Kautsky parle

Juliana Shearer julie at siliconengines-ltd.com
Fri Sep 4 13:45:01 PDT 1998


Rakesh Bhandari wrote: "I have every confidence that every worker, if she so desired, could master basic Marxian concepts to the degree that she could make the determination of whether they really do help to organize and illuminate the character of society and the struggles which animate it."

This is precisely where the argument falls down. Any "worker" can understand Marxian concepts, believes that he/she is "being screwed" (as somebody else on this list put it), BUT most do not believe that this knowledge gets you anywhere. The only "workers" I know that really believe in a coming revolution think that it will be the rise of discontent "n-words" or "those crazy Muslims" that constitute said revolution.

When there are a bunch of pampered yups signalling you for coffee, it's really hard to convince yourself that you should quit work and start telling everyone else to rise up and overturn "the system." Instead, on those Saturdays when I moonlight as a waitress to pay off my school loans, I smile and try to kill them with kindness.

I agree with Greg Newell's comments on the perfection of the American system, and the uselessness of waiting for a revolution.

As much as I sympathize and agree with people who think that the capitalist system is unfair and immoral, I just don't see "the people" rising up to change anything. This said, if anybody could convince me otherwise, I would be happy to go through the arguments and to change my mind!

Julie Shearer



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