Articles of Dave Jette

This website contains some thirty essays which I have written and circulated. Many of them are taken from three books I have recently published: A Reformulation of Dialectical Materialism (2019), which incorporates feminist theory into a traditional Marxist framework; Beyond Classical Marxism (2020), about socialism and how to bring it about in the United States; and Looking Forward, which mainly gives seventeen “Looking Forward” columns already published or to be published by the progressive monthly newspaper Works in Progress of Olympia, Washington. These books are available at http://www.lulu.com for $9 in paperback and $19 in hardcover. They may also be available from other online book sellers.

These articles are meant to further the transformation of U.S. society to socialism, a lifelong endeavor for me since I was radicalized by the Vietnam War. There are five categories of articles:

Agents of Socialist Transformation: Leninism must be rejected as having nothing to do with building a humanly decent society. while Democracy is instead the essence of socialism. People are discussed in their necessary role as agents of this societal transformation, and the creation of A New Progressive Party is suggested. The role of Socialist Organizations in this process is examined., and A United Socialist Organization is proposed for facilitating the work of various socialist organizations without falling into the Leninist trap of seeking a single vanguard party which rules the state on behalf (supposedly) of the working class. Finally, the latest essay, A Progressive Electoral Movement, provides some ideas about building a progressive electoral movement to combat Trumpism.

Socialism: A possible Socialist Economy is proposed, following the model of the British intellectual Ralph Miliband in Socialism for a Sceptical Age. Marxist-Leninist “Socialism” is analyzed and rejected, a serious and cogent Case for Anti-Communism is considered, and Why Choose Socialism? is debated and affirmed.

Fascism and Trump: Historical Fascism in Germany and authoritarianism in the United States are analyzed, as well as the critical role of Donald Trump in laying the groundwork for effecting fascism here. Defeating Trump addresses the critical need to prevent him from continuing in office after the November 2020 presidential election, including my no longer being active in the Green Party because of its evident inability to support his Democratic Party challenger in swing states. But even when Trump is removed from office, there will remain the genie of white supremacy whose bottle he has opened, and Defeating Trumpism, The Danger of Trumpism, and Presidential Election Conclusions discuss the coming long-term struggle against the worst of America. An Anti-Right Front and Lessons of “Imperialism” continue this discussion, leading to a proposal for Challenging White Supremacy. Finally, there are essays on Terrorism and Fascism.

History: Four documents are given. The Author’s Lives outlines my political and scientific careers. The Partisan Experience tells the tale of how an early 1970’s New Left organization in Vancouver, Canada committed hari-kari by being absorbed by the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). Washington State Rainbow gives details of the (thwarted) attempt in 1979 by Jesse Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition to convert the Washington State Rainbow Coalition into a top-down instrument of Jackson’s political career. 9/11 and Nationalism, published in 2018, concludes that “if and when fascism comes to the United States, it will be on the basis of nationalism rather than simply white supremacy and conservative Christianity”. An excerpt from The Art of War, Sun Tzu’s ancient military classic, explains how to win with actually fighting. Finally, The Political Origins of “Works in Progressrelates how this thirty-year-old free progressive monthly newspaper published in Olympia, Washington passed its baptism of fire, speaking truth to power in demonstrating the importance of a free, independent press.

Philosophy: Dialectical Materialism provides a brief view of the philosophy presented in A Reformulation of Dialectical Materialism, which incorporates feminist theory into the traditional Marxist theory of dialectical materialism. Is Nature Dialectical?, the appendix of that book, demonstrates that non-living phenomena are definitely not dialectical (in contradiction to traditional Marxist theory) and only confuse our understanding of dialectical development. Finally, The Ghost of Marxism provides some words of caution about being trapped by traditional interpretations of Marxism.