Class Struggle: The Blog Post (Or: Anti-Monopoly)

The radical left really tends to tie itself up in transmitting/teaching/explaining its ideology in a few static methods, and more peculiar (but potentially more engaging and thus useful) ‘pedagogical tools’ get overlooked.

However, there does seem to be a few exceptions in one particular area I’m a bit of a geek towards: board games. A slight bit of internet research turned up two items of interest:

The first one, and I suppose the granddaddy of these sorts of games, is Class Struggle the Board Game. Essentially, each player is assigned a ‘class’, be it workers, capital, or a minor class (students, peasents, et cetera), and goes around the board marshaling their forces and preparing for the revolution. Never having played it, I can’t say whether or not it’s actually fun, of course. Reminds me of the Noam Chomsky board game, and makes me want to sit down and start drafting a board design. The interesting thing is that it was actually published by Avalon Hill for a few years in the 80s!

The other one I turned up was actually a card-based derivative of Class Struggle the Board Game. Imaginatively (and also confusingly and lawsuit-invitingly) entitled Class Struggle, it is based on the versatile Dvorak game system (which is similar to 1000 Blank White Cards). I, of course, am itching to play this game – just listen to some of these cards:

• No Room at the Top (or in the Middle): Place this card on any Student, Self-Employed or Professional in play. This card is now a Worker.
• May ‘68: Students are allied with Workers.
• and my personal favourite, MA In Icelandic Literature: Professionals are allied with Workers.

The fun thing about this game-style is the players can easily add to the card stock, improving and growing the game. This, of course, is a fantastic way for people to expand and express their understanding of ideology and politics. Imagine a situation where players are trying to create a card for something like a party election – they are required to essentially create an operational definition of the event within the context of the game, essentially determining what the material effects of the event would be. Now, if this had been what they meant by edutainment when I was younger, it might have actually had some value.

Zuma wins ANC Presidency; Left-wing of party expects revolution “really, really soon”

So Jacob Zuma has officially won the ANC leadership contest, deposing former ANC head, and current South African President, Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki has been President of SA since 1999, and President of the ANC since late 1997. Zuma’s victory is widely seen as a lead-up to a run for SA President. Winning with 60.75% of the vote, Zuma’s support apparently comes largely from the South African Communist Party and COSATU, both formerly affiliated with the ANC, as well as the ANC youth wing. He is identified with the party’s left-wing, although the SACP endorsement and the ANC’s history as Marxist does not necessarily mean he is interested in taking the ANC or the country on a radical-left path. He has made efforts to ‘reassure investors’ and the like, and as Lenin points out,

He is in all probability an opportunist who has harnessed a unique chance based on the unrest. However, the fact that he has successfully channelled the energy of this revolt into a leadership bid which may lead to him taking power in the ANC (but not the country) is itself significant.

In this article Claire Ceruti quotes Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of COSATU, as saying the SACP have latched onto Zuma in an effort to “consolidate, retain and deepen [the ANC's] progressive posture and working class leadership under the current conditions of intense contestation”. I agree with Claire’s general position that the 11 million strike days recorded in the first half of 2007, along with other factors (both theoretical and immediate) indicate the latent and growing strength of the worker’s movements in SA, although a fetishistic connection to the ANC (understandable due to their historical prevalence in the anti-apartheid struggles) prevents it from becoming developed.

My personal analysis of leadership contests for broad organizations such as the ANC is that they are a useful indicator of popular sentiment, a sort of ’snap poll’ of the electorate, and largely useless in-and-of themselves. A parallel (although I’m sure many would disagree) would be of the 2005 Canadian Labour Congress election, where Carol Wall ran against incumbent Ken Georgetti. I don’t mean to argue Zuma is equivalent to Wall (or that the CLC is analogous to the ANC, for pity’s sake) but instead that the Wall campaign was less about getting someone elected (although anyone other than Georgetti would be a improvement) and more about the dissenters in the CLC using it as a chance to make their presence known. The question is whether participation in a broad-tent (or, more accurately, multi-class) party is the best option for the left.

(Edited to properly attribute the quotation from Claire Ceruti’s article.-Jan 30)

Linkity-link: Dec 18th 2007

A few links to check out:

One a YouTube vid from the front lines of a picket line in Kelowna, BC at the Sun-Rype packing plant, where the security goons attacked a picket line. Very crazy situation to be in, and I hope the Teamster members can beat the company – although as the Tyee reports, the situation is pretty grim for the workers.

The next, also from the Tyee, is by Michael Geist, who you may remember from such places as the ‘Fair Copyright for Canada’ Facebook group (which he created). The actual article is on the capacity of Facebook for political organizing. It specifically references the success of the ‘Fair Copyright for Canada’ group, claiming that it gave a vehicle to the voices of thousands of Canadians, and directly impacted government policy.

Finally, a link to an article I read some time ago, but one I hope to come back to and write a proper post on soon: danah boyd’s fantastic Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace.

Liberals vs Conservatives on Education Fiscal Accountability: The Futility of Choosing Sides for the Left

This shows the danger in arguing for increased ‘fiscal accountability’ for post-secondary institutions without having a proper analysis of what fiscal accountability entails and who (and what political projects) you may be implicitly supporting by doing so.William Durden¹, President of Dickinson College in the US, argues against the current push in the US on ‘fiscal accountability’ for universities.

Newsflash: Tuition bad!

I came across this article from the Ottawa Citizen (via Inside Higher Ed) on what is (at first blush) an attempt by Maritime universities to respond to the ubiquitous ‘market forces’ and drop their tuition fees (i.e. price) to attract Ontario students. While I wish I could state that student mobilization was the sole cause of these developments, I can’t, but I also find it irritating that the article treats it merely as a something to be determined by the market.

What is more important, and what the article doesn’t really discuss, is that the maritime provinces saw some of the most punishing tuition increases in the 1990s, and as a result are more ‘coming into line’ with the rest of the country than anything else.

Although I did enjoy this humorous quote at the end of the article:

“Tuition fees seem to influence students’ choice of institution,” a commission report concludes.

Quite shocking, really.

Old habits die hard

I went down to the local university library yesterday, intending to pick up Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War, by Fraser. I was interested in doing some more reading on that era of revolutionary politics, and had a literature review passed on to me by a friend. Of course, I just happened to come across not one, not two, but five other books in this review I was interested in, and couldn’t help myself from picking them up too. So now I need to not only find time to finish reading my current book (Bodies of Meaning: Studies on Language, Labour and Liberation by McNally, very good but also very dense and outside my knowledge base), but also read Blood of Spain (585 pages), and find time to read The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain by Broué and Témime (544 pages), The Spanish Tragedy by Carr (only 311 pages!), Vision on Fire by (Emma!) Goldman (327 pages), Spain: 1808-1975 also by Carr (a ridiculous 770 pages), and also find time to re-read Homage to Catalonia by Orwell (at only 211 pages, comparatively paltry).

I’d call myself an overachiever, but honestly, I’ll undoubtedly be returning at least half of these books after getting 2 or 3 chapters in. ADHD in action! The rest? I’ll end up paying late fees on them… Also, expect to see some absolutely scintillating discussions of these books in the coming period.

Blaming the (working-class) victim, part 234262672

Well, I was reading my news as I faithfully do, and came across this sad story of a family house burning down in Northern Winnipeg (certainly not an uncommon occurrence, unfortunately). Then I read this choice bit:

The constables helped 10 people — ranging in age from nine months to 66 years — escape out a rear window because the home’s front door was blocked by the fire and the back door had been boarded up to keep out the winter cold.

There’s nothing illegal about that, but Tuesday’s fire shows it’s not a good idea, says Manitoba fire commissioner Doug Popowich.

“If you look at it from a regulation point of view, they’re not doing anything that’s against any law, but what they’re doing is creating an unsafe environment for their families and themselves,” he said.

What. An. Asshole. I realize the Fire Commish is supposed to warn people not to do dangerous things, but at the same time, it would be nice if it was acknowledged that maybe having what was likely a house in poor shape (which I am assuming by the fact they had to board up the door to keep the cold out) with significant overcrowding (eleven people in a single house) is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Of course, someone will jump in with the insightful analysis of “the person who set the house on fire is to blame!”. Well, obviously, but there’s a big difference between saying the fire would never have started without the alleged fire-starters and recognizing the material conditions in much of Winnipeg’s housing stock that lead to responses like blockaded doors.

Not another blog with just one post…

Well, folks, seeing as how no one will likely read this particular post, the actual usefulness of writing it is debatable. However, every great work of art has to start somewhere – can a blog actually be a work of art? I’ll leave that to the PoMo’s to decide.

My interests? Glad you asked! Politics, firstly, and the left-wing variety (hence the name of the blog). Other stuff, as well (music, parenting, reading, and other exciting things) but those are less directly relevant to this blog, so too bad for those of you who end up reading this tripe and wanted to read countless posts on those topics. They will, of course, make an entrance (assuming I make it past post #1), but usually with a political bent. I’ll admit, I’m a one-trick-pony. Welcome!