Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Does it just drop from the
> sky? Doesn't the way people think of themselves and their
> possibilities determine whether the "mass activity" gets started?
>
The way _some_ people think is crucial. That that _some_ be increased to
a _few_ more than a _few_ more yet is crucial. And notice I always say
these things in response to posts which talk as though we should try to
reach _everyone_ at once indifferently. _At this time_ I am not
interested in 'reaching' those people who were shocked at the action of
the Brown students. That comes later.
If you have a secret as to how we can jump start the first 2 or 3% of the population reachable now I would be glad to hear it. They don't fall from the sky, but no one has ever explained _before_ the fact where they did come from. AS far as I can tell by reading working-class history those first brushfires always _seem_ virtually to have fallen from the sky. Research sometimes identifies their background (e.g., of those civil rights activists of the '50s & '60s directly or indirectly affected by the CP), and other times it remains unknown. I keep in touch with a handful of people who have been active in the past and who, given the right context, will be again in the future. I also keep in touch with a few young people who have never been active yet, but who are at least very dry prairie grass.
I also argue with fellow leftists who interfere with the future by their daydreams of a magic writer who will just by his/her "popular writing" call spirits from the ground.
I'm not saying anything very profound -- I am just giving a very simple summary of empirical actuality over the last 200 years. Carrol