BOURGEOIS LEFT

BRUCE LERRO—The Sullivanian Institute was a spin-off organization that broke away in 1957 from the work of Harry Stack Sullivan. Sullivan was sensitive to the social side of psychological dynamics and among other insights blamed the nuclear family for the formation of the ideal capitalist consumer. Both Dr. Jane Pearce and Saul Newton took these criticisms of the nuclear family much further. In 1963, Pearce and Newton coauthored a book called Conditions of Human Growth. In that book they identified the family as socially isolating the individual from developing healthy relationships with friends, especially in adolescence and adulthood. Open-ended friendships, both sexual and otherwise, were the way out of the infantilization of the nuclear family and the road to maturity. For them, friendships are the first potential of experience of love between equals.

ROGER HARRIS—Kovalik is a dedicated leftist critical of the Democratic Party. “We as the American electorate,” he observes, “are never given anything but the choice between sociopaths for President.” Kovalik comments further: “I for one am quite alarmed to think of what a Biden policy of ‘getting tougher’ with Russia would look like, and what kind of catastrophe it could bring about…. It simply boggles the mind how the mainstream media and the Democratic Party elite are willing to compromise world peace and public health all in the interest of political gain.”

W J ASTORE—The question is: What will Democrats do with this (very weak) majority? Or, as Greg Laxer put it here, “BUT…do the Dems have sufficient internal discipline to pass any legislation remotely progressive or to seat a SCOTUS nominee deemed controversial?” Good question.

Of course, it’s not just about “internal discipline.” Joe Biden, a mealy-mouthed corporatist, is on the record as saying that nothing will fundamentally change under his administration. I don’t see him or Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer pushing for a progressive agenda. These “leaders” are DINOs, Democrats in name only, and it will be interesting to see if Biden & Co. even come through on their promise to elevate relief checks from $600 to $2000.

CALEB MAUPIN—Many celebrate Trump’s defeat without realising they have not defeated the forces that made him possible. In fact they just voted them back into power. Caleb’s chats are the ideal tool for those who wish to acquire a solid understanding of contemporary history in an easy, accessible manner.  “This was a victory for the American establishment. Make no mistake about it.” The country and the world suffer terribly because we lack the politics of a communist party. The country is in a crisis, and the only way out of this is through the class line, through the optimistic building of a socialist society. Caleb agains sketches the class division in the US ruling class, something people should understand. With Biden, the older, more powerful wing of the establishment has regained full control. It represents the older, bigger fortunes and the new mega corporations of Silicon Valley. The “Managerial Wing” of the ruling class. Count here the Rockefellers, DuPonts, Carnegies, Jeff Bezos, the Big Tech billionaires, etc. Trump had the newer shorter-thinking capitalist mob only interested in short-term profits: The Home Dept, Hobby Lobby, Casino magnates, and so forth. Let’ call them the “entrepreneurial wing”. This clash remains unresolved. 

CHRIS MARSDEN—The Corbynites have once again responded by waving the flag of surrender. Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell tweeted, “In interests of party unity let’s find a way of undoing & resolving this.” Corbyn told Sky News, “What I will be doing is appealing to the party… to kindly think again.” He later appealed to Labour members, “Don’t go away, don’t leave the party. Stay in the party and argue the case for economic and social justice in our society.” Fundamental lessons must now be learned from this degrading spectacle by workers in Britain and internationally.