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The Politics of James Connolly

Kieran Allen

The Politics of James Connolly

Pluto Press, London, 2016. 206pp., £14.99 pb

ISBN 9780745304731

Reviewed by Derek Wall

Review

James Connolly, who was born in Edinburgh in 1868 and died at the hands of a British army firing squad in 1916, is unrivalled as a revolutionary figure in both Ireland and Scotland. He is an iconic figure, like Che. A working-class Marxist who led an uprising that, while defeated, lit the flames of the Irish War of Independence. Kieran Allen, a committed Irish Marxist and a Sociologist based at University College, Dublin, has provided a concise, clear and readable account of Connolly’s politics.

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was led by James Connolly, whose small Irish Citizens Army, a well drilled Marxist militia, joined with members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The plan was to seize Dublin, which would act as signal for the Irish population to rise and expel the British forces out of Ireland. Connolly, it is said, assumed that the British forces would be reluctant to bombard the centre of Dublin because of the damage this would cause to the property of the rich and powerful. The uprising was soon defeated; it failed to inspire support from the Irish population, the British Army rushed in troops and the Navy commenced with a brutal bombardment. After six days Connolly and other leaders of the uprising surrendered. There followed the execution of key leaders, including Connolly, who was so badly injured he had to be tied to a chair to face the firing squad. Revulsion at these executions led to resentment and the successful War of Irish Independence from 1919 to 1921 is widely seen as a result.

The Easter Uprising proclaimed the creation of an Irish Republic. Connolly was an advocate of a socialist republic, and the legacy of his mixture of Marxism, critical Celtic enthusiasm and republicanism have endured to this day. Indeed, while he was alive the socialist organisations he was associated with were tiny, and Irish republicanism was largely hostile to the left. He can be said to have produce a specifically Irish socialist republican tradition. The entire Irish left reference his name and ideals, typically Sinn Fein, the political party associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army, now the third largest party in the Irish Republic and the second largest in the North, give him prominent place.

Connolly, with his short moustache is a literal icon, to be seen on flags, stickers, posters and the like. I have, for example, a Connolly key ring. His legacy is more than as a symbol of Irish independence. He became a socialist as a young man in Scotland and threw himself into political organising. He was involved with a string of early socialist organisations and spent time in the USA as a professional organiser for de Leon’s Socialist Labour Party. His family were of Irish descent and on moving from the USA to Ireland he became a trade union organiser as well as founding several Irish socialist political parties. He helped write for, and edited, a number of socialist newspapers. His literary output was considerable and included the monumental Labour in Irish History. Not only was he a working class leader but he was of working class origin; his father was a night soil man who literally collected the shit in the slums of Edinburgh. Connolly’s formal education was modest in the extreme but his intellectual achievements vast.

Kieran Allen provides the biographical detail for Connolly and places his work and thought within the context of Irish independence struggles and developing Marxist thought at the time of the First World War. I have a few criticisms of the book, but Kieran does a service to those who wish to learn more about Connolly. With the current rise in interest and activism on the left in both Ireland and beyond, it is very good to see this book back in print, Connolly, I would argue, remains relevant today….

Continued:- https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/reviews/2017/2864

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Submission by actuallyexistingbarbarism:

Hello guys, Plan C have translated a short comic book about a trip to Suruc during the battle for Kobane in 2014. All the money raised is going to projects in Rojava and solidarity work in the UK. Is there any chance you could share this information and link on your page? We are selling them but any help is appreciated! Thank you! https://pmpress.org.uk/product/kobane-calling/

Note: Sorry it took so long to post this, the link didn’t work for me so I was reluctant to post, but I just tried it again and it worked so here it is! -Anarch E

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Hello,

Amazed to return and see 1100 followers. Welcome! What are you reading? What do you want to read?

I’m still here and kicking, currently reading the following:

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo Collected Works of Oscar Wilde (will post in segments)

I hope everyone is having a good summer/winter and enjoyed whatever holidays they celebrated, if any. Happy New Year as well!

-Anarch E

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Gramsci lives, and two books show how

Reviewed by Barry Healy

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Routledge Guidebook to Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks By JJ Schwarzmantel Routledge, 2015 306 pp., $22.95

The Gramscian Moment, Philosophy, Hegemony & Marxism By Peter D. Thomas Brill, 2009 453 pp., $233.55

Antonio Gramsci, one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), suffered and died in Mussolini’s prison system. In jail, he wrote his famous Prison Notebooks — more than 3000 pages long — in which he theorised a unique revolutionary Marxist alternative to Stalinism.

The Notebooks became revered within the PCI after their post-WWII publication. However, problems arose from the start as PCI editors rearranged and edited them according to the PCI’s reformist orthodoxies.

Gramsci’s thinking covered many areas. Possibly best known is his theory on cultural hegemony as the main means the capitalist class uses for holding power, and the associated division of civil and political society.

From the 1970s, many earnest Marxists devoted themselves to anti-hegemonic cultural pursuits in Gramsci’s name, eschewing party building. Many efforts withered on the vine or were co-opted by bourgeois forces.

The value of these two books, published this century, is in recovering a more balanced reading of Gramsci. In his Routledge Guidebook, JJ Schwarzmantel shows Gramsci was “situated in the milieu of the Italian and international communist movement, and grappling with problems of how to organize the working class movement in a period of capitalist reaction”.

Gramsci was critical of economic determinism — the idea that socialism would fall like ripe fruit as capitalism decayed. He famously called interventions to advance working people’s politics the philosophy of praxis. For him, this was the very definition of Marxism.

He also believed that from the everyday experience of capitalism, “organic intellectuals” would emerge from among the oppressed and that the socialist parties must seek to nurture this.

The task of these “organic intellectuals” would be to struggle over what people regarded as the “common sense” of the times. For example, part of our era’s “common sense” is that government services should be cut and that sensible people must look after their personal interests first.

The capitalist class uses a series of groupings in civil society to bolster such views, such as the mainstream media, political parties and even sections of the trade union movement. Using language that became commonplace after World War I, Gramsci refers to those forces as…. Read on:- https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/gramsci-lives-and-two-books-show-how

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Found from various places online:

The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Angela Y. Davis - Are Prisons Obsolete?

Angela Y. Davis - Race, Women, and Class

The Communist Manifesto - Marx and Engels

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf

Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic

The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America- Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki

Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism - bell hooks

Feminism is for Everybody - bell hooks

outlaw culture - bell hooks

Faces at the Bottom of the Well - Derrick Bell

Sex, Power, and Consent - Anastasia Powell

I am Your Sister - Audre Lorde

Patricia Hill Collins - Black Feminist Thought

Gender Trouble - Judith Butler

Four books by Frantz Fanon

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Medical Apartheid - Harriet Washington

Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory  - edited by Michael Warner

Colonialism/Postcolonialism - Ania Loomba

Discipline and Punish - Michel Foucault

The Gloria Anzaldua Reader

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher

This Bridge Called by Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa

What is Cultural Studies? - John Storey 

Cultural Theory and Popular Culture - John Storey 

The Disability Studies Reader 

Michel Foucault - Interviews and Other Writings 

Michel Foucault - The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 

Michel Foucault - The Archeology of Knowledge 

This blog also has a lot more. 

(Sorry they aren’t organized very well.)

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Darknet: Chapter 10

View entire book review.

“It needs to be said: The time is nigh for the NSA to dissolve. If not dissolved, then at least broken up as Nazi Germany was after WWII. Yeah I hear your eyes rolling. Comparing the Nazis again? Please. But mission creep, the expansion of a project beyond it’s original goals (often after initial successes) has reared its ugly head once again as the NSA, once known as “No Such Agency”, has far surpassed its original purpose: to secure American communications while gathering intel on our enemies. Unfortunately, it seems we have become the enemy. We, the path of least resistance, so to speak.” -Lance Henderson

How to defeat the NSA: A Guide to Staying Anonymous

- Use Tor. It is expensive to track Tor users. However, don’t use Tor to access your regular email, bank account, etc. - Invest in an offline netbook/laptop for mission critical data. Bring only encrypted data from your online computer and only decrypt messages offline. (Learn more about SSL/IPsec). - Use open-source encryption as this can be verified and audited by others.

Chapter 11:

More suggested reading: (I think these are all by the author himself.)

- Tor and the Dark Art of Anonymity - Burners and Black Markets - Escape the West! The Ultimate Invisibility Toolkit for World Travelers - Usenet and the Future of Anonymity

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Darknet: Chapter 9

View entire book review.

Key Terms:

- Metadata = data that provides information about other data

Tails:

-Tails functions as an operating system, built on the shell of the Linux operating system. - To use Tails you simply install it on a USB and then boot it from there. - Tails is built for internet security and is one of the most anonymous ways to use the internet. It comes with the Tor browser and it’s own chat client, email, office suite, sound/image editor and more. - Tails has no direct data writing, and no traces of data are left on the DVD or USB being used to run it. - You can boot Tails on a computer, do whatever you like, then close it down and reboot the computer as you would normally. There will be no record or footprint of your actions. - The creators of Tails remain anonymous. - Because things like resolution, window metrics, add-ons, extensions, time-zones and fonts can all be used to profile you, Tails aims to make all users look the same in these respects.

Tails and metadata: - The Achilles heel of Tails is metadata, which Tails does not aim to hide. Metadata can include the names and creation dates of files, as well as EXIF data- data about when and where a picture was taken. This can reveal information about things the computer has been used for and files you’ve had on it. The solution to this problem is using a metadata anonymizing application.

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Darknet: Chapter 8

View entire book review.

Facebook:

- It is virtually impossible to use Facebook as social media anonymously, however you can gain a certain amount of privacy. - Facebook is “Mandated by the government to abide by the subpoenas for user information data except any private messages that are unopened and are less than 181 days of age (these require a warrant).” - Lance Henderson Enhancing privacy on Facebook: - Use a VPN to access it - Disable cookies, enable them only for Facebook. Clean them after each session. - Use false information to create your profile, do not allow people to tag you or use your real name. - Create the account on your VPN browser, do not mix it with your regular browser. - Beware of your actions and identities on other sites and social media that could connect to your Facebook. - It is not possible to make an existing profile more private/anonymous.

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Darknet: Chapter 7

View entire book review.

Key Terms:

- I2P = Invisible Internet Project

I2P:

- Like Tor and VPNs, I2P conceals your IP address by routing traffic through neighboring peers. It also wraps several layers of encryption around traveling data. - Eepsites are sites only accesible through I2p, like .onion sites in Tor. - The author reccomends using I2P for accessing Eepsites, however I2P has less outproxies than Tor has exit nodes, which may make it easier to identify you. - I2P can be used for torrenting. - As with Tor, disable JavaScript when using I2P.

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Darknet: Chapter 6

View entire book review.

Note:

Despite the book’s copyright being from 2017, it does not mention the fact that TrueCrypt was shut down in May of 2014. However, Version 7.1a is still available for download and is still considered secure by many users. (Version 7.2a is for migrating TrueCrypt data to another solution only).

Key Terms:

- Encryption = the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge, key files, and/or passwords - FireWire = a standard of communication between electronic devices similar to USB (a FireWire port is similar to a USB port) - OS = operating system (e.g. OS X, Linux, Windows...) - Keystroke logging (keylogging) = the action of recording the keys struck on a keyboard, typically covertly, so that the person using the keyboard is unaware that their actions are being monitored

TrueCrypt:

- Truecrypt deals with securing your information and offline security. - It’s a free, open-source application that can provide encrypted containers or full-disk encryption. When you encrypt a drive, you select a passphrase and create an encrypted key. - In the event that someone has your computer, they will not be able to access your hard-drive without this password. If the password is entered incorrectly, the drive will halt. - You also have the ability to create two passwords: one will open up a decoy system while the other opens the hidden container or operating system. - While you can pay for other similar encryption applications, TrueCrypt is open-source and thus can be audited and reviewed by others.

Tips for using TrueCrypt:

- Disable your FireWire port if you have one. - Do not leave containers mounted when crossing a physical border station. - Do not leave your computer running unattended. Anyone with physical access to it can install a keylogger to track and record you with. - Disable thumbnails, or be sure you know where they are stored in your operating system. Thumbnails are not automatically deleted when files they represent are deleted. - Do not think a file is gone because it was deleted via the “recycle bin”. Deleting a file through the recycle bin only tells your OS that the space the file previously occupied can now be overwritten. There are a number of programs you can sue to truly delete a file before it gets overwritten.

Swap file: - Swap file is something most operating systems use. - During heavy usage, you will run low on system memory. Your OS will use your hard drive as a temporary ram device which then leaves visible data. - You can disable and enable swap file in your OS preferences.

<- Previous Chapter

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Darknet: Chapter 5

View entire book review.

Key Terms:

- Node references (noderefs) = small blocks of text used to exchange node information and allow direct communication between two nodes

Freenet:

- Unlike Tor and VPNs, Freenet does not hide your IP address. Instead, it hides the contents of what you upload and download. - It does this by encrypting your data. People can see you, but they can’t see what you’re doing. - Freenet is 100% free of censorship. Nothing can be deleted beyond a local level (from your own view), and you can view sites that may be censored or not indexed elsewhere. - To use Freenet, you download and install it. You can operate it on different levels of security which will affect the speed at which it runs. - Freenet has two modes. OpenNet is the one created for general use. Other users are referred to as “strangers” and cannot see your node references. - If you exchange node references with someone (best done offline, or through encryption), you can access the DarkNet mode and exchange information directly. Because your noderef corresponds to your identity, you should only exchange it with people you trust. Advice on using Freenet: - Remember that your node reference can be exploited to find your IP address. - Don’t use a unique nickname or use the same nickname consistently. - Take note of regional spelling differences that could reveal your location (e.g. color vs. colour). - Don’t give out any personally identifiable information.

Frost:

- Frost is a separate application that can be used with Freenet. - Frost makes browsing Freenet more similar to a regular browser experience.

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Darknet: Chapter 3

View entire book review.

Key Terms:

Onion sites = sites that can only be accessed through the Tor network VPN = Virtual private network

Tor and Torrents:

- Tor is not designed to handle the bandwidth of torrent downloads. Using it for this purpose is slow and also slows the network down for other users. - Tor sends data anonymously, but many torrent applications will send your IP address in the data itself.

VPNs:

- VPNs work similarly to Tor, they send your data through another location, thus the IP address visible to your destination is different than your own. - VPNs generally cost around $10/ month. You make an account with the provider just as you would with an ISP. - While the websites you visit cannot see your IP address like in Tor, your VPN provider can. - Look for a VPN provider that does not log your activity, and is based in a country where it does not legally have to give information to law enforcement. - VPNs are faster and more stable than Tor, thus they can handle torrenting.

<- Previous Chapter

 Next Chapter ->

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Darknet: Chapter 2

View entire book review.

Key Terms:

ISP = Internet Service Provider (ex. Comcast, VodaPhone, O2...) P2P network = peer-to-peer network

Basic principles of anonymity:

- Your IP address is much like a phone number for your computer, it shows your location and is linked to your online identity. - An IP address is assigned to you by your ISP. - The first principle of anonymity online is to use a middle-man. This way your online activity is not connected to your own IP address, but rather an IP address somewhere else in the world. - This is done by sending the data you that connects you to a website through multiple locations instead of directly from you to the website. 

Tor:

- Tor is a free, open-source, non-profit program, it stands for “The Onion Router”. - Tor sends your data through "onion layers” which masks your IP address and makes it hard to tell who sent what and from where. - When using Tor, websites cannot see where you live, who your ISP is or your browsing habits. - Tor is good for accessing the web anonymously, it’s not good for torrenting because while Tor keeps your IP address anonymous, activity from your P2P network is still visible to your ISP. It also is not designed for torrenting and is very slow at it. Tips on using Tor: - Don’t access personally identifying info (use a credit card, access a bank account, use personalized social media) - Don’t mix browsers. Use one browser for Tor activities, and one for your regular identity. - Do not leave JavaScript enabled, use of flash plugins can lead to your IP address. (Note: After disabling JavaScript, I was unable to login to Tumblr, the login box is simply missing.) - Avoid too many browser plugins that will make you stand out from other users. - Always update your browser manually, not automatically.

Next Chapter ->

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Darknet: A Beginner’s Guide to Staying Anonymous Online by Lance Henderson

(2017)

Book Info

"It is not a particularly advanced book, but rather a portal from which a beginner can step through with the assurance of anonymity when he is online. To that end I present a few tools (mostly free) at your disposal to accomplish this lofty goal. If you’re an advanced user, you just might learn some hidden vulnerabilities in your favorite anonymity program.” - from Introduction.

Topics of discussion include: anonymity online, computer science, Tor, VPNs, Freenet, Truecrypt, Frost, I2P, Facebook, Tails, NSA and government surveillence

Organization and length: The book has an introduction, 10 chapters, and more suggested reading. Each chapter deals with a different technique/technology and generally has a summary of tips at the end. I read the book in digital format, it book was relatively easy to read and take notes from.

For the lazy reader

As a beginner I found it useful to read the book from start to finish. If you are interested in a particular topic, you can easily skip to the chapter that discusses it.

1. Privacy and Anonymity An introduction of the author and topics at hand. 2. The Anonymous Tor Network What Tor is and how to use it safely. 3. Tor and Torrents Why Tor and torrenting don’t mix, what Tor onion sites are and using VPNs. 4. Tor Relays The pros, cons and some legalities of running a Tor exit node. 5. Freenet What Freenet is and how to use it. 6. Truecrypt Offline security and encryption. 7. I2P What the Invisible Internet Project is and how to use it. 8. Facebook and other Social Media Misfits How social media collects your information and how to reduce it. 9. Tails What Tails is and how to use it. 10. How to Defeat the NSA: a Guide to Staying Anonymous Why/how the NSA might track you and how to stop them. 11. Endgame Last words and recommended reading

My 2c

Although I don’t know that I would get along with the author of this book (he seems to be a constitutionalist and refers to the audience solely with male pronouns), he is undeniably knowledgeable about the subject at hand. As someone who has been mildly interested in computers before, I was able to follow most of the explanations in the book, however I would not call this a book for complete computer beginners. I think that the average person who uses their computer for basic things like emails and social media would feel lost. That said, the book is well organized and it was easy to take notes from with a lot of very helpful tips. It is a very digestible introduction to the topic of internet security, something I think is vital, especially for leftists all over the world and especially at this time.

View chapter summaries and notes from this book.

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antifa just means antifascists, there’s no organisation, theres no leader, theres no funding, its just various different people committed to preventing fascism in our own ways

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So do leftists generally approve or disapprove of Jacobin? What do you think about it?

A lot of really dogmatic leftists hate it because its authors often water-down anti-capitalist positions, to the point of appearing social democratic at times. Their criticisms are valid and I understand why there’s room for improvement with Jacobin. But I think it’s great for new leftists and receptive liberals – we absolutely need to make our language more accessible and digestible, and as far as I’ve seen Jacobin does a great job of that. Their published books are concise and engaging, particularly Four Futures by Peter Frase and New Prophets of Capital by Nicole Aschoff – the former discusses four possible turning points for society, two of them good and two of them bad; the latter dispels a lot of the really pervasive myths liberals have about capitalism and individualism by using Sheryl Sandberg, John Mackey, Oprah, and Bill Gates as personified examples. I highly recommend checking those out, especially if you’re a baby leftie or a curious liberal. 

A couple of good Jacobin articles:

“Capitalism is Violence” by Matt Bruenig 

“Is Socialism Undemocratic?” by Joseph M Schwartz