[lbo-talk] Boycotting the unorganized?

Chuck0 chuck at mutualaid.org
Wed Jan 19 21:21:41 PST 2005


John Thornton wrote:


>
>> Your first job is to DO NO HARM, which is to say, you can't just actively
>> sabotage what the workers are doing. To do so is to side with the boss
>> against the workers. That's what you're doing. It IS that simple.
>
>
> No dude it isn't. Maybe in the binary world of a zealot this is true but
> reality is sometimes messier than this. The harm in having the union
> picket Bills store is enormous in a town this size. You don't know what
> you're talking about. IF the store begins to hire non-family members
> that situation will change but until then it is counterproductive to
> picket that store. It is a stupid plan that is bound to fail. Only
> dogmatically blinded people advocate and support it.

And there are probably all kinds of other situations. The problem with morality and sanctimonious behavior codes is that they make no allowance for nuance and special situations. What does a person do when they are working a convention at some hotel, decide to cut across the street between hotel towers and run across a picket line? Does this mean that a persona has to stay outside, even if they talk to the people picketing? Is this person supposed to LOSE their job in order to adhere to some moral code about crossing picket lines?


> Calling Chuck a scab is as bad as calling him a cop in my opinion. I am
> surprised Doug hasn't pointed this out. I don't care if Doug agrees with
> me or not on this issue but I thought this type of accusation was not
> supposed to be allowed on this list.

Ack, I appreciate the outrage over me being called a cop, but at this point I find it amusing and wear this as a badge of honor that I'm punching the right buttons. I've been called a cop so many times that I've lost track. Folks may remember the incident that was reported here about how people associated with the Workers World Party and ANSWER were spreading rumors in the New York headquarters of the NLG that I was a cop. At one point the head of the NLG had been told that I was a cop and I've never met the person. This tells you to what lengths some leftists will go to avoid open discussion about politics. The leadership of ANSWER/WWP have never responded to my criticisms, yet they can find the time to engage in chickenshit passive aggressive stuff like calling me a cop.

Next topic please...

Chuck



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