[lbo-talk] Wimps on LBO

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Apr 30 12:01:49 PDT 2004


John Lacny wrote:


>It would be considered more offensive, I think, if you compared Andy
>Stern to Lane Kirkland.
>
>The word "fucking" might be removed just for propriety's sake, but
>I'm reminded of an encounter I had with a longtime labor activist
>whose origins were in a certain local that is now part of SEIU (I
>will not go into further detail, nor will I name names). About five
>years ago at a party, she raised her glass and said:
>
>"I propose a toast!
>
>"Lane Kirkland died today, and yes, we should always be respectful
>when someone dies. But in the labor movement, we have a saying:
>'Sometimes progress comes one death at a time!'"

Kirkland was said to have the best wine cellar in DC - wonder what happened to it?

But how much better off is U.S. labor now than during Kirkland's day? Density is down, there's little progress on international solidarity, and they still don't have much of a political strategy beyond giving money to Dems. Are there some hidden strengths I'm missing?

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list