The Real Orwell

Today's news made me think about George Orwell, something that happens quite frequently because he was so prescient in his clear-eyed analyses of how the world works.  Although many--especially Cold Warriors- have sought to co-opt Orwell for themselves, one of his great attributes is his endless ability to make those who would seek to adopt him for their ism look narrow-minded and foolish.

I thought of Orwell when I read about how a number of European apparel manufacturers have stepped up and provided large funding for efforts to help the Bangladeshi workers left bereft by the fire at the factory where they worked under obviously substandard conditions.  At the same time, our U.S. buyers of the goods made there--Walmart, Sears, and others--have seized on legal fictions to avoid assuming any responsibility, probably advised by the ever-vigilant members of my own legal profession not to give anything lest that be regarded as confessing culpability.

What does Orwell have to do with this?  The next time someone preaches to you about how capitalism is the engine that makes our society work, think about this example of how capitalism takes from the poor to make the rich richer. Orwell was wise to this truth, something he learned from intensive investigation he conducted by going to live with workers in the English town of Wigan. His stay there produced his classic account, The Road to Wigan Pier.

Orwell of course has some credibility because he also demolished the pretensions of those who defend communism and even many brands of socialism in Animal Farm. And he portrayed a dim view of our future under an authoritarian state--it's never quite clear whether it's capitalist or communist, or some approximation--in the classic Nineteen Eighty-Four.

We've all been pleased at the fall of communism almost everywhere, but this earth change blinded us to the evils of capitalism.  So the U.S. is paying now--or at least everyone but the 1% is--for our allowing the capitalists to weaken, if not almost eliminate, labor unions as a counter-pressure. The capitalists support the right-wing economists who emphasize deficits rather than unemployment as the principal economic problem of our time. Only now are we beginning to see how correct Paul Krugman has been in pointing out that austerity was a disaster, again except for the top 1% who profited from it.

But we could have learned all this from Orwell, who's often seen as the preeminent political philosopher of our age.  Capitalism must be regulated in the interests of the greater population who otherwise will be left with nothing.  See how we have permitted corporate America to wreck our pension system and anything resembling a true safety net.

And take note who the villains are in Bangladesh.  The small-time operators who created the conditions for the equivalent of the Triangle fire were in business because the American apparel makers--likely insulated by several corporate shells or layers--wanted to do business with them at the lowest possible cost. Lay the blame where it belongs--with the Walmarts and Tommy Hilfigers and all the famous labels and discount marts that are so beloved by American consumerism.

The Kennedy Mystique

So now, with the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination nearly upon us, we are being subjected to a fusillade of re-evaluations and reassessments, even some sober second thoughts. There's always been a world of Kennedy skeptics (not to mention haters) out there, looking to torch any Camelot-like remembrances. And the impact of Kennedy's presidency is being diminished by emphasis on the slim amount of legislation passed during his time in office--actually, it probably looks better in this age of total deadlock on the Hill.

As usual, the pundits and the professors are missing the point. Kennedy's impact could not be measured after his death in terms of enacted legislation or other such metrics. It still can't. Memory of JFK is not some gauzy phantasma. Today it seems tempting to take him down a peg for his amazing charm but he understood most of all that it was part of his stock in trade.

To me, two important points need to be stressed in any discussion of Kennedy's impact on the U.S. and the world. First, recent analyses of the Cuban missile crisis credit Kennedy with being the only power able to restrain what were then our even more bloodthirsty generals and admirals who were hell bent on bombing Cuba and possibly bringing on a nuclear world war.  Those guys--yes, they were all guys, of course--still believed a nuclear war could be fought and won. Or that if we had one person or city standing more than the Soviets did, we would have been the winners.

Today's reassessment in the New York Times referred to a remark by Dean Acheson that Kennedy was "damned lucky" that the crisis ended well. And others blamed Kennedy for showing weakness,ultimately bringing down Khrushchev because the latter blinked first, and then even for the resulting Soviet military buildup.  In reality, Kennedy and one Soviet submariner who held his comrades back from attacking were the only ones--joined ultimately by Khrushchev--who tried to defuse the situation along with eliminating the missile threat in Cuba.  Acheson--despite his earlier successes as Secretary of State under Truman--had become one of the hawks; he had no business criticizing Kennedy for accomplishing what he didn't even conceive of trying.

Second, it is misguided at best and craven at worst to put down Kennedy's positive impact on the outlook of America's citizenry, especially what was then the younger generation. Kennedy did inspire a generation toward public service. He did make people feel that things could get better. He had a magical quality of bringing out the best in people. Many of us only appreciated how rare this was when we saw that no president since then has had that quality and that orientation.

The only one who came close might be classed as his evil twin, Ronald Reagan, who succeeded in convincing all too many misguided souls that government was the enemy.  Lyndon Johnson could have been much greater had he resisted the call of Vietnam.  Both he and Nixon were skilled at getting programs enacted into law. Yet both are recalled poorly because of the huge disasters their warped personalities brought on.

Things got even worse. Bush Junior was the rock bottom of the trend toward inequality and caring only for the rich and powerful. Carter and Clinton played ball much too closely with the Wall Streeters who affected Democratic (and democratic) guises. You know how bad things have become when Nixon's administration starts to look good, which with regard to much domestic policy, it does. Yet Nixon began the process of conservatizing the Supreme Court. That, by the way, was one of Kennedy's weak points--he was too enamoured of Byron White, the jock, and made the mistake of putting him on the court instead of a real progressive.

But Kennedy inspired a generation. None of the pygmies who claw at his memory can take that away. No one may agree with all that he did--even if the evidence that he wanted to stay out or get out of Vietnam grows stronger. He was a rare good result of our electoral process. Would that we had his like to elect today.

20 Places You Once Knew as a Real New Yorker

A friend recently posted a compilation of 20 Places You Remember in NY if You're Over 40. This prompted yours truly to come up with 20 others that take anyone still alive way way back. So here goes:

Twenty things that mean you were a New Yorker from way back:

 

     1.      Stopped off to have coffee after a movie at the Tip Toe Inn on W. 86^th St

2.      Took the Third Avenue El from Chatham Square all the way up to the Bronx (Gun Hill Rd. was the last stop)

3.      Celebrated your birthday with a sundae at Jahn’s (pronounced Jan’s) at one of several locations—I remember the ones on Kingsbridge Rd., Bronx, and Springfield Blvd., Bayside, Queens

4.      Saw an opera from one of many side-view seats (at any level) of the old Metropolitan Opera House at 39^th St. & Bway which meant you only saw half the stage

5.      Recall using the coin-operated dispensing windows at one of the many Horn & Hardart Automats to get a sandwich, a piece of pie, macaroni and cheese, or baked beans

6.      Saw the Dodgers and Giants play (preferably each other) at either the Polo Grounds (Manhattan) or Ebbets Field (Bklyn)

7.      Took one of the last trolley cars that operated within city limits, either the Yonkers #1, 2, or 3, which ran from Getty Sq., Yonkers, to the subway terminal at 242^nd St., Van Cortlandt Park, or the A or B trolley from Mt. Vernon to 241^st St, White Plains Rd., Bronx

8.      Saw someone off at a bon voyage party on the United States, the Queen Mary, or the France from a North River pier

9.      Managed to catch the Lunts (Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne) the last time they appeared on a Broadway stage, in Duerrenmatt’s The Visit

10. Watched CCNY win both the NCAA and NIT in 1950 (only team ever to take both the same year—now impossible to match)

11. Rode on the Lehigh Valley’s Black Diamond to upstate N.Y., perhaps Ithaca,. leaving from grand old Penn Station

12. Enjoyed Manhattan clam chowder at Lundy’s, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, one of two spots with the finest – the other remains the Grand Central Oyster Bar

13. Took the elevator to the top of the (still standing but hopelessly defunct) N.Y. State Pavilion at Flushing Meadow, site of the 1964-65 World’s Fair (also the 1939-40 one, but not that pavilion)

14. Dined at one of the three famed (not always worthy of any stars) eateries of the old Jewish Lower East Side—Ratner’s, Rappaport’s, or Moscowitz & Lupowitz

15. Got loaded at McSorley’s on E. 7^th St when it was N.Y.’s last men-only (but not gay) bar

16. Took the B&O Railroad’s crack train, the Royal Blue, from the Jersey Central’s Jersey City terminal—the B&O ran buses from Grand Central and Herald Sq that pulled right up onto the departure platform in Jersey City

17. Danced the night away at the glorious Rainbow Room atop NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza—where the best view from the 65^th floor was from the men’s room

18. Took your date to see one of Julius Monk’s clever revues at Upstairs at the Downstairs, usually starring the great Ronnie Graham

19. Made it to a movie at the most fabulous rococo palace, the Roxy

20. Saw the Knicks play for peanuts at the old 69^th Regiment Armory—with Harry Gallatin, Sweets Clifton, Dick McGuire, and Carl Braun