[lbo-talk] Working-Class Fragmentation

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 23 13:22:24 PDT 2010


Eric Beck: Since I don't understand it and won't bother to learn it, it is abstract, unknowable, parasitic.

Somebody: Well, that's just the problem now, isn't it? Even if every member of this mailing list took it upon themselves to understand our financial system, it'd still remain far too arcane to be intelligible by anything approaching the number of people needed for a sizable left. Isn't that why anti-Semitism was so appealing in the 20th century? It put a face everyone could understand on the bankers. It created a compelling narrative about the concrete individuals and conspiracies purported to lie behind financial crises.

Frankly, the truth is far too complex to ever provide fodder for revolution makers. The best you can hope for is to pin the blame on their political leaders, to have workers come out, like in Argentina a decade ago, braying for all the politicians in the capital to be tossed out. Or to point the finger at imperialist sabotage. Or at minority scapegoats analogous to the Jews: like the Chinese in Indonesia or Indians in Uganda.



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