[lbo-talk] Adolph Reed on BHO

[B.]

Things are getting worse for the average guy on the
street these days, but the frightening thing is & has
always been that that doesn't necessarily lead to
progressive change. Germans dealt with harsh economic
times in their own interesting ways: militarization
and regimentation of society, and the Final Solution
-- and with a much more vibrant left-socialist
tradition in its midst than we have currently in the
US.

If The Big Collapse occurs (and it probably won't any
time soon, though the economy does suck) it'd be nice
if organizers had been doing enough preparatory
legwork so that the economic collapse met with a
population brimming with anti-capitalist ideas, and
not a bigoted and reactionary population frightened by
immigrants, cowardly worshipful of the the military
and jingoist, martial sentiment, looking for a strong
leader who would restore The True Order.

-B.

Charles A. Grimes wrote:

"Sure changes in conditions are reflected in changes
of consciousness. But, those conditions are changing
for the worse, hence the `receptivity' to changes in
consciousness. When social conditions get worse, then
consciousness has changed, and I would advocate that's
when people are more receptive. So, it doesn't
necessarily follow that progressives need to change
society. The Capitalists are doing a fine job of
changing conditions..."