Stephen D. Shenfield | Author and Translator
Quora: Left against Leninism
- Published on 14 July 2020
- Hits: 520
For some time I have participated in the website quora.com. Participants ask one another questions, offer answers to questions proposed by others, and comment on others' answers. Those who wish also create spaces to attract people interested in different topics.
Many left-wing spaces have appeared on Quora in recent years, reflecting an increasing interest in alternatives to capitalism. However, I was concerned to discover that among them are spaces that deny, downplay, excuse or justify the slave labor camps, blood purges, man-made famines, and other atrocities committed by the Stalin and Mao regimes.
Fully automated luxury communism
- Published on 18 April 2019
- Hits: 1213
Aaron Bastani, Fully Automated Luxury Communism (Verso, 2019)
This is a very important book. It is due out in June.
Aaron Bastani, co-founder and senior editor at the alternative media organization Novara Media, argues that current technological advances are on the way toward overcoming scarcity and making ‘luxury communism’ – a society of abundance for all – possible for the first time. What Marx foresaw as the hypothetical result of further development of the productive forces is now rapidly turning into reality. On this basic point the author is in full agreement with the World Socialist Movement, although there is scope for debate over exactly when a society of abundance became or will become possible.
Pizzagate: pedophilia in high places?
- Published on 19 October 2017
- Hits: 4391
Over the winter of 2016--2017 a spate of stories appeared in the mass media about a scandal called 'Pizzagate'. The authors of these stories warned that 'far-right crazies' were spreading 'fake news' or 'fake conspiracy theories' about sexual abuse of children by highly placed pedophiles -- in particular, by prominent figures in the Democratic Party establishment such as the Podesta brothers (John Podesta was chairman of Hilary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign; Tony is a highly influential lobbyist).
Memoirs of Han Hing Quang. A long road traveled
- Published on 11 October 2020
- Hits: 188
Memoirs of Han Hing Quang: A Long Road Traveled
Translated from Vietnamese by his daughter Ai Hoa Han
The author was a middle-ranking cadre of ethnic Chinese origin in North Vietnam, where he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Hanoi and Hong Kong and served as an interpreter in official delegations to China and North Korea. From this vantage point he observed the deterioration in Vietnam--China relations that eventually led to the border war and his departure from Vietnam and resettlement in England, where he wrote these memoirs. He also describes his family background, his youth as a trader in medicinal herbs, and his activity in the Vietminh during the war against French colonialism.
Follow the link from the title to the file containing the full text of the memoirs with explanatory notes.
Help stray dogs and cats in Turkey
- Published on 20 December 2019
- Hits: 1972
My friend Metin Sonmez is raising funds to help the stray dogs and cats in Turkey.
Stray dogs and cats are everywhere in Turkey and very few of them are lucky enough to have been taken into people's homes or given proper shelter. Most of them are living in very harsh conditions and are treated really badly.
