Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Jun 21, 2010, at 2:43 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> > Wojtek S wrote:
> >>
> >> [WS:] So when the revolution finally comes, with what would your
> >> replace
> >> the professional police force? Most people do not appreciate being
> >> beaten
> >> by thugs, robbed by thieves,
> >
> > Any collecti e defends itself against pathogens within. Why should I
> > dictate what our great-great-grandchildren should do undere
> > circumstances that neither you nor I can even guess at.
>
> Because people might ask you that question today, and conclude that
> that answer was evasive and your politics therefore not worth taking
> seriously.
>
Yes. And I answer them as I answer Wojtek. I do NOT ask anyone to become socialsit. I do not ask anyone even to become anti-capitalists. If they want to do either they will have to do so on their own.
I ask them to get involved in this or that concrete struggle against this or that concrete evil. I ask them also (with less intensity but more hope) to get involved in further planning on how to win that struggle or at least raise the level of struggle. Within such a context a great deal of conversation goes on. All sorts of things emerge from that conversation. Or at least do potentially. Not a lot happens under normal condnitions. (By normal conditions I mean the overwhelming strength of capitalism as it has existed for 200 years except for brief periods here and there.) But if all goes well enough conversation developes enough activity to keep the struggle alive. For it to go beyyond that is beyond our direct control. Trying to persuade people to enter directly into a struggle for socialism is just one of the many forms of voluntarism.
Carrol