Steve Tjiang > Recent Status Updates

The chapter "The Permanent Revolution" describes the influences of the industrial revolution on life. It created the need for synchronized time, needed to keep assembly lines working. Next, the chapter describes how state and market broke down family and community, ultimately creating the idea the "individual" divorced from family/community. Things are necessary uniformly better with the arrangements, just different.

This chapter suggests that capitalism, the belief in progress, and investing to create an ever bigger pie is a powerful force, more powerful than kings and empires. The concept of credit and trust is important. Trust of repayment, rule of law and protection of owners rights means a country could raise enough capital to defeat even big empires. Examples: Dutch vs Dutch, French vs British.

Very interesting read so far, and written in a very easy to read style. Direct and simple.

The book is trying to answer why the economy expanded so much in the modern era, post-1500. Appears to be a virtuous cycle, of a belief in "progress" and a better future, enabling the expansion of credit and investment. Ultimately the belief in progress is grounded in the coupling of empire/imperialism and science.

Zinn's penultimate chapter re-interprets last half of the 20th century. His arguably cynical re-intepretation fits that history into the larger theme of the 1% (the elites, white wealthy men) subjugating the 99% (the working class, poors, blacks, women). Those in control make overtures of equality and structural changes but their actions were merely small concessions to appease the People.

The rise of feminism and women's right movement.

The Vietnam war. It was really about imperialism and a war fought under false pretexts. Unpopular war. Tied war protests to labor movement and that it was not supported by the working class, despite the impression that the protests were led by young, white, middle-class.

Decades of continuing racism and mistreatment, latent during the war years, exploded in the black community. Latent and powerful during and after the war years, resentment against racism underlied black poetry and music. It exploded in the 50s with the Rosa Parks incident, and continued as peaceful protests under MLK.

Despite the announced noble causes fought for, the interests of the capitalists drove many events, and decisions. This might preserving markets for American goods, even if that meant the support of dictators and unsavory regimes. It also meant suppression of domestic labor unrest and control of labor. Hence the creation of the red scare of the 50s.

Despite WW II's popularity, there exist quite a bit of resistance. Hitler's invasion of Russia seemed to have swayed much of the American Left to support the way. The dropping of atom bombs on Japan was part of strategy to limit Soviet influence in Asia. And the end of the war, saw the emergence of the perpetual war economy to create the military-industrial complex with full government support.

Unorganized labor unrests increased during the Great Depression. The New Deal was a response to control labor, to stabilize the capitalist system and to give minimal concessions to labor, so that labor can be managed. The AFL and CIO, though established by workers, were really institutionalized way to control labor.

The end of WW I saw increasing number of strikes, despite efforts to break the IWW. Eventually, the excesses and imbalances of "capitalism" system (as established then) led to the Great Depression. Roosevelt was elected because of Hoover's inabilities to fix the economy and treatment of labor. Roosevelt's new deal was really about "fixing" capitalism and was in the hands of the capitalists.

Chronicles the suppression of free speech during WW I. Highlights the jailing of socialist leaders during this time.

The last two chapter chronicles the birth and rise of "socialism", and the response of the capitalists. The movement started with labor unrest during the Civil war, and continued until the beginning of WW I. To counter the rise of socialism, a progressive movement emerged, aided by capitalists and government. In this class struggle revision of history, WW I was a convenient response to stop socialism.

Two chapters about the "The Other Civil War" and the Populist and labor movements after the civil war. They were about labor versus the capitalists. Labor unrests in the 1880s and 90s were rife and represented the struggle of the working class. Sometimes it united the races and urban and rural workers. But utlimately, the two-party system allowed the capitalists to squash the labor movements.

Zinn casts some shade on the war of "Emancipation". True, that cause rallied the support of the abolitionist, a vocal contingent in the North but ultimately the war resulted from clashes of economic interests, conflicts between landowners and merchants of both sides.

Zinn shows how Lincoln wasn't initially and completely supportive of emancipation but did so after political pressure and military, economic advantage. As seen from modern times, this appears true but the mores of that time and the need to accommodate the northerners who didn't fully support emancipation, Lincoln had to be practical. Very complex.

Zinn claims Lincolm's motives were not all pure. "Lincolm could skillfully blend the interest of the very rich and the interests of the black at a moment in history when these interests met."

It seems Zinn's conclusions are drawn from anecdotal, albeit published evidences, necessarily a subset of all possible stories. Does the body of that evidence represent the body politic and culture then? Hard to know. But, we can ask the same about conclusions, more sympathetic to the standard view of American history. It's good to realize that on should ask this question about all histories.

The Mexican war was provoked by the American side, and it was clear brazen move to take land away from Mexico, to build a nation from sea to sea. Again, patronizing language was used to justify the take-over. It was "manifest destiny" for the America to take land away from the lower races, and to bring civilization and have dominion over the continent.

This chapter tells of the deceit and fraud that American colonial government and white settlers removed the Indians from their homeland and took them over, mostly for profit. The removal was done in a the most patronizing way, couched as "bringing civilizations" to the savages. Huge profits were afforded those in power who amassed huge plantations. The few voices sympathetic to the Indians were easily squashed.

Tells the stories of the exclusion of women and their ultimate awakening. The forces at play were the need for labor in the West and increasing industrial economy, resulting in the education of women.

Just finished chapter calls into question the nobility of founders and the constitution, and the revolution; the latter, a struggle between the colonial landowners against the British. The constitutions's noble words, written to gain support of an emerging middle class but excluding women, slaves, and poor. That those words held some universal truth, applicable to all was not the founder's intentions.

Zinn calls into doubt the nobility of the American Revolution. It can be seen more as a struggle between the ruling classes, the rich of the colonies against the British. Revolutionary rhetoric was used to gain support of the poor whites, and redirecting their grievances against the British rulers.

The 1700s was about rich landowners subjugating the poor (white&black slaves, Indians). Racism was promoted to prevent white&black slaves to join forces and rebel. The Rich used the language of liberty and equality to keep the middle class from joining others in rebellion. The theme of dividing the ruled classes pervaded the story of English colonies. That, liberty and justice was part of that ruse is surprising.

Chapter 2 is about black slavery. In the early colonies settlers needed labor. Indians were not enslavable, as they had a strong social system alreayd. Instead, europeans turned to blacks, torn from their families and tribes, and turned them to slaves. Slavery was fundamentally economic, perhaps driven somewhat by racism. There were white slaves too but they were treated better, testimonial to racism.

First chapter. Was the genocide of native Americans justified by the European's excuse of "progress"? What did humanity lose with that genocide? Zinn describes a lost of a "mythical" egalitarian and perhaps in modern view, a "hippie" culture. This romantic view of natives americans might be questioned but it's pretty clear what the Europeans did was inexcusable.

Finally done with this book. Some of the essays, dog-eared for emphasis, warrant rereading. They gave me good insight.

In "Undivided Mind" Rodney Smith advocates a lay buddhist life. "The most important understanding of lay Buddhism is the availability of immediate awakening. Many limit that availability only to their practice, when they should realize that availability into lay life i.e. make life the practice.

On "Something from Nothing" by Ken McLeod. Barriers to "experiencing true nature" and "emptiness". In meditation, we want to achieve something. There is nothing to achieve. It hurts to realize this i.e. we are beings trained to want to achieve.

In meditation, we embrace thoughts that confirm our self-conception but push away thoughts that don't. Need to accept everything.