2009 shows prices up by 23%. Corn prices from September – January were up 24% and Oil per barrel from September – January was up 20%. Overall, in the US, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is now at 2% (i.e. a 2% inflation rate) vs. -2% in the middle of last year. (It should be noted that these figures underestimate inflation by about 3%. In the 1990s, under Bill Clinton, they changed the way the CPI is figured, resulting in reducing it by about this amount. The figures for this can be seen at www.shadowstats.com.)

The following is the text of a leaflet I am distributing on Haiti. It contains the points made in the article below, but it emphasizes the question of "dual power" (as explained in the leaflet). I tried attaching the leaflet as a file attachment, but I get a message that the disk quota has been reached. I'll try to attach it separately, but if I can't and anybody wants to see it, and reproduce if if they wish, contact me directly.

 

Haiti - The State Apparatus Collapsed Too

When the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti the state’s political infrastructure collapsed along with the National Palace. In a country as desperately poor as Haiti, and with such revolutionary traditions, first and foremost in importance in this state infrastructure are the forces of repression. These forces – in the form of the police – disappeared entirely from the streets of Port-au-Prince after the earthquake.

 

1985 Mexico City Earthquake