Greetings!

If you wish to post material of your own, or interesting links you have found,  to the Listserv, please address it to:

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• Joining this list is expected to yield 20-40 emails a week. But in a crisis....you never know...! Choose one of the digest or abridged options if you prefer. We will try to insure a helpful subject line so you can get to what interests you quickly.

More on what the listserv is about:

Despite some setbacks and miscalculations, it turns out, we think, that Karl Marx was right that capitalism was not the end of history, nor the last economic system. But instead that it was and is, like all other social and economic systems in the history of mankind, historically determined by the character of production, capital, labor and technology of a given time and place.

Nothing brings the necessity of better understanding the economic forces underlying capitalist instability to light more than the current extraordinary crisis underway. You will be hearing a lot about that on this blog!

The list is moderated by the Communist Party, USA ([http://cpusa.org/] cpusa.org) Economics commission, whose mission  is to post articles reflecting the span of interests and views under consideration in the socialist and communist movements both nationally and around the world, and commentary from readers and members of the listserv.

From a better understanding of capitalism as an economic system, what must arise from, supplant and replace it becomes illuminated. Before us, in the span of less than a lifetime, capitalism has been transformed into a more and more globalized, yet very unstable form. At the same time, advanced forms of both labor and production now exist that do not fit comfortably into the categories or confines of inherited class or occupational or commodity relations. The features and character of the society and economy that must both arise from and replace capitalist economic relations are all around us, straining to be seen -- we think -- as they are. The communist and socialist ideal for this era of human history is the same: a society where the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to their work" is realized.

This listserv will also be a place where where we mine the mountains of economic analysis and ideology for those "diamonds in the rough" that can best aid us in finding the path forward for all working people.
 

We are interested in FACT-BASED economic analysis, research and theory because the interests and aspirations of our membership are entwined with economic outcomes of the working people of the United States. Both immediate and long term interests of workers all over the world, as well,  demand an accurate understanding of real economic forces and how to manage them better to serve human ends.  More than ever, even than in Marx's own time, all Communists and all Socialists should strive to become good economists! And modern economists -- when they can be persuaded to take off the dark glasses and see that the "private" label, on an ever larger domain of property, is not permanently affixed -- will be giving  Marx his intellectual due and his heirs a new look.

Those heirs are found in some surprising places. We promise not to neglect, however, the contribution of the great Socialist John Maynard Keynes, and his progressive heirs in their search for the means of  managing capitalism's inherent instability and tendencies toward extreme inequality. Their theory, and its consequences for policy, form the basis of most serious reform proposals. Nor shall we discard the intellectual tradition of Vladimir Lenin which we believe will be making a comeback: as working class organizations strive to protect themselves in the economic tempest, many will conclude that they need more political independence in order to advance their interests and aspirations.

Evaluating the very active and contentious field of economics, and thus economic policy, asks all working people to become MORE informed and educated, and able to both participate and lead at every level of economic and political decision-making. Marx once characterized the Communist social vision as the ideals of the Enlightenment fully realized for all who labor. We will seek to spread enlightenment. And ask you to join us in that search!

A possibly apocryphal anecdote from Che Guevara and Fidel Castro may help:

Shortly after the Cuban revolution began constructing a government, Fidel called upon leaders assembled, including Che, to find an ECONOMIST to assist in building Cuban Socialism. Che famously rose to volunteer for the assignment. Fidel expressed surprise, confessing his knowledge of Che's medical, leadership, and other skills, yet unaware that he was also an economist. To which Che replied: "OH. I thought you said 'Communist'!!....but I can be an economist too"!!