David Schweickart's interesting chapter

Scott Marshall scott at rednet.org
Sat Jan 1 19:30:56 PST 2000


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



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