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1. Nicolaus Copernicus "On the Revolutions of [the] Heavenly Spheres" (1543)

2. Galileo Galilei "Dialogues [or Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations] Concerning Two [New] Sciences" (1638)

3. Johannes Kepler Book Five of "Harmonies of the World" (1618)

4. Sir Isaac Newton "The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1687)

5. Albert Einstein "The Principles of Relativity: A Collection of Original Papers on the Special Theory of Relativity" (1922)

I am not certain how easy it is to "capture" HTML to read on the Kindle later but here are some decent translations in English if you want them.

The capitalists try to destoy our memory of Marx

You are completely wrong. Read what Marx himself said before you sprout off about "getting nothing". Isn't being your own boss worth something?

My passport gives detailed instructions on how to give up my American citizenship. One can't become "ungerman" or "unjewish."

For instance, if I tell you my name is Pat Murphy (which it is not), you might /assume/ I'm Catholic. However, I might be protestant, atheist, agnostic or pagan. However, my Irishness is not in doubt.

Similarly, if my name is Saul Bergersteinowitzskimanheimer, it doesn't matter if I show up to Bill Grahm, Jr.'s every Sunday morning. I'm a Jew.

Karl Marx referenced the "final solution" to the "jewish question" decades before Hitler was born. He was an avoid atheist who suggested that Communism, by destroying international capital, would damage the very nature of the Jew and destroy Jews as a people. read here for more info.

However, despite being a "bad Jew," he still makes it into lists of prominent Jews kept by Jewish organizations. Same with Lev Bronstein, aka Leon Trotsky, who changed his name and feigned to be a gentile thereby.

That would suggest that it is something completely and totally different from being American.

As to your point about the Japanese - yes, I am familiar. However, we (Americans) whooped their ass, forced them to submit and now they're more or less harmless. My tax dollars do not go to buy them bombs to use on the Koreans.

However, my tax dollars are going to support a regieme that is racist, militarist and un-democratic, which has an expansionist foreign policy and which commits the type of war crimes that they accused Germany of on an almost daily basis.

Any criticism of their policies is greeted with cries of "naziracistanti-semite! holocaust! 9/11!!" Suggestions that Jews should NOT have their own ethnic state are "racist," while statements saying that Serbs should are ALSO racist? Double standard, I say.

When even Jimmy Carter is called a "nazi" and an "anti-semite" for suggesting that maybe, just maybe, its not fair to use tanks to shoot palestinan kids, then there is apparently no room for intelligent debate.

Fuck Israel.

'Tis a pity he didn't join the other Marx brothers in the entertainment industry. He would have been a great comedic asset to Groucho and company. ;)

M. Proudhon has the misfortune of being peculiarly misunderstood in Europe. In France, he has the right to be a bad economist, because he is reputed to be a good German philosopher. In Germany, he has the right to be a bad philosopher, because he is reputed to be one of the ablest French economists. Being both German and economist at the same time, we desire to protest against this double error.

The reader will understand that in this thankless task we have often had to abandon our criticism of M. Proudhon in order to criticize German philosophy, and at the same time to give some observations on political economy.

Does a Democrat write stuff like this?

The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors", and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment". It has drowned out the most heavenly ecstacies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom -- Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation.

Are these the planks?

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

I don't see any connection here.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

In fact, while income tax is still mildly progressive, there are things like FICA and sales taxes on necessities that pretty much wipe out any progressivity that exists. I wouldn't mind a truly progressive income tax - even if my own ox is gored; the Democrats disagree with me.

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

Hmmm. I don't think you'll find that in the Dems' platforms.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

I have no idea what this refers to in a modern context. Rebels tend to be in prison anyway.

5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

And where is this One True National Bank? Considering how much money political parties get from banks (and Clinton has had a banker or two in his administration as well), no sane party would advocate this.

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in he hands of the state.

Of course, this was written long before radio, TV, or Henry Ford. Do public broadcasting and public transport count? Not really, since they're far from a monopoly. I find both to be valuable, and they could use more funding, but that's not what Marx is talking about; what he talks about exists in the form of commercial broadcasting, which indoctrinates us all into the "American way of thinking" -- i.e. the religion of consumerism and consumption.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

The waste lands and soil part has been done, by both Democrats and Republicans. The other part has never been advocated.

8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Sounds a little like that "workfare" buzzword, eh?

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

Since both parties (Donkey/Elephant) pander to the moats of suburbia, while turning the inner city alternately into guinea pigs and sacrificial lambs (depending on whether it's Guinea Pig Season or Lamb Season), I think this is another non-issue.

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.

Public education -- A Communist Plot! Film at 11! An end to child labor? This is bad? Unfortunately, many of your possessions were made by the hands of kids, and with the blessing of American pols of all stripes. And, of course, both parties (Donkey and Elephant, that is) would like to combine education with the demands of corporations; I myself prefer that institutions of learning be about learning, but the Dems and GOP (and their sponsors) disagree.

So there you have it. It would be nice if those who would demonize Marx -- or call dissenters Marxist -- would actually take the time to read Marx. I started doing just that, as a right-wing adolescent in the 70's; now, thanx to the WWW, I can read him some more. BTW, it's marx.org.

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