[lbo-talk] lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1056, Issue 2

Joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Fri Nov 27 00:17:32 PST 2009


Brad writes:

"Everything you say below is all real good. However, it seems to assume that there is no sharp class distinctions or struggles that we could plug into. I mean come on. The last 30 years have witnessed a huge ruling class offensive. So I have no idea why we would need to go clandestinely into the struggles you mention in order to bring the class issue to the surface. It is fucking everywhere on the surface."

I'm not so sure about that. The notion that there are systemic forces at play is fairly foreign to the American psyche. And there is deep, deep shame at being working class. In this country, it's synonymous with "loser."

Tillie Olsen recounted how her father, a socialist and union organizer/official, would take the kids sightseeing, pointing out the bridges, structures, etc. that "we had built," instilling in her a life-long pride about being a worker. This is the one thing she was the most grateful to her parents for.

The whole point about the working class in this country is to escape it. There is no notion about the possibility of taking over, of re-shaping the relations of production into something beyond mortification and humiliation.... and as industrial jobs leave, there are fewer and fewer things to point to and claim "we built it."

And none of the more articulate liberation and environmental movements (whatever their virtues) provide the vocabulary needed to articulate and work through the problem of class.

Joanna



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