Populism as Masquerade (was Re: Henwood vs. Cockburn)

Michael Yates mikey+ at pitt.edu
Sat Nov 13 14:54:21 PST 1999


I have written a long review of two books about the labor movement ("Democracy is Power" by Parker and Gruelle and "Taking Care of Business..." by Paul Buhle) which might be of interest to list members. It appears in the Nov. 1999 issue of Monthly Review and can also be found at their website: <http://www.monthlyreview.org>

On the other question raised in connection with the exchange among Doug, Cockburn, et. al. concerning militias, populism, etc. let me say a few words from experience. My youngest brother is what some might call a raving lunatic: sees conspiracies everywhere, lives in the woods, owns guns, thinks Y2K may lead to chaos in the streets, etc. But he is most definitely not a racist or an anti-semite (two of our nieces are black, for which fact his own health and life have been threatened more than once). He is well-read though not too systematic in his thinking. He was once unemployed for several years and had to get by with odd jobs. He was fired for refusing to take a lie detector test, and this whole awful affair hurt his confidence and self-esteem a lot. My parents helped out a lot, but this did not do much for his ego either. He feels a lot of rage and directs this as best he can against the powers that be: hatred of local police, diatribes against Clinton, etc. I am sure there are tens of thousands of persons just like him. Are they unorganizable? white trash? future militia bombers? future religious zealots? Maybe. But then maybe if we had a decent left movement, inclusive and democratic, maybe not. I do know that I'd trust my brother to hide me if the Nazis came to town. And I'd be glad he had a gun and knew how to use it.

Michael Yates

Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Mark Rickling wrote:
>
> >From: Katha Pollitt <kpollitt at thenation.com>
> > > I think it's
> > > really hard to look at what's actually happening with organized labor
> > > and find much that is inspiring.
> >
> >You need to look harder.
>
> Uh, could you expand on this? I'm groping for reasons to be
> optimistic, and any assistance would be welcome.
>
> Doug



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