> I'd say that the best way to influence the elites is to
> organize the "underclass." International pressure is all well
> and good, but it can easily push a country in the _wrong_
> direction. And where does a progressive pressure come from?
> it comes from organizing the "underclasses" in other
Not usually - "underclasses" (Marx's lumpenproletariat) are often apolitical, passive or reactionary. Rueschemeyer et al. (_Capitalist developmend and democracy_) argue that what matters is a class alliance - urban proletariat aligned with the middle urban / professional classes produces progressive outcomes, rural elite aligned with industrial bourgeoisie (rye-iron alliance) produces fascist outcomes, and middle urban /professional classes aligned with bourgeoisie produce produce capitalist (neo-liberal) outcomes.
Another point is that working class mobilization in Europe was much more succesful because of the relative absence of cultural divisions (ethnicity, locality, identity, etc.). In this country, working class has never been mobilized as working class - all mobilization was along identity lines (ethnicity, gender, religion, ideology) - and in this case, past performance is an indicator of future success. If nation-wide mobilization of the working class in the US was possible, somone would have already dobe that (or come close). The fact that it it did not happen, even when the capital was on its knees, means that this is rather difficiult, if at all possible, in the US. Cultural identities will inevitably trump class identity in this country - at least in our life times.
So while mobilizing various social groups is always useful, this will not produce progressive changes. I am quite confident that international pressures will force the US elites to rethink its ways - sooner rather than later - and that will be an opportunity for progressive elements in the professional classes to "infiltrate" government in the same way they "infiltrated" the FDR administration - and then bring social change "from within." Obviously, mobilizing popular support for these changes would be extremely helpful, but without the agents of change in the government, any effort to "mobilize th eunderclass" may produce, at best, cosmetic attenuations at the margins.
Wojtek