Wolff: On Bernie Sanders, Socialism and How Slavery Led To Modern Capitalism

Richard Wolff: On Bernie Sanders and Socialism | #GRITtv

• Published on Jul 14, 2015

This week: On Sanders and Socialism. Is socialism still an American taboo? Not so much, says professor Richard Wolff; nor was it in the past, says Nation columnist John Nichols. Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, and a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University in New York City. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including his most recent; Capitalism’s Crisis Deepens: Essays on the Global Economic Meltdown 2010- 2014, and he hosts the weekly Economic Update podcast. John Nichols’ many books include The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition…Socialism, and, most recently, Dollarocracy: How the Money-and-Media-Election Complex is Destroying America. This episode also features an commentary from Laura on renaming capitalism.

so·cial·ism
ˈsōSHəˌlizəm/
noun
noun: socialism

a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
synonyms:	leftism, welfarism; More
radicalism, progressivism, social democracy;
communism, Marxism, labor movement
"my appreciation for certain aspects of socialism does not mean I'm a socialist"
    policy or practice based on the political and economic theory of socialism.
    synonyms:	leftism, welfarism; More
    radicalism, progressivism, social democracy;
    communism, Marxism, labor movement
    "my appreciation for certain aspects of socialism does not mean I'm a socialist"
    (in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.

cap·i·tal·ism
ˈkapədlˌizəm/
noun
noun: capitalism

an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.
synonyms:	free enterprise, private enterprise, the free market; enterprise culture
"the capitalism of emerging nations"

How Slavery Led To Modern Capitalism

Bloomberg View | By Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman
Posted: 02/24/2014 10:38 am EST

Bloomberg View: When the New York City banker James Brown tallied his wealth in 1842, he had to look far below Wall Street to trace its origins. His investments in the American South exceeded $1.5 million, a quarter of which was directly bound up in the ownership of slave plantations.

Brown was among the world’s most powerful dealers in raw cotton, and his family’s firm, Brown Brothers & Co., served as one of the most important sources of capital and foreign exchange to the U.S. economy. Still, no small amount of his time was devoted to managing slaves from the study of his Leonard Street brownstone in Lower Manhattan.

Read full story at Huff Post source:

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May 25, 2016

The Socialist Revolution Beyond Sanders and the Democratic Party

by Dan Arel

Like the movements before, Sanders movement will live well beyond his campaign and should live well beyond what is likely his coming betrayal of the movement when he endorses Hillary Clinton and remains a member of the counter-revolutionary Democratic Party.

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