Tag - 1975

Their Victory is Our Victory

Through our struggle in science we have come increasingly to realize that alongside the peoples of Indochina we have a common enemy — the system of monopoly capitalism in its imperialist stage. We have come to recognize the use of science to provide the ideological justification of racism, sexism and exploitation as...

Five Years of Science for the People: A Political Analysis

The following is a political analysis which views the history of Science for the People as a history of struggle. Consistent with this analysis, it stresses certain struggles as the most important and raises key questions. It combines information which is not generally available with personal recollections and...

Small is Beautiful as a Book and as a Bum Steer

The following is a review of a book which tries to be about building a nonviolent alternative society, an idea that, unfortunately, seems to have special appeal to technically trained people, who have rebellion in their hearts. The book is Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher. After dealing briefly with the book...

Vietnam Rebuilds: Dialectics and Diodes

What we learn from Vietnam (not only directly from Vietnam, but from the fact of working together for Vietnam) is useful in our everyday political activity, modifies our relation to scientific work, opens a new, critical frame for our past experiences as scientists. It gives us a number of new dimensions in which to...

Science Teaching Column — Plants: Food for Thought

We gave this course because MIT has no regular course in plant biology, because we had some new teaching ideas, and because we wanted to discuss technological and political aspects of the world food crisis. Since we are at an elite institution and we were teaching under informal circumstances we had various advantages...

Detente: Superpower, SuperSham

Detente is a policy on the part of the superpowers to suppress genuine liberation movements, and revolutionary movements, to better manage and exploit the working classes of their own countries, and to carve out spheres of interest between the two of them throughout the world. 

Women’s Work in Vietnam

Women's participation has been essential to reconstruction efforts after the Viet Nam War, during which they have made enormous strides towards their own liberation.

The XYY Controversy (Continued)

In late 1973, people in the Boston area who heard about our group began to give us some details about a study being conducted at the Boston Hospital for Women. In this study the researchers were screening all newborn males for the XYY karyotype and then following the XYY children to detect any “psychopathology” =...

Science vs. Ethics

Does an increase in scientific and technological knowledge have to result in the destruction of human lives and seemingly irreparable damage to the environment? The answer given by many seems to be "yes". We seem to be faced with the dilemma of having but two unpalatable alternatives: either dismantle modern...

Imperialism: The Common Enemy

With recent victories in Indochina and struggles for liberation around the world gaining strength and momentum, one can't help but look for a common element to link these struggles together. Imperialism is often recognized as an exploitative force in the Third World, but little is understood about the effects of...