Everyone believes in rights. Everyone believes that rights should be taken seriously. But what precisely are rights, and what does it mean to take them seriously? Take the simple assertion: I have a right to do (or not to do) …
On the surface, the big business program for the 1970s is much easier to understand than its acceptance by much of mainstream liberalism and the public at large. From the early ’70s onward, such corporate-connected strategists as John Connolly, William …
Taking Rights Seriously, by Ronald Dworkin. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 293 pp. The Practice of Rights, by Richard Flathman. Cambridge, London, New York and Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. 250 pp. Everyone believes in rights. Everyone believes that rights should …
As Cuban-American relations move toward normalization, Pierre Golendorf’s account of his experiences in Cuba and its prisons from 1967 until his expulsion in 1974 offers a sobering perspective on the “success” of the Cuban revolution. A French Communist, Golendorf moved …
The Sentence Twenty-four names, written in close-set characters, appear on an official poster of the regional Public Security office. Eight are the names of persons condemned to death. The others are the names of people sentenced to prison terms ranging …
Motto: “Learn to read and to write so that you may be relieved of labor and become an official with honor. The scribe is a master. His writing pad distinguishes him from the humble oarsman.” —An Egyptian father to his son, about …
The coal strike of 1977-78 resulted in a serious defeat for the United Mine Workers’ Union. After a remarkable display of solidarity, the miners returned to work on March 27 dissatisfied and discouraged. The final contract gave them a 37 …
An American living in England after a while begins to notice certain events and institutions, trivial or profound, that seem to add up to a distinctive social pattern. • In American suburbs and even in many cities today the center …
Now I know why I flunked the test given by Vivian Gornick at lunch in a Chinese restaurant. It turned out that she was screening me for an interview to be used in a book she was writing on the …
What this nation can become will be influenced, though not fully determined, by the ways in which we think about ourselves as people. With a people as with a person, it is a sign of wisdom and maturity to understand …
Socialism: The Highest Stage of Individualism Socialism strives to abolish exploitation and inequality. It seeks a society where merit and character are the only marks of distinction; where economic resources are controlled by public agencies, themselves under public scrutiny; where …
Editors: A few observations on the discussion of pornography in your Spring 1978 issue (“The Problem of Pornography,” by Murray Hausknecht, with comments by Lionel Abel, George P. Elliott, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Irving Howe, and David Spitz). With regard to …
Beyond the welfare state lies the terra incognita we call socialism. It lies there more by assumption than by reconnaissance, for no one has yet observed this socialism in reality: perhaps it will turn out to be a New Atlantis, …
This article originally appeared in Yellow River, a magazine published in Hong Kong by Dormer Red Guards. The magazine is recognized as reliably informative, and in a note accompanying this piece the editors state that they vouch that: “What is related here conforms …
Editors: A few observations on the discussion of pornography in your Spring 1978 issue (“The Problem of Pornography,” by Murray Hausknecht, with comments by Lionel Abel, George P. Elliott, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Irving Howe, and David Spitz). With regard to David Spitz’s piece, surely Milton …
