[lbo-talk] Platypus: what we are, what we do, and why

[Matthias Wasser]

It's worth separating out "slavery was the cause of the war" from "Northern
moral opposition to slavery was the cause of the war." The former does not
require the latter.

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 1:45 PM, SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> wrote:


> Joseph Catron wrote:
>
>  It seems pretty obvious to me that the Union chose war for all the
>> predictable economic reasons (tariffs, etc.) and used abolitionism - which
>> took on a life of its own - to rally the proles. It would be a strange
>> war,
>> indeed, in which the bourgeoisie actually came out and told us we were
>> being
>> sent to our deaths to enrich them.
>>
>
> Ha. The actual "proles" were among the most anti-abolitionist sectors of
> society. Have you ever heard of the Draft Riots?

I imagine that slavery and the merits thereof were not exactly the first
thing on their mind then.