The Democratic Party & the Illusion of Splits in the Ruling Class, was Re: Cockburn: The Coup

[J Cullen]

Populism generally supports small producers -- small farmers and 
small or worker-owned businesses -- and might also be described as an 
attempt to keep capitalism accountable to the people.

Tom Watson showed himself as a white supremacist, along with 
anti-Semite and anti-Catholic, only after the Populist movement of 
the 1890s was crushed. Before that he supported the coalition of 
white and black farmers that was the basis for the movement in the 
South.

However I agree that class analysis is most usefully presented in 
American tones rather than German or Russian ones. You hear a lot of 
anti-corporate sentiment among working-class people, and even the 
Pope warns about the dangers of globalization, but you just don't win 
over many of them by longing for the "good old days" of the Comintern.

-- Jim Cullen, Editor

    The Progressive Populist


>"Opulist," oops. It is glorious to grow rich.
>
>Historical populism has that small producer cast and a nasty dose of 
>racism. Tom Watkins was a virulent white supremacist. But I think 
>the word has acquired a looser tone of being on the side of the 
>little man, Frank Capra, Mr Deeds, etc. I wouldn't use it myself, 
>but I think what what is meant is that we should express our class 
>analysis in American tones rather than German or Russian ones. --jks
>
>>
>>Justin Schwartz wrote:
>>
>>>In my experience, the Marxist critique of capitalism is common sense
>>>to most working people; it's pretty obvious that the rich run
>>>things, that democracy is a joke, that work is drag because the
>>>bosses exploit us, etc. These ideas can gain wide currency if
>>>expressed without Marxist technical vocabulary,w hich is offputting.
>>>The basic ideas of socialism, that democracy would be extended to
>>>the economy, that we can run things ourselves without bosses to tell
>>>us what to do, can also be "sold" to a lesser degree if expressed in
>>>plain, commonsense terms. The "opulist" overtone is a matter of
>>>playing on class resentments. Is this a petit bourg spin?
>>
>>Opulist? Like Donald Trump?
>>
>>Socialism is about collective control of the economy. Isn't populism
>>instead saturated with the consciousness of small producers (and the
>>fantasies of those who want to be)? Oh, that's me; does that make me
>>a populist?
>>
>>Doug
>
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