[lbo-talk] Unproductive Workers = The Best Organized in the USA

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Thu Jan 19 23:39:53 PST 2006


Jim wrote:


>> The only government workers that capitalists find truly
>> indispensable are probably soldiers. ... in the long run, you
>> might be able to replace Americans by Mexicans, etc.: from citizen
>> soldiers to citizen-to-be soldiers. :->
>
> that's not outside the realm of possibility. After all, can't a non-
> citizen gain citizenship by serving in the armed forces? (This
> doesn't apply to "illegals.")

Permanent residents can get their naturalization expedited through military service, but, still, immigrants aren't a big part of the military -- only about 2.6% in 2003 (cf. <http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/ natsec/RL31884.pdf>).

Here's a story that shows how desperate for recruits the Army has become: "the U.S. Army, which missed its fiscal 2005 recruiting goal, said on Wednesday it has raised the maximum enlistment age for new soldiers by five years to 39, greatly expanding its pool of potential recruits" (Will Dunham, "U.S. Army Raises Maximum Age for Enlistment," 18 Jan. 2006 <http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ N18239519.htm>). Pretty soon, a majority of LBO-talk subscribers will be eligible!

It would make sense for Congress to allow the Army to reach out to los sin papeles, who have far more incentives to join the military in return for citizenship than permanent residents do, but it hasn't and probably won't.

The ruling class used not to have any qualms about raising an army out of their empire's colonial subjects. Ho Chi Minh wrote: "No longer having absolute confidence in the white soldiers, who are more or less contaminated by the idea of classes, French militarism uses African and Asian natives in their stead. Out of 159 regiments in the French Army, 10 are composed of colonial whites, i.e., semi-natives, 30 of Africans and 39 of natives from other colonies. One half of the French army is thus recruited in the colonies" ("The Counter- Revolutionary Army," La Vie Ouvriere, 7 Sep. 1923, <http:// www.marxists.org/reference/archive/ho-chi-minh/works/ 1923/09/07.htm>). I suppose that replicating that is no longer possible, now that almost all former colonies are politically independent and nationalism is part of common sense worldwide.

Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>



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