[lbo-talk] Marxism and Religion

[wrobert at uci.edu]

My comment was primarily an empirical one.  I noted that there was
substantial upheaval in Europe after 1848.  I made no reference to its
capacity of engaging in the same activity now either explicitly or
implicitly.  My point was simply that the history has been rockier for the
ruling classes then implied by Yoshie's description.  I don't see a
challenge to that fact.  Since you have declared that the radical
movements of 1968 don't fit into this series of upheavals I'm curious how
you would categorize them.  For me, they still constitute a serious
challenge to the world structure at the time whatever they are categorized
as.

                                robert wood

Moreover, '68 wasn't exactly a
> even failed worker's revolutionary movement, unlike,
> say, Spain '30-39, Germany 1918, Russia 1917, and
> going _back_. There was radical workers' activism in
> the 60's and even afterward -- maybe the last of it
> seen lately on a mass scale was the early days of
> Solidarnosc in 1980-81 -- but even that is a very long
> time ago and not exactly in the capitalist core. And
> see what came of it. Probably irrationally I do not
> despair, but from where I stand it would not be
> irrational _to_ despair, and while I concede that
> things might change very fast in an unforeseeable way,
> and I'd be glad if they did, it's ipso facto not
> foreseeable that things will so change. From here it
> looks like a long shot against high odds over a very
> long period. If you can show me I'm wrong, I will be
> gratified.
>