Labor Law Reform

[Peter Kilander]

Henwood wrote:
>The more I hear, the more I'm convinced that without communists of various
>sorts, there'd be hardly any "progressive" groups around - unions, tenant
>groups, whatever. The inspiring taxi workers strike in New York was
>organized in large part by a small group of mainly Indian Marxists, and I'm
>told that Maoists of various sorts figure prominently in Chicano/a
>organizations in the U.S. There was a thread here a few weeks ago on how
>the downfall of the USSR was bad even for the noncommunist left; this, I
>think, is one of the mechanisms behind that fact.
>
>Doug

In the last sentence, what does "this" and what does "that fact" refer to?
Are you saying that without the USSR as a symbol of an alternative, however
flawed, and with the "capitalization" of China, leftists - especially highly
effective & motivated communists - have lost heart and motivation so that
leftist based groups are weakening? If so, is this a popular line in the
regularly published left? Couldn't it be simply that the forces of capital
are stepping up the assault?

Peter