[lbo-talk] one view of the Greens

Brian Siano siano at mail.med.upenn.edu
Mon Oct 27 07:07:07 PST 2003


Doug Henwood wrote:


> Workers Vanguard - October 24, 2003
> [...]
> As for the Green Party's call for "the creation and spread of local
> currencies and barter" and "consumer items that would contribute
> toward economic autonomy for individuals," these eccentric reactionary
> positions are pitched to layers of the petty bourgeoisie concerned
> with ecology and small-scale production. This anti-industrial stance
> is fundamentally anti-working class, dreaming of a long-gone
> pre-industrial age, and America of small farms and small
> businesses...and rural idiocy and backwardness [ellipses in original].
> [...]

This may explain why these people are going to _remain_ "workers," rather than, say, "active participants in decision-making."

For one thing, how the hell are barter and local-currency economies antithetical to 21st-century industry? Only way I can see _that_ is if someone was proposing eliminating all the other modern banking systems, and replacing those with local currencies and barter. Since I haven't seen anything like that outside of a handful of cranks, I'd say the Workers' Vanguard's way off base here-- not surprisingly.



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