On Dec 16, 2009, at 12:42 PM, MICHAEL YATES wrote:
> Sam is right about class, as right as anyone can be. I don't know
> that there is any contradiction what he says and what Zizek says.
I'm not so sure of that. You quote Ralph Miliband (by the way, one "l," not two) as saying: "the 'primacy' of organized labour in struggle arises from the fact that no other group, movement or force in capitalist society is remotely capable of mounting as effective and formidable a challenge to the existing structures of power and privilege as it is in the power of organized labour to mount." The material reason for that primacy is that this working class produces profits for the bosses and the necessities for social reproduction. The millions in the new slums, while miserable and numerous, do not hold such power, even in potential. Half of them could be killed at little cost to the system.
Doug