[lbo-talk] Tracking the decline of the left's historic base

[Carrol Cox]

I've always been and still am a great admirer of Chomsky. There's never
been any doubt as to which side he's on. But his great contributions
have beenin the realm of the relationof the U.S to the rest of the
world. Also, if I remember correctly he _does_ come himself from a
working-class background -- which is part of his strength AND possibly a
source of his weakness here. He has, I think, as many people in
"working-class studies have, romanticzed a working class that is, as I
said in my previous post, more of an identiy than anything that properly
'stands for' the _whole_ working class. "Poor and Angry"  CAN identify
par, but only part, of the constituency of the left, but any one who has
lived in rural areas can probably tell you, they may also represent the
core troops for right-wing extremists. So one simply can't take
Chomsky's word for it. Rather more careful, on-the-spot investigation
would be needed. And it's not worth the effort. It   wouldn't have been
worth it in the '60s to try to 'reach' the pooer whites of central
Illinois. McLean Cunty is one of the richest counties in the U.S., but
everey little village had its sidestreet of rural poor. I knew some of
them and liked them -- but it would have been insane to make them a
priority for left organizing.

And I grew up with and went to school with rural & village kids in
south-western Michian. The Black population in Berrien County (arond
Benton Harbor) is a left constituency if a left appears again -- but
not, I think, the rural poor there. I could be wrong on this becayse
U;ve beeb away for a long time. But I wouldn't be real interested even
in organizing my own relatives in the area.

Carrol

Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> On Feb 11, 2010, at 1:38 PM, B. wrote:
> 
> > I posted one very germane nugget from a longer book, about a
> > relevant demographic being discussed (for ex., Sarah Palin's "real
> > America") -- ergot you extrapolate and make broad, crotchety, and
> > 100% unwarranted generalizations/speculations about other topics.
> 
> Carrol's response could have been a bit more measured, but I really
> wonder if Chomsky is right about the demographic. That would be
> especially true of the Tea Party people. I have my doubts that they're
> really working class - if they're heavily populated by small biz types
> and self-employed professionals, that's not a promising constituency
> for a left.
> 
> Doug
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk