Karl Korsch 1934 Why I am a Marxist

https://www.marxists.org/archive/korsch/1934/why-marxist.htm

Instead of discussing Marxism in general I propose to deal at once with some of the most effective points of Marxist theory and practice. Only such an approach conforms with the principle of Marxian thought. For the Marxist, there is no such thing as ‘Marxism’ in general any more than there is a ‘democracy’ in general, a ‘dictatorship’ in general or a ‘state’ in general. There is only a bourgeois state, a proletarian dictatorship or a fascist dictatorship, etc. And even these exist only at determinate stages of historical development, with corresponding historical characteristics, mainly economic, but conditioned also in part by geographical, traditional, and other factors. With the deferent levels of historical development, with the different environments of geographical distribution, with the well-known differences of creed and tendency among the various Marxist schools, there exist, both nationally and internationally, very different theoretical systems and practical movements which go by the name of Marxism. Instead of discussing the whole body of theoretical principles, points of view in analysis, methods of procedure, historical knowledge, and rules of practice which Marx and the Marxists for more than eighty years have derived from the experience of proletarian class struggles and welded together into a united revolutionary theory and movement, I shall, therefore, try to single out those specific attitudes, propositions, and tendencies which can be usefully adopted as the guide to our thoughts and action today, here and now, under the given conditions which prevail in the year 1935 in Europe, in the US & in China, Japan, India, and in the new world of the USSR In this way the question ‘Why I am a Marxist’ arises, primarily, for the proletariat, or rather the most developed and energetic sections of the proletarian class. It can be asked, also, for sections of the population which, like the declining strata of the middle-classes, the newly arisen group of managerial employees, the peasants and farmers, etc do not belong either to the ruling capitalist or to the proletarian class so-called but may associate themselves with the proletariat for the purpose of a common struggle. The question may even be raised for such parts of the bourgeoisie proper, whose very life is threatened by ‘monopoly capitalism’ or ‘Fascism’, and it certainly arises for the bourgeois ideological who, under the pressure of the calculative strains of declining capitalist society, are individually making their way toward the proletariat (scholars, artists, engineers, etc).

I shall now enumerate what seems to me the most essential points of Marxism in a condensed form:

1. All the propositions of Marxism, including those that are apparently general, are specific.

2. Marxism is not positive but critical.

3. Its subject-matter is not existing capitalist society in its affirmative state, but declining capitalist society as revealed in the demonstrably operative tendencies of its breaking-up and decay.

4. Its primary purpose is not contemplative enjoyment of the existing world but its active transformation (praktische Umwaelzung).

The NDL Image Bank

 https://rnavi.ndl.go.jp/imagebank/index.html

Braving Heavy Snows, a Brave Officer of Our Army Scouts Enemy Territory Taguchi Beisaku, Japanese, 1864–1903

 

Journal of a tour through part of the snowy range of the Himala Mountains, and to the sources of the rivers Jumna and Ganges

Tait's Edinburgh magazine. n.s. v.14 (1847). Thomas de Quincey - Secret Societies

ALBERTINA Collections Online

 https://sammlungenonline.albertina.at/

The Tumu Crisis

The Tumu Crisis (Mongolian language: Тумугийн тулалдаан) (simplified Chinese: 土木之变; traditional Chinese: 土木之變; pinyin: Tŭmù zhī Bìan); also called the Crisis of Tumu Fortress (simplified Chinese: 土木堡之变; traditional Chinese: 土木堡之變; pinyin: Tǔmùbǎo zhī Biàn) or Battle of Tumu (Chinese: 土木之役; pinyin: Tǔmù zhī Yì), was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449, and the defeat of an army of 500,000 men by a much smaller force.[1] This outcome was largely due to the Chinese army's remarkably bad deployment. The Ming expedition is regarded as the greatest military debacle of the dynasty. This battle was also the very early decline in the Ming Dynasty.[2]

In July 1449 Esen Tayisi (Chinese: 也先台吉) of the Oirat Mongols launched a large-scale, three-pronged invasion of China with his puppet khagan Toqtaq-Buqa. He personally advanced on Datong (in northern Shanxi province) in August. The eunuch official Wang Zhen, who dominated the Ming court, encouraged the 22-year-old Zhengtong Emperor to lead his own armies into battle against Esen. The size of Esen's army is unknown but a best guess puts it at some 20,000 men. The Ming army of about 500,000 was hastily assembled; its command was made up of 20 experienced generals and a large entourage of high-ranking civil officials, with Wang Zhen acting as field marshal.

On August 3 Esen's army crushed a badly supplied Chinese army at Yanghe, just inside the Great Wall. The same day the Emperor appointed his half-brother Zhu Qiyu as regent. The next day he left Beijing for Juyong Pass. The objective was a short, sharp march west to Datong via the Xuanfu garrison, a campaign into the steppe and then a return to Beijing by a southerly route through Yuzhou. Initially the march was mired by heavy rain. At Juyong Pass the civil officials and generals wanted to halt and send the emperor back to Beijing, but their opinions were overruled by Wang Zhen. On August 16, the army came upon the corpse-strewn battlefield of Yanghe. When it reached Datong on August 18, reports from garrison commanders persuaded Wang Zhen that a campaign into the steppe would be too dangerous. The "expedition" was declared to have reached a victorious conclusion and on August 20 the army set out back toward China proper.

Fearing that the restless soldiers would cause damage to his estates in Yuzhou, Wang Zhen decided to strike northeast and return by the same exposed route as they had come. The army reached Xianfu on August 27. On August 30 the Mongols attacked the rearguard east of Xianfu and wiped it out. Soon afterwards they also annihilated a powerful new rearguard of cavalry, led by the elderly Gen. Zhu Yong, at Yaoerling. On August 31 the imperial army camped at the post station of Tumu. Wang Zhen refused his ministers' suggestion to have the emperor take refuge in the walled city of Huailai, just 45 km ahead.

Esen sent an advance force to cut access to water from a river south of the Chinese camp. By the morning of September 1 they had surrounded the Chinese army. Wang Zhen rejected any offers to negotiate and ordered the confused army to move toward the river. A battle ensued between the disorganized Chinese army and the advance guard of Esen's army (Esen was not at the battle). The Chinese army basically dissolved and was almost annihilated. The Mongols captured a huge quantity of arms and armour while killing most of the Chinese troops. All the high-ranking Chinese generals and court officials were killed. According to some accounts, Wang Zhen was killed by his own officers. The Emperor was captured, and on September 3 he was sent to Esen's main camp near Xianfu.

The entire expedition had been unnecessary, ill-conceived and poorly commanded. The Mongol victory was won by an advance guard of perhaps as few as 5,000 cavalry. Esen, for his part, was not prepared for the scale of his victory or for the capture of the Ming Emperor. At first he attempted to use the captured emperor to raise a ransom and planned to conquer the undefended Ming capital of Beijing. However, his plan was foiled due to the steadfast leadership of the Ming commander in the capital, Gen. Yu Qian. The Ming leaders rejected Esen's offer, Yu stating that the country was more important than an emperor's life.

The Ming never paid a ransom for the return of the Emperor, and Esen released him four years later. Esen himself faced growing criticism for his failure to exploit his victory over the Ming and he was assassinated six years after the battle in 1455.

Although the Oirats later occupied the Ordos Desert, they never again seriously threatened the Ming state.

The War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb?a=listis;c=106642625

Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills

 https://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/tone-pair-drills/5

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter

Jung on Joyce

 

Immortal empires

 

"Last Straw", by George Starbuck

 

Trial transcipt from Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf

 This page has the trial transcript comprising chapter one of Old Thiess, a Livonian Werewolf by Carlo Ginzburg and Bruce Lincoln. The transcript is from the hearings at the provincial court of Venden on April 28, 1691 concerning an inhabitant of Kaltenbrunn named Old Thiess, “with regard to lycanthropy and other prohibited and impious acts.”

The transcript was filed in the Hofger-Archiv Kriminalakte n. 30 v. J. 1692 and was first published by Hermann von Bruiningk, in his article “Der Werwolf in Livland und das letzte im Wendenschen Landgericht und Dörptschen Hofgericht i. J. 1692 deshalb stattgehabte Strafverfahren,” Mitteilungen aus der livländischen Geschichte 22 (1924– 28): 203–20. It is translated by Bruce Lincoln. 

Inquisition Records of Jacques Fournier

https://www.sjsu.edu/people/nancy.stork/jacquesfournier/







Alamande Guilabert of Montaillou Confession 33 

Confession of Alamande, widow of Jean Guilabert of Montaillou 

The year of the Lord 1321, the 2nd of April, Alamande, widow of Jean Guilabert of Montaillou, coming spontaneously to the Reverend Father in Christ my lord Jacques, by the grace of God bishop of Pamiers, having taken an oath on the holy Gospels of God to tell the pure and entire truth, as much concerning herself as warned, as concerning other death and alive as witness, with the assistance of Brother Gaillard de Pomiès, substitute for my lord the inquisitor of Carcassonne, in the presence of my lord Guillaume Audibert, licensed in Law and bachelor in Statutes, and of the religious persons Brothers David and Bernard de Centnelles, monks of Fontfroide, and of myself Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary of my said lord bishop, witnesses for this convocation, said, deposed and confessed as follows, after numerous variations along the way: About 16 or 17 years ago, I had a son of about 16 years old, named Guillaume Guilabert, who was a shepherd and watched the sheep and was quite familiar with Guillaume Belot and Raimond Benet, who were great believers in the heretics and commonly reputed to be such. My son was sick and he coughed blood and it was generally thought that it was inevitable that he would die of this sickness. One day, when my son was thus sick, Guillaume Belot came to visit him and he told him, while I was listening: “Comrade, do you want me to go find you a doctor who can save both your body and soul?” My son replied that he wished that very much. Guillaume told him that he would go and bring him a good Christian who would receive him into his faith and his sect, and would bring him to a good end. Upon hearing this, I said to my son, understanding that this Guillaume was peaking of having the heretics brought to my son: “My son, do not do this! It is enough that I am losing you. I have no other son. I do not need to lose all my goods because of you!” My son said to me: “Mother, I ask you to agree that a good Christian come to me and save my soul!” I told him: “My son, do not do this!” He said: “Mother I ask you to agree to this, and not to impede it.” This took place around mid-day and I did not wish to consent to what my son was asking me. Toward the hour of vespers, my daughter Alazaïs, the wife of Arnaud Faure of Montaillou, came to me and said: “Mother, if you would like the soul of your son to be saved, then let a good Christian come, who will receive him into his faith and his sect and make him a good Christian, because those who are received by them will be saved, and these good men absolve them of all their sins, and the souls of those who are received by them will go straight to paradise after the death of the body and only those who are received by them will be saved.” And I believed that what my daughter said was true, and I believed these heretical articles and rested in this belief for one year. And since I believed that my daughter spoke the truth, I told her that I would like my son to be received by the heretics into their faith and their sect, believing by this that if my son was a heretic, his soul would be saved. A moment later, Guillaume Belot arrived and I believe that he spoke to my daughter. Then, the following night, around the time of dawn, Guillaume Belot came, bringing and introducing into the house the heretic Prades Tavernier, and I was present and saw him. I knew that he was a heretic. Then Guillaume Belot approached the sick boy and tried to talk to him but he was not able. Then Guillaume took the sick boy, made him sit up in the bed and since he could not speak even like that, the heretic said that he could not receive him because he could no longer speak. Guillaume Belot and my daughter Alazaïs who were present, said then to the heretic that the sick boy had spoken when he was in his senses and had asked and prayed to be received in the faith and the sect of the good Christians (that is to say, the heretics) and when we bore witness to this, the heretic made numerous genuflections. I did not see, nonetheless, nor remark whether he put a book on the head of the sick boy, because I was so upset by the death of my son. While the heretic was doing this, he stood at the foot of the bed of the sick boy and Guillaume held him seated in the bed. When the heretication was done, Guillaume Belot said that my son had been made a good Christian, and that I should never more have fear about the well-being of his soul, because he had been saved. And I believed this. Present at this heretication were: myself, Alazaïs my daughter, Guillemette, the wife of Jean Clémens of Gebetz, my daughter, who was there, sick in another bed with a child, Sibille, the wife of Guillaume den Fort, Esclarmonde, the wife of Raimond Clergue, Guillaume Authié, Arnaud Faure and Guillaume Belot of Montaillou. And after the heretic had hereticated my son, at the request of Guillaume Belot I adored this heretic by bending my knees before him; but I did not say “Bless us” because no one told me to. -Did you eat any bread blessed by this heretic? -No. -Did you signal any intention to this heretic that you wished to be received into his faith and his sect? -No. -Did you have the will and the intention, if you were to become sick, to be received into the sect of these heretics? -No. -Did you give or send anything to these heretics? -No. But my daughter Alazaïs, one day, after the death of my son, told me, in a room attached to my house, that I would do well to give or send something to these good Christians (that is to say, to the heretics) because it was a great charity to do well for them, because they did not dare work, because they would be arrested immediately and that they suffered persecutions for God. I told my daughter that they were not going to eat of my goods and that I would not send them anything and in the future she spoke no more of this to me. -Have you ever confessed this in true penance or for justice? -Not until now, because, even though I believed I had sinned, I did not think it was that serious. -Why have you come to confess now, since you have not confessed elsewhere? -Because I have understood that Bernard Clergue and his wife Raimonde have gone to Carcassonne to confess in this matter of heresy to my lord the inquisitor. This Bernard has brought with him Bernard Benet of Montaillou, and has hired him and promised him some land if he will avow and depose on the subject of the heretication of my son, against me, my daughter Alazaïs, Guillaume Authié and Arnaud Faure. This is why, having fear of being cited by my lord the inquisitor of Carcassonne, we have come to my lord the bishop to avow this, figuring that we will find greater mercy with him than with my lord the inquisitor. -From whom did you hear that Bernard Clergue has promised some land to Bernard Benet if he will go to Carcassonne to confess the heretication of your son before my lord the inquisitor against you and the others? -From Pierre Azéma of Montaillou. -Have you seen this heretic elsewhere or any others? -No. -Why, in the beginning, have you not told the entire truth, and have you not wished to remember it except with the greatest difficulty? -Because I was very afraid. -Have you been bribed, have you been instructed by anyone or any persons not to tell the truth in the beginning? -No. -Do you know any other person who is guilty in the matter of heresy and who has not yet confessed? -No. -Did Guillemette, your daughter, who was in bed when the heretic arrived, get up when he arrived or when he hereticated the sick boy or after? -No. -Did any of the others present adore the heretic after the heretication, except for you? -No. And she said nothing more that was pertinent. (The 6th of April, before the bishop and Brother Gaillard, witnesses Guillaume Audibert, Brother Arnaud du Carla, and the notary Guillaume Peyre-Barthe.) Her preceding confession was read to her intelligibly in the vulgar tongue and she was asked if she wished to persist in it. She said yes, but added that which follows: A few days after the death of my son, Guillemette Benet of Montaillou came to my house and found me speaking at the door of my house. She told me that I would do a great act of charity if I would send something to these good men (that is to say, the heretics) who did not dare to work out of fear of being arrested, and suffered numerous tribulations for God, saving the souls of men and women, who never did evil to anyone at all, and are good Christians and the friends of God. Hearing this and believing it to be true, I gave Guillemette two woolen fleeces, so that she could give them to the heretics, so that they might pray God for the soul of my son. Guillemette took these fleeces, put them into the bosom of a cloak she was wearing and went on her way. Later, I do not know what she did with them, because I did not speak to her any more about what she did with them and because a short time after this she was arrested. And she said nothing else pertinent. After this, the same year as above (1321), the 7th of April, the said Alamande, appearing judicially before my said lord bishop in the bishopʼs palace, in the presence of my lord Guillaume Audibert, licensed in Law, Brother Bernard de Centelles, and myself Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary, said and avowed, under the faith of an oath previously taken, that Guillaume Fort, his brother, was present at this heretication, but she hid the fact because she did not wish that anything bad would come to him because of this. She also said that the second day after she had made her first confession, Pierre Clergue, the rector of Montaillou, passed before the granary of the bishopʼs palace of Pamiers, in which she was imprisoned. He asked her: “Have you confessed?” She said yes, and with this said, the curé passed on, and she heard him say, after he had passed, that her daughter and her son-in-law had been killed. And she said nothing else pertinent. After this, the same year as above (1321), the 17th month of April, the said Alamande appearing judicially before my said lord bishop in the presence of my lord Guillaume Audibert, of Brother David and of myself Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, her preceding confessions were read to her intelligibly and in the vulgar tongue. (Here follows a very long abjuration, detailing all the facts reported in her deposition) I, Alamande Guilabert, appearing judicially before you, Reverend Father in Christ, Jacques, by the grace of God bishop of Pamiers, abjure entirely all heresy that rises against the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Roman Church, and all beliefs of heretics, of any sect condemned by the Roman church, and especially of the sect which I followed, and all complicity, welcome, defense and frequenting of these heretics, under pain of punishment which is due in case of a relapse into the heresy here renounced judicially; Item I swear and promise to pursue according to my power the heretics of any sect condemned by the Roman Church and especially the sect that I followed, and the believers, followers, welcomers and defenders of these heretics, and those that I know or believe to be in flight for reason of heresy, and to have arrested and sent, according to my power, any heretic at all among them to my said lord bishop or to the inquisitors of the heretical deviation at all times and in any place that I learn of the existence of the above said or one amongst them; Item I swear and promise to hold, guard and defend the Catholic faith which the Holy Roman Church preaches and observes; Item I swear and promise to obey and defer to the order of the Church, to my lord the bishop and the inquisitors and to appear on the day and days assigned before them or their replacements, at all times and in whatever place that I receive the order or requisition on their part, by messenger or by letter or in some other way, to never flee not absent myself knowingly in a spirit of contumaciousness and to receive and accomplish according to my power the punishment and the penance that they may judge good to impose upon me. And to this effect I engage my person and all my goods. After this, the same year as above (1321), Thursday the 30th of July, the said Alamande, appearing judicially in the episcopal chamber of Pamiers before my said lord bishop, in the presence of the discreet person master Bernard Faissier, official of Pamiers, of my lord Guillaume Audibert, canon of Limoges, licensed in Law, of the discreet person master Bernard Gaubert, jurist, of the religious persons my lord Hugues du Breuil, sacrist of the church of Pamiers, Brother Jean Gailhard, monk of Fontfroide and of myself Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary of my said lord bishop, witnesses for this convocation. The preceding confessions she had made were read to her intelligibly in the vulgar tongue and she was asked if they were true and if the things had actually happened in fact and reality as were reported therein. She said yes. Asked if she had confessed that which precedes under the influence of any other person or suborned by anyone, she said no, but that this was the truth. Asked if she wished to add or retract or propose anything for her defense, she said no, renounced and concluded and asked that sentence be given. Done in the presence of the venerable and discreet persons my lord Guillaume Audibert, canon of Limoges, Brothers Gaillard de Pomiès, prior, Arnaud du Carla, O.P., of the convent of Pamiers, Pierre dʼAnnoires, companion of my said lord inquisitor, and of us, Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, rector of the church of Vira in the diocese of Pamiers, and Menet de Robécourg, of the diocese of Toul, who have written and received that which precedes. After this, the same year as above, the 2nd of August, Bataille de Penne, notary of my lord the bishop, came on the order of the said lords inquisitor and bishop to the tower of Pamiers of my said lord bishop, and there the said Bataille cited precisely and peremptorily the said Alamande, who was detained, to appear the same day before tierce in the cemetery Saint-Jean of Pamiers before them, there to hear sentence by reason of the above-mentioned facts avowed by her, and otherwise perform what was appropriate, an assignation which the said Alamande accepted of her own free will and spontaneously in the presence and witness of the rector of Génat, Jean Routinier, priest, of Jacques de Montsaly and of Pierre Rega, jailer of this tower. On the day assigned above to the said Alamande, she appeared in the cemetery of Sain-Jean-Martyr as she had been ordered by the said Bataille and there the said lords bishop and inquisitor proceeded to pronounce the sentence on the said Alamande in the following manner: “Let all know, etc.” The said citation and also the sentence on this Alamande were received by the said Bataille and he received them in his protocol because I, Guillaume Peyre-Barthe, notary commissioned by my lord the bishop in the facts touching the Catholic faith, was not able to be present because of the malady from which I am suffering. But I have brought them out of the notes of the said Bataille and have written them and inserted them in the present book on the order of my said lord bishop. And I, Rainaud Jabbaud, cleric of Toulouse, sworn in the matter of the Inquisition, have, on the order of my lord the bishop, faithfully corrected the said confessions against the original. NOTES Her condemnation is contained in the same sentence as that of Alazaïs Faure, Hist. Inquisitionis, p. 287; Doat XXVII, folio 148 recto)

The Gaddis Annotations

https://www.williamgaddis.org/




"I feel like part of the vanishing breed that thinks a writer should be read and not heard, let alone seen. I think this is because there seems so often today to be a tendency to put the person in the place of his or her work, to turn the creative artist into a performing one, to find what a writer says about writing somehow more valid, or more real, than the writing itself."

Shang Jun Shu -> Encouragement of Immigration

https://ctext.org/shang-jun-shu/encouragement-of-immigration



地，方百里者：山陵處什一，藪澤處什一，谿谷流水處什一，都市蹊道處什一，惡田處什二，良田處什四，以此食作夫五萬。其山陵藪澤谿谷可以給其材，都邑蹊道足以處其民，先王制土分民之律也。
Encouragement of Immigration:...:
In a territory of a hundred square li, a tenth should be occupied by mountains and hills, a tenth by glades and morasses, a tenth by valleys, dales, and running water, a tenth by cities, towns, and highways, a tenth by barren fields, and four-tenths by fertile fields. In this way 50,000 workmen can be fed; those mountains and hills, glades and morasses, valleys and dales, are able to provide the required material, and the cities, towns and highways are sufficient to accommodate the people concerned. This was the proportion according to which the early kings regulated the land and divided the people.


今秦之地，方千里者五，而穀土不能處什二，田數不滿百萬，其藪澤谿谷名山大川之材物貨寶，又不盡為用，此人不稱土也。秦之所與鄰者，三晉也；所欲用兵者，韓魏也。彼土狹而民眾，其宅參居而并處，其賓萌賈息。民上無通名，下無田宅，而恃姦務末作以處。人之復陰陽澤水者過半。此其土之不足以生其民也，似有過秦民之不足以實其土也。
Encouragement of Immigration:...:
Now, the territory of Qin comprises five times a thousand square li, but the soil fit for growing corn cannot occupy more than two-fifths. The area of the fields does not come up to a million mu, and the produce and treasures of its glades and morasses, of its valleys and dales, and of its famous mountains and big rivers, are also incompletely utilized. This means that the population is illproportioned to the territory. The neighbours of Qin are the three Jin states, and of these Han and Wei are fond of employing soldiers. Their territory is narrow, but their population is numerous; their dwellings are built higgledy-piggledy, and they live close together; their grain production is small, and merchants charge interest. The people on the one hand do not have their names registered and on the other hand have no fields or houses, so that for subsistence they rely on evil occupations and pursuits of minor importance, with the result that those who are exempt from taxation because they live in steep and inaccessible places, in morasses and by streams, are more than a half of the population. Therefore, it would appear that a condition where the territory is not sufficient to support the population is still worse than that where, as in the case of Qin, the population is insufficient to fill the territory.



來民:
意民之情，其所欲者，田宅也；而晉之無有也信，秦之有餘也必，如此而民不西者，秦士戚而民苦也。臣竊以王吏之明為過見，此其所以弱。不奪三晉民者，愛爵而重復也。其說曰：「三晉之所以弱者，其民務樂而復爵輕也。秦之所以強者，其民務苦而復爵重也。今多爵而久復，是釋秦之所以強，而為三晉之所以弱也。」此王吏重爵愛復之說也，而臣竊以為不然。夫所以為苦民而強兵者，將以攻敵而成所欲也。兵法曰：「敵弱而兵強。」此言不失吾所以攻，而敵失其所守也。今三晉不勝秦四世矣，自魏襄以來，野戰不勝，守城必拔，小大之戰，三晉之所亡於秦者，不可勝數也。若此而不服，秦能取其地，而不能奪其民也。
Encouragement of Immigration:...:
In reflecting upon the nature of the people, what they desire are fields and houses. Now, whereas it is probable that these are what Jin does not have, it is beyond doubt that Qin has them in surplus. If, this being so, people do not, nevertheless, come west, it is because the soldiers of Qin are in sad plight and the people suffer hardships. I venture to think that the intelligence of Your Majesty's officials takes a mistaken view: that is, the reason why we remain weak and do not succeed in enticing the people of the three Jin states, is that we are sparing in granting titles and regard the exemption from taxes as a serious matter. They argue as follows: 'The three Jin states are weak because their people are concerned with pleasure and because exemptions and rank are treated lightly. Qin, on the other hand, is strong because its people are concerned with hard work, and exemptions and the conferment of rank are treated seriously; should we now confer many titles and grant exemptions from taxation for long periods, then we should be letting go of the principle by which Qin has become strong and should be doing exactly that which has made the Jin states weak.' This is the argument that causes Your Majesty's officials to regard the conferring of titles as a serious matter, and to be sparing in the granting of exemptions from taxation. I venture, however, to think that this is wrong. The object in causing the people hardship and in strengthening the army is to attack the enemy and to realize one's desires. The "Art of War" says: "If the enemy is weak, the army is strong." This expression means that one does not fail in attack, but the enemy fails in defence. Now for four generations the Jin states have gained no victory over Qin. Since the time of King Xiang of Wei, the times that the three Jin states have been defeated by Qin, in small or big battles, in open battle or in storming defended cities, have been innumerable. The reason that in spite of this they do not submit to Qin is that Qin has been able to conquer their territory, but unable to captivate their people.

A Summary of The Mahabharata

Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998) : Time, Forward - film music suite (1967)

If it sucks... hit da bricks!

 

Красная Селёдка [Naroden Genesis Evangelion]

The Thing by Chesterton G.K

Koufax's perfect game called by Scully

Unreal Engine 5 Train Station

Studio Ghibli

 

Alexander the Great’s Empire