Look, Leo, there's nor a man or woman-jack here who, if we were to win what they have in France or Germany or even England as far as the welfare state goes, wouldn't think that the revolution was over and we'd won. But the Progressive Caucus doesn't say in public: we need a 35 hour work week, national heath care, six weeks of paid vacation, closed union shop, codetermination of industry, etc.; if its members think these goals are desirable, they will only say so in private, lamenting that they cannot be advocated. much less attained.
And the Progressive Caucus doesn't speak for the DP, no. You sneer at Resident Bush, as well you might, but these goals were no closer under Clinton, even when he had a majority in the House; the were not even advocated by Clinton, nor by Gore. No, they preferred to bring us GATT, NAFTA, the MIA, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the end of AFDC, etc.
So let us all embrace social democracy or whatever you want to call it; I guarantee you that almost everyone on this list will sigh, some seeing it as a stepping stone to something better. But let's be serious about what we are asking for--a major defeat of the capitalist class. We cannot win this through the PC of the DP. The Labor Party is, alas, fairly inert; who knows, maybe Greens will be livelier. Eventually, because these things come in cycles, popular resistance will re-ignite. Which side will you be on then, Leo?
--jks
> >
>
>Well, Justin, when I read Yoshie's attacks on the Labor Party in favor of
>waiting for the Leninist Second Coming, I almost want to leap to the
>defense
>of the Labor Party, even though I feel that it is a still-born experiment,
>like all the Labor Parties that preceded it. As against "bloody red
>revolution" redux, it is something we could participate in good conscience.
>[I don't get too worried about the resurrection of "bloody red revolution,"
>however, as working people have a whole lot better sense than that.]
>
>Now, social democracy or radical democracy may seem a little off in the
>distance in these days of Bush the Pretender, but in the Progressive
>Caucus,
>you have about two score of the House of Representatives who would happily
>join in it. That seems a lot more viable to me than most other left
>projects.
>I don't know if that makes me feel sane, but it does make me feel like I am
>pursuing an option that has some hope of fulfillment.
>
>Leo Casey
>United Federation of Teachers
>260 Park Avenue South
>New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
>
>Power concedes nothing without a demand.
>It never has, and it never will.
>If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
>Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who
>want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and
>lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
>-- Frederick Douglass --
>
>
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