Anniversary

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie,
>
>How does Parenti's thesis fit with the notion of
>a "labor aristocracy" as developed by Engels
>and Lenin, which IS supposed to profit from
>imperialism?  Perhaps, the working class
>as a whole does not benefit from imperialism,
>but there seem to be certain sectors of it that
>do  such as workers in defense industries.
>
>Jim F.

There are kinds of jobs that wouldn't exist (or at least not to the 
extent they do now) but for the empire.  Once workers get well-paid 
defense jobs as, say, engineers of fighters and bombers, they 
probably subjectively develop an interest in keeping the status quo 
that necessitates such jobs, as it normally doesn't occur to them to 
demand comparable jobs in civilian production, unless mergers, budget 
cuts, etc. make it pressing for them to do so.  High-ranking officers 
of the military must feel the same way (though in the case of the 
military, wages and working conditions, even for officers, seem worse 
than those of comparable civilian jobs).
-- 
Yoshie

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