"Race reductionism" threatens to doom the left
[This article was published at Sublation magazine.] The reparations debate is getting old. But it shows little sign of abating. Academic...
Wright's Writing
Search
- Jul 30
- 7 min
Classical music vs. mediocrity
On one side is the mediocrity of all functionaries. All bureaucrats. There’s no point in my writing about bureaucrats in the ordinary...
- Jun 4
- 12 min
America's use of the atomic bomb on Japan
A long time ago I posted some thoughts on America's use of the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. I happen to be reading parts of...
- Apr 8
- 9 min
On stupidity and the excesses of wokeness
One of the first laws of human existence, or at least of existence in class societies (determined by anti-human institutions that mold...
- Aug 22, 2021
- 16 min
Eleven Theses on Socialist Revolution
The good folks at DSA (of which I'm a proud member) were kind enough to publish the following article recently in their online...
- Jun 6, 2021
- 20 min
Reflecting on life at 40
…They accuse me -- Me -- the present writer of The present poem -- of -- I know not what -- A tendency to under-rate and scoff At human...
- Apr 19, 2021
- 14 min
Review of "The Young Lords," by Johanna Fernández
[This academic review was posted at H-Net.] Johanna Fernández’s The Young Lords: A Radical History could hardly have been published at a...
- Mar 4, 2021
- 9 min
Personal reflections on anarchism
Anarchism (anti-authoritarianism, love of freedom) is an essential thing, an essential guide for our thinking and action, but I have to...
- Sep 24, 2020
- 4 min
A despairing rant
These are interesting times. We have the "privilege" to be living in the era when centuries of capitalist evolution are approaching their...
- Sep 13, 2020
- 6 min
On how to live
When I was younger, I used to wonder: should I care what people think of me? I saw arguments on both sides of the question. And I still...
- Sep 8, 2020
- 21 min
"Revolution in the Twenty-First Century: A Reconsideration of Marxism"
[An article from several months ago.] In the age of COVID-19, it’s even more obvious than it’s been for at least a couple of decades that...
- Sep 7, 2020
- 7 min
Old notes on "the foundations of Christianity"
Karl Kautsky’s book Foundations of Christianity: A Study in Christian Origins (1908) is quite good. Despite his flaws and mistakes (both...
- Sep 4, 2020
- 2 min
I was feeling rather metaphysical last night
David Graeber died. At 59. Tomorrow, you or I might die. At any moment. Meanwhile, we pretend life has meaning. Eventually, we will die....
- Sep 2, 2020
- 26 min
Travelogue from "down under"
Some bloggers like to post accounts of their world travels. So—why not?—I'll do the same. Here are some journal entries from almost...
- Aug 24, 2020
- 25 min
Why I am not a Leninist (nor an anarchist)
Years later, I still reproach myself for self-publishing my book on cooperatives, because that ensured it would have a limited...
- Aug 7, 2020
- 10 min
Detritus from a dead poetic imagination
Life in the 21st century as we all wait consciously or unconsciously for the apocalypse is boring and driven by distractions, an endless...
- Jun 16, 2020
- 2 min
Primary sources on Communists and the unemployed during the Great Depression
While writing my PhD dissertation a few years ago ("Down But Not Out: The Unemployed in Chicago during the Great Depression"), I...
- Jun 12, 2020
- 4 min
Student notes on "Poor People's Movements"
[Maybe it's self-indulgent of me to keep posting old notes from my student years, but just in case anyone out there gives a shit, I guess...
- Jun 6, 2020
- 16 min
Rambling reflections on Camille Paglia
I've been reading Camille Paglia's collection of essays Sex, Art, and American Culture (1992). I disagree with a lot of Paglia's...
- Jul 16, 2019
- 7 min
Thoughts from the dark
Lugubrious. That's the word for how I'm feeling tonight. That and self-indulgent. So I thought I'd write a blog post. These midnight...