As that web reviewer of a book on the '70s suggested, 1970 came close to being capitalism at its best; as Ted Morgan's book documents in detail, that "best" was precisely what terrified the ideologists of capitalism. (See, for example, the speech by Lewis Powell in 1970 quoted in Ted's book.) Capitalism - capitalists - could not accept peacefully a world in which it was possible to sing, "Take this job and shove it." The reaction grew, and the whole world suffered. (East Timor? Afghanistan? Nicaragua? Carter's "I feel your pain" [but I sure as hell won't alleviate it].) Misery spread rapidly in the following decades.
But perhaps 1969 is an even more dramatic illustration of this barbarism at the core. What led almost directly to the deaths of Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, and a number of other Panthers was the Panther Breakfast Program: It was _that_ (as we know from the memo Hoover sent ou) which convinced Hoover that it was necessary to criminalize the Panthers. They represented, that is, the same danger that "Take this job and shove it" represented.
Shifting gears a bit here: I think that song may help us answer a question mooted on this list recently, what is _freedom_. The answer is quite simple , and it is purely quantitative: Freedom is measured by the number of hours in the day not controlled by future necessity. This is expliciat in the title of Postone's book (Time and modern domination). A maximum work week of 20 hours or less is clearly an essential feature of the 'good society.' Freedom is Free Time, nothing less and nothing more.
Carrol
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