Stephen D. Shenfield | Author and Translator
Prisons do not make us safer
- Published on 27 November 2019
- Hits: 388
Like many other ‘law-abiding citizens,’ I used to be reluctant to advocate the full abolition of prisons, despite knowing that prisons are a very inhumane institution. The logic behind my reluctance was that prisons, inhumane as they may be, do nonetheless serve to isolate from the general public many ruthless, violent, and sadistic persons and thereby protect us ‘law-abiding citizens’ – that is, people who do not deliberately violate the law except when cheating on their taxes.[1] Prisons make us safer – or less unsafe – than we would otherwise be.
New website: clemency for Joe R. Hopkins
- Published on 23 August 2019
- Hits: 593
My friend Joe R. Hopkins has been in prison in Florida for 28 years. He is in for life. He is a socialist and a member of the World Socialist Party of the US. Several of his articles have appeared in The Libertarian Communist, which is archived on this website.
It is my conviction that Joe's sentence was disproportionate to the gravity of the crime that he committed and failed to take proper account of several mitigating circumstances. He should now be released as an act of clemency.
Memories of a childhood in mental hospital
- Published on 24 January 2019
- Hits: 1908
Even today children are locked up in mental hospitals where they are deprived of loving care and normal social interaction and subjected to cruel pseudo-treatments like psychiatric drugs and electro-convulsive therapy. The author, currently a prisoner, recalls the two years that he spent in such an institution as a young child.
Fully automated luxury communism
- Published on 18 April 2019
- Hits: 707
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: 3322
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).
