Music Notes July 2023
1 The Velvet Underground – Squeeze
It’s a funny thing, if Squeeze had been released as a Doug Yule solo album, which it was given he wrote and sang everything and played all the instruments except for drums, no one really would have cared. But instead, he called it the Velvet Underground. I know there’s been a movement to rehabilitate this record, but don’t be fooled. It’s a dreadful MOR folk-rock record. Give it a listen, just so you can say you did,
2 Lucinda Williams – Stories from a Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart
Three years back, Lucinda Williams suffered a stroke. She thought she might never perform again. This year, an autobiography, a tour and a new album. Stories is a solid record with Williams’ trademark passion, and friends like Springsteen guest. A welcome record from a legendary artist.
3 Neil Young – Chrome Dreams
A legendary “lost” album from 1977 where versions of the songs appeared on other Young records. The album will finally appear on August 11, 2023.
4 Jesus and Mary Chain Sunset 666
As a kid growing up in 1970’s Britain, I was fascinated with the US. Through movies, TV, and comics books, the US seemed like a magical place. The Reid brothers, who are a few years older than me, seems similarly enchanted. Great live record from 2018 at the Hollywood Palladium which will be released next week.
5 The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project – The Task Has Overwhelmed Us
In the years after the death of Gun Club singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, friends have come together to record and re-record songs of his. There are three collections so far, and a fourth is out in September. For now check out Nick Cave & Debbie Harry’s “On the Other Side,” and Dave Gahan’s stunning “Mother Earth.”
6 Actress – Birth of the New York Dolls
Not for the casual listener, but if you’re a fan of the New York Dolls, this is for you. A collection of demos from 1971 featuring soon-to-be Dolls Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane, Billy Murcia and Rick Rivets (who would leave after David Johansen joined, making way for Sylvain Sylvain); the sound isn’t great, (it’s pretty much like you’d imagine a garageband taped on a cassette player would be), but the Dolls’ sound, rudimentary as it is, can be heard.
7 Nina Antonio – In Cold Blood (Second edition)
A great account of the life and times of Johnny Thunders.
8 PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying
I miss the immediacy of PJ Harvey’s early work. Bang! It knocked you back. Yet, her most recent albums are no less brilliant; they just take a while to grow on you. I Inside the Old Year Dying is stories from youth as well as from Harvey’s poetry mixed into a range of musical styles. Well worth repeat listens.
9 Yard Act – “The Trench Coat Museum”
Great new single from the Leeds post-punk hip hop band (that’s what it sounds like to me – sue me)
10 Sinéad O’Connor
Other people have written better things than I will, so I’ll be brief. I’m still shocked at the loss of this tremendous talent. I wasn’t the biggest fan of her work, but no one can deny not only the sheer raw power of her work, but also the covers she chose and the contribution she made to others’ work. A real loss.
Till next month.
Beyond Plague Urbanism
In the last two “proper” mayoralty contests in Toronto (not the recent by-election), the most interesting candidates were urbanists: Jennifer Keesmaat, a former city planner in Toronto, and Gil Penalosa, a Colombian born urbanist. Both placed second in their campaigns to defeat John Tory, but both captured the imagination of people in Toronto. Phrases like “livable cities,” “people centred cities,” and even “15 minute cites” were discussed. Their campaigns seemed to be motivated by the adage from the middle ages that the city air makes us free realizing that today, the city air just makes us ill and seeking a cure.
Of course, neither were revolutionaries. Penalosa in particular seemed to see the problem as one of will; we could have this better urban environment if we wanted, but there seemed to be little sense of the broader economic and social forces which would block this change: Bad people making bad choices. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was perhaps more politically astute in its account of the collusion between the car and tire companies to destroy urban transit.
Andy Merrifield is a Marxist urbanist from the UK. I particularly enjoyed his books the Amateur and Magical Marxism (been meaning to read The Wisdom of Donkeys) In a blog post from 2020, Andy Merrifield outlined a terrifying vision of the city under Covid, Beyond Plague Urbanism.
If, as Merrifield and others contend, the strength of the city is its diversity created by bringing people together, Covid did more damage than just take lives; it damaged the fabric of society. I remember driving to the grocery store in March of 2020, and the roads were deserted. But when I arrived at the store, it was life during wartime. A 45 minute wait to enter. We stood six feet apart, afraid even to talk to those waiting in line. “Does he have Covid? Does she? Do I?”
How could solidarity re-emerge, when gathering were forbidden, when protests disappeared, when we were afraid to be with anyone outside of our Covid bubble? Three years later, we have returned to a “new” normal, but just like long Covid, the social damage has lingered.
Merrifield’s latest book, Beyond Plague Urbanism, expands the blog post into a full length treatment of the subject (Below is the Monthly Review blurb), and seems well worth reading.
Our cities have been plagued by economic injustices and inequalities long before COVID-19 upended urban life everywhere. Beyond Plague Urbanism delves into this zone of urban pathology and wonders what successive lockdowns and exoduses, remote work and small-business collapse, redundant office space and unaffordable living space portend for our society in cities and our cities in society.
The city has historically been a Great Book inspiring a liberal education, the kind that teaches you how to become a citizen of the world. The city was always an existential rite of passage, especially for young people, broadening horizons, deepening your whole being. But lately our great seat of learning has remaindered a lot of its classics texts, closed down public access, and auctioned off its campus to the highest bidder. The city’s romance is already talking alimony. How to resuscitate the city as a vast open-air public library? How to redraft this Great Book together? How to dialogue anew about its table of contents, re-typesetting the future social life contained within its leaves?
Andy Merrifield journeys intercontinentally as he reflects on these questions, in a narrative that moves imaginatively between literature and life, plague and populist politics, public values and private inclinations, the U.S. Main Street and the British High Street, overcrowding and undercrowding, the right to the city today and eco-cities of tomorrow. Blending modern jazz with French Surrealism, Thomas Pynchon’s rocket science with the odyssey of James Joyce, Henri Lefebvre’s Marxism with the street ballets of Jane Jacobs, this challenging book appears at a timely moment in our fraught political history and opens up an urgent humanist conversation about the future of city life.
Radical Anthropology
Back when I published Red & Black Notes and tabled at (usually anarchist) bookfairs, one of the most popular items on my table was Radical Anthropology, the journal of the Radical Anthropology Group. (The other was Aufheben) The magazine hasn’t been published in ages, but the group’s site still has plenty of information.
I’m going to be digging into anthropology in the fall to a much greater degree, but for now I’m just working through some of the material on the site. Very interesting.
Summertime Blues Part XII
Do revolutions happen in the summer? Sure the American and French did, but it’s usually too hot to do things and people do go on vacation. OK, that’s a half-assed excuse for the silence on this blog for the past while. But I’m going to start cranking stuff out again.
But even though I haven’t been doing much, class struggle hasn’t paused: Dockworkers in Canada, SAG-AFTRA, the events in France, UPS about to go out. The list seems, happily, to be endless.
Since I reposted the IP piece on a recent left communist conference in Europe, I did pick up both volumes put out by the Old Mole Collective – the documents of the International Conferences of the Communist Left: 1977-1980 and what seems more interesting, Capitalism’s Endgame: The Catastrophe of Accumulation. Haven’t had time to dive into either yet, as I’m working my way through Gary Roth’s fascinating biography of Paul Mattick, Marxism in a Lost Century. (Although I might dig into Michael Molcher’s book on policing I am the Law)
More soon.
A Conference of Left Communists (From the Internationalist Perspective website)
I don’t usually repost entire articles, but this is very important. The original article can be found at the Internationalist Perspective website where further communication should be directed. (I’m not involved in this project, but nevertheless support it and would seek to be a part of future events)
Last May, at the invitation of Internationalist Perspective and Controversies, some left communists from six countries gathered in Brussels to talk and listen to each other.1 Aside from IP, Controversies, and a few unaffiliated comrades, activists of the following were present:
ex-FOR (Fomento Obrero Revolucionario)
AAAP (Association Archives Anton Pannekoek)
AFRD (A Free Retriever Digest)
Cercle de Discussion de sympathisants et sympathisantes de la Gauche Communiste de Paris,
For logistical reasons, we were not able to invite all those we would have liked to invite. Some whom we did invite were not able to come but sent written contributions (like the Spain-based group Barbaria). Some others declined our invitation, fearing that the debate would degenerate into hostile confrontation, or that the differences in positions would be too big to make meaningful discussion possible. Even some who did come to the conference had the same fears. Fortunately, among all the participants there was a willingness to hear what others had to say. Nobody tried to “win the debate”. Rather than a confrontation in which participants seek only to reinforce their own positions, there was exposure to different ideas. Nuances were expressed, not crushed. We all had the same questions and even though our answers to them varied, the general feeling was that we left this meeting “richer” than when we came.
During the past couple of years, most of us were only able to meet electronically. All of us keenly appreciated the benefits of meeting in person and the need to counter-act the general tendency toward individual isolation, from which the pro-revolutionary political milieu is not immune.
The main subject on the agenda of the first day was “the trajectory of capitalism” (the periodization of its history), not because of an academic interest in history, but because of the crucial question behind it: When are the conditions present for revolution? Revolutionaries, from Marx on, no doubt in part because of wishful thinking, have always been inclined to believe that the answer to this question was ‘now’, that their own time was the time in which capitalism had become senile, in which the necessity and possibility of its overthrow were finally there. This is also what the participants of this conference believe. But with the recognition of the presence of objective conditions for proletarian revolution comes the need to explain the absence so far of the subjective condition for revolution, to understand how capitalism manages to survive, how it has kept its grip on the minds of the proletariat and how this stranglehold can be broken.
In the past, several of the participants believed that capitalism’s decadent phase begins when it is no longer able to develop the productive forces. World war one was seen by many as the onset of that period. All at this meeting however, all recognized not only that the productive forces have continued to develop since then, but also that they did so at an accelerating pace. But they drew different conclusions.
For Mcl (Controversies) the growth of the productive forces, the rising productivity of labor, the expansion of capitalism in Asia, the increased longevity and real wages, show that the 20th century still was a part of the ascendancy of capitalism with the implication that the conditions for revolution had not yet matured. The revolutionary subject, the international working class, like other productive forces, was still developing, still expanding and revolutionary consciousness was tempered by the globally rising living standards. Only in the present century, in his view, the period of decadence has begun. Capitalism is exhausted, it can no longer raise labor productivity, living standards are falling everywhere, it cannot find a way out of its crisis.
But most others rejected a periodization based on productivist criteria. While recognizing capitalism’s ‘progress’ in the 20th century, they pointed to the terrible price the working class has paid for it. Yes, there was development of the forces of production but most of all, there was development of the forces of destruction. Destruction not only in the form of wars and repression but also in the degradation of our biosphere2. As Victor of the Paris discussion group put it, there is no final point at which a permanent decline of capitalist production begins, accumulation is by its nature cyclical. By its own internal contradictions, contained in the value-form, capitalism is compelled to accelerated accumulation. Not a lack of growth but the ever-expanding growth of productive forces is a destructive threat to humanity and the planet itself, Link (Collective Old Moles) stated.
According to IP, it was the transition to Capital’s real domination which brought the internal contradictions of the mode of production to the surface. Others disagreed with IP’s expanded use of this concept of Marx. But for IP it is this process, which in essence is the penetration of the value-form, not only in the labor process but in the totality of society, which explains how the period changed into one of systemic crisis and destructive growth. It allows us to understand the integration of mass parties and trade unions into the fabric of capitalist society, the expansive role of the state, the subsumption and subjectivation of the working class. Others saw the transition to real domination as a process that was completed in the 19th century, not relevant for the current period. Some questioned the need for periodization at all. It’s the same system, Pierre (ex-FOR) stated, the main change in his view being that in the 19th century the capitalist class and the workers had a shared interest in opposing the feudal landed property, while in the 20th century they no longer had common interests.
However all seemed to agree that 1914 was a decisive turning point, with a vastly expanded role of the state as one of its consquences. There was also agreement on the need to not look only at economic factors when analyzing capitalism’s history, but to take into account political factors, the class struggle and contingent factors as well.
The second day of the conference was devoted to the discussion of the current state of capitalism’s crisis and of the class struggle. Many issues came up, more than can be summarized here. All seemed to agree that the current systemic crisis would deepen with no way out and with devasting consequences, including interimperialist war, deteriorating living conditions, ‘natural’ catastrophies and mass migration. Comrades from France reported on the recent struggle against pension reform. While the manifestations of radicalization, including increasing denunciations of capitalism and the state, are an encouraging sign, the lack of autonomous organization is not. The unions did their usual sabotage but the failure of a general strike cannot be blamed simply on them. The working class is hesitant, fragmented, understandably afraid to take risks, confused by democratic mystifications and identity politics. In France as elsewhere. It was noted that strike activity has been going down generally since the late 1970’s. But there was no sense that the working class is defeated. One comrade pointed to theorists who question the revolutionary potential of the working class. But if the working class is not the revolutionary subject, which social force is?
The lack of strikes has not meant a lack of protest movements. Yet it is striking that almost none of the big protests of recent years was fought on a class basis. There was massive participation of proletarians in them but these struggles, even though they were about things that concern the working class, were not framed as class struggle. The Arab spring, the occupy movements, the climate protests, the Yellow Vests, the George Floyd and other anti-state repression movements, all suffered this weakness. The working class did not join these struggles as a class. One comrade thought the climate protest became so strong because of the absence of class struggle. Another pointed to the danger of frontism, because climate change affects everyone. Another warned against ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’. Indeed, it was felt that the shortage of a class war perspective of these movements should not lead us to turn away from them but rather to intervene in them, making clear that saving capitalism and saving the planet exclude each other. Is a green capitalism possible? If it’s profitable, yes, one comrade said. Another retorded: Green industries yes, green capitalism, no. For one thing, it cannot halt its addiction to fossil fuel.
Mcl pointed to the simultaneous rise of military spending, inflation and social austerity which makes the connection between crisis and war more visible. The link between climate calamities and capitalism will likewise become clearer. We must become clearer in articulating these connections and be honest about what we don’t know. But the need to intervene in struggles with solid critiques of democracy and identity politics (including nationalism) is as great as ever.
All participants thought it had been a useful meeting. We agreed that internationalist pro-revolutionary poltical groups and individuals need to break with sectarian and dogmatic attitudes, communicate better and support each other, both to sharpen our theoretical tools and to strenghten our voice. This meeting was a step in that direction. We agreed to keep contact and to organize a follow up meeting, to which more groups and individuals will be invited.
INTERNATIONALIST PERSPECTIVE
1The political criteria for participation were:
1. capitalism, from a working class point of view, is an obsolete system
2. all states and regimes are capitalist
3. trade unions are organs of the state
4. revolutionary parliamentism is empty
5. the rejection of any frontism with factions of the bourgoisie
6. the inter-imperialist nature of all wars and military conflicts
7. defense of self-organization of the working class
2 The book of the Old Mole Collective, Capitalism’s Endgame, is in this regard particularly instructive.
New Council Communist Website
The website of the Council Communist Collective appeared in one of my feeds the other day. Don’t know much about this group. The site is a bit threadbare at the moment, but there is an interesting interview with Paul Mattick. I’ll be adding it to the links on this blog.
Waterloo
The city of Waterloo is roughly a ninety minute drive north-west of Toronto. Due to the well-known university, Waterloo is probably best seen as a STEM centre. Last Wednesday, June 28, Waterloo became known for something else, a violent campus attack.
At around 3:30 PM , a former student and recent Waterloo graduate entered a Philosophy classroom of about 40 students. He asked the professor if this was a psychology class, but was informed it was a gender studies class. According to witnesses, the man’s body language appeared to indicate happiness that he was in the “right place.” He then produced two knives to attack the professor, chasing her through the classroom. Two students who tried to stop the attack suffered stab wounds; other students threw chairs. When the police arrived, the attacker pretended to be a victim, but was quickly identified by other students as the assailant. The professor and the two students suffered serious, but non life-threatening injuries.
The prevailing view is that while such incidents appear to be run of the mill in the US, that’s not Canada – “Oh, not a problem here. nothing to worry about.” But there is. A recent article in the Toronto Star by another Waterloo professor Jacqueline Feke noted that in her first teaching semester at Waterloo in 2015, a student wrote on a test booklet that he was going to “shoot up” the campus. When she reported her concerns, they was dismissed as “that sort of thing doesn’t happen here.”
My son, who is a student at University of Waterloo and who was on campus to write an exam, found out when someone he knew texted him to see if he was OK. Waterloo waited a full ninety minutes before actually letting its staff and students know there had been a violent attack on campus. A motive has yet to be officially determined, but Waterloo police issued a statement arguing the assailant had deliberately targeted this class and was motivated by hate.
It’s not hard to imagine which websites and podcasts the attacker followed: The Incel promoters, Peterson, Rogan, and a cavalcade of imagined victimhood advocates.The snowflakes who shout loudest about free speech, but melt like snowflakes when the term “Cis” is used. But while such views, such violent misogyny and racism, seem to have been pushed to the margins, this can no longer be said to be true ( if it ever was). Watch the virulently homophobic attack ad by DeSantis arguing Trump has been too soft on the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Much worse is to come.
Notes from Underground 
