[lbo-talk] A highly critical take on Fitch

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Mar 15 06:39:38 PST 2006


Marvin Gandall wrote:


>There's lots of literature, of
>course, on why there was no lasting socialist movement in America. I don't
>think you really have to look that far; America's constantly expanding
>economy, built on the continent's great wealth, produced a more powerful
>capitalist class able to provide more consistent upward mobility to
>successive generations of immigrants, as well as shelter from the two wars
>which ravaged Europe and served to raise the political consciousness of its
>working class. Immigration, as well as race, also served to divide the US
>working class to a greater degree than was the case with the more homogenous
>working classes in the European states.

All true, but there's also Dan Lazare's favorite argument: the constitutional structure of the US, with its divided government and federal system all designed to frustrate popular power.

Doug



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