This was a victory? I would have thought that the limited state intervention that you call a welfare state was more about ensuring the restoration of post-war accumulation. The German working class was totally smashed by the end of the War. If I remember, pre-Hitler era living standards were only again achieved by the late '50s.
* Reunification was a defeat - the continuation of the division apparently preferable?
Does this mean that you regard the continuation of a dysfunctional East German Stalinist state - originally imposed as part of a deal between Stalin and the Allies - as a progressive option? Surely a divided Germany (and a divided working class) was no basis at all for any sort of progressive way forward?
You also seem to ascribe to various individuals (Zhukov [and the Red Army], John Brown, Martin Luther King...) results that were actually achieved by broad struggles.
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Angelus Novus Sent: 16 August 2007 10:55 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] [Fwd: Cretinism, electoral and otherwise]
Wotjek wrote:
> all major victories of the Left in the developed
> countries have been accomplished through electoral
> politics
Nonsense. The existence of the modern welfare state in Germany was the result of defeat and occupation at the hands of the allies. Stalingrad was the best thing to happen to the German working class. Reunification was the worst.
If Georgy Zhukov ever runs for political office, he'll have my vote.
And the same is true for everywhere, including the United States. John Brown, Martin Luther King, and SNCC did far more for political change than any electoral campaign.
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