--- Angelus Novus <fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I know I sound like a broken record to you, but
> union
> membership is also on the decline in Germany:
[WS:] That would not surprise me. The colonisation of society by capitalist enterprises is not limited to the US, although it progressed here much farther than in EU.
> So I agree with Marvin and Carrol that we are
> talking
> about global economic trends at work, and it really
> makes no sense to attribute trade union failure to
> some particularities of national character.
[WS:] We've been on this road before. As long as there are cross-national diffrences in institutional arrangments of the economic life, it makes perfect sense to look at these national particularities in addition to looking at more global forces. You do not seem to like this approach, so I guess we have to agree to disagree here.
The
> large
> Fordist industrial trade unions might just be an
> obsolete form of organization in the Post-Fordist
> era.
[WS:] I agree. But do not forget that the "fordist" trade union was a product of the whole society of that time, not just the fordist assembly line. I think that these social forces of the "fordist" era, especially importance of social solidarity not yet colonised by capitalism, was at least equally if not more important factor in organizing 'fordist' unions.
> I am beginning to have doubts anyway as to whether
> the
> point of production should be such a central focus
> for
> communists. Do not misunderstand me; I think
> everyone
> doing any job should fight to defend their own
> material interests. But I think it is mistaken to
> assume that "class consciousness" necessarily arises
> as a byproduct of wage and hours struggles.
[WS:} Absolutely. It arises from local cultures and their interactions, on many different levels, with the organziation of production and the economy.
>
> I am far more inclined to say that immigration
> struggles and the fight for open borders should be a
> central priority. Capital is already transnational.
[WS:} Ditto. I think immigration struggle and the
fight for open borders are perhaps the most important
challenge that anyone living from his/her work (as
opposed to the "investor" class) faces today.
Unfortunately, most working/class middle class people
seem to have more passion for nationalism and identity
politics than for internationalism.
>
> Labor will continue to be crushed until it
> becomes
> truly transnational, and I do not simply mean
> solidarity declarations and conferences between
> trade
> union functionaries across borders.
>
[WS:] Again, I could not agree more. However, I remain rather pessimistic that such trans-nationalism or internationalism will develop any time soon. I am afraid that regression to nativism, nationalism, and identity politics is far more likely. I see these monsters rising their ugly heads all across the world, from EU to the US, to India, to the Islamic countries and to China.
Obama hit the nail right on its head - take away economic opportunity, and desperate people will resort to their guns, identity politics, and superstition.
Wojtek
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