discussion on working class, etc.

[Michael Yates]

Sam Gindin, economist for the Canadian Auto Workers, wrote a really
brilliant article in the 1998 "Socialist Register," titled "Socialism
'With Sober Senses': Developing Workers' Capacities."  He says, "But for
workers the idea of 'ruling' is an absence.  It is not even a distant
goal facing possibly insurmountable problems; it hasn't, generally, yet
manifested itself as an idea to be confronted.  For reasons rooted in
the working class family and the workplace, and well cultivated beyond,
the tendency of capitalism is to reduce a working class with the
potential capacities to do, enjoy, and act politically, to a collection
of 'just workers'; 'just consumers'; and 'just voters'.  In contrast to
the ruling class, workers know their place even as they resent it and
must go through a process of unlearning even before the idea of
collectively running their lives, and not just occasionally influencing
them, can begin."

As a communist, it seems to me to be my duty to aid in this "unlearning"
in whatever ways I can. One of the values of these lists is to help me
discover better ways to do this.  At the same time, I think it is
important to do it and not spend too much time sending emails!!

michael yates