I also think regardless of the rhetoric used or the sensitivities offended that American labor leaders in general are trying their best to be international minded.
If you look at the trade stats you will see that this year January thru October our trade deficit in manufactured trade goods has already reached about 225 billion dollars. Interestingly enough our agricultural trade surplus has shrunk to less than 10 billion dollars.
Tom Lehman
Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
> To my concern about nationalism in the US working class, Doug noted:
>
> > There's a lot wrong with this resolution from the AFL-CIO's recent
> > convention, but it's nowhere near as troglodytic as it could be:
>
> Which includes this excerpt, already alluded to in my last post
>
> > Trade agreements have
> > opened our markets while leaving in place other countries' barriers,
>
> Which means that no country should have the right to challenge
> the imperialist centralisation of capital and the world division of labor
> that suits the interest of imperialist capital. If the AFL-CIO wants to
> break down trade barriers indiscriminately, it is only fighting to
> entrench the world div of labor as it has evolved. It is clearly a social
> imperialist force unwilling and unready to focus its struggle against its
> own ruling class. I would not make too much of its mild Keynesian
> challenge to deflationary IMF policy; Jude Wannisiki (sp?) probably would
> join that chorus.
>
> Yours, Rakesh