[lbo-talk] Thoughts on the Tea Party (and why the Left is

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 21 21:50:07 PDT 2010


Alan: And, please, would you show me or tell me about one of those powerful left social movements that emerged out of recent good or bad times in North America or Europe, like since 1975.

Somebody: It won't even do to condemn the imperialist west anymore. Take a look at the industrializing East. The left is pathetic or non-existant in the former and current Asian tigers. The industrial revolution fostered the socialist and social democratic left in Europe, and to an extent, in North America. Not so in the Orient - not even in those countries that never went through socialist phases like Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.

At some point, you have to consider if socialism was just a peculiarly Western response to early capitalism that was temporarily re-configured to meet the demands of Third World peasants - peasants who have become remarkably apolitical and even conservative proletarians!



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