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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>JM:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=4 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Verdana'>JM: Woj, let me say
that I generally agree with you on this specific issue. But
as usual you seem to talk off the top of your head without very much knowledge
of current conditions or the history of unionism in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> Perhaps
Woj, you can start an organization to help us change the restrictive labor laws
in this country. For the most part white collar workers have no
right to organize unions or to negotiate with employers as a bargaining unit. <br>
<br>
<font color=blue><span style='color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>[WS:] No
disagreement here, but two points seem relevant. First, the anti-union
laws did not fall from the sky, US unions brought them upon themselves by their
focus on member-serving trade unionism instead of representation of broadly
defined class interests of labor in general (in this, I am following Fitch, who
was extensively discussed on this list). Second, anti-labor laws seem
quite tangential to the argument I was making, namely that “shopping for
justice” (i.e. consumer choice) is basically irrelevant as strategy –
its basic outcome is good feeling of those who engage in it, but otherwise this
outcome is close to nil.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>I may also
want to add that while a discussion on future strategy of labor organizing is
certainly important, we are basically constrained by reality in what is
feasible. Restrictive labor laws are certainly a huge disadvantage to
labor organizing, but this what we have and changing this in the foreseeable
future does not strike as very realistic. Basically, US organized labor
had a chance in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century and blew it, and now the
damage, like an oil spill or nuclear core meltdown, is very difficult (if at
all possible) to undo. This is the unpleasant reality, and chastising
consumers for shopping in non-union stores or buying “non-kosher”
goods like cheese or gasoline is merely a diversion that further confuses rather
than clarifies labor’s agenda and antagonizes potential supporters.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>Finally, your
previous posting (which I am not even sure was directed to me) you misinterpret
my work on professionals in <st1:place w:st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place>.
Far from suggesting that professionals should lead “the masses,” the
book and the paper argue the opposite view, that instead of a top-down designer
approach to social change under central planning, the “new professionals”
were more conscious about public perceptions of their innovations, and strove
to legitimate them by channeling them through institutional forms already
perceived as legitimate (pretty much in line with Marx’s observation in
the 18<sup>th</sup> brumaire of “history repeating itself twice.) While
I am indeed vary wary and highly suspicious of populism (it gave us nothing but
lynchings, pogroms, concentration camps and killing fields), I am equally wary
of the “designer” approach to social institutions (implicit in “professional
leadership”) and pretty much in favor of pluralism of organized interests
approach and historical contingency – path dependency to explaining their
relative power and influence. I think these are quite consistent themes in
what I post here, although I would not expect anyone to follow it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3 color=blue
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>Wojtek<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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