Cooperation and the Role of the Left via Aberdare Blog
Some time ago we discussed the importance of co-operation as the basis for a fair society. We used the example of a local village shop because the first Welsh co-operative store was established near Aberdare by working people.
Today we experienced something of an epiphanic moment reading the views of Paul A. Baran in his essay entitled “Better Smaller But Better”. It was published in Monthly Review in July 1950, originally under the pen-name Historicus.
Baran discusses ‘Co-Operation on the Left’ in a post-war American society where capitalism seemed unassailable and omnipotent. He discusses the methods used to preserve and strengthen capitalism in America as it was then, 1950.
Here’s how Baran puts it, any emphasis in the text is ours …
“The...
This week George Bush and other Western war-mongers celebrate the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
War is good news for the corporations which the war-mongers represent.
War is profitable and militarism plays a key role in the capitalist system.
Wars are fought for class interests. The Iraq was is no exception.
Writing fifty-two years ago in their book Monopoly Capital, American economists Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy characterize the impact militarism has on society and the function of militarism in capitalist society :......