History Re-Read

The German Communist Party (the DKP), campaigning in this year’s German elections had a banner proclaiming Die Krise heißt Kapitalismus! A Crisis Called Capitalism.

This claim has been central to Marxist thought since 1848, when the manifesto was published more or less at the same time in French, German and English.

That there is a state of economic crisis is something most adults living in the west since 2007 -2008 would agree on. At least when looking at the standard of living for the majority. Whether such crises are per se endemic to an immoral system or a manageable side effect of this form of economic relations within society is open to question.

Communism is both the late fruit of German idealism that started with liberal thinkers like Kant and a kind of artisanal good-natured collectivism. The highest of Teutonic aspirations and the humblest of early industrial enterprise. Berlin and at the same time Rochdale. The German capital was the home to ideas such as dialectical materialism and the Lancashire town the place of the first co-op. The two do not always sit well together but both are worthy of equal attention.

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This issue remains all over the media.

Wearing a mask to abide by the law based on the principle of protecting others is an example of negative freedom; choosing to wear a mask based on a concern for the wellbeing of oneself and others is an example of positive freedom.

If someone decides not to wear a mask at all, there might be valid reasons for her or him not to do so. They sometimes find it ill fitting and a problem if they wear glasses, which tend to steam up. Furthermore, they may work in a community where others rely on the ability to read their lips – either partly, for example those working in noisy industrial environments, or more intensively, as with nursing home staff who need to communicate to those of advanced years who are hearing impaired.

The text this month is John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty published is 1859.

Today, Mill would have only recognized the exercising of liberty in the refusal of some to wear a mask if no one else was bound to suffer as a result. A diehard elitist and scourge of politicians, he also would have sided with the scientific community against the mediocrity (if not incompetence) of politicians.

His philosophy was based on the concept of utilitarianism, the overarching maxim of which is “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

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Here, Mill bemoans the lack of strong will among the men of his day, comparing them to the kings of Holy Roman Empire who resisted the Popes. He then goes on to dismiss the Protestant mind-set, which, in the form of Calvinism, he detests. It all comes across as uncomfortably elitist today. The tone can be gauged from the following.

If it be any part of religion to believe that man was made by a good being, it is more consistent with that faith to believe, that this Being gave all human faculties that they might be cultivated and unfolded, not rooted out and consumed, and that he takes delight in every nearer approach made by his creatures to the ideal conception embodied in them, every increase in any of their capabilities of comprehension, of action, or of enjoyment.

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This issue remains all over the media.

Wearing a mask to abide by the law based on the principle of protecting others is an example of negative freedom; choosing to wear a mask based on a concern for the wellbeing of oneself and others is an example of positive freedom.

If someone decides not to wear a mask at all, there might be valid reasons for her or him not to do so. They sometimes find it ill fitting and a problem if they wear glasses, which tend to steam up. Furthermore, they may work in a community where others rely on the ability to read their lips – either partly, for example those working in noisy industrial environments, or more intensively, as with nursing home staff who need to communicate to those of advanced years who are hearing impaired.

The text this month is John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty published is 1859.

Today, Mill would have only recognized the exercising of liberty in the refusal of some to wear a mask if no one else was bound to suffer as a result. A diehard elitist and scourge of politicians, he also would have sided with the scientific community against the mediocrity (if not incompetence) of politicians.

His philosophy was based on the concept of utilitarianism, the overarching maxim of which is “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

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The fifth President of the United States, James Monroe, proclaimed in 1823 that the New World, the Western Hemisphere, was closed to further colonization; and that any attempt by the European powers of the Old World, whether Portugal and Spain diminished powers in the south to recolonize or Britain and France in the North to newly colonize would be viewed as acts of hostility.

Yet America’s self-appointed role as protector in the region, and the countries just mentioned, against European expansion was only made possible by the Louisiana Purchase. That is to say the acquisition of mainly swampland owned at the time by France running the entire length of the Mississippi river to the East taking in all its tributaries stretching westwards as far was what was then called New Spain.

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It was not mentioned explicitly in the analysis that Lodge had earlier stated his position in a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine following the recent opening of the Panama canal, which was expected expand American shipping (both merchant and Naval) to rival and then supersede that of Britain and Germany.

In a separate development, Japan were rumoured to want to purchase Magdalena Bay on the Baja California Sur on the Baja California Peninsula off the South-West Coast of Mexico. Both Japan and a number of European powers had been using the waters around the bay for whaling purposes.

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The Roosevelt Corollary of December 1904 was made as part this President’s state of the Union address that year. It asserted that the United States would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the rights of the United States or invite “foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations.”

Nine years earlier, Attorney General Richard Olney had warned the British Empire – in dispute with Venezuela at the time – that any interference in Latin America would not be tolerated. The United States under the Monroe Doctrine, would arbitrate between the parties. 

The Doctrine was applied more widely in 1905, leading to further U.S. arbitration to end the Russo-Japanese War.

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