> Or, the excellent little pamphlet "Two Pages from Roman History" by
> the American socialist Daniel De Leon, makes some interesting points
> too.
Not a bad guy, old Dan. Instrumental in founding the IWW, which, BTW, is still here, in a somewhat new incarnation. Wonder why they aren't presenting a vigorous challenge to U.S. capitalism at this point?
From my CD-ROM edition of the Encyclopedia Brit:
"At a convention in Chicago in 1905, De Leon helped found the IWW, with which the STLA promptly merged. But he was refused a seat at the IWW's 1908 convention by extremists who rejected political activity of the sort that he advocated and who favoured more violent tactics. He then created another schismatic body, the Workers' International Industrial Union, which failed."
That's pretty much the story of radical anti-capitalist organizing in God's country. Very important work, done by very dedicated people, many of them admirable, but also very demoralizing and ultimately futile -- so far. Not surprising that it's not sweeping the country in 2004.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt