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Marx's Vision of Communism:
The First Stage
By Bertell Ollman
As is well known, Marx never wrote a book or even an essay on communism. Yet, as even casual readers of Marx know, descriptions of the future society are scattered throughout his writings. Over two decades ago, I gathered together the most important of these descriptions in a single place. Treating them like the pieces of a puzzle, I was able to construct a fuller (though far from complete) and more coherent vision of communism than most of Marx's readers thought to exist. My main purpose was to provide a more adequate answer to the question that we Marxists get asked so often"What is the alternative?". It is evident that social criticism can lead to radical political action only if one believes, however tentatively, that a qualitatively better society can be built. Unfortunately, most of those who criticize communism today do not believe this.
Some readers were quick to suggest that Marx would have frowned at my effort, often citing his well known remark, "Communism is for us not a stable state which is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from premises now in existence". There is nothing in this comment (which I also quote in my essay), however, that forbids all attempts to clarify where this "real movement" is heading. Moreover, judging from an l85l outline of what was to become Capital, Marx intended to present his views on communism in a systematic manner in the final volume. The plan changed, in part because Marx never concluded his work on political economy proper, and what Engels in a letter to Marx refers to as "the famous 'positive', what you 'really' want" was never written. This incident does point up, however, that Marx's objection to discussing communist society was more of a strategic than of a principled sort. More specifically, and particularly in his earlier works, Marx was concerned to distinguish himself from other socialists for whom prescriptions of the future were the main stock-in-trade. He was also very aware that when people change their ways and views it is generally in reaction to an intolerable situation in the present and only to a small degree because of the attraction of a better life in the future. Consequently, emphasizing communism was not the most effective means of promoting proletarian class consciousness, his immediate political objective. Finally, with only the outline of the future visible from the present, Marx hesitated to burden his analysis of capitalism with material that could not be brought into focus without undermining in the minds of many the scientific character of his entire enterprise.
While such reasons may have kept Marx from presenting his views on communism in a more ordered fashion, however, I don't think they apply to us in the same way. No one today, for example, is likely to confuse Marxism, even with the addition of a more systematic vision of communism, with other socialist schools whose very names are difficult to recall. As for the role of communism in raising class consciousness, Marx was clearly right that helping workers understand their exploitation as a fundamental and necessary part of the capitalist system is the "high road" to class consciousness. It seems equally evident, however, that the inability to conceive of a humanly superior way of life, an inability fostered by this same exploitation, has contributed to the lassitude and cynicism that helps to thwart such consciousness. Viewed in this light, giving workers and indeed members of all oppressed classes a better notion of what their lives would be like under communism is essential to the success of the socialist project.
As for only being able to know the broad outlines of communism, this is as true now as it was in Marx's time. But whereas presenting this outline then might reflect negatively on Marxism as a whole, this is no longer the case, for the intervening century has brought pieces of Marx's horizon underfoot and made most of the rest easier to see and to comprehend. Consequently, I considered my effort to present a more systematic version of communism than any found in Marx's own writings fully in keeping with Marx's larger project.
Since the publication of my essay, the collapse of "actually existing socialism" (an Orwellian construction in the best of times) has led those dissatisfied with capitalism to intensify their search for an alternative. Unfortunatelyand somewhat surprisinglyeven socialists who never saw the Soviet Union as a model of anything seem to have drawn negative lessons from its demise for the possibility of communism. If communism was never before so possible materially, technologically, sociallyindeed, in every way but politicallynever before has it met with such widespread skepticism. What is the bearing of this changed situation on my effort to present Marx's vision of communism?
While it is probably more difficult today to get Marx's vision of communism taken seriously, there has never been a time when this vision was needed more than now. As the Cheshire Cat tells Aliceif you don't know where you want to go, then any path will do. Why give priority, we are asked again and again, to any one reform over others?
The first step in reestablishing Marx's vision and providing the oppressed of this world with a path to take into the future is to break the connection between communism and the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, this is how most people continue to think about communism. Instead, communism must be linked, as it was for Marx, to capitalism. Viewed in relation to the Soviet Union, communism cannot help but be sullied by the distortions that disfigured even the modest successes that occurred under that regime. But, perhaps even more important, when communism is viewed in connection with the Soviet experience (whether one approves or disapproves of the result), communism seems to be an alternative available to people anywhere, at any time, and under any conditions. What counts here are various subjective factors ranging from the intelligence and commitments of the leadership to the type of party they create and the strategy they adopt. Viewing communism in and through its ties to capitalism, on the other hand, brings to the fore the objective conditions responsible for the particular problems from which people suffer together with the related conditionsall of which were completely absent in the Soviet Unionthat provide a basis for their solution. It is this approach that allowed Marx to treat communism as an unrealized potential within capitalism.
But if this is so, thenlike Marxwe must give top priority to the analysis of capitalism, and not of market society, or industrial society, or the information society, or modern society, or post-modern society, or even American society. For our worst problemscrisis, economic exploitation, alienation, unemployment, social and economic inequality, and imperialismall arise from the natural workings of capitalism, as do the main elements for their solution. Substituting another way or organizing social life for capitalism as the privileged object of study leaves the origins of these problems out of focus or worse, and makes it difficult to see where their solutions might come from.
As our present economic crisis deepens, several non-Marxist writers have grudgingly admitted that Marx seems to have been right about capitalism, butthey are quick to addwrong about communism. In the celebration of the l50th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto, the Canadian-American psychologist, Bill Livant, has identified this as "coitus manifestus", sub-variety "communistus interruptus". For if Marx was right about capitalism, given all that he understands by "capitalism", then he had to be right about communism, for the latter resides inside the folds of the former. In which case, the only way to deny the possibility of communism is to reject the analysis of capitalism that portrays it as a possibility.
What is to be done, thencontra Leninat least in this gray interregnum through which the world Left is now passing, is to reestablish the necessary links between capitalism and communism. This is not the same as saying that communism is inevitable. Even Marx saw barbarism, "the common ruin of all classes", as a possible alternative to communism, though he considered it very unlikely and never studied it seriously. Today, after fascism and the civil wars in Lebanon, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda, we have a better idea of what barbarism might bring, and how great a danger it poses. The steady erosion of the ecological conditions necessary for the reproduction of human life and the growing destructive power of modern weaponry has presented us with two more possible outcomes to human history.
In presenting the choice before humanity in the coming period as between communism, barbarism, ecological suicide and nuclear annihilation, I am trying to make two main points: that the continuation of democratic capitalism, whose necessary preconditions are even now disappearing, is not one of the alternatives; and that none of the real alternatives to communism are acceptable to anyone. For people to choose communism, however, still requires that they recognize it as a realistic possibility, no matter how unlikely they believe it to be. For whereas communism will only be achieved if the majority of workers, which includes practically everyone nowadays, set out on this path, the other possible outcomes to human history can come about without anyone actually choosing them. As capitalist decline turns into a full scale rout, all that is required is that people put off choosing communism long enough.
There is still time to awaken people about the real possibility of communism. The preconditions for communism that lie inside capitalism are increasing in size and number and becoming more apparent everywhere. There can be few tasks more important today than to make these preconditions stand out in sharp relief and to publicize them as foreshadowings of communism. This is a task of many parts. In this essay, I will limit myself to outlining Marx's vision of socialism, or the first stage of communism. My main purpose is to show how relatively easy it is to conceive of the reforms Marx projects for this period. And if people have little difficulty imagining how these reforms would look and work, it is because most of their components, albeit in other forms and/or arranged differently, are found within capitalism. The way of life that emerges should strike most people as not only desirable but practical and doable. Further removed from our experience, Marx's picture of the second stage, or full communism, taxes the imagination as well as credulity far more. Fortunately, an understanding of the first stage of communism is generally enough to provide our side in the class struggle with all the direction it needs to get onto the right path. In any case, it is only after the construction of socialism is well underway that the possibility for advancing to full communism can be adequately appreciated. Hence, without intending to deny the essential ties between the two stages of communism, our account will focus on the first state, or what Marx thought could be done now with the means that capitalism has already provided.
Marx divides the communist future, as I've indicated, into halves, a first stage, or socialism, which is often referred to as the "dictatorship of the proletariat", and a second stage that is also called "full communism". The historical boundaries of the first stage are set in the claim that, "Between capitalist and communist society lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. There corresponds to this also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat".
The overall character of this period is supplied by Marx's statement that "What we have to deal with here is a communist society, not as it has developed on its own foundations, but on the contrary, just as it emerges from capitalist society; which is thus in every respect still stamped with the birthmarks of the old society from whose womb it emerges". This first stage is the necessary gestation period for full communism: it is a time when the people who have destroyed capitalism are engaged in the task of total reconstruction. As a way of life and organization, it has traits in common with both capitalism and full communism and many which are uniquely its own. When its work is doneand Marx never indicates how long this may takethe first stage gives way gradually, almost imperceptibly, to the second.
Our main sources for Marx's views on the dictatorship of the proletariat are the Communist Manifesto, the "Critique of the Gotha Program", and "Civil War in France", in which he discusses the reforms of the Paris Commune. In the Communist Manifesto, there are ten measures that workers' parties are urged to put into effect immediately after their victory over the capitalists. By treating these suggestions as if they were already taken up, we can use this list as a basis for our picture of the first stage.
What Marx asks for are : "l) Abolition of property in land and application of all Rents on land to public purposes. 2) A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3) Abolition of all right of inheritance. 4) Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5) Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6) Centralization of communication and transport in the hands of the state. 7) Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing in cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8) Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 9) Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of population over the country. 10) Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its resent form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc."
It is conceded that "these measures will of course differ in different countries", but in the most advanced countries they "will be pretty generally applicable". No matter the variation in means, and it appears these variations would be modest ones, the goals remain the same: "to wrest� all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state� and to increase the total of productive forces as rapidly as possible".
These demands will be examined singly in order to reveal the full measure of change projected by each one: l) "Abolition of property in land and application of all rents on land to public purposes". Rather than parceling out estates and giving land to the people who work on itthe reactionary dream of all peasantsland becomes the property of the state, which uses the rent it receives for public purposes. Judging from Marx's treatment of the land question in "Civil War in France", farmers would pay less rent to the state than they paid to their former landlords. Later in his life, faced with Bakunin's criticisms, Marx qualified this demand: "the proletariat", he now says, "must take measures, as a government, through which the peasant finds his position directly improved, which thus wins him for the revolution; measures, however, which facilitate in nucleus the transition from private property in the soil to collective property, so that the peasant comes to it of his own accord, economically. But it must not antagonize the peasant, by for instance, proclaiming the abolition of the right of inheritance or the abolition of his property: this is only possible where the capitalist tenant has ousted the peasant, and the real tiller of the soil is just as much a proletarian, a wage worker, as is the urban worker, and hence has directly, and not only indirectly, the same interests as he. One has even less right to strengthen small peasant property by simply enlarging the plots by the transfer of the larger estates to the peasants, as in Bakunin's revolutionary campaign".
This apparent contradiction can be explained by the fact that here Marx is primarily concerned with tactics and with those peasants who work their own plots of land, while in the Communist Manifesto he was speaking mainly about non-owning peasants. The two positions can be reconciles as follows: before, during and immediately after the revolution care should be taken not to frighten the small land-owning peasants, while the landless peasants (our farm workers) are to be collectivized at once on the estates of their former landlords and employers. Marx never wavered in his belief that if socialism is to "have any chance whatever of victory, it must at least be able to do as much immediately for the peasants, mutatis mutandis, as the French bourgeoisie did in its revolution".
For Marx, the peasant, despite his numerous delusions, is "above all a man of reckoning". He could not fail to be attracted by the tax benefits and material comforts, work conditions and cultural life available on collectives. All this, it would appear, without depriving the small-holding peasant of anything he already has, are the arguments that will convince him to collectivize his property. Marx did not envision great difficulty in making this transition, nor that it would take much time.
2) "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax". Apparently, significant differences of income still exist at this stage, or, at least, at the start of it. Many enterprises are privately owned, and their owners probably make more than they would working in a factory. Moreover, in a full employment economy with a scarcity of many essential skills, there are still occupations that have to pay high wages in order to attract workers. The inequality of incomes, therefore, is economically necessary, but because it is also socially undesirable an attempt is made through the income tax to render the real gap as narrow as possible. With the increasing equalization of incomes, the progressive income tax soon becomes outmoded.
3) "Abolition of all right of inheritance". Differences between personal incomes are deplored but accepted as necessary. The disparity in family fortunes, however, is not acceptable. Even those modest fortunes which result from wage differentials cannot be bequeathed to one's children. How this is to be reconciled with the intention, stated earlier, of letting small-holding peasants retain their land until they themselves decide to join collectives is nowhere made clear. Nor do we know for sure what Marx includes among the things that cannot be inherited.
While discussing wages, Marx declares "nothing can pass to the ownership of individuals except individual means of consumption". Something similar, no doubt, would be used to distinguish between what can and cannot be passed on to one's children. The purpose of the no-inheritance principle is to achieve wealth equality after the death of those now living. From this time forward everyone begins life with the same material advantages, and equality of opportunityan impossible dream under capitalismis finally realized. What people acquire over and above this will be what they have earned through their own efforts.
4) "Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels". This is a practical step intended not so much to aid the state in its drive toward public ownership as to serve as a warning to the bourgeoisie not to engage in counter-revolutionary activity. The proletariat's victory is not completed with the revolution, but must be fought over and won again with all those leftovers of the old society whose hostility impairs the process of social reconstruction. It is indicative of the humanity with which Marx confronts counter-revolutionaries that confiscation is the most severe punishment mentioned.
5) "Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly". Carrying this measure into effect will deprive financiers of both their wealth and their power to direct the economy. With exclusive control of credit facilities, the state can decide what parts of the economy should be expanded and by how much. It will also enable the state to finance the "national workshops" that Marx calls for elsewhere. Meanwhile, what are considered useless or socially harmful enterprises will be squeezed out of existence by withholding needed funds. What is particularly striking about this demand is that it shows the degree of independence to be allowed individual enterprises, whether private or public., at the very beginnings of socialism. If all major decisions were made by some central authority, there would be no need for the state to use credit as a means of control.
6) "Centralization of communication and transport in the hands of the state". Like the previous one, this measure aims at depriving a few capitalists of their power to control the nation's economy, and allows the state to develop its internal communication system of the basis of social need. Another immediate result is that all transportation is made free to the poor. Again, the need to specify that communication and transport are taken over by the state suggests that most fields of endeavor are not at this time.
7) "Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing in cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan". The involvement of the state in the economy is not concluded when it takes over enterprises and gains control of others through its monopoly of credit facilities. The state cannot sit on the production laurels of the capitalist economy which preceded it, as imposing as these may be. With the aid of a plan, every effort is made to increase nature's bounty by rapidly increasing and perfecting the means by which it is produced.
8) "Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture". The new order brings to an end the parasitic situation existing under capitalism, where the few who don't work are supported by the many who do. Everyone works in communism. Those who don't work don't eat: "Apart from surplus-labor for those who on account of age are not yet, or no longer able to take part in production, all labor to support those who do not work would cease". The freedom to choose one's work is not affected, as some critics assert; just the privilege of choosing not to work is abolished. With everyone working, "productive labor ceases to be a class attribute", allowing Marx to claim that communism "recognizes no class differences because everyone is a worker like everyone else".
In calling for the establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture, Marx is as concerned with changing the personalities of the people involved as he is with promoting greater economic efficiency.
9) "Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country". One of the least recognized of the harmful divisions Marx sees in the human species is between man the "restricted town animal" and man the "restricted country animal". We must remember that, for Marx, peasants are a "class of barbarians", whose way of existence he labels the "idiocy of rural life". People in the country, therefore, need the city and all that it represents in the way of advanced technology, culture, and education, just as people living in the city need the country, its fresh air, inspiring scenery, close contact with animals, and toil on the land itself in order to achieve their full stature as human beings. The first stage of communism sees an attempt to create new economic arrangements which will allow people to spend time in cities as well as in the country. The importance Marx attaches to this development can be gathered from his claim that, "The abolition of the antagonism between town and country is one of the first conditions of communal life".
Marx believes that the necessary means for healing the split between town and country have already been provided by the preceding mode of production: capitalism, he says, "creates the material conditions for a higher synthesis in the future, namely, the union of agriculture and industry on the basis of the more perfected forms they have each acquired during their temporary separation". We are left to guess what this "higher synthesis" actually looks like, but it appears to involve moving some industries to the country as well as greatly expanding the amount of unencumbered land inside cities for parks, woodland, and garden plots. I suspect, too, that Marx would like to see the number of people living in any one city reduced, and more small and medium size cities set up throughout the countryside, resulting in "a more equable distribution of population over the country", which would also make possible the establishment of industrial armies for agriculture.
10) "Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc.". In l848, even elementary education had to be paid for in most countries, so we can easily understand why public education was a major reform.
By "public schools" Marx did not mean "state schools" as this expression is commonly understood. In his "Criticism of the Gotha Program", Marx opposes the German Social Democratic Party's demand for control of "elementary education by the state". He says, "Defining by a general law the expenditure on the elementary schools, the qualification of the teaching staff, the branches of instruction, etc., and, as is done in the United States, supervising the fulfillment of these legal specifications by state inspectors, is a very different thing from appointing the state as the educator or the people. Government and church should rather be totally excluded from any influence on the schools". The people themselves, directly or through social organs still unspecified, will supply the guidelines of their educational system.
In Marx's time, working class children spent the greater part of each day slaving in factories. Clearly, this had to cease immediately. However, Marx did not believe that all this time was better devoted to classroom learning. This, too, would stunt the child's development. Instead, he favors an education that "will, in the case of every child over a given age, combine productive labor with instruction and gymnastics, not only as one of the methods of adding to the efficiency of production but as the only method of producing fully developed human beings".
Not all of the information Marx supplies on the first stage of communism fits neatly into the list of demands found in the Communist Manifesto: the state, conditions and hours of work, planning for production, and the distribution of what is produced remain to be discussed.
As an instrument of working class rule, the state in this period is labeled, in what has proven to be an unfortunate turn of phrase, the "dictatorship of the proletariat". Hal Draper has demonstrated that "dictatorship" meant something very different to Marx and his contemporaries than it does to most of us. Marx did not use this concept to refer to the extra-legal and generally violent rule of one man or a small group of men. Before Hitler and Mussolini, the meaning of "dictatorship" was still influenced by its use in ancient Rome, republican Rome, where the constitution provided for the election of a dictator who was given power for a limited period to carry out certain specified tasks. It was in opposition to Blanqui's elitist views on the organization of the coming workers' state that Marx first introduced the expression "dictatorship of the proletariat", and by it he meant the democratic rule of the entire working class (including farm laborers), which made up the large majority of the population in all advanced countries. The ultimate power to build socialism was to reside not with a vanguard or a party claiming to represent the workers, but with the entire class.
In capitalism, there is the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie" (political power is in the hands of the capitalists), and, despite the fa�ade of popular rule, the mass of the workers have no real chance to participate in government and affect the way it serves the interests of the capitalist class. In the dictatorship of the proletariat, on the other hand, once the former capitalists and landlords get "honest" jobs they become workers and take full part in the political process along with the rest of the population. The dictatorship of the proletariat, therefore, is actually more democratic than democratic governments in capitalist societies, even by the latter's own definition of "democracy".
The dictatorship of the proletariat comes in the wake of the revolution and exists until the onset of full communism. Broadly speaking, its task is to transform the capitalism left behind in all its aspects, material and human, into the full communist society that lies ahead. It functions as a "permanent revolution". As a government, it has a singleness of aim as regards both the past, out of which old enemies are constantly reappearing, and the future, which it works for in a highly systematic way. Marx says, "as long as other classes, especially the capitalist class, still exist, as long as the proletariat is still struggling with it (because with its conquest of governmental power its enemies and the old organization of society have not disappeared), it must use coercive means, hence governmental means: it is still a class, and the economic conditions on which the class struggle and the existence of classes rest have not yet disappeared and must be removed by force, or transformed, their process of transformation must be speeded up by force".
Where remnants of the old order remain, they are to be removed, the state using all the force necessary for this purpose. Marx's comments elsewhere on the abolition of inheritance, the confiscation of the property of rebels, etc., give an indication of the kind of measures he favored to do away with capitalists as a class. Should individual members of this class prove incorrigible, his statement on the role of the proletarian dictatorship seems to provide a justification for using more extreme means. Marx, however, apparently believed that the economic and social measures introduced by the new regime would be sufficient to transform most capitalists, and that physical violence would only be used against those who resorted to violence themselves.
Most of our details on the workers' government come from Marx's laudatory account of the Paris Commune. The Commune was not a true dictatorship of the proletariat, but it was a close enough approximation to allow us to abstract the general lines, if not the exact configuration, of the workers' state. Marx says the "true secret" of the Commune is that "It was essentially a working class government, the product of the struggle of the producing class against the appropriating class, the political form at last discovered under which to work out the economic emancipation of labor".
How then was the Commune organized? "The Commune was formed of the municipal councilors, chosen by universal suffrage in the various wards of the town, responsible and revocable at short terms� The Commune was to be a working, not a parliamentary body, executive and legislative at the same time. Instead of continuing to be the agent of the Central Government, the police was at once stripped of its political attributes, and turned into the responsible and at all times revocable agent of the Commune". The long arm of popular rule extended into the chambers of the judiciary, ending what Marx calls their "sham independence": "Like the rest of public servants, magistrates and judges were to be elective, responsible, and revocable". We also learn that a clear line was drawn between church and state, and that the army, like the police, was disbanded and replaced by the armed people.
The organization of the Paris Commune was to serve as a model not only for the other cities of France, but for small towns and rural districts as well. And at every level, the "delegates" (not representatives) elected were "to be at any time revocable and bound by the mandate imperatif (formal instructions) of his constituents". People's control over their elected officials was quite extensive. According to Marx, " Instead of deciding once in three or six years which member of the ruling class was to misrepresent the people in Parliament, universal suffrage was to serve the people, constituted in Communes, as individual suffrage serves every other employer in search for the workmen and managers in his business. And it is well known that companies, like individuals, in matters of real business generally know how to put the right man in the right place, and, if they for once make a mistake, to redress it promptly". Marx's defense of the Commune's program of frequent elections for all government functionariesmandated instructions from their constituents, and their easy recall whenever they prove unworthy reflect his belief that people of all classes recognize orin the absence of capitalist brain washing techniquescan easily be made to recognize their interests and to act upon them.
We have been discussing the dictatorship of the proletariat as if it were the government of a single country. This may be the case immediately after the first revolution, but it is evident that Marx expects this government, within a short space of time, to become world wide. Capitalism establishes a "universal intercourse" between people, creates the same classes with identical interests in each country and connects them in such a way that no ruling group, whether capitalist or socialist, can succeed on less than a universal basis. Marx states, "Empirically, communism is only possible as the act of the dominant people, 'all at once' or simultaneously". There is no need, therefore, to advise the workers' government on how to deal with the remaining capitalist powers, nor is there is any need to provide for a standing army. Thus, all the people and means of production currently going to waste in military ventures would become available for useful work almost immediately. Probably nothing is more responsible for the distortion Marx's vision of communism underwent in Russia than the fact that the "world revolution" of 1917 only succeeded in a small part of the world.
Marx's description of economic life in the new society is as general and incomplete as his discussion of its political forms. Still, the basic outline of what to expect is there. Inside factories and other enterprises, an immediate result of the revolution is an improvement in working conditions. Marx attacked the capitalist system for "the absence of all provisions to render the productive process human, agreeable, or at least bearable", and it is clear that the dictatorship of the proletariat gives top priority to correcting this situation. As well as an indictment of existing evils, the description of working conditions in Capital can be taken as a roll call of needed reforms. The aims of all action in this field is, first, to make work bearable, then agreeable, and finally, human.
Hand in hand with the amelioration of working conditions goes the shortening of the working day. This is accomplished without any decrease in the total social product. In the only instance where figures are given, it appears that the working day will be cut in half. Marx explains how this is possible: "If everybody must work, if the opposition between those who do work and those who don't disappears...and if moreover, one takes count of the development of the productive forces engendered by capital, society will produce in 6 hours the necessary surplus, even more than now in 12 hours; at the same time everybody will have 6 hours of 'time at his disposition', the true richness..." In communism, it is not material objects but free time, the time to pursue interests and to develop one's varied talents, that is the substance of wealth. Another basis for Marx's optimism is seen in his claim that shorter work days will mean greater intensity of labor for the time actually at work.
The very enormity of the cut in hours Marx proposes indicates how great, he believes, is the number of people not working or engaged in useless activity (9/10 of the labor in the circulation process, for example, is said to be necessary only under conditions of capitalism), and also the extent to which capitalism has not taken advantage of its opportunities for technical progress. How else could the revolution cut each work day in half while enabling society to produce more than before? In any case, it is clear that Marx's proletariat, unlike Lenin's, does not have to build an industrial base before it sets out to build communism. With all the technical advances made in the last hundred years, it is also worth noting that socialism today would require people to work many fewer hours than the number Marx projected.
Also in the area of production, Marx's views on planning occupy a key position. Marx believes, "The life process of society� does not strip off its mystical veil until it is treated by freely associated men in accordance with a settled plan". When that occurs, he says, "The social relations of the individual producers are...perfectly simple and intelligible, and that with respect not only to production but also to distribution". The immediate aim of all communist planning is the satisfaction of "social needs". In deciding how much of any given article to produce, the planners have to strike a balance between social need (including the need to replace and expand the facilities and materials used), available labor time, and the existing means of production. Although Marx recognized that demand is elastic, he never doubted that his proletarian plannerswhose actual planning mechanisms are never discussedwould make the right equations, and bring people a higher standard of life than all but a privileged few enjoyed under capitalism.
So far we have spoken as if all the people living in the first stage of communism receive equal shares of the social product. But this is only true if they work the same amount of time, since the measure guiding distribution for most of this periodit is introduced as soon as it is feasibleis labor-time. Marx claims that each person "receives back from societyafter the deductions have been madeexactly what he gives to it. What he has given to it is his individual quantum of labor...He receives a certificate from society that he has furnished such and such an amount of labor (after deducting his labor for the common funds), and with this certificate he draws from the social stock of means of consumption as much as constitutes the same amount of labor. The same amount of labor which he has given to society in one form he receives back in another". The Commune's practise of paying everyone in government service, from members of the Commune downwards, the same worker's wages is declared to be a practical expression of the principle, "equal pay for equal labor-time".
The uses of money are so limited in this period that Marx prefers to speak of "certificates" and "vouchers". Instead of money, what we have are pieces of paper which state how much labor-time one has contributed to the social fund. These simply entitle the individual to draw an equivalent from the fund in the form of consumption goods. Means of production and social means of consumptionsuch as scenic land and trainsare not for sale. As Marx says elsewhere, "These vouchers are not money. They do not circulate". Such limitations on the power and function of wage payments puts an end to the money system as we know it.
Marx's picture of life and organization in the first stage of communism is very incomplete. There is no discussion of such obviously important developments as workers' control. We can only guess how much power workers enjoy in their enterprises and through what mechanisms they exercise it on the basis of the democratic processes Marx favors for politics, keeping in mind the limits imposed by the central plan. Cultural institutions and practises are hardly mentioned. Nor is there much about how conflicts between individuals or between ethnic, racial, or gender groups are resolved, other than the insistence on proletarian democracy and on the equality enjoyed by all members of the working class.
Perhaps more significant is the absence of a list of priorities for the measures he favored, other than the ten demands made in the Communist Manifesto (quoted above). Politics is to a large extent the art of arranging priorities, but in what order are Marx's reforms to be introduced? Pointing out that this order is seriously affected by conditions in each country only serves to qualify the question; it doesn't answer it. One would be mistaken, therefore, to view what has been pieced together here as a blueprint or what to do and how to do it. It is but a vision, only one of the ingredients from which blueprints are madeand Marx would not have wanted it otherwise.
With the intensification and completion of the various aspects of life and organization associated with the first stage, the second stage of communism gradually makes its appearance. Marx's description of full communism, however, must be left for another time. What still needs to be addressed here is why the first stage, socialism, is likely to develop in the manner depicted above. Whence its certainty? Earlier I spoke of the possibility of a move toward communism. Now I would like to offer a brief defense of the particular vision of it found in Marx's writings.
First, as regards objective conditions: the debate over the role played by the advanced conditions inherited from capitalism is often distorted by raising the wrong question. We should not be asking, "What do these conditions make necessary?", but"What do they make unnecessary?". Clearly, it is not necessary at this time to sacrifice existing living standards in order to develop still underdeveloped forces of production. It is unnecessary, therefore, to adopt a code of military discipline for workers, or to squeeze a recalcitrant peasantry to obtain sufficient grain, or to press intellectuals into becoming cheer leaders for this process, or to organize bogus elections out of fear for honest ones. The "Soviet path", with all its heartbreaking twists, is not so much rejected as rendered irrelevant.
Second, as regards subjective conditions: here, too, the key question is often badly formulated. We should not be asking, "Why would the workers do what Marx thinks they will?", but "Why would they do otherwise?". As the new ruling class, the workers will simply try to do what every ruling class before them has done, which is to serve their class interests. And the workers' most important class interest is to abolish the conditions of their own exploitation, understod as everything that contributes to the extraction of surplus-value from their labor. All the reforms depicted in Marx's account of the first stagefrom the socialization of the means of production, to reducing hours of work, to tying distribution to labor time, to the thorough democratization of the polity, etc.combine to make such exploitation impossible.
Workers in capitalism have great difficulty, as we know, recognizing their class interests. Why would it be different under socialism? Since we are discussing what is likely to happen after a socialist revolution, we must factor into our answer all the changes that workers would undergo as part of the revolutionary process. Given the enormous power of the capitalist class, for a socialist revolution to succeed, the majority of workers would have had to attain a certain degree of class consciousness. This involves, among other things, grasping their common interests as workers, developing greater mutual concern for each other, becoming more cooperative, and acquiring a keener interest in political affairs as well as a stronger sense of personal responsibility for how they turn out. But these are the same qualities that make building socialism after the revolution, including democratic central planning, possible. Marx considered participation in a revolution the greatest education a person could have. Any evaluation of the what workers would want to do and be capable of doing after the revolution needs to take account of how much they will have been changed by such an education.
To this we must now add the disappearance of the capitalist consciousness industry, with its various ideological products, and the steady erosion of the market, with its accompanying mystification of money, commodities, social relations, and human nature itself. With these developments, the world in which people live, including all the relations between them, would soon acquire a transparency that capitalism had made impossible. Workers at this time, therefore, would not only be able to see more clearly and grasp more fully whatever pertains to them, but reality itself would become an open book that all can read. In this context, workers would have little difficulty recognizing their interests and what is required to serve them.
Take the example of central planning. When we consider the favorable conditions in which the socialist planning that Marx speaks of would take place and the altered character of the workers who would be involved in it, we can see just how spurious is the comparison that is so often made with Soviet planning. Would the workers in this post-capitalist socialist society give the planners the accurate information that they need? Would workers at this time exhibit the mutual concern to provide help to those who are worse off? Would they have sufficient flexibility and understanding to make the needed compromises among themselves? Would workers then do their best to make sure that the plan, which they played a role in making, succeeds? In his widely influential book, The Economics of Feasible Socialism, Alec Nove answers all these questions in the negative. But his answers are drawn entirely from the experience of the Soviet Union, where workers had no input into the plan or into choosing the planners, and never felt themselves fully integrated parts of the social whole. There is little, if anything, however, to learn from the fate of undemocratic planning functioning in a context of extreme scarcity, and with an increasingly skeptical and uncooperative working class, for a situation where none of these conditions would apply. Placed alongside all the elements that constitute Marx's socialist society, there should be no difficulty in seeing that democratic central planning can work.
Marx's vision of socialism, then, is an eminently reasonable projection of what is likely to occur if and when the workers succeed the capitalists as the dominant class. What is absolutely certain is the demise of capitalism. Whether this event will be triggered by a socialist revolution is not equally certain. Nor can we take it for granted that our side will win if such a revolution does occur. Barbarism, ecological suicide, and nuclear annihilation, as we noted earlier, stand in the wings awaiting our defeat. To avoid these horrendous alternatives, the majority of workers, that is all people who work for a living, have to develop a higher degree of class consciousness, and that has to happen pretty soon (in my opinion, within the next few decades). Socialists can quicken this process by extending our ongoing criticisms of capitalism to include more of what socialism would bring, what it could really bring, emphasizing how practical, reasonable, doable, andyeseven easy it would be to create a society in the interests of the workers, which is to say a society that is truly democratic, just, free, egalitarian, rational, and humane. (These are our words. Isn't it time to take them back from those who have stolen them from us?)
|Copyright © Bertell Ollman 2004-2019. All rights reserved.


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
the ridiculousness
So I'm in the middle of making more flashcards, and I am still liking this form of studying. What I am not liking is this thing called the Multistate Performance Test which appears to have taken up about six hours more of my Bar/Bri time (or would have, had I gone) than necessary.
Folks, it's a CLOSED UNIVERSE EXERCISE. You read the file and the library, follow the instructions in the "task memo," and write something down. You only get those 8 handwritten pages in which to do it (or 4600
words characters on the laptop), and you get 90 minutes—that's an hour and a half. This, folks, is not hard stuff. Sure, practice is important, so Bar/Bri has thoughtfully given us a whole book of prior MPTs with which to practice this exercise. But it's not something you can exactly TEACH or even learn. You just have to do it. Yet Bar/Bri spends 7 classroom hours on it.
That's not to say that I would want OTHER Bar/Bri stuff to fill that space; but slicing a day or two off of Bar/Bri there at the end, when the remaining days are limited, would have been awesome.
Back to flashcards.
travel repercussions
So, yeah, I was out of town yesterday. I hoped to spend my traveling time consolidating my Bar/Bri notes and maybe making some flashcards. But my flight out was delayed by two hours (two hours!), turning my two-and-a-half-hour stretch of downtime at my destination into . . . no downtime; I literally went from plane to train to taxi to appointment. And on the way back, it was the same in reverse order—appointment to taxi to train to plane. Oof. ((And of course, I was so stressed out while the delay was unfolding that I could not get any work done, though I started out well—I was typing away up until we got on the plane for the first time. After we had to get off the plane, though, I was not much up for studying, as I was completely freaked out about making it to my destination on time. Yeah, it was one of those delays . . . really vile, in fact, made worse by the fact that we were pulling away from the gate when someone's mistake caused some mechanical damage, forcing us to pull back in, completely deplane, and wait for a new plane—a plane which was supposed to be someone else's connection, so I feel bad that those people got delayed as well.))
All of this means I was VERY unproductive yesterday (I did get a bit done on the plane, but not as much as I hoped since I forgot to bring the set of notes I was in the middle of consolidating, leaving me to go over Con Law, which, frankly, was not the best use of my time). Today, I'm back to the grind, though having missed yesterday's (apparently not very useful) Secured Transactions lecture, I'm feeling maybe a bit less overwhelmed than those who DID attend and were freaked out by it. I started to read the Mini Review outline and it was so awful that I decided to put it away and try the long outline before I attend the make-up lecture. (Ah, Sunday Bar/Bri. Joy.)
Right now, I'm busy making the Contracts flashcards I hoped to make yesterday; I really can only do so many before my hand turns into a claw and I have to stop to take a sip of wine, check my RSS feeds, refresh Facebook, or, you know, post something.
me = tired
It amazes me that we live in an age where one can fly across the country and home—and manage to get something done in between—in a period of less than 12 hours.
Law School Roundup Announcement
I'm pleased to announce that the student-written portion of the Law School Roundup will be taken over by ImNobody, over at Thanks, But No Thanks. Look for next Sunday's Roundup over there!
I've really enjoyed doing the roundup for the last couple of years! Keep reading, everyone!
flashcards! yay!
I've begun making flashcards.
I like it already—I can see that this studying method is actually going to be really useful for me.
That is, if I can get my hand not to cramp up after writing out about twelve cards. I am beginning to dread how long this is going to take me.
oh, frak
So the fear finally sunk in. It's probably because of the scam that is the Bar/Bri graded essay; I did NOT need to see that "2" scrawled at the top of my essay, in which I did get two additional issues right, even if the grader thought I wasted time reiterating the rule about injunctions. (But, but, teacher TOLD us to write down the rule!! What do you mean that wastes time?? Teacher said we'd GET points for that!!)
So I'm definitely now a little freaked out, moody, and, oh yes, freaked out. Back to consolidating my notes on Contracts.
wow, talk about the Mondays
I swear, these Bar/Bri lecturers are some of the WEIRDEST people. Today was yet another "What the . . ." day. Even worse, it was full of insane amounts of repetition and weird voices. And I think we get two more days of this guy.


text:
On Sunset
'A husband is different to a boyfriend. A boyfriend can just go 'bye bye' and leave.'
'Husbands do that too sometimes. It has been known.'
The run up was like this. I was talking about the weather and saying there was snow on the hills near the airport this morning. He replied that there was snow in his country as well. I asked where he was from. He said Armenia.
I asked how long he'd lived in Los Angeles. He said 25 years. I asked whether he liked it. He said 'not so much'. I asked if he thought he would ever go back to Armenia. He said it was impossible, he has three children and six grandchildren now. It's different when you have a family, he said. And anyway, he is used to America now.
'Are you married?'…
The breeze comes through the window and blows dust into my eyes. I watch the street numbers increasing towards my destination. Bits of palm trees blow across the road.
He offers me some gum. I take it. Equilibrium is restored.


text:
Sept 18, 1982: Fresno State 10, Oregon 4
Significant Event: Sept 15 — A federal judge rules in favor of a lawsuit brought by the universities of Georgia and Oklahoma, effectively nullifying the NCAA's stranglehold on college football television rights. The decision allows schools to make their own television deals. The NCAA appeals, saying the decision would lead to disastrous results, such as viewers actually having a choice of games to watch. The case goes to the Supreme Court. The NCAA loses. Reports of televised-football-induced psychosis in the aftermath of this decision are not widespread.
1982, a year that began with a mixture of resignation and trepidation, was literally overlooked by the first expansion at Autzen — the new Stadium Club, perched atop the east rim. The Ducks were on probation — again — for the late-70s grade scandals; there would be no TV or bowl games in 1982, not that either would have been proffered. Highly touted RB Kevin Willhite, possibly Oregon's highest-rated recruit ever at the time, tore his hamstring while being overworked by his high school track coach at a meet in Sacramento, and unexpectedly redshirted. Dwight Robertson, he of the troubled past, had taken a late redshirt in what should have been his senior season in 1981, and was expected to carry the load at tailback.
Coming into town this week was a team that had opened the debacle that was the 1981 season for the Ducks. A team that wouldn't be intimidated in a Pac-10 opponent's house, led by a quarterback who went on to earn honorary mention All-America status, set school records for passing and offense, play six years in the CFL, developed a reputation as a guru of young gunslingers, spent five years as one of Mike Bellotti's offensive coordinators, and then was named head coach at Cal.
Yes, that Jeff Tedford. In 1982, Tedford was a first-year starter for Fresno State as a senior; he was a backup in the FSU win the previous year and didn't see action then, but took over the starting job in mid-season and never gave it up. His favorite target, WR Henry Ellard, went on to enjoy a 15-year NFL career, including eleven seasons with the Rams and three Pro Bowl selections. Ellard set the NCAA season record for receiving yards in 1982 (1510).
Points were hard to come by for Oregon in 1982. Across the river from the Hult Center, the Ducks were smarting after an 18-13 loss to San Jose State. Rich Brooks was playing musical quarterbacks — after starting the season with veteran Kevin Lusk, against SJS he plays freshman Dana Hill for half the game, then announced on Monday he'd be starting Hill against Fresno.
Brooks couldn't be blamed for mixing things up. In a rare bit of scheduling, his team had opened 1982 with three home games, and through the first two, his offense hadn't scored a touchdown. Coming off a 2-9 season, the Ducks had barely drawn 23,000 on Labor Day weekend for the home opener, a 34-3 drubbing by Arizona State in which Brooks played three QBs — Lusk, Hill and Mike Jorgenson — and injured two of them. Lusk started, was replaced by the freshman Hill to no good effect; when Lusk reentered the game, the home fans booed; thus did the fans hail the second coming of Norv Turner. Afterwards, Brooks said "Kevin Lusk is still our quarterback. Obviously, the fans don't agree with that…"
The next week, the turnstiles allegedly rolled up 17,639 for San Jose St, and Oregon's option attack rolled up 174 yards of offense, along with three fumbles, two interceptions and no points; the 13 points were scored on special teams, with Dan Duffy recovering Mike Walter's blocked punt in the end zone, and pre-season Playboy All-American Steve Brown returning another punt 53 yards. The stands were quiet enough that one SJS play, a run that looked to be a touchdown, was blown dead because someone in the sparsely populated Autzen Stadium stands had blown a whistle, stopping the Duck players dead in their tracks.
Oregon had been decimated by injuries after just two games. The wishbone/veer offense had a tendency to chew up players, and by game 3, seven players who started the ASU game on offense were on the shelf.
Brooks spread the blame around.
"The blocking by our backs was atrocious [against SJSU] …We had people who missed practice because of injuries and so forth, but there's no excuse for blocking like that. We also continued to drop passes.. We've just got to do a better job in all areas of our offense. No area is untouchable as far as criticism goes."
All somewhat obvious observations — an offense that's only scored 3 points in 2 games is probably open to criticism on most levels — but it seemed, at least, that after being humiliated at Fresno in the 1981 opener, there was little chance Oregon would take Fresno State lightly.
Anyway, the Ducks were banged up, but fortunately were relatively healthy on defense. They figured they'd be able to slow down the Fresno air attack. But could they score enough points to win?
Well, no. They slowed down Tedford and Ellard, but couldn't score a point, at least on offense.
The final score: 10-4, good buddy.
Tedford finished the game 22-46-2 for 251 yards, outgaining the Ducks by himself. Remarkably, 221 of those yards were in the 2nd quarter alone, when he went 15 for 24, against an Oregon secondary that was not without talent.
Still, Oregon had its chance. Trailing 10-2 with two minutes left, they had a first down on the FSU 10. The ensuing plays were a microcosm of the season:
1 - Lusk runs for five yards on the option. 2nd and goal at the 3.
2 - Lusk throws to FB Terrance Jones in the flat, but short-arms it.
3 - It looks like WR Osborn Thomas is open, but Lusk throws over his head.
4 - This time WR Greg Moser is open. Lusk throws it over *his* head.
Asked why he'd eschewed running the ball, Brooks told reporters he'd been thinking ahead, to getting the ball back and scoring again for the win. Even if the Ducks had converted for two, he wouldn't have settled for a tie.
Oregon's points came via the defense, with Tedford called for intentional grounding in the end zone, and FSU's punter stepping out of the end zone at the end of the game.
This game demonstrated the most basic lesson in all of sports, one that transcends cliche. To win the game, you must score more points than the other team. And through three games, Oregon still hadn't found the end zone on offense.
It wouldn't get any easier the rest of the season. The next game was against #1 Washington. In Seattle. True to form, Brooks changed QBs again, with soph Mike Jorgensen getting the nod this week.
Surprising the small part of the world that was actually paying attention to them, the massive underdog Ducks actually scored not one, not two, but three TDs. More remarkably, it was Kevin Lusk who did the damage. Oregon even led the Huskies in the fourth period, but gagged on its own success, with three late turnovers giving UW the wedge it needed; the Ducks lost 37-21. But at least they'd gotten off the schneid.
Overall, 1982 was a unique mix of pain and suffering, a 2-8-1 season leavened with some bizarre highlights.
There was Gerry Faust, settling for a field goal with 11 seconds remaining, giving 6-1 Notre Dame a 13-13 tie, at Autzen.
Or how about the first win in two seasons over a decent team, 13-7 over Arizona at home in late November before an alleged crowd of 16,480? For the first time in 10 years, Oregon, OSU and Wazzu all won a football game on the same day.
And then, the ritual beatdown of the Beavers, this time in Corvallis; it seemed fitting that the Ducks would only score one touchdown in Civil War 1982, with just 2:32 left in the game, and that was all they needed to win their eighth straight rivalry game.
Trivia: Oregon scored 103 points in 1982, the lowest point total of any 11-game season in team history. To put this into almost absurd perspective, the 2010 Ducks scored their 103rd point early in the 4th quarter of the season's 2nd game.


text:
Primary Care Mortality Database
What is the Primary Care Mortality Database?
The Primary Care Mortality Database (PCMD) holds mortality data as provided at the time of registration of the death along with additional GP details, geographical indexing and coroner details where applicable.
At present, PCMD holds data from 1997 annual to the most recent monthly data extract, which are based on the 2011 census structures. Monthly data is added by the second week of the following month. User access to the data is based on the Upper Tier Local Authority (LA) or Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) structures that they are responsible for.
The PCMD is managed by NHS Digital and is accessed securely using Open Exeter via an N3 connection.
Who is it for?
This data is for use by Public Health analysts in Local Authorities and analysts in NHS Organisations who require deaths data for statistical purposes.
This data can be supplied under:
a) Section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) as amended by section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012); and
b) Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.
Even where access is granted, sharing of Patient Confidential Data obtained from PCMD cannot be passed onto any other organisation, including the NHS, unless that organisation will also be using it for public health statistical purposes and has completed the relevant forms for their organisation with approval from NHS Digital.
What data are available?
The PCMD contains monthly and annual extracts of individual record level data on deaths supplied directly by ONS and includes:
- A single linked dataset including registered GP/practice, patient details e.g. age, causes of death, and NHS number.
- Data that can be extracted by residence or GP practice registration.
- The option to view by the CCG where the deceased was registered, or CCG/ Upper Tier Local Authority where the person resided.
Legal access
These data are supplied to Public Health in Local Authorities and NHS organisations for public health statistical purposes under: Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) and Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.
The Act specifies that the births and deaths information can only be disclosed to health bodies and Local Authorities if either: it consists of statistics or is for the purpose of producing or analysing statistics; and is for the purpose of the performance of functions in relation to public health.
NHS Digital has produced a PCMD factsheet [88kb] to assist in determining whether your organisation can access PCMD data.
How do I access the service?
Instructions for those who have applied for data in the past:
NHS Digital's data release policies have recently been significantly reviewed which means that for the next application cycle (1 June 2017 to 31 May 2018) some changes have been introduced.
You will no longer need to complete the following forms if you are a returning customer after the 2016/17 application:
- ONS Data Access Agreement [254kb]
- ONS Short Declaration of Use form [157kb]
- ONS Short Declaration List [60kb]
- Data Access Request Service (DARS) application form [104kb]
However, you will now be required to login to your DARS online account to renew your DSA and make any updates to these forms. See DARS for guidance.
Instructions for those organisations that are making an application for the first time:
You will need to complete all four forms above (3 ONS forms and the DARS form) but as a new applicant you need to apply directly through DARS. Please see the DARS process page for guidance. The forms need to be emailed to email@example.com in the first instance.
When filling in the DARS form, in Section 2: Summary, please select 'New' as the Agreement Type. Also in Section 3: Datasets held/requested, delete all the information in the first table for Data already held for this project/purpose.
Please fill in your forms as accurately as possible so your application can be processed without delay. We also advise that in order to ensure the smooth processing of your application that you check that you have the following in place:
- Your organisation has a Data Sharing Contract with NHS Digital (if not, then this can be set up).
- Information Governance Toolkit - this needs to be achieved at version 14 and at level 2 (satisfactory).
- A valid Data Protection Act (DPA) registration number.
- A privacy notice explaining that data is being processed by your organisation in fulfilment of its public health function.
- A secure email address (either a nhs.net or a .gcsx.gov.uk email address).
- An N3 connection.
The forms should not be edited as they contain fields which are used in the automated application process. Changes to the fields will result in an error which will delay your application.
If you encounter any problems adding the scanned signatures to the forms then you can put the signatures in a separate document and send them alongside the forms.
If you have any queries on how to complete the forms, then please contact us on: email@example.com or call 0300 303 5678.
Please return completed forms to: firstname.lastname@example.com before the end of July 2017.
Data destruction policy
If you do not wish to make a new application but have received access to data within the last two years, then you are required to complete the data destruction form September 2016 v 03.pdf [113kb].
Please complete and return these forms to: firstname.lastname@example.com before the end of July 2017.
Data Sharing Agreement
Once your application has been approved, the DARS team will electronically send you a Data Sharing Agreement to read through and sign-off. It is not until this is completed and signed by all parties that we are able to grant any access to data.
We will be carrying out data sharing audits to check that our customers are meeting the obligations in their Data Sharing Contract and Data Sharing Agreement.
Encryption of files at rest
A new requirement for access in 2016/17, as stipulated in the ONS Data Access Agreement form in section 10.8, is that record level data files are encrypted to AES 256 standard (e.g. password protected with WinZip V18.5 or later). This only applies to how files containing record level data must be stored at rest. Although a new requirement, this also applies to all record level mortality/births data obtained in previous years, as permission to retain data from previous years is dependent on adherence to the terms and conditions of the active data access agreements.


text:
Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Blue Cheese
In preparation for my triathlon in a couple of weeks, I went for a long run in the rain Saturday morning. To reward myself (and to keep out of the rain) I cooked up a storm the rest of the weekend; Baked Artichoke Dip, S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chicken Burgers (with meat from my grinder), Onion Rings, and these Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms. I don't know if I'm done yet, but my husband uncorked a bottle of wine so I'm pretty sure that means he's done cleaning up my messes for the weekend. I'm not sure why, but I have been craving stuffed mushrooms for awhile now and these definitely satisfied me. The recipe for the mushrooms is below and I'll post the other recipes soon.
4 portobello mushrooms, stems removed
12 oz. of Italian chicken sausage, casing removes and cut up into bite size pieces (If I was really ambitious this weekend I would have made my own, but I used al fresco brand)
1/4 vidalia onion, chopped
3-4 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
2/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 cup blue cheese
olive oil
Preheat grill pan to medium to medium high heat.
Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Add sausage, onion and garlic to skillet, saute for 5-7 minutes until sausage is cooked through. Meanwhile brush mushrooms with olive oil and place on grill pan, cooking each side for 2-3 minutes and then setting aside (keeping grill pan on at medium high heat). Once the sausage is cooked, turn burner to low and stir in bread crumbs, mascarpone cheese, thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. Once that is stirred together, remove from heat and add blue cheese to the mixture.
Assemble the mushrooms, by placing 1/4 of chicken sausage mixture in each mushrooms, and then place on grill. Grill for about 7-8 minutes, until they are heated through.


text: Hello, Riak users. Basho is in the process of switching to a new issue tracker, and we have decided to make much of our development information accessible to the general user and developer community. Not all of our work in progress is in here yet, and some information will remain private, but we hope that this can be a useful means of communication for all about the development direction of Riak. You can find our bugzilla instance at http://issues.basho.com/ Please note that this is not a channel for support or general questions. Our customers have separate systems for support, and general questions work better on this mailing list. The bugzilla should be used for well-defined bugfixes or feature work. If you are interested in following the details of plans and movement of work on the core of Riak, that will become the place to look. Thanks! -Justin


text:
About Me
Multimedia Archive
"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater."
- Gail Godwin
Mall Wars
Darth Vader has a new plan to attack a local area mall. Can Jedi Wolfe, in cooperation with NASA and Discovery, repel this aggression?
Click the 'Play' icon on the T.V. to find out... (Approximate run time: 6 minutes)
Science Class in Puerto Rico
"I have said it to Joy, to your chaperones, that you are jewels, you are beautiful. I hate to go back home tomorrow without you because you have filled my heart with all your greatness, and all your kindess, and all your beauty. You are beautiful!"
- Dr. Gonzalez, in his farewell to the students
Chevy Chase Elementary Memories
The CCES class of 2006-2007.
Pine Crest Elementary Memories
Ya'll ready for this?
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack. -Rudyard Kipling


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There was a lot made of how Notre Dame and Michigan are bringing a close to their rivalry after meeting next year in South Bend, Indiana. Michigan head coach Brady Hoke accused Notre Dame of chickening out of the series, while Notre Dame's Brian Kelly suggested the rivalry was more of a regional rivalry than anything else. Kelly did back off those comments slightly later on, but now Kelly is focusing on this weekend's game against USC.
As a guest on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday Kelly addressed a question about handling the game compared to other games by suggesting USC is Notre Dame's rivalry game. Suggesting every team Notre Dame views the Irish as their rival, Kelly said the USC game is the one game his players look forward to, even saying the fight songs for both schools will get played to play in to the preparation during the week.
Kelly also talked about how USC will be a different team this week compared to the beginning of the season, with the Trojans looking to be a new team under interim head coach Ed Orgeron following the dismissal of Lane Kiffin. Kelly also shared his thoughts on the idea of strength of schedule being a factor in the college football playoff selection process and the committee. As usual, Kelly has a good amount to say about the various topics.
What do you think Notre Dame fans? Is Notre Dame's biggest rival USC, or might it be some other program?


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|Family Law Nina Winter 2001
Family Law Outline
Facts: P is trying to get permit for house for 6 retarded people in a single family zone
Holding: ct said this is not a family under the ordinance
Facts: Ps are unmarried, have 3 kids, they were denied housing
Holding: ct said you can't deny it on basis that they're unmarried. Primary purpose of act is to shelter poor
Facts: group of college kids living in a house
Holding: ct said they were a family under the ordinance
Facts: custody of child
Holding: wife moved kids to commune - where father was not allowed to visit kids. Ct said she delegated her parental authority to the commune
Facts: rent control tenant died, P, guy living there wanted to stay
Holding: ct found for P, looked at factors
B. Constit Prot for Non-Traditional Life Styles
Facts: college kids wanted to live in single family zone, ord had def of family
Holding: ct held against students
C. Access to Dispute Resolving Powers of Judiciary
Facts: P & D lived together for 7 yrs, all prop in his name. P sued to get 1/2 of prop. P said she had oral contract w/D, she gave up her job for him
Holding: ct said p had a case. Lower ct grant of sj was wrong
A. The Extended Family
Facts: housing ord, single family. Grandma had her son & 2 grandkids (not brothers) live w/her. Because they were living w/her, she was convicted of crim offense.
Holding: ct said ord violated dp clause of 14th amend. City argued under Belle Terre, but ct said that ord affected only unrelated indiv. Ct said this is intrusive reg into family (freedom of personal choice). Ord serves goals of city only marginally. Constit protects sanctity of family. Plurality found constit prot for extended family. Dissent: ct should not have used ss here
Facts: issue was custody of 7 yr old boy. Dispute between dad and maternal g.parents. boy's mom & sis were killed in car accident. Dad asked g.p's to take care of son, they took him to CA w/them. Dad remarried, wanted Mark back, they refused.
Holding: ct said Mark was better off w/ g.p's. this case did not arise because dad was unfit. Ct felt g.p's provided better/stable environment. Psychiatrist painted bad Bohemian picture of dad.
Facts: soc services instit proceed in family ct to review foster care of Peter (5 yrs old). No one could care for him, so mom executed & delivered a vol placement agreement to transfer temp custody & auth comm to consent to his adoption
Holding: ct said family ct did not err in denying grandma custody. Ct said there is no stat or judicial pref for idea that a fit member of an extened family takes precedence over adoptive parent selected by agency
Facts: kid's maternal g.ma filed petition for visitation under ga g.parent visit stat, it was opposed by both parents.
Holding: ct found ga stat unconstit violation of state & fed constit. Sup ct has made clear that state interf w/a parent's right to raise kids is justifiable only when state acts in police power to protect kid from harm. State may only impose visit over parental objection on showing that failing to do so would harm kid.
Facts: trust doc, mom needed hospital care, son put her in nursing home, he was named as income benef. Son wanted her to get medicaid, it was refused because she had $, son refused to pay bill, declared bankruptcy
Holding: son was liable for mom's nursing home bills, son was not denied ep or dp. Son could pay from trust assets, ct applied rational basis test, son was just deadbeat
A. Restrictions on who may marry
1. Trad Restrictions - Incest
Facts: H & W married 1/13/83, they got their marriage annulled by ct because they didn't know they were related. Nov 1988, both parties wanted to re-open judgment because W is his half-niece not niece. They challenged stat, remarried in CA
Holding: ct said this marriage is incestuous under stat. Incest is crime in US. Cite Skinner which said brother & sister include 1/2 blood
Facts: william, who is now dead, married widow who had daughter from former husband (who is P here). 1900 wife got divorce from William & 4 yrs later, he married P. William has 4 kids from P (her mom died). P tried to get prop after William died, estate said no, your marriage was incestuous & void.
Holding: this marriage is valid. When william got divorce from p's mom, p was no longer his daughter.
2. Trad Restrictions - Sexual Pref & identity
Facts: 2 females were denied marriage license. Argued 3 constit rights were violated - right to marry, right of assoc, right to free exercise of religion
Holding: ct said marriage between 2 people of same sex is not a "marriage." Ct looks at dictionary def of marriage, marriage has always been considered union between opposite sex. Ct said appellants are not prevented from marrying under ky statute, they are incapable of entering into marriage as that term is defined. What they propose is not a marriage.
Facts: ps are all same sex couples, were denied marriage licenses solely on ground that they were of same sex. Ps challenge constit of HA stat.
Holding: ct said stat was unconstit, it estab a sex-based classif. Sex is suspect category, ss test. D carries burden (heavy). Violates ep of HA constit.
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My illustrations are from Heneage Finch, Earl of Winchilsea's A true and exact relation of the late prodigious earthquake & eruption of Mount AEtna, or, Monte-Gibello (1669) and from a ballad, Mount AEtna's flames, or, The Sicilian wonder (also 1669) written to tell the same marvels to a less polite audience, where I believe that we can see the woodcut engraver doing a down-market version of the Earl's woodcut (just as the ballad itself is entirely indebted to the illustrated pamphlet). Finch had gone to some trouble to get the original drawing done, as his pamphlet explains: "As Your Majesty will see by the draught that I take the boldness to send herewith; it was the best I could get, but hath nothing of the Progress into the Sea [he means, the sight of the lava flowing into the sea itself]; the confusion was so great in the City, which is almost surrounded with Mountains of Fire, that I could not get any to draw one…"
Heneage Finch was Ambassador to
I was therefore interested to find Thomas Vincent's Fire and brimstone from heaven, from earth, in hell, or,
A section like this one following is mainly directly lifted from Finch, with a few biblical references (which might remind us of Milton's conspicuously volcanic hell): "But that which was most notable in these eruptions, was the stream and flood of fire, which in liqued melted matter, gushed forth at the breaches. We read Isa. 30. 33. Of a stream of Brimstone kindled by the breath of God, which runneth in burning Tophet: Such was the stream of Fire and Brimstone which came forth of this burning Mountain, the flames of it were blew like burning brimstone, the coulour of it fiery red, like melted brasse, the motion of it like Quick-silver; this stream (wherein great stones were seem to swim of the bigness of an ordinary Table) coming forth at the sides of the Mountain, ran down like a mighty torrent, and meeting with a Hill devided it self into two currents, which spread themselves, one of them in some places at least six miles in breadth, and was judged to be fifteen yards in depth. In its progresse this stream ran in, upon a
Where Heneage made no comment, Thomas makes propaganda: "Yea, the Image of the blessed Lady of the Annunciata, (so highly reverenced by the Superstitious Papists, unto which many resorted in Pilgrimage from remote parts) was not spared, whatever power the Intercession of that Virgin Lady hath with her Son in Heaven, for persons here upon the Earth, (as the Papists ridiculously fancy) yet nothing could now avail to secure her Image from being swallowed up by this devouring fiery stream; whereby all may see that there was no difference between the stones of that Image, and those of the other buildings in that place which equally felt the force of the fire."
Despite making some allusions to the dismay and panic in London at the 1666 great fire, Thomas feels a Protestant population would have coped better: "Had the Christian religion taken place there in the purity and power thereof, it might have born up the spirits of the sincere, and established Christians against overwhelming fear and amazement in all those storms and danger; no wonder if the blind Superstitious Papists, whose worship is mingled with such vanity and Indolatry, be filled with such dread and horrour, especially the more notorious Sinners amongst them."
Soon he is ranting away (I suspect a certain disappointment with God for making all this smoke without carbonizing a suitable number of sinners): "Sicily hath drunk deep of the Cup of Fornication, which is in the hand of the Romish Whore, and God made some of them drink something of the Cup of his Wrath and Indignation: yea, Sodomy it self is of frequent practice in those parts, and God brings ruine like unto that of Sodom upon their houses by Streams of Fire and Brimstone, though through infinite patience their persons were preserved."
Thomas Vincent does half know that Athanasius Kirchner and Nicholas Steno are establishing what would become geology, but he is having none of it: "Some are of the opinion that there are Fountains of Fire under ground as well as of Water; and that in the bosom and bowels of the Earth, God hath layd up Treasures of this Element, enclosing it in vast Caverns, as in so many Store-houses; which Subterranean Fire they assign to be the cause of hot Bathes, and that Mount Aetna, as also Vesuvius with other flaming Mountains, which Geographers and Travellers tell us are to be seen in all the parts of the World, are the breathing holes of this Fire: but the Scripture is wholly silent of any such work of God there; we read of the Earth, and the gathering together of the waters, and the Fountains of the great deep, but nothing of any Fountains of Fire mingled with either of these Elements; and the laying up of this Element in store, in a place so low, when naturally it tendeth upwards, is not easie to conceive; besides who ever hath descended into the depths of the Earth, to search and find out these depths of Fire?"
Vincent's main purpose was to expound the Christian message of the eruption. His whole book develops a religious pyromania. The Great Fire of London is strongly on his mind; and for him, the Western world seems to be going up in flames: "These late dreadful Eruptions of Fire and Brimstone from
His eagerness to seize on the eruption, and other parts of his book about whether the flames of hell are metaphorical or not, suggest that he is concerned by questioning or outright denial of the existence of hell. Samuel Richardson's A discourse of the torments of hell: The foundation and pillars thereof discovered, searched, shaken and removed. With many infallible proofs, that there is not to be a punishment after this life for any to endure that shall never end (anonymous in 1658, over Richardson's own name in 1660) may have come his way. Etna, thoroughly supernatural in Vincent's account, helps him reinforce belief in the other supernatural flames: his 3rd chapter explains 'That Hell is a place of Fire and Brimstone', then follow the categorical pronouncements of chapter 4:
"Concerning the properties of Hell-fire.
There are seven properties of Hell-fire.
- First, It will be a great Fire.
- Secondly, It will be a dark fire.
- Thirdly, It will be a feirce fire.
- Fourthly, It will be an irresistible fire.
- Fifthly, It will be a continual fire.
- Sixthly, It will be an unquenchable fire.
- Seventhly, It will be an everlasting fire."
This website has other contemporary engravings, at least as vivid as that in Finch, of the 1669 eruption:


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Blue Period — Ikat
According to WikIpedia, Ikat is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye on either the warp or weft fibres. This is a very popular print in textiles and upholstery:
But, if you are anything like me, you probably are more familiar with the ikat fabrics that have been gracing the runway:
I did some research on ikat nails, as all good homemade manicurists do, and I was able to find these super fun ikat nails made by other homemade manicurists:
(by chaoticwithin)
(From refinery29)
(by Mr. Candiipants. You can watch a video for them here.)
Or if you prefer, try this ikat print nail sticker by ncLA:
My inspiration for this next blue manicure, is this amazing ikat dress work by Heidi Klum:
First, here are the tools you will need to complete your ikat nail:
Cover nails in base coats and let dry. Then cover nails in two coats of Sinful Colors' Snow Me White and let dry completely:
Then using a fine tip paint brush and Loreal's Jet Set To Paris, carefully and creatively paint on some fun blue shapes:
I can't really describe the shapes here, so just follow these photos for inspiration:
Make sure these are dry before moving onto the next step, which requires Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in Bright Blue and Black:
Using the Bright Blue pen first, following with the Black pen, make short and small dashes around the larger blue shapes you just painted. Again, I can't really describe this, so just check out the pics. You really cannot mess this us, so just have fun!
Let dry completely, and I mean COMPLETELY, before putting on your top coat. These pens are tricky and they will bleed hours later when applying the top coat. I suggesting going to bed and then applying your top coat in the morning.
Honestly, these are my new favorite nails. I cannot get enough of them!
Special thanks to my hand model, Jana! Meow!
(Proper placement of ikat and baby snow leopard....for effect, of course!)
XOXO- Varnish


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recommendations are to be used after your new diapers have been prepped. More
info on prepping guidelines can be found HERE.
Prepping your new cloth diapers is a very important step as it ensures the
inserts have reached maximum absorbency before use.
General Use Guidelines:
• Shake solids into toilet. (Use a disposable liner or a sprayer to facilitate
• If needed, spray any remaining solids off with a diaper sprayer. (Don't forget
to use your Spray Pal! No muss, no fuss!)
• Important: Unsnap inserts from
• Remove pocket inserts. (*Optional:
most inserts will agitate out during the wash cycle.)
• Place diaper in dry pail with pail
liner or in a large hanging wetbag .
• Once you are ready to wash, start with a cold/warm prewash/rinse or just a
short wash. This is to remove urine and any remaining solids and to prevent
staining. (*If you are using a front loading washer, choose delicate cycle to
allow washer to add the most amount of water possible. Check your washer's
manual to determine if this is the cycle that uses the most water.)
• Follow with a wash cycle on warm with a cold rinse (water temperature cannot
exceed 120 degrees F or 50 degrees C) and the recommended amount of detergent
(see Detergent Recommendations below).
• Finish with an extra rinse on cold. (Most washers have this option that you
can select when you start the wash cycle so that the extra rinse begins right
• Hang dry covers/shells and inserts can be tumble dried on low or medium.
• Bleach is only recommended when
treating yeast in diapers or to disinfect previously owned cloth diapers. Doing a "bleach soak" is never
recommended. When bleach is needed, we recommend starting with clean
diapers and using 1/4 cup in the wash cycle followed by lots of rinses (until
you can no longer smell the bleach).
• The use of wool dryer balls is highly recommended; they can help speed drying
time and fluff up/soften your inserts naturally.
• If you have stains, after washing, place diapers in sunlight. This will help
naturally bleach out the stain.
This list is compiled based on
feedback from our customers. We are not detergent experts. This list is not
definitive and is intended purely as a general guideline. Since ingredients for
detergents are not always readily available, we erred on the side of caution
and chose not include certain detergents on this list.
TIP: Use the recommended amount
of detergent that is recommended by the detergent brand you are using. Aim for
detergents with the least amount of additives.
Econuts (liquid)
7th Generation
Allen's Natural (liquid and
Country Save
Eco's Free and Clear (some
report residue in hard water)
Gain (contains brighteners,
scent and dye)
Molly's Suds
Rockin' Green
Tide Free (contains brighteners)
Tide (contains brighteners,
scent and dye)
***When using any additives such
as bleach or oxygen bleach, make sure you rinse well so that it doesn't eat
away at the fabrics and to avoid any rashes on your little ones sensitive skin.
*** We do not recommend soaking
your cloth diapers. Soaking in caustic detergent or bleach eats away natural
fibers such as bamboo. Soaking in general should be done sparingly and only if dealing
with ammonia build up, repelling, and/or stink.
*** Disclosure: Lalabye Baby
takes no responsibility in the washing of your diapers. This is a recommend
list of detergents compiled from our customers.


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How to move from one state to another
Preparing to move to another state
Moving out of state requires a little more work and planning than moving across town. It involves a longer drive, hiring a moving service and dealing with new utility companies. We've simplified the process to four major steps to make preparing for the move easy. Start by making plans, then work through the rest of the list to take care of everything else.
For more information about planning a move, check out this guide to moving long distance.


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Punctuation marks are essential when you are writing. They show the reader where sentences start and finish and if they are used properly they make your writing easy to understand. This section gives practical guidance on how to use commas, semicolons, and other types of punctuation correctly, so that your writing will always be clear and effective. There are also sections which offer advice on using punctuation when writing direct speech, lists, or abbreviations.
You may find some aspects of punctuation harder to grasp than others (for example, when to use a semicolon or a colon). Clicking on each heading will take you to a page with more details and full information.
Bullet points
Although there are no fixed rules about how to use bullet points, here are a few things you need to consider.
Colon (:)
Those two little dots have three main uses: learn what a colon's job is and where it can be used with our helpful guide. Can you spot how it is being used here?
Comma (,)
Don't struggle with whether or not to use an Oxford comma: our guide will teach you this, plus much more about the humble comma and its many uses.
Em dash (–)
Dashes are often found in informal writing, but how often should you use this punctuation?
Exclamation mark/Exclamation point (!)
The exclamation mark comes in handy in various situations – but are there times you should or shouldn't use it? We explore this controversial punctuation mark.
Full Stop/Period (.)
Don't let your confidence in using a full stop be stopped: take a look at our guide to when this fundamental punctuation mark is needed.
Hyphen (-)
Hyphens can be tricky to use, but there are three times where you should consider using them. This article shows you when to use them, and how.
Inverted commas/Quotation marks
Inverted commas are used for a number of reasons, and also have different names. This guide shows you the differences between them, and how to use them.
Parentheses and brackets ( ) [ ]
Round brackets and square brackets are the two main types of brackets. Read this quick guide to learn how to use them correctly.
One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
In this article we explore how to impress employers with a spot-on CV.