The Broadway Melody is a 1929 musical film, the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930. Today the Technicolor sequence is presumed lost and only a black and white copy survives in the complete film. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood’s first all-talking musical.

Writers Norman Houston and James Gleason adapted the screenplay from a story by Edmund Goulding. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont. The score, with music by Nacio Herb Brown and words by Arthur Freed, included the popular hit “You Were Meant For Me”. Bessie Love was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Charles King plays the song-and-dance man whose affection for one sister (Harriet alias Hank) is supplanted by his growing love for the younger, more beautiful sister (Queenie). Queenie tries to protect her sister and derail the love triangle by dating a wealthy but unscrupulous “stage door Johnny.”- excerpts from wikipedia, adapted

Broadway Melody (m. Nacio Herb Brown, w. Arthur Freed) – The song was used again during the opening credits of the unrelated films Broadway Melody of 1938 and Broadway Melody of 1940.

a. Charles King in The Broadway Melody (1929) with Nacio Herb Brown on the piano

b. Ben Selvin & his Orchestra – 1929

You Were Meant for Me (Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed) The provider of the first video below says Scrappy Lambert sang the song in The Broadway Melody. The second recording is by Charles King who may have have also sung it in the film. In the third video below, Conrad Nagel is seen singing the song in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. His voice is dubbed by Charles King. Nagel was one of the two masters of ceremonies in the film, the other being Jack Benny.

The song has been recorded numerous times including a fairly recent one by Sting. It was included in the films Penny Serenade (1942) and  Singin’ in the Rain (1952).

a. Harold Scrappy Lambert in The Broadway Melody (1929)

b. Charles King – 1929. The provider indicates that King sang the song in The Broadway Melody; but I haven’t verified this yet.

c. Charles King dubs the voice for Conrad Nagel who sings to Anita Page in the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

d. Claude Thornhill & his Orchestra – undated

Victims
Charlie (husband, father, shooter)
Fannie, 37 (wife, mother)
Marie, 17
Carrie, 12
Maybell 7
James, 4
Raymond, 2
Mary Lou, 4 months

Only son, Arthur, 16, survived, as he was in town when it happened.

Christmas Murders and the Lawson Christmas Massacre (a very good post on this)

Wikipedia: Charlie Lawson
Lawson Family Massacre
Stokes Folks Recall Holiday Murder
Revisiting a North Carolina tragedy
A MySpace about the documentary

Books
White Christmas-Bloody Christmas: Finally the True Story of the Lawson Family Murders of Christmas Day

Movies/Documentaries
A Christmas Family Tragedy (I have this DVD and recommend it – very nicely done)
A Christmas Family Tragedy (Amazon.com – to purchase DVD)
The Ballad of the Lawson Family:

Next year will be a general election and the country will once again be asked to decide between the main parties on policy, personalities and in particular, the economy.

There’s more at stake in the next few years than in living history for many, but wasn’t that also the case in 2005?

Tony Blair had lied about the reasons for going to war, the unpopular Gordon Brown was publicly waiting in the wings for his moment, and anyone in business could see a recession looming, thanks to the Government’s short-term gains and long-term gambles. Oh, and Gordon had also sold off more than half of our gold reserves, costing the economy billions.

So why didn’t we stand up and act?

Having worked on one particular campaign, I was up all night in 2005, waiting for the result to come in.

As it happens, I was disappointed, and decided to take a stroll. To my amazement, there was only one other light on in the whole street. Clearly, nobody cared enough about who was going to be running our country, even to put the TV on.

So when did people stop caring?

I love this image, taken in Leicester Square, London, on 31st May 1929, as the results of the General Election were announced overhead on ticker tape.

At the time, Britain was on the brink of the Great Depression and the stock market crash, and unemployment was rising following the general strike of 1926. Sound familiar?

The election was also the first under the Representation of the People Act 1928, which widened suffrage by giving women under 30 electoral equality with men for the first time (it was called the Flapper election).

Turnout was 73.6% – and the result, a Hung Parliament.

The “Pluto dome,” as it would come to be called, under construction in 1929.  That’s Stanley Sykes on top, kneeling.

Singin’ in the Rain (m. Nacio Herb Brown, w. Arthur Freed) was published in 1929. However, it is unclear exactly when the song was written with some claiming that the song was written and performed as early as 1927. It became a hit and was recorded by a number of artists, notably Cliff Edwards, who also performed the number in the early musical sound film The Hollywood Revue of 1929. It was also performed on film by Jimmy Durante (in 1932’s Speak Easily) and Judy Garland (in 1940’s Little Nellie Kelly).

The song is probably best known today as the centerpiece of the 1952 musical film Singin’ in the Rain, in which Gene Kelly memorably danced to the song while splashing through puddles during a rainstorm. The song is also performed during the opening credits of the film, as well as in a scene toward the end of the movie, in which Debbie Reynolds’ character sings it while Jean Hagen’s character lip-syncs (although, ironically enough, Jean Hagen dubbed her own character’s dialogue instead of Debbie Reynolds).

It was also recorded by John Serry, Sr. and his sextet ensemble in 1954 for RCA Victor records under the musical direction of Ben Selvin on an LP vinyl disc. Scottish folk rock-singer John Martyn did an acoustic folk jazz-version on his album Bless The Weather in 1971, where he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar and sang several overdubbed backing vocals. – excerpt from wikipedia

Cliff Edwards

a. hit single – 1929

The Brox Sisters in the Singin’ in the Rain number of The Hollywood Revue of 1929

b. Cliff Edwards as Ukulele Ike introduces the number in The Hollywood Revue of 1929. At about 2:25 the chorus is taken up by a male vocal harmony group (offscreen, sounds like a pale imitation of the Rhythm Boys), then by the Brox Sisters, finishing with another chorus by the men.

Dorsey Brothers Orchestra – recorded July 12, 1929. The majority of the photos in the video slide show, if not all of them, are from 1934 or later.

Judy Garland – in the film Little Nellie Kelly (1940)

Gene Kelly – in the film Singin’ in the Rain – 1952

John Martyn – 1971

Mean to Me (Fred Ahlert, Roy Turk)

Ruth Etting introduced this Ahlert/Turk torch song in 1929. Mean to Me had on its flip side the B.G. DeSylva/Lew Brown song “Button Up Your Overcoat” (from the 1929 Broadway musical comedy about championship golf, Follow Through).

The record sold over a million copies and both songs hit the charts: Mean to Me rising to number three and Button Up Your Overcoat peaking at number fifteen. Also in 1929, Helen Morgan’s recording reached number eleven, and in 1937 Teddy Wilson & His Orchestra, with vocalist Billie Holiday, saw their rendition rise to number seven for four weeks. Their version can be heard on The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol. 4 or on the compilation CD, Musical Romance (Billie Holiday and Lester Young).

The Dorsey Brothers–Tommy (trombone and trumpet) and Jimmy (clarinet and alto saxophone)–are featured prominently on several of the earliest jazz versions of this tune from 1929: one, by their own group (Dorsey Brothers Orchestra), then with trumpeter Phil Napoleon’s Emperors, and another accompanying vocalist Annette Hanshaw (videos b. and c. below) – jazzstandards.com

Fred E. Ahlert (19 September 1892 – 20 October 1953) was an American composer and songwriter. He received a degree from Fordham Law School, but instead of pursuing a legal career he began work as an arranger, initially for Irving Aaronson and his Commanders and then for composer and band-leader Fred Waring. Ahlert had his first hit song in 1920, and eventually started his own publishing company in 1928.

His songs have been recorded by numerous artists, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Fats Waller. Ahlert most frequently collaborated with lyricist Roy Turk, but he also wrote with others including Joe Young and Edgar Leslie.

Ahlert was born and died in New York City, where he lived all his life.

Among his compositions (with Roy Turk unless otherwise noted):

• “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do)”
• “I’ll Get By (as Long as I Have You)”
• “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” (with Joe Young)
• “Love, You Funny Thing!”



• “Mean to Me”
• “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home”
• “Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)”

Roy Turk (September 20, 1892 in New York, New York – November 30, 1934 in Hollywood, California) was a U.S. songwriter. A lyricist, he frequently collaborated with composer Fred E. Ahlert – their popular 1928 song “Mean to Me” has become a jazz standard. He also worked with composers such as Harry Akst, George Meyer, Charles Tobias, Arthur Johnston, Maceo Pinkard, and J. Russell Robinson. Turk was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.- wikipedia

a. Ruth Etting (top photo, with dulcimer) – Her 1929 recording introduced the song.

b. Annette Hanshaw (second photo from top) – recorded 20 February 1929

c. Phil Napoleon’s Emperors – 1929

d. Teddy Wilson & his Orchestra with Billy Holiday, 10 May 1937

Buck Clayton, t / Buster Bailey, cl / Johnny Hodges, as / Lester Young, ts / Teddy Wilson, p / Allan Reuss, g / Artie Bernstein, sb / Cozy Cole, d / Billie Holiday, v.

e. Illinois Jacquet – undated

On Tuesday, December 1, 2009, LewRockwell.com featured an article with the headline, “Famine or Gold Standard: Charles Goyette on the choice before us.” The article itself is entitled, “Parallel Universes,” and is a fictional account.

But wait. The U.S. was on a gold standard from 1929-1932. Did that prevent the Great Depression? No, it did not. It didn’t prevent the 20%+ unemployment, the 88% drop in the Dow Jones, nor the 5000+ bank/S&L failures during that period.

The Federal Reserve was to blame, you say? Yes, but only in part. The Federal Reserve existed while the U.S. was on a gold standard. Those two variables are conflated, and therefore, one can’t say with certainty that one was to blame and the other wasn’t, or that one factor was more to blame than the other, unless you measure the effect of each,  independently of the other.

Just You, Just Me (Jesse Greer, Raymond Klages) was introduced in the 1929 MGM film Marianne.

Marianne was only moderately successful at the box office. According to Clive Hirschhorn in Hollywood Musicals, it was “the only musical in the history of the genre in which the leading lady and a pig attempt to upstage one another.”

“Just You, Just Me” has fared much better than Marianne, becoming the most recognized song written by either Jesse Greer or Raymond Klages. The 1929 Cliff Edwards recording was on the pop charts for two weeks, rising to number 13, and subsequently, “Just You, Just Me” was recorded hundreds of times by over one hundred artists.

Lyricist Raymond Klages often partnered with songwriter Jesse Greer. Both wrote many dozens of songs for Broadway and Hollywood musicals during the 1920s and 1930s. – jazzstandards.com

1. Lawrence Gray and Marion Davies in the film Marianne, 1929.

The Brox Sisters were a close harmony vocal group of three sisters. Born in Kentucky and Tennessee, they grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Their real last name was Brock but they appeared on stage as the Brox Sisters. They performed in Irving Berlin’s Music Box Revues of 1921-24. The Berlin song Everybody Step was written for and debuted by the sisters.

In 1925 and 1926 the sisters performed in the Broadway production of Cocoanuts with the Marx Brothers. In 1927 they appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 at The New Amsterdam Theatre with Eddie Cantor. In 1929 they appeared in the film Hollywood Revue of 1929 performing the song “Singin’ In The Rain” with Cliff Edwards. In 1930 the sisters appeared in the film “King of Jazz” in 1930. They performed the song “A Bench in the Park” with Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang and the Rhythm Boys.
- sources: redhotjazz.com (corrected) and wikipedia,

2. The Brox Sisters – in a medley with Hang On to Me also written by Greer & Klages – 1930

3. Lester Young ( tenor sax), Johnny Guarnieri (piano), Slam Stewart (bass), Sid Catlett (drums). Recorded: New York, 28 Dec 1943

4. Johnny Hartman – December 18, 1947 session with Tyree Glenn (trombone), Sanford Gold (piano), Carmen Mastren (guitar), John Simmons (bass), Cozy Cole (drums)

5. A combo featuring Roy Eldridge (Trumpet) & Coleman Hawkins (Tenor Sax) – Carol Stevens vocal

6. Nat King Cole – I don’t yet have a date or band information for either of these Cole recordings. The first video might be the following: A 9/14/56 recording of the song was the first track on the album After Midnight (1957). The personnel for this album — I don’t know if they played on every track — included Harry Edison (trumpet), Juan Tizol (trombone), Willie Smith (alto saxophone), Stuff Smith (violin), Nat King Cole (piano, vocal), John Collins (guitar), Charlie Harris (bass), Lee Young (drums).

The live television performance in the second video has a smaller combo, without brass or wind instruments; only piano, bass, guitar, and drums.

7. Judy Garland – A medley with Who Cares?, written by George and Ira Gershwin (Of Thee I Sing, 1931). The provider just says, “from the Judy Garland Show”.  Just You, Just Me appears to be from Episode 22 of the show, taped February 14, 1964. Interestingly, she wears the same gown as she wore in Episode #1. However, the second song seems to be from at least several years earlier. Garland made numerous television appearances, including several specials, from 1954 on.

According to www.monkzone.com the “Official Thelonious Sphere Monk Website,” the Monk composition, “Evidence,” which was first recorded on July 2, 1948, went by various names, notably “Justice” [i.e. Just us] and “We Named It Justice,” both puns of the song on which it was loosely based, “Just You, Just Me.” - jazzstandards.com

8. Evidence. Thelonius Monk Quartet, Japan – 1963

Dec. 1st:

In 1917, the Rev. Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town in Omaha, Neb.

In 1953, the New York Stock Exchange announced for the first time in history investors could buy stocks on the installment plan.

In 1958, fire swept through the Chicago school of Our Lady of the Angels, killing 93 children and three nuns.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 1, 1967

Dec 3rd:

In 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the 21st state.

In 1833, Oberlin College, the first truly co-educational college in the United States, opened it doors.

In 1929, the Ford Motor Company raised daily wages from $6.00 to $7.00 despite collapse of the stock market.

In 1948, the nation learned that microfilm of secret U.S. documents had been found in a hollow pumpkin on the farm of Whitaker Chambers.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 3, 1962

Image from www.sonofthesouth.net

Dec 4th:

In 1783, George Washington said goodbye to his troops at New York shortly before he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sailed for France to attend the peace conference at Versailles.

In 1942, President Roosevelt ordered the liquidation of the Works Progress Administration, created in 1935 to provide work for the unemployed.

In 1946, the United Mine Workers union was fined $3.5 million and its leader, John L. Lewis $10,000 for refusing to call off a 17-day strike.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 4, 1963

Image from http://depts.washington.edu

Dec. 5th:

In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary.

In 1933, prohibition was abolished with the 21st amendment.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 5, 1962

Image from www.cs.cornell.edu

Dec 6th:

In 1859, John Brown was hanged in the public square of Charlestown, Va., for his raid on Harper’s Ferry. On the way to the gallows, he said of the countryside, “This is a beautiful country!”

Tyrone Daily Herald (Tyrone, Pennsylvania) Dec 6, 1976

OK, how many of you looked at the title and decided it was about the Cubs? It’s OK to admit it. You’re right.

In 1929 the Chicago Cubs made the World Series and faced off against the Philadelphia Athletics (now of Oakland).  The A’s won the first two games at Wrigley, then the Cubs won the third games, the first at Shibe Park in Philly. That set up game 4. The Cubs raced to an 8 run lead and stood a good chance of squaring the series. Then came the bottom of the 7th. The A’s ran off 10 runs in one inning and took the game 10-8. There are a lot of places on line where you can get a blow by blow of the biggest inning in World Series history, so I want to make only a couple of short observations about it. First, Hack Wilson, Cubs center fielder lost 2 balls in the sun (why didn’t they get him an umbrella or something?) that led to the big inning and pinch hitter George Burns made two outs in the inning. As far as I can tell he’s the only man to ever make 2 outs in the same inning in World Series history.

A much less remembered inning in the same series occurred the next game. The Cubs raced to a 2-0 lead and stood ready to get back in the series as the A’s batted in the bottom of the 9th. Pinch hitter Walt French struck out, then Max Bishop singled and Mule Haas parked a two-run home run to tie the game. Catcher Mickey Cochrane grounded out, followed by an Al Simmons double. The Cubs intentionally walked Jimmie Foxx to set up a force at each field base, then pitched to Bing Miller. Miller promptly doubled, sending Simmons home with the run that won both the game and the series.

So twice two days apart (there was no game on Sunday), the Cubs had a World Series game victory sewed up and let both games slip away in a single inning.

What is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter) – (wikipedia excerpts, adapted) Cole Porter wrote this song for the musical Wake Up and Dream (1929).The revue opened in London while Porter’s Paris was still running on Broadway. Producer Charles B. Cochran asked Porter to write the score, even though in their previous dealings Porter had treated him with some discourtesy. Opening on December 30, 1929, the production was the last to open on Broadway in the 1920s. The chord progression of the song forms the basis of several jazz compositions, such as:

• “Hot House” by Tadd Dameron
• “Barry’s Bop” by Fats Navarro
• “Subconscious-Lee” by Lee Konitz
• “Fifth House” by John Coltrane

a. Leo Reisman & his Orchestra – 1930

Above, Artie Shaw & his Orchestra in the 1939 Vitaphone short called Symphony of Swing

b. Artie Shaw & his Orchestra featuring Mel Tormé – 1939

c. Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra – jazz standards mentions the significance of Dorsey’s recording in reviving interest in the song. The give the year as 1942, while the youtube provider says this version, with vocals by Connie Haine, was recorded on 27 June 1941. The band included

Charlie Peterson, Manny Klein, Ziggy Elman, Jimmy Blake(tp)
Tommy Dorsey, George Arus, Dave Jacobs, Jimmy Skiles(tb)
Fred Stulce, Manny Gershman(as)
Heinie Beau, Don Lodice(ts)
Bruce Snyder(bs)
Milt Raskin(p)
Clark Yocum(g)
Phil Stevens(b)
Buddy Rich(ds)

Frank Sinatra – 1955

Since we are so far removed from the past, often it is hard to imagine why something was so significant at a certain time, e.g. just how much of an impact the Lake Champlain Bridge had on the lives of citizens, the economy of New England and New York, and technology.  And even if you are a history buff or a preservationist, stepping into history can help to understand the significance of a structure, building, or event.

Watch the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s short film titled, The Champlain Bridge. There is a short introduction and then wonderful footage from opening day on August 26, 1929. It is only about 7 minutes in length and worth your time.

Gli americani sono un popolo straordinario. A fronte dell’indubbia capacità che hanno (e che noi italiani non abbiamo quasi più) di indignarsi orgogliosamente quando qualcosa non va loro a genio, a fronte della loro innata vis polemica, a fronte del loro naturale libertarismo un po’ anarchico (e spesso assurdamente reazionario), i cittadini a stelle e strisce pagano inevitabilmente dazio quando si considerino altri aspetti della vita sociale e della politica. In poche parole, sono facilmente suggestionabili, se si sanno toccare i tasti giusti; sono quasi tutti caratterizzati da una componente ideologica molto forte nelle loro strutture di pensiero, che il più delle volte sfocia in visioni totalizzanti e manichee del mondo che li circonda (vedi la guerra al “terrore”, vedi la paura della Cina, vedi gli scontri frontali sulle armi e sul socialismo); ed infine sono anche molto pazienti nei confronti di chi li governa, nel senso che perfino negli U.S.A. è difficile non essere rieletti, una volta al potere, a meno di non iniziare ad indossare una kefiah o un colbacco.

E’ però interessante notare come questo essere eternamente snobbati li abbia, alla lunga, un po’ fiaccati nell’orgoglio, tanto da tramutare quel libertarismo di cui parlavo in disinteresse vero e proprio, non “contro” ma “via” dallo Stato.

L’amministrazione Obama, in compenso, ce la sta mettendo tutta, nel bene e nel male, anche se poi magari ci sembra un po’ sterile nel raggiungimento di obiettivi concreti, nel riattivare una dialettica accesa (tavolta perfino incendiaria e violenta) nel paese. Come ci riesce? Nel bene è semplice: basta tornare a parlare dei grandi temi che Bush aveva messo nel cassetto, dalla riforma sanitaria all’ambiente, dall’assistenza alle famiglie (la temuta “minaccia rossa“) alla collaborazione internazionale. Nel male, se possibile, è ancora più comodo: è sufficiente nominare Geithner, ex presidente della Federal Reserve, a ministro del Tesoro e fargli approvare un piano di salvataggio degli istituti bancari che ha scandalizzato tutti quanti pensavano che Obama in primo luogo si sarebbe occupato dei cittadini (Main Street) e non dei colossi (Wall Street), come più volte ripetuto in campagna elettorale. Quando per esempio è venuto fuori, ad inizio 2009, che l’AIG avrebbe pagato 218 milioni di bonus ai suoi dipendenti della divisione finanziaria, giusto dopo aver ricevuto dal governo buona parte di quella cifra, si è scatenata un’ondata di malcontento popolare che forse qui in Italia nemmeno abbiamo mai visto. Inoltre, da un’inchiesta condotta dall’incaricato dello stato di New York, Thomas diNapoli, risulta che, mentre dal 2003 il salario medio di un’operaio impiegato in una qualsiasi industria del territorio è aumentato del 20%, quello di un “operaio” di Wall Street ha avuto un incremento del 73%. 

Tutto questo per dire che la situazione americana è un po’ una polveriera pronta ad esplodere, finchè l’edificio che si trova al numero 18 di Broad Street a New York continuerà a farsi gli affari suoi mentre i lavoratori perdono il loro impiego e la concorrenza industriale cinese incalza.

Proprio nel merito di questa particolare congiuntura, si situa la notizia, sbandierata un po’ ovunque, sugli affari record della Borsa nel secondo quarto del 2009, un vero e proprio toccasana della benzina sul fuoco. Avendo buona memoria, infatti, l’ultima volta che negli Stati Uniti c’è stata una ripresa così subitanea da una condizione di crisi, è successo più o meno questo:

Era un giovedì, 24 Ottobre, e il crollo del NYSE che si stava verificando fin dalla mattina veniva contenuto da una riunione dei più potenti finanzieri americani alla J.P. Morgan and Chase (ancora loro), che stigmatizzavano l’improvviso panico e con “azioni coraggiose” placavano la discesa della borsa. Quando tutto sembrava tornato alla normalità, il Lunedì 28 Ottobre del 1929, alla riapertura, iniziava il Big Crash che tutti ricordiamo.

Facendo le debite proporzioni, considerando cioè una dilatazione dei tempi necessaria dopo 80 anni di crescita più o meno incontrollata (non pochi giorni, quindi, ma mesi), questo improvviso rialzo mette un po’ paura, non credete?

D.Piselli

Andrew Kliman: Contradictions of Capitalist Value Production: Internal, Inevitable, Insuperable

Alan Freeman: How Did 1929 End?

Radhika Desai: The Demand Problem in the Current Crisis

David Calnitsky: Capitalist Competition, Self-Organization and Crisis

Brendan Cooney: Crisis, Value and Marx’s Order of Operations

This is video from a roundtable on the economic crisis held during this year’s Rethinking Marxism conference in Amherst Mass. Each panelist’s presentation stands on its own so they need not be viewed in any specific order.  A brief bio proceeds each video as well as my own short summary of their argument. This is merely to help viewers decide what to watch and to give some brief context for the uninitated. The paper which my own talk is based on will be linked beneath my video.

Andrew Kliman is a professor of economics at Pace University in New York. He is a leading figure in the Temporal Single System Interpretation (TSSI) which seeks to refute various claims of inconsistency within Marx’s value theory. His book “Reclaiming Marx’s Capital” is an important work in the field. I have discussed these ideas in my video “What Transformation Problem?”. I have posted an interview with Kliman from April of 2009. The TSSI also has important implications over debates as to the validity of Marx’s theory of the Tendency of the Rate of Profit to Fall. Kliman has just completed some important empirical research into the origins of the current crisis which claims that the profit rate has been falling since the 1940’s and that this long-term decline in profit rate sets the context for understanding this crisis. Kliman’s paper for the Rethinking Marxism conference connects the theory of the falling rate of profit to the contradiction within the commodity form itself, between the use-value and exchange value of a commodity. He then meditates on the political implications of such an understanding of capitalist crisis.

AlanFeeman works as an economist for the Greater London Authority and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Manitoba. He and Andrew Kliman edit the journal “Critique of Political Economy”. He and panelist Radhika Desai co-edit the book series “The Future of World Capitalism”. Freeman is an influential figure in the TSSI field. You can find his papers at his website. In this talk Freeman extends his critique of contemporary marxist academia into a critique of the way in which the concept of an economic “law” is understood. Seeking to distance Marx from positivist conceptions of law Freeman invites us to think about the way in which free will and human action are brought to the foreground during a crisis, requiring great, potentially violent, exogenous acts in order to restore capital accumulation. As far as I know Freeman has not published any papers on this topic yet though you can hear him speaking about similar matters at his Left Forum talk. If you write to him he might be able to send you a finished draft of this paper.

Radhika Desai is professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba. As well as fore-mentioned collaborations with Alan Freeman, she is author of “Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics” and “Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party”.  Interested viewers might check out her article Neoliberalism Self-Destructs and her inteview on Against The Grain on the topic of imperialism. Desai is a defender of Keynes and sees him as presenting a more radical critique of capitalism than is usually acknowledged. See Desai and Freeman’s “Keynes and the Crisis” for more on this angle. Her paper in this panel follows in that spirit, arguing that a full understanding of this crisis is not possible without addressing problems of effective demand. The relevance of the demand problem is much debated among Marxists so viewers may want to pay extra attention to her argument.

David Calnitsky is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is one of the people behind the fantastic website “Radical Perspectives on the Crisis” which I highly recommend. Calnitsky’s paper was a critique of the “Monthly Review school” and their theory of crisis. This is a theoretical tradition associated with Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy and their notion that in the 20th century capitalism entered a monopoly stage which differed in key ways from the competitive capitalism of Marx’s time. Monopoly prices meant that the law of value did not hold in the same way and that capitalism’s crisis came, rather than from a falling rate of profit, from long stagnation caused by underconsumption. Calnitsky’s paper deals less with a critique of underconsumption and more with a critique of the notion of monopoly used by the Monthly Review school.

Brendan Cooney is the handsome author of this blog. The text of my paper is here.

It’s a long, steep climb up and over the Union Pacific Railroad at Cambray, Luna County, New Mexico. Providing the thrill is a timber, steel and concrete viaduct — the Cambray Overpass. But the thrill may end, as the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) contemplates replacing the 80-year-old bridge.

Crossing the Railroads

Constructed in 1929-30, the overpass was built as part of a program to eliminate dangerous railroad crossings in New Mexico — to separate highway traffic from fast-moving freight trains.

The unhealthy mix of automobiles and trains first came to the public’s attention in 1921, when a study revealed 7,000 fatalities had occurred that year at rail crossings across the United States.

In 1924, the first National Conference on Street and Highway Safety recommended state highway departments make the elimination of hazardous grade crossings a top priority. By 1927, at least 19 states had formed agreements with railroad companies to build grade separations.

Starting in 1926, the New Mexico State Highway Department worked with the railroads crossing the state to realign tracks and construct new underpasses and overpasses to eliminate the problem.

Each year the program set a goal of eliminating bad grade crossings, removing 47 in 1929 alone, and building 25 major grade separations between 1926 and 1934. Nationally, 385 hazardous railroad crossings were eliminated in 1929.

The overpasses were often built at a skew to allow passage for freight trains. To provide the extra horizontal clearance, the piers of the Cambray Overpass were arranged at 45-degree angles.

But during its first seven decades of operation, it only crossed one track —the Southern Pacific — and now spans the double tracks of the Union Pacific.

A Sturdy Crossing

The 229-foot-long bridge rests on braced timber bents and huge concrete piers arranged at a skew. Smoke guards, coated rusty brown, protect the deck from errant sparks. Old telegraph lines of the Western Union pass under its east span. Its steep approaches are humped; their shoulders covered with native vegetation.

Started at the onset of the Great Depression, the Cambray Overpass — the fifth grade separation to be built under the program — cost a total of $47,602. Its completion contributed to a program to improve U.S. 80 across New Mexico.

Begun also in 1929, the program paved the roadbed with asphaltic oiling, eliminated sandy stretches and bypassed earlier alignments, upgrading the highway for cross-country travel.

The highway, finished in 1931, became the first hard-surfaced highway in New Mexico, six years ahead of Route 66.

For years the overpass carried the transcontinental traffic of U.S. 80 as well as the Old Spanish Trail, Borderland and Broadway of America highways, giving passengers a high view of the surrounding desert scenery below.

But the construction of Interstate 10 to the north changed everything, diverting traffic and drying up tiny Cambray to its current state of one inhabited house.

Bypassed for over 40 years, the overpass serves a local and sparse population of ranches in western Dona Ana and eastern Luna counties.

One can drive this stretch and never see another living soul. Yet, according to NMDOT statistics, over 800 vehicles cross the bridge daily.

Bridge Threatened

In 2002 the NMDOT determined the overpass eligible for listing the National Register of Historic Places at the state level of significance. They noted the structure was the oldest railroad overpass in the state and remained in good condition.

But its virtually unaltered design is also what threatens its future.

While a 2007 bridge inspection report found the overpass in fair condition, requiring no immediate action, NMDOT considers it structurally deficient — it is narrow and steep and does not meet current standards of road geometry.

Adding to this, the Union Pacific Railroad wants additional vertical and horizontal clearance, which could require demolishing or greatly altering the overpass.

If replaced, so will go one of the last 1920s highway bridges in New Mexico and the thrill of driving up-and-over the railroad.

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BERNALILLO, NEW MEXICO

The New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance announced the listing of the Cambray Overpass to its 2009 “Most Endangered Places in New Mexico” designation. The alliance advocates protecting New Mexico’s heritage, especially places it considers imminently threatened.

More than 60 places have been recognized as endangered since the program started in 1999. The bridge joined the Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo, the Luna-Otero Mansion and fence in Los Lunas and the De la O Saloon and Village of Doña Ana in Doña Ana.

Built in 1929-30, as part of a project to improve U.S. Highway 80 (the Old Spanish Trail and Broadway of America highways) across New Mexico, the overpass carried automobiles over the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) railroad for decades, until bypassed by Interstate 10.

Despite its current light use, the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) considers the bridge outdated and plans to replace it. Adding to the pressure, the Union Pacific seeks additional clearance for its trains, threatening the bridge’s future.

Radian Engineering of Santa Fe, New Mexico is conducting a study of the overpass for NMDOT. The study will result in a report proposing alternatives for the structure, including a potentially “no-build” option, though replacement is expected. At the same time, Radian, Parametrix, an Albuquerque-based consulting is preparing a historical study on the overpass and the village of Cambray. The study will be available to the public.

With the recent demolition of Bridge 8, an early Route 66 bridge north of Bernalillo, New Mexico, the Cambray Overpass moves to the position as one of the oldest “on-system” highway bridges in New Mexico.

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