>>> Max Sawicky <sawicky at epinet.org> 01/20/00 10:10AM
CB: What is producerism ? Could you reiterate ?
Max: You might want to consult the past threads on populism including me and Chip Berlet.
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Charles: OK. I was not able to participate in those threads. I thought that might be when you had used the term. Thanks for the reiteration.
Would it go for a slogan like "All Power to the Workers " ? I mean once it got going and wasn't scared of being redbaited.
Charles Brown
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In a nutshell, producerism places the interests of individuals as workers, self-employed, proprietors, entrepreneurs, & farmers as prior to their identities as consumers. It distinguishes between manufacturing and finance, inclining favorably toward the former (in relative terms). It is soft on protectionism when advanced by labor, and soft on nationalism in relation to global corporatist forces. It puts class before race & gender, and living standards before social issues.
The closest embodiment of this ideology is the populist movement of 1870-1900 in the U.S.
That's my definition. I do not claim that each and every attribute listed above is positive. I do claim that the ideology as a totality IS the way progressive struggles will emerge from the 'unaffiliated' public (meaning struggles not concocted by existing interest groups and left organizations).
Berlet has a much different definition.
mbs