In a video shot at #Occupy Chicago, Aisha Karim, a professor from Saint Xavier University, is shown preaching the gospel of Karl Marx to a cheering crowd in a display of stunning economic and historical ignorance – but was her speech part of a wider effort to unionize St. Xavier?

The video titled Communist Manifesto Teach-In @ Occupy Chi showing a speech by Professor Aisha Karim has flown under the radar for a couple of months – it had fewer than 400 views when I found it – but it’s another clear example of the explicitly Marxist strain in the #Occupy movement, how it relates directly to unionization, and how just plain silly its ivory tower thinking actually is.

Professor Karim is molding the minds of American’s young adults through her work as a teacher at places like the University of North Carolina, Greensboro where parents have spent their hard earned money so their kids can sit through classes like English 209: The Terrible Logic of Capitalism: A Survey of Postcolonial Literature.

Currently, Professor Karim teaches at Saint Xavier University, Chicago’s oldest college. In this video of her teach-in, she begins by asking the Occupy Chicago crowd whether it’s time to reconsider whether Marx, socialism and communism aren’t actually pretty awesome after all (1:33 to 2:00):

And what we want to do at point is to wonder (unintelligible) if we are still skeptics about socialism or communism, we need to wonder if Marx was also right about socialism and the necessity for capitalism to turn into something completely different.

(Whoops and applause from audience)

Professor Karim then goes on to discuss Marx’s central concept of the exploitation of labor, and she makes an revealing choice for her example of an exploited worker: Professor Karim herself (2:30):

I’m going to take my example of what I do and how my labor is actually taken away from me–the fruits of my labor is taken away from me–but it is not just me. This is representative of every single person in this world who works for wages in this world right now.

(Audience member – “That’s right.”)

Professor Karim goes on to disclose her shocking plight:

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“Workers of the World Unite”

Karl Marx, the infamous German political philosopher had a vision.  Marx, together with Joseph Engels, predicted and even called for the dismantling of capitalist economic systems worldwide into a socialist and ultimately classless communist world.  24thState will be asking the question of the late Mr. Marx, “How is that working out for you?”

In a series of columns, we will expose the 5th column in the United States.  We will name names and expose the ties from David Axelrod, who just visited St. Louis referring to some GOP presidential contenders as “nutty folks,” to active Marxists and communist party loyalists in Congress and even the Missouri General Assembly.  We will expose their plans and how even their favorite Republican member of Congress (yes, they have one) works to fulfill them.

If we contemplate for a second, whether it is realistic to assume that the Marxists quit being Marxists, in Russia, China and even the U.S., can we assume that the workers of the world decided to not unite?  Did they pack up their tents and go home?  Are Russian and Chinese leaders relinquishing power and creating new constitutional republics?  Did the Communist Party USA shut their doors or just change their tactics? The answers to these questions are unquestionably obvious but uncomfortable to contemplate.

First published in 1848, the Manifesto had ten very specific goals (briefly examine their progress in the U.S. here).  The most alarming tenet however, may be the assertion that communism will never really work until the entire world is communist.  In other words, the true believers have a duty to spread it.  What then is the duty of those opposed to it?  What is IT?

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Social liberals are extremely frustrated that the “worker’s paradise” that seemed so near three years ago, is fast slipping away due to voter rejection. With the huge borrowing and spending stimulus failing to revitalize the economy, social liberals took to the streets in Occupy Wall Street movements around the country. But the movement is rapidly being taken over by vicious Marxist elements bent on over-throwing capitalism with violent revolution, called “Black Bloc”.

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama campaigned in Germany and France to trumpet that America would soon bond with Europe and “Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth.” These are code words for America is embracing Europe’s collectivist march. Over the next two years, the President and his veto proof Congress legislated for the collectivization of healthcare, socialization of financial services, bail-out the unionized auto industry, and unbounded arrays of new regulatory constraints to fundamentally transform the U.S. economy. In solidarity: the United Nations designated October, 31, 2011 as the beginning of the International Year of the Cooperative to celebrate “the beginnings of a genuine discussion and debate about different economic models —models that value fairness at their core”.

The breadth of socialist ambition and the failure of massive borrow and spend initiatives to deliver economic recovery led to spontaneous rise of the Tea Part movement in America and an epic rejection of social liberal policies at the polls in 2010. Following that electoral shellacking, a broad spectrum of pundits urged President Obama in the words of Politico to: “move to the center to find common ground with the GOP and adopt the “triangulation” strategy employed by Bill Clinton” after his 1994 midterm losses.”

Social liberals have howled this year at what they see as the President lurch to the political center as selling out their core values. Bent on creating their own spontaneous movement; social liberals quickly latched onto the Occupy Wall Street movement. Over $500,000 in donations poured in as labor unions and elected officials embraced the movement. Marches and occupations sprung up nationwide to serve as a national microphone for the cause.

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If there’s one thing about the Marxists controlling today’s unions, it is that they are predictable. If you watch them long enough, the pattern is always the same: Demand the extreme with something attainable in mind as the fallback position.

In labor relations, the making of outrageous demands is a classic negotiating tactic at the bargaining table because union negotiators know company negotiators will only agree to what they are willing to based on business economics. In politics, however, the union tactic is an absolute winner because their prey (politicians, many of whom are bought by unions anyway) always fall for it and, besides, it’s only the taxpayers who are stuck with the tab. One thing though, whether at the bargaining table or in politics, unions always reveal their hidden agenda—eventually.

In the case of the #OccupyWallStreet, union bosses were eager to capitalize on a slick ad campaign and some miscreant professional protesters to create a “movement” to aid their own sagging fortunes. Despite the multiple rapes, the assaults and drug dealing, open sex, public masturbation,  anti-American rants, and violence, from the beginning, unions were eager to jump on board with the Neo-Communist squatters, their anti-Semites and their useful idiots in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. Since then, unions have paid for protesters, water, food, legal fees, advertising and, in West Virginia, the AFL-CIO has even offered its property to use as a new “occupy” site.

Despite their more ambitious young allies who have called for the seizing private property and the “de-privatization of everything,” however, unions have known that their movement wouldn’t lead to a fully Marxist nation (yet) and, as a result, have had a more attainable goal in mind from the beginning. In addition, with winter approaching, union bosses know they need to being this movement to a close sometime soon and, up until now, they haven’t formally issued their real demands. (more…)

Former Weather Underground terrorist leader, and long time colleague of president Barack Obama, Bill Ayers  is actively supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement, in his home town of Chicago – while his education activist brother Rick Ayers wants to see the movement extended to the nation’s schools.

In an October 16 interview with Chicago Sun-Times journalist Laura Washington, Bill Ayers described the” Occupy” movement as a “North American Spring,” akin to the “Arab Spring” still playing out in North Africa and the Middle East.

Said Ayers:

“These kinds of movements expand our consciousness of what’s possible…Every revolution seems impossible at the beginning, and after it happens, it was inevitable.”

Ayers’ support took a more practical form October 19, when the retired UIC professor led a “teach-in” with Occupy Chicago protesters on “ non-violent direct action” at the group’s  HQ (in front of the Federal Reseve Bank at Jackson and LaSalle).

Ayers  detailed the tactics and history of the Civil Rights movement, drawing analogies to the group before him. “You created power where there was none,” the famed agitator said.

Ayers spoke naturally to the crowd of 40, who sat in rapture, registering their approval by lifting silent fingers.

“It’s critical that you maintain your independence,” Ayers told the crowd – warning them not to be  co-opted by labor unions or the Democrats. History, Ayers told the assembled activists, shows his preferred approach to political power. “Martin Luther King didn’t go begging for a meeting with Lyndon Johnson,” Ayers said. “Lyndon Johnson begged for a meeting with Martin Luther King.”

The protesters seem to have already followed Ayers’ advice. The group turned down Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposition for a meeting, demanding the misdemeanor charges from last Saturday’s arrest of more than 170 activists be dropped first.

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The Occupy Wall Street mobs are getting plenty of attention from the media. The microphones are on.  The cameras are rolling.  The reporters are standing by, eager to get the mob’s message out.

But as is being chronicled all over the country, the radicals are the ones grabbing the limelight.

KTLA 5 recently did a news story about how #OccupyLA has now spread to the school district. Leftists have now claimed residency at #OccupyLAUSD.  Progressive activists have ruled those schools for years, but at least now they are being open about it.

The KTLA 5 story included comments from two far left LAUSD teachers: Sarah Knopp and Ron Gochez. Both are well known radicals.

In an EAGtv video from earlier this year, Knopp, along with a representative of the International Socialist Organization, discussed ways in which she pushes Marxism in the classroom.

Ron Gochez, a self-described Marxist, ranted in a different video about “global struggle against imperialism and capitalism.” He described Los Angeles as “stolen, occupied Mexico.”

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I had lost touch with my friend and businessman Domingo Bernardo many years ago, and he finally turned up on Facebook.  Domingo’s story is an incredible one:

My father “earned” his way out of Cuba by working essentially as a slave on the sugar cane fields for 2 years, where more than 25% of the people died within a year from malaria, as a punishment for asking for an exit visa.  We went back to Spain with the clothes on our backs (I was a toddler).  When Franco died, many Spaniards (my whole family is from Spain, my parents were in Cuba for only a few years), figured Socialism would come in, so many (like us) left, running from socialism to a country where we knew no one, had no jobs, and didn’t understand the culture or the language.  Socialism always does that — creates an incentive for the bright, the educated, the entrepreneurs and the wealthy to leave, leaving the country with what?  So we came to the U.S.

I learned English at 14, worked hard to get out of the ghetto, got into Cornell with a special language waiver, managed to get a Cornell engineering degree, then joined the Navy. Part of the reason I served was that I felt like I owed the country something for taking us in. I got hurt in Bosnia,came home, worked hard to establish a business, and now I’ve left my country, because I can’t take the Socialist slant anymore, and I am so tired of the regulations that make it almost impossible to do business in the U.S.  When I closed my home theatre installation business, I was not an engineer; I was a paper-filler-outer.  I have ZERO incentive to start my business in the USA between the taxes and the regulations.  The last straw was this summer; there are now over 6,000 lamps I can no longer use in jobs.  If I do, there is a fine of $5000 PER LAMP all for some hoax called Global Warming.  By the way, the new “better” lamps are from 4x to 10x costlier, and the “environment-killing” lamps are being used in every other non-EU country.

You need to understand Domingo as I did.  We were on the same dorm floor freshman year.  All he did was study.  He busted his ass, and every other day he talked about how grateful he was to the U.S.  He always intended to join the Navy, despite us (at the time, foolish liberals) trying to talk him out of it.  For this man to do all he has done, then leave of his own free will?  Wow. (more…)

It was supposed to be this:

On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up beds, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months.

Instead, as they say about the best laid plans, it was something entirely different. It was, frankly, a stroll through a park—Zuccotti Park, in lower Manhattan, to be exact.

A Non-Union Non-Event

Over the summer, on the heels of Arab Spring, an anti-capitalist group called adbusters established a campaign to occupy Wall Street, beginning on September 17th. Whether coincidental or not, September 17th also happened to be Constitution Day. While there had been some unfounded unfounded speculation a few weeks ago that the SEIU’s Stephen Lerner and ACORN founder Wade Rathke were behind the OccupyWallSt movement, there were never any signs that the Marxist-Anarchist protesters had any formal union backing—nor has there been anything posted on union websites about the occupation of Wall St.

This morning, protestors did, however, call for “revolution”
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An article in The Tucson Weekly reported that the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, among other conservative foundations, have made significant donations to the University of Arizona’s FreedomCenter.  Most people would commend the Koch Foundation for their generous financial commitment to higher education.  However, there are a few left-leaning ideologues who have chosen to attack the donations on the basis of partisan distrust and personal politics, rather than placing the interests of students first.

David Gibbs, a professor of history and government in University of Arizona’s Political Science Department, is just such a person.  He makes the outlandish claim in the article that these donations are an “attempt to place the seal of academic legitimacy on their extremist libertarian views” and falsely accuses the Koch brothers of trying to influence academic opinion.

Gibbs makes these claims, despite a statement by the University of Arizona’s Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences, John Paul Jones III, who said that “there has been no donor influence over the hires we’ve made at the Freedom Center.”  As the Dean of the School, Jones’ statement offers credence in putting to rest any fears that the Koch Foundation might somehow be infringing on the University’s academic independence.

This is not the first time that Gibbs has made radical statements.  In the past, he has written about a vast conspiracy by the CIA to influence academia.  He went as far as to claim that there exists “books in the library that were secretly edited by the CIA with no indication that this has been done.”  If there was no indication that the CIA edited these books, how can Mr. Gibbs factually claim to know that the CIA did indeed “secretly” edit books?

Unsurprisingly, Gibbs says that people within the political science department were unhappy with his statements regarding the connection that he was trying to establish between the CIA and academia.  After all, the comments did resemble those of a paranoid conspiracy theorist.  As a result, Gibbs left the political science department and transferred to the history department, where he had more liberty to tell his “unique” version of the past.

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Lost in the blow-up between Representatives West and Wasserman Schultz is that only two days earlier, Allen West said something much more significant and more massively belligerent — about Barack Obama — something the left would prefer drowned out.

Must we “know the enemy” or is it enough for those elites in the know to go through their motions and machinations, while mushroom managing the Sovereign American People?  Apparently, most “conservative” members of Congress think it is just okay for us all to be kept in the dark and fed manure, at least those politicos who are not too fungous, themselves, to see.

Very exceptional is the former combat officer of Florida, who seems to think it important to give his superiors the actionable intelligence we need, in order to make our ultimate decisions — in measured doses, at least.  By last weekend, he even went as far as using a word with which most readers in Big Government are already familiar in the identification of Barack Obama: Marxist.

Gasp, choke, a milestone in Congressional honesty was reached.

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Truther, Self-described communist, and former Obama Green Jobs Czar Van Jones has a new mission, to start a progressive version of the Tea Party movement.  Just like the real tea party, the Van Jones creation is based on economics.  There are major differences though, being a progressive movement its basic premise is a lie, and instead of being a bottom up grass roots organization like the tea party, the Van Jones version is top down similar to the progressive philosophy that everything must be run by a central government.

Last September, federal agents conducted a search of the homes of 23 left-wing, anti-war activists, several of whom are union activists from Illinois and Minnesota.  The searches were in execution of warrants “seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation,” stated Steve Warfield, a spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis, at the time.

In Chicago, among those whose homes were searched was Joe Isobaker and his wife Stephanie Weiner (a founder of AFSCME Local 3506). Isobaker was, at the time, a Chief Steward with the 24,000-member SEIU Local 73 and an activist, as well as a writer for Fight Back, a Marxist magazine.

According to the Star Tribune, the search was part of a “mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers, a number of them in Minnesota.” (more…)

Mark the date – Thursday May 19th. It’s the day the leopard showed his spots. It’s the day Obama stabbed Israel in the back. It’s the day he told Israel, DROP DEAD.

For the first time in history an American President has chosen to abandon our great friend and ally, Israel, in favor of radical Muslims led by the terrorist group Hamas. But, mark this also as a great day- the day Obama lost the 2012 election. Obama has awakened a sleeping giant- American Jews and Christians, united in their love and support for Israel. They are outraged, shocked and sickened. Obama clearly showed his radical and hateful colors. The American people will not forget.

Just days ago, because of the weak GOP field, I wrote that Obama was the favorite for re-election. Thursday that all changed. Obama’s ego and hatred of Israel could not allow him to play possum for another eighteen months when he’d be re-elected. He could then unleash the full extent of his anti-capitalism, anti-American, anti-Israel venom without having to ever face American voters again. But, like all radical true believers, his hatred is so extreme he couldn’t wait. He’s been so indoctrinated by communist organizers, Marxist professors, terrorist sympathizers, and radical Muslim apologists, that he just couldn’t contain himself.

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I have been advised that my recent characterization of Dr. Stephen Hicks was inaccurate and that he is not, in fact, a “Marxist educator.”  My conclusion was drawn upon a series of videos in which he discussed Marxism and education. Upon further research, and out of an abundance of caution, I have asked BigGovernment.com to take down my post. I apologize to Dr. Hicks.

Far left teachers have young minds captured for 6 ½ hours a day and work subtly to fill them with Marxist and radical ideas.  That’s what a New York City teacher explained [see the video here] at the recent socialist Left Forum, transcribed courtesy of the Washington Times:

“How do you act as a teacher…in a classroom? Kind of promote ideas of Marxism or kind of begin to (in-audible)? Ya’ know, I think part of it is, particularly at the high school level or at an elementary school level, you have to be careful, because your job…they want you to stick to fairly narrow things and that can be fairly frustrating about it. You can do it wherever you possibly can.”

You just need to be subtle about it.  Can’t put up the Soviet flag.  Can’t replace Washington’s picture with ole Karl.  So how does one go about it?

“Part of it is just actually allowing for room for critical thought in the classroom and allowing for students to think for themselves to talk about issues wherever it’s possible to bring in history and you know…radical from the past… fight for that kind of thing. And I think there is space to do that. There is limitations that we have to do to try to provide that room in our classrooms. I think that radicals and socialists have a particular role to play in fighting for that type of education and bringing it whenever possible…”

And this scheme seems to be working beautifully.

A survey from late last year commissioned by the Bill of Rights Institute revealed that nearly half of U.S. adults thought a popular Marx saying —”from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” — originated from one of the founding documents.

Karl Marx in the same sentence as America’s founding documents.  Let that marinate for a minute.

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There was a time when Communism was anathema to the U.S. labor movement. However, that ship has long since sailed. In fact, the tide shifted significantly in 1995 when John Sweeney, Richard Trumka and Linda Chavez-Thompson ousted Lane Kirkland and took over the AFL-CIO.

Following their ascension to the leadership of America’s only (until 2005) federation of unions, the AFL-CIO dropped its ban of Communist Party members in 1997. Since that time, Marxism has regained a strong foothold in the American labor movement that really hadn’t been seen since the 1930s. And, as every year passes, the Marxist (and Communist) influence on the labor movement becomes more and more evident.

For example, according to the Texas Communist Party USA’s website:

Real Marxists emphasize the tremendous importance of the union movement, even if some so-called ‘radicals’ seek to discredit it. The CPUSA requires its members to join the union in their workplace, if there is one. Interested activists who cannot join a union can still become part of the union movement through the AFL-CIO’s Working America. No communist ever scabs. In the most recent great union upsurge in America (1935-1947) Communists played an outstanding role.

While many rank and file union members would not view themselves as Socialists, Communists, or even Marxists, the fact is, many of the unions’ leaders throughout the country have wholly embraced Marxist ideology and have taken unions, as a whole, in that direction. (more…)

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Plunge right through that line!
Run the bill clear through that crowd,
Get out of debt this time! (U rah rah!)

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Or it’s Cloward-Piven time.
Fight! Fellows! – fight, fight, fight!
Or it‘ll be our behinds!

I imagine you are aware of all those greedy capitalists in Moscow, Wisconsin, demonstrating so they can keep working in collusion, to siphon public money for their power hungry interests and their own bank accounts.

Sorry for the bad typing; make that government workers, in Madison. “Kill the bill!” they shout and likely spit when they do.  The name of it is the Budget Repair Bill, but much of the Marxstream media call it Gov. Scott Walker’s “anti-union bill.”

Fightin' Bob La Follette, progressive to the ends of his hair

I live forty-some miles northwest of Mad City, in the town where the nation’s first Progressive Party presidential candidate, Robert La Follette married his leftist, feminist wife, in 1881. Yeah, 1881. Politically precocious, we are, here in Badgerland. “Fighting Bob” learned his social justice from U. of W. president, John Bascom, who came from Massachusetts’ Andover Seminary (essentially of the same United Church of Christ denomination as the so reverent Jeremiah Wright).   Those Congregationalists stem from the Puritans, whom, as the name implies, had a soft spot for utopianism and legalistic perfectibility.

Progressivism, but also unvarnished Marxism made inroads very early here in Wisconsin, including within the state and region’s labor movement.  In 1904, the University of Wisconsin became the home of John R. Commons, one of the first progressive incrementalists, a label which tends to cover radical interests of unknown lengths.  He was called the spiritual father of Social Security and he specialized in union studies.  He was also one of America’s progressive eugenicists.

Barry Obama’s hero, Harold Washington was not America’s fist socialist, big city mayor.  That distinction goes to Emil Seidel, elected as Milwaukee’s Marxist boss in 1910, the same year that Victor Luitpold Berger was elected America’s first socialist representative in Congress.

Socialsts tried and convicted, 1919

It was Berger that gave union leader Eugene Debs a copy of Das Kapital and won him over to Marxism.  Debs became the Socalist Party’s candidate for president in 1912, with Mayor Seidel his VP candidate.  However, their Socialist Party of America chose not to run their own candidate for president in 1924, eagerly backing La Follette, instead, much as confessed socialists backed Obama, in 2008.

The Department of Justice was on to Berger and he was tried and in 1919, convicted of rather tenuous charges under the Espionage Act of that time.  Four others were also convicted for their own doings.  Yet, Berger continued to be a political celebrity in Wisconsin.

Those names are just the tip of the top of the iceberg. Extensive information on the Wisconsin front on the Marxist war against American freedoms is available in numerous books and at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, where they have a curious pride in their collection.  Compiled, it is enough to satisfy the appetite of one much more skeptical than our state’s own Sen. Joe McCarthy. (more…)

I pose this question seriously, not as a physiologist, but as an economic historian. I am provoked to raise the question by an advertisement that Amazon sent me recently, calling my attention a book titled Can Capitalism Survive? Creative Destruction and the Future of the Global Economy. Seeing this sales pitch, my immediate reaction was my usual sadly amused reply to such a question: Can capitalism survive? What an odd question! Assuming that capitalism ever existed at all, it has been dead for at least a century.

At first glance, I did not recognize that the book being advertised is one for which, in a sense, I am responsible. It turns out that the “new” book is only an old (portion of a) book, now adorned by a new subtitle and two new introductory paragraphs by the Newsweek columnist Robert J. Samuelson. If I reveal that the book’s author is Joseph A. Schumpeter, many readers will recognize it immediately as Part II of that famous economist’s best-known work Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, first published in 1942, with subsequent editions in 1947 and 1950.

The new book’s front cover has a blurb from Fortune that declares Schumpeter to have been “the most influential economist of the twentieth century . . . a major prophet.” The back cover has an embarrassingly superficial blurb by publisher Steve Forbes that, among other things, describes Schumpeter as “the twentieth century’s foremost economist.”

I do not consider Schumpeter entitled to be called the most influential economist of the past century―that distinction unfortunately belongs to John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman surely deserves the second place. As for Schumpeter’s rank as a prophet or as the intellectually foremost economist, I would place him below Ludwig von Mises and F. A. Hayek.

Nevertheless, Schumpeter was unquestionably one of the most important economists of his day, and his work has continued for good reason to attract readers ever since his death in 1950.

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One can only imagine the “Dean Scream” that came out of Burlington, Vermont the night the government takeover of health care passed the House of Representatives.

The always daffy Howard Dean appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Sunday to discuss the health care reform bill.  He explained that the broader principle of the legislation has less to do with fixing the health system and more to do with a Marxist principle of redistributing wealth.

“When [wealth distribution] gets out of whack as it did in the ’20s and it has now, you need to do some redistribution.  This is a form of redistribution.”

Ever the politician, Dean cautions that there could be “too much” redistribution, which could result in the “incentive” being taken out of the system.  I’m sorry – when have extreme liberals ever worried about people having incentive to do anything on their own?

In the interview, Dean wonders what the “right balance” of income distribution might be for America.  Again, as I wondered a few days ago, how are politicians qualified to determine what that “right balance” should be? If the way they handle our money in Washington, D.C. is any indication, the politicians would do us a service by steering completely clear of financial matters.

Welcome to the transforming America.

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