[lbo-talk] Sam Gindin, ON THE REVIVAL OF THE WORKING

brad bauerly bbauerly at gmail.com
Tue Dec 15 11:07:08 PST 2009


I rather liked this part:

"A commonly cited example of the parochialism of the union

movement has been its demand to protect local jobs against competition

from abroad, with its tendency to nationalism and xenophobia.

But an important distinction must be made. When workers

were in struggle and articulated these claims as attempts to

force corporations to maintain commitments to the community,

as a fight over corporate freedoms undermining worker and community

freedoms – that is, in class terms – the struggle was much

less likely to end up attacking Mexican or Asian workers. It is

when there is no class perspective, when unions are identifying

with ‘their’ corporation and mobilizing to win subsidies *for *corporations,

when the enemy isn’t capital but other workers, that

racist tendencies are more likely to be reinforced.

While it is absolutely imperative that unions commit to fighting

for the greatest equality amongst all workers if solidarity is to

be meaningful, the fact is that equality even just within the working

class can’t be achieved in a society based on markets, profits

and competition. That is why extending that commitment to fight

for overcoming class inequality in general is necessary. Equality

within the class is best advanced through being serious about

building the unity to bring down the whole class system that orders

society."


> Message: 16
> Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:03:07 -0500
> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Sam Gindin, ON THE REVIVAL OF THE WORKING
> CLASS
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Message-ID: <5D5C6059-3BB1-425C-A025-D331791EDB13 at panix.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed;
> delsp=yes
>
>
> On Dec 14, 2009, at 10:00 PM, brad bauerly wrote:
>
> > http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay28_gindin.pdf
>
> Sam Gindin is terrific.
>
> "The point however of emphasizing ?class? is to get at a shared social
> relationship within capitalism that cuts across and potentially
> bridges other oppressions."
>
> Doug
>
>
>



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