>>> "rc-am" <rcollins at netlink.com.au> 05/05/99 01:23PM >>>
>I dare say any legal remedies the left proposes can be perverted by the
right wing. "Right to work" in the U.S means the opposite of its
international sense. It means the right to keep unions out in many Southern
states.
indeed. and here I would add that this has increasingly been used to justify the compulsion to work (work for the dole, what you call workfare). inasmuch as there is no connection between a living wage (as well as the right to bargain, and bargain collectively - all very reformist propositions) and employment, the slogan of the right to work is here in australia a slogan of the neoliberal restructuring. we've discussed this some before, and my own priority would be a campaign for a universal basic income. I think we need to break the connection between the compulsion to work and the ability to live. unemployment (not being in waged work) shouldn't be seen as a problem, poverty should be.
Chas.: If you noticed, the draft right to earn a living wage constit amendment I sent you, is really a "Right to job OR income" . So, my approach does not totally ignore your concern. I have no problem with a "Right to a living, period", except it seems a lot more difficult to sell because the other approach sort of uses the bourgeoisie's own work ethic against them. I have to read the next posts of this thread and think about your "separation" proposal more.
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a universal basic income would not only benefit those not in paid work, but also dampen significantly the force of reserve labour. (I'll send you an attached an article on the UBI which might be of interest, but it's pretty big, so tell me if your machine is going to seize up.).
Chas.: How about pushing to for a general recognition that "unpaid work" is work and should be paid as work, rather than a category of pay for non-work ?
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>
>I don't think we can propose our program in an alegal form, however. It
leaves us open to charges of terrorism and outlawism. It makes it too easy to
criminalize the left based on our own words.
perhaps. there are two issues then: a) deciding whether or not, based on a sober assessment of the situation, legal means are in fact available in a given situation. writing an article/leaflet in australia at the moment calling for a strike is illegal, ever since the censorship laws and industrial laws were changed five or so years ago; it is illegal to provide premises for the safe injection of heroin, but right now, a number of health workers and priests are openly challenging the law by doing just this in a church, and daring the police to arrest them; it's illegal to harbour those evading the law, but like the above, a significant number of people stated publicly that they would do this if the govt decided to deport east timorese refugees... so, I think it's often a question of a struggle over laws and, sometimes more importantly, their application rather than a decisive position one way or the other on the law as such; and b) a question of whether the law is available at all. in some situations, being gay is automatically a criminal offense.
Chas.: My proposal that a communist program include proposals for affirmative laws, does not mean we should give up the historic struggle to repeal bad laws. I didn't mean to endorse all law. Just that we can't cede legality in general to the bourgeoisie. For example, right now , an important argument against the NATO and U.S. bombing of Iraq and Yugoslavia is that they are farily clearly illegal under the UN and other international law. When the law is on our side, we should use it. Another example is legalization of abortion in the U.S.
CB
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>I would appreciate your analysis of Pashukanis, if you have the time.
I need to remind myself of the details, and then post something. I'll also take a look at your article and think of what Pashukanis might have to say about it. I thought Jim's notes were a good place to start, but maybe they need to be unpacked a little in relation to a concrete example.
Angela --- rcollins at netlink.com.au