[lbo-talk] The Neoliberalization Of Higher Educa tion:

[brad bauerly]

>
> As Ehrenreich points out in Bait and Switched, what happens when there is
> nothing in place to channel that anger, people are prey to the rightwing
> elements that do organize that frustration and anger. In this case,
> conservative, pro-capitalist, xtian organization use the resentment of the
> un- and underemployed to fill their ranks and they do so by providing these
> folks with services that help them survive the landmines of the employment
> market.
>
> It hardly makes sense to advocate such a strategy if there is nothing in
> place to shuttle that anger and resentment into a productive movement
> opposition to capitalism. Or to, at the very least, demonstrate the very
> solidarity we, as leftists, claim that we want to encourage.
>
> This was the message of the film, Black Legion, which I wrote about the
> other day: these workers, feeling shunted to the side by the managerial
> capitalism that was taking the place of the foreman's empire, ended up
> turning to fascist supremacist groups. They were organized and offered an
> explanation to these people represented by Frank in the film. The only
> effective way of dealing with the resentment is to provide something
> similar, from a radical left analysis. ust hoping they'll get pissed off
> and become socialists seems like an approach destined to fail to me. We
> have decades of evidence of its failure.
>
> shag
>
>
>
>
> How on earth do you square this with your notion that we should treat class
as an identity issue?

Brad