[lbo-talk] What the results tell us...

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Thu Nov 9 04:24:08 PST 2006


Julio Huato wrote:

But they have to view themselves as the *agents* or protagonists, responsible for progressive change in this country. This, which should be obvious, must be said because people in the left tend to argue about the merits of voting on the basis of whether or not the elected politician in question (or her/his party) has it in its DNA to deliver progressive change. And I think that's totally backwards. ******************************************

I think people can more easily see themselves as "agents" (as powerful), if they know

a few basic principles of capitalist political-economy: number one being

that they create the wealth of the economy, but they don't get to own or

control what they socially produce and number two being that not only is wealth

based on their co:operative labour, but also includes the ownership and control of Nature.

If these simple principles were to be absorbed by enough workers, a progressive,

class conscious/self-conscious movement could be organized with a view to wresting control and

ownership of wealth and by extension, political power away from the capitalist class.

But of course, when you put these matters to the working class in such a positive

way, you almost always run into a deeply ingrained, authoritarian psychological

character structure which kow-tows masochistically to existing power in order

to achieve the limited power bestowed within the hire-arky e.g. petty management

positions in various organizations, including the military, the church, the educational

institutions and corporations.

And there's the rub.

Regards,

Mike B)

Watch the communist manifestoon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1oGIffyVVk

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