>>> james withrow writes
"Charles: Sort of a caveat emptor. I must also warn you that we plan to expropriate the expropriators ("sellers")"
Thanks for the warning. We can work that into the plan, but I'm afraid Unions-R-Us will need to be paid up front then. In cash. ________ Charles: You might be paid up front, but in the end we'll take it back :>)
"Charles: That's a concrete class struggle tale. Next time you will win."
If you're engaged in a class struggle, you are winning. You have more respect for yourself and the people who do the work you do. There's a sense of purpose and teamwork that others will never know. Those who are willing to take what capitalism hands them-- they're the losers.
James _____________ Chas.: Unfortunately, this is too fatalistic, in the sense that "we will win in the end, so anytime we struggle, we are winning." I subscribe to limited inevitability of victory for the working class, in the sense if we are not annihilated as a species, capitalism will eventually be overthrown.
But in the history of working class struggle the notion of inevitability has sometimes degenerated so as to make working class struggle mediocre and inadequately focussed on real victory. Sports metaphor might be criticised as politically incorrect, but a winning attitude is critical for most "championship teams." An attitude of winning the ultimate championship, not just some games along the way.
It may seem that I am disrespecting the specific struggles and struggles you mention. That would be arrogant of me and I don't disrespect them. However, "winning by just struggling" seems to me a form of Bernsteinian "the movement is everything the goal is nothing" evolutionism. Although the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, the planners of working class struggle are obligated to make the best of plans, which must include (in theory) a level of comprehensiveness that includes actually winning in the end. In other words, we are obligated to make our plan strategic as well as tactical in scope in doing the best for the working class, even though we can't guarantee the validity of our strategy
Charles Brown
Detroit