Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Apr 21, 2010, at 5:45 PM, Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> > The smash up cannot give progressives some gift on the platter --
> > only an
> > opportunity, which is more likely to pay off with prior organization
> > and a
> > clear program.
>
> No. Economic crisis is the opposite of fertile soil. It's poisonous.
This seems essentially correct to me. And the nature of the rolling economic crisis of the last 35 years is even more destructive of left intiatives. The Great Depression lasted long enough, continuously, that slight improvements in conditions could generate the hope and the rising expectations that are so vital to left movements . Now each recovery is so limp, and the leftover damage (e.g., weaker unons) so lingering that few issues can generate a strong mass response -- and so far we haven't stumbled on any of those few or even know what they might be.
Carrol