The Critical Path

                                                           

   
                                 Critical Path en route to Isla Mujeres, Mexico
                                                                  2005


    Critical Path is a Beneteau Sailing Yacht, 50 feet in length and owned by Bill Dooley of Sarasota, Florida (see Dooley Mac Construction). Dooley frequently races the boat and in 2003, with a crew of nine competed in the Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race. Roger Marquis my brother-in-law (and qualified to captain up to 100 tons) and I flew into Montego Bay on February 14th to meet the boat. We were part of the return crew of six taking the boat back to Sarasota. The Pineapple Cup winner that year was Zephyrus V, covering the course from Miami in 2 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes and 57 seconds. With sail troubles Critical Path required five days and a few hours. Dan Sagan, an architect and exceptionally talented sailor, was the navigator for the racing crew and now captain for the return. The cruise was to be a casual ten days with a stop in Cayo Largo, a wannabe socialist resort off southern Cuba.
     I would prepare the shipboard meals. Call me "Cookie".
     In a cramped Montego Bay grocery store I purchased some provisions for the cruise. Standing in front of a counter examining freshly slashed meat I heard someone say, "Those are the finest steaks in . . . " I never heard the last word - it could have been in the "universe" or "Jamaica" or "this meat box". But I thought the best and purchased six steaks.
     For cooking on boats I have three general rules: (1) Wash hands frequently - the crew likes to see that - find it reassuring. (2) Have an abundant supply of orange juice, lemons, limes and cabbage - I have read the Patrick O'Brian novels about the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. There will be no scurvy on boats in which I cook. (3) The mess deck should be spotlessly clean between meals.
    Breakfasts and lunches are simple to prepare. The race crew cook knew what he was doing - one food locker was full of left over, packaged muffins, rolls, doughnuts and crackers. The refrigerator contained a few pounds of cold cuts and eggs. So "breakfast" sandwiches were served in the AM, (Captain Sagan liked to make the coffee) and more sandwiches with chips and pickles at noon. The cocktail hour was a challenge - serving food with drinks is an absolute necessity - so having a variety of  hors d'oeuvres tests one's creativity. Still I did not serve my favorite appetizer - mushrooms stuffed with smoked oysters. A beautiful woman had given me the recipe for "Seduction Mushrooms" years ago. But I feared their destructive moral impact on six lonely men  slowly voyaging in the Caribbean. (Recipe below*) Dinner might be freshly prepared - on this and other cruises my favorites include baked turkey breast with stuffing and cranberries; sausage and peppers; sausage, chicken and peppers; pasta with anything; Cowboy beans and every one's default dish, chili. Other dinners come directly from the frozen food locker.
    The night before entering Cuban waters I strapped myself in front of the gimbaled stove and fried the steaks. I served them with a fresh pasta salad and Kaiser rolls. My steak was delicious if a tad chewy. But I mislead - in truth the steaks were tougher than Kevlar or even fillets of Superman. The crew however was forgiving and rumors of retaliatory punishment greatly exaggerated.
     We sailed into the harbor at Cayo Largo flying the flags of the Conch Republic (aka Key West) and the United States. Cuban authorities took no chances with this American crew - over our three day visit representatives of nine government agencies examined us, our papers and the boat. Unsatisfied with the efforts of one drug sniffing dog they came back the following morning with a different dog - same result, no illegal drugs. We ate ashore frequently. I remember a lobster the size and consistency of a small tractor tire. Dave, a member of our crew was mugged visiting a bar one evening. He escaped by jumping into an unattended minibus and driving away. Stopped by Cuban police he was returned to the Critical Path with facial cuts and lacerations. The next morning detectives came aboard, chatted amiably with our victim and then departed. Shortly there after we loosed our lines and our visit to this lovely vacation paradise near the bottom of Cuba - a hideaway for errant tourists, apparatchiks and commissars ended. Critical Path eased away from Cayo Largo and back into the Caribbean.
    Twenty miles off Boca Grande Florida, in darkness and a squall Critical Path was sliding through a choppy sea. Strapped in I had just checked a large pan of baked lasagna - now bubbling along the edges. At that instant Critical Path connected with a shoal and the hull struck bottom with a thud. This was followed by a cascade of seawater down the ladder from the cockpit. I was deeply troubled about the lasagna possibly spilling and messing the oven - potentially a miserable clean up job. I turned off and secured the stove. Another thud - the boat's engine was operating at maximum rpm and screaming. The fear was that the hull would crack open. Another thud - Sagan hollered down to Dave at the chart table, "Send out a Mayday!"  Dave fresh from service on a nuclear submarine asked him to repeat that and Sagan did. "Send out a Mayday!" Critical Path then transmitted a distress message that the Coast Guard and US Tow received. My first Mayday - it lead me to think less of lasagna and more about myself. I sized up an additional exit through a hatch above the salon. For about forty-five minutes in rain and darkness Critical Path crabbed about on a shoal seeking deep water - and finally the boat righted itself - maybe ascending to heaven feels like this - the problem was over. At about the same moment a boat from US Tow arrived. Having sustained damage to the rudder and props we were guided to a safe anchorage near Boca Grande. At 9:30 that night I served a dinner of baked lasagna, a loaf of seawater flavored bread and the last two bottles from the boat's wine locker - chardonnay. It was a superior meal enjoyed by all.

*Seduction Mushrooms: fresh mushrooms with stems removed; sauté in butter; stuff with smoked oysters; cover with sauce composed of horseradish, mayonnaise and Tabasco sauce; broil a couple of minutes at 400 degrees. Serve with iced vodka.

Karl Marx

                                                               

                                                     Marx family and Engels



     The years during which the USSR tottered and collapsed (mid 1980s to 1991) were rather exuberant for those studying the empire. The nation that had dominated our political thinking and apocalyptic nightmares for decades imploded in what President Putin has called the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century. I had the opportunity to visit the USSR several times during these years doing some teaching, lecturing and consulting.  During these visits I was suitably humble and Charles Dickens would say I had much to be humble about. In the USA the demand for individuals who had ideas about events in the USSR was heart warming. I found it expedient to install a telephone in my bathroom.
     "John Doe from USA Today calling. What do you think of . . . ?"
     "Hhhhmmm - good question - let me step out of the shower . . ."
     Some professional conferences took on great value. At one sponsored by the Five College Peace Studies program at Hampshire College, representatives from Gorbachev's mostly elected Congress of People's Deputies arrived directly from Moscow with fresh reports from the proceedings - "There were lines of deputies waiting to speak freely for the first time in 65 years." - "GDP in the Soviet Union dropped precipitously during the sessions of the Congress. Everyone was listening to the live radio broadcasts." In the Spring 1992 (the year maybe off some) a conference of European and American academicians was scheduled to convene in London. Reviewing the proposed program I counted approximately 1000 papers and posters to be presented. Not a single contribution focused on "Marxism". The ideological foundation of the Soviet Union as elaborated by the genius Lenin had vanished. For the succeeding quarter century almost no one cared about "Marxist socialism" except the Chinese and the right wing in the USA.
     Using broad strokes - I viewed Marxism as a secular morality play with familiar components. In the beginning humanity lived in peaceful cooperation  - each individual worked to their ability and received according to need. Then the "fall" occurred - someone declared the produce of this field or that orchard -  "it's mine!" and the institution of private property was created. Humanity rapidly devolved striking bottom when one human declared another human to be their personal property - slavery. But Marx saw a path to redemption - a path that could be interrupted but was nevertheless inevitable. Based on Hegel's dialectic - every thesis has an antithesis. They inevitably clash  and the resulting synthesis creates a higher truth that is also a new thesis - that clashes with a new antithesis creating another synthesis and so on. Eventually Capitalism confronts Socialism and a higher stage of human development is attained - Communism. At this point humanity is back where it began with the addition of industry, technology, new social relations and valuable historical lessons about what not to do. Humans again work according to their ability and received according to need, government disappears and for some reason the Hegelian engine of redemption stops, at least at the macro level.
     I have found it amusing that students more easily accept the spiritual morality play concerning the Garden of Eden, the "fall", redemption and heaven than Marx's secular version. "People could never behave like that - alive!" "Human nature would not permit it!" "Only in heaven."
     If we zoom in on the clash between the theses of "capitalism" and "socialism" a basic question is always - what is the proper role of government in society?" Most severe capitalists worship the "free market".  They would be pleased with the replacement of e.g. social security with 401k programs and National Parks transformed into concessions of the Disney Corporation. On the "left" many socialists (even in China) have backed off the demand for total government ownership/control of the means of production. But progressives and liberals continue advocacy for strong government involvement in society, especially in matters relating to climate change, finance, transportation, energy and health care. But what is resuscitating Marxism today is what gave birth to Marxism in the 19th century - massive inequality. Three recent observations: In 2013, twenty-five hedge fund managers made more than twice as much as all the kindergarten teachers in America combined.  Among American children almost 25% of the five year olds and younger live in poverty. Finally - over nearly three decades (1979-2007) ". . . lower income workers saw no meaningful gain in what they were paid for an hour of labor. *
     Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century documents the inequality that results ". . . as assets like real estate and stocks disproportionately held by the wealthy (capital) rise faster than the economy (growth) . . . Inequality in the United States and Europe is rising back to Pre World War I levels." To combat this development of a new Gilded Age he advocates that governments institute a global tax on wealth. ** The response to Piketty's book has been remarkable - the right wing is outraged. But in the free market Capital is a best seller, a book of nearly 700 pages. Two New York Times columnists  published articles analyzing Capital one day apart; the progressive Paul Krugman, "The Piketty Panic" and conservative David Brooks, "The Piketty Phenomenon". Brooks ends his piece with the somewhat inscrutable line, "When it comes to cultural analysis I, like Piketty am quasi Marxist."
     Whatever - Karl Marx is back.

See
     Thomas Piketty Capital in the 21st Century 2014.
     *Neil Irwin NYT 6/4/ 2014. Paul Krugman NYT 5/8/2014. Joseph Stiglitz NYT 6/30/2014.
    ** Neil Irwin NYT May 30, 2014.
   *** David Brooks NYT APRIL 25, 2014. Paul Krugman NYT April 24, 2014.
   Marx photo by Wikipedia.org