On 2011-12-22, at 10:54 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
> Marv: "The social democratic and trade union leaders, for their part,
> especially since globalization and tech change eroded the power of the
> organized working class, view the relationship of forces as adverse,
> fear the bond markets, and are consequently reluctant to mobilize
> their followers in any deep and sustained confrontation with
> international capital.
>
> Perhaps racism plays a part amongst trade union followers of the
> right-wing parties in France, Italy, Hungary, Austria, etc., but I
> don't think this is true of the majority. The trade unions are more
> racially and ethnically heterogeneous than they used to be."
>
> [WS:] I think that a far more important factor behind this trend is
> that the public discourse is dominated by neoliberalism and there
> seems no viable alternative to it…
My rebuttal, of course, would be that "neoliberal discourse" would not have gained any traction but for the trade unions, and the parties based on them, having been gravely weakened by the revolution in technology and communications and the political transformations in the fSU and China. These in combination opened vast new markets for capitalist expansion and profitability and hammered the industrial working class in the advanced capitalist countries.