>On Behalf Of Rakesh Bhandari
> Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2000 2:47 PM
>
> > Jesus H Christ, Nathan, I said unionization is a good thing. I'm not
> > some Spart fundamentalist, you know.
>
> And now I note out of frustration that severe critics of Sweeney's
> business unionism are not fundamentalists either. In the latest New
> Politics for example such criticism is voiced by Kim Moody, Peter
Rachleff, Staughton Lynd.
>And I am bit taken aback that such great labor historians and
> activists are being dismissed here here in such absolute terms.
I don't dismiss them in absolute terms; I am defending the right of Sweeney to call himself a socialist, not attacking the right of folks like Kim Moody to argue for alternative strategies for the labor movment.
Hey, I've written a number of articles for Moody's LABORNOTES magazine and have great sympathy and admiration for his commitment to union democracy and against simplistic pro-"team" rhetoric. I agree with some of the criticisms voiced against Sweeney and disagree with others. I have great belief that people of good faith and generally shared values can have sharp disagreements over strategy and tactics.
All I am against is excommunicating other people because of those differences over tactics and strategy.
-- Nathan Newman