Labour Party and the Unions

Lew lew at lewhiggins.freeserve.co.uk
Mon Aug 2 14:03:57 PDT 1999


In article <fWgRVOAhFWp3Mw$g at heartfield.demon.co.uk>, Jim heartfield <jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk> writes


>Max and Seth both ask what I'm for.
>
>Socialisation of the means of production - what G Lukacs called
>'societal self-determination'.

I agree with the objective. But Doug is right, this needs fleshing out to become meaningful.


>The difficulty with the left is that it is caught between two
>alternatives that are both defined by capitalist society: the free
>market and the state. Both are specific to capitalism, both need to be
>overcome.

Ahem! Some of us have been arguing this for quite a while.


>In the here and now, the immediate problem facing any kind of social
>change is a culture of low expectations and the internalisation of
>victimhood.

A psychological explanation which may be part of the overall explanation, but surely a more important factor is the objective fact that there is no agreed social alternative. Not so much low expectations or victimhood, as lacking a reason to pursue social change in the first place. Which takes us back to the objective above. -- Lew



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