Anniversary

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>  > The poor among the working class are indeed browbeaten into thinking
>>  that they alone are to blame for the problems that oppress them, be
>>  they material or cultural deprivations.  In turn, the better off
>>  among the working class are encouraged to think of their conditions
>>  as matters of personal accomplishments only (talent, hard work,
>>  can-do spirit, etc.), rather than matters of social structures,
>>  functions, etc. subject to (even radical) change.  To some of the
>>  poor as well as the better off, analyses that clarify the social
>>  relations that create poverty may even come across as personal
>>  affronts, as such explanations may appear to take away a sense of
>>  personal achievement, a belief in ability to control one's own
>>  destiny, etc. that they wish to have
>
>>  Yoshie
>
>Well, speaking as a guy who actually toils with black and white working
>class people on a nightly basis, I can safely say that hard work is indeed
>considered a virtue, and it should be. Most of the people I work with take
>pride in their labor, consider themselves pros, and have made decent lives
>for themselves. I'm afraid Leninist constructs about their "oppression"
>would be completely alien to them, and I think it's safe to say this is true
>across the board. There exists a camaraderie that no outside political agent
>can break or even understand -- especially an agent from academia, head
>filled with visions of American workers waving red pennants.
>
>DP

Hard work can be a virtue, but it's self-defeating, under capitalism, 
to think that as long as you work hard, you can get a job (especially 
one that brings you above the poverty line) and that if you don't 
have a job or are poor, you have only yourself to blame.  It's common 
for the unemployed to get depressed, and that's no wonder.
-- 
Yoshie

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