David Schweickart's interesting chapter

[Scott Marshall]

Haven't posted to one of these lists in a long time, but recognize some old 
die-hard-listers who have been at it from the beginning of the internet. 
Bear with me while I get my feet wet again.

Greetings all for a new century - I think it will be socialism's century.

I found David Schweickart's chapter 1 from his new book to be interesting.
Much to study and to agree with, but.....

I think the most important problem can be summed up with this small quote:

"Most workers, certainly those in rich countries, have more to lose now 
than just their chains."

In the first place I hope we would all agree that the slogan refers to the 
working class and not to individual workers and their material possessions.

Secondly none of the world's working class can be free of it's chains, 
while any of the class are in bondage. This is entirely independent of 
consciousness. And a basic tenet of Marxism as I understand it.

This may seem to pick a nit, but I don't think so......

At the heart of revolutionary Marxism is the idea of the class struggle as 
the engine of history and development in class divided societies. Once you 
back away from this central idea, all kinds of things can and do go awry. 
In fact, aside, I think this to be one of the central failures of the CPSU 
in building socialism in the Soviet Union.

Backing away allows for evolutionary thinking and lack of action. Including 
in how one fights for reforms. Including in how one fights against racism, 
chauvinism, male supremacy etc.

Inherent in the notion that workers now have more to lose than their chains 
is the notion that workers now have a stake in the system. They may think 
they do, and of course that retards consciousness - but we're materialists 
and know that the working classes are the exploited subject of the system.

What bothers me in Schweickart's chapter is a certain laid back quality to 
issues of power and transformation that flow, I believe, very naturally 
from the quote above. The struggle stretches out endlessly before us, and 
we can take our time getting there. There is a wait and see quality that I 
think fails to connect with what's new and developing in the working class 
at home and abroad. Where does Seattle fit into this picture?

But as I said it's still interesting as hell, and I wish him well with the 
book.

Scott