> Doug
>
>> They *were* mowed down unceremoniously in the late 19th century. Didn't
>> really stop them, despite worse violence than in Tsarist Russia. I doubt
>> that kids with puppets would show the same tenacity. Not that I would,
>> either.
>
> I know they were, and they kept coming, as you say. Look at the faces of
> most of those kids in Pittsburgh -- they have no stomach for old school
> IWW action. They looked frightened and confused. Just where the state
> wants them, once they're cleared off the streets, that is.
===================================
Today's demonstrators retreat to coffee shops, video games, university
dorms, and, at worst, rundown housing and a minimum of state income support
when they're cleared from the streets. They don't have the same desperate
incentive to revolt as did the early industrial working class. Nor, when
they look at their numbers and the course of twentieth century history, do
they have the same burning conviction that history is moving in their
direction, a more potent mobilizer, IMO, than personal morality and sympathy
for
the oppressed "other", or even material deprivation. So why condemn these
kids for being a product of their times?
It's hard to come to any conclusion other than that this global downturn will have to deepen and cause significantly more hardship for working class families before they join these demos in large numbers. I'm surprised we've seen so little protest on a world scale to date, but maybe the initial shock and fear will have to begin dissipating before people not only feel disgruntled, but emboldened enough to start exploring politics seriously and asserting themselves. Or maybe it'll again be back to business as usual.