In my interview with Greg Grandin
http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S110611
he talked a lot about how all (what we used to call) "the new social movements" in LatAm have been working together admirably and also with the state. They've left behind all that talk from the last couple of decades about how the social movements (and everyday acts of resistance) were all that we needed and we could forget about the state (a la John Holloway). Also, the base of the new South American radicalism is a broad coalition of activist groups of all kinds - unions, feminists, queers (McNally recites a similar list). I'm reminded of a comment that Kim Moody made in an essay in NLR back in 1996:
> The 1930s vision of the working ‘class’ as a homogeneous group of white male factory workers, never accurate, is gone forever. The working class itself is more Black and Brown than the population, and the unions—though not their leaders—more so than the class or workforce. The activists of today’s resurgence are the products of the diversity of the actual existing working class and of the cultural terrain on which they must fight. The organized labour movement of today is criss-crossed with both independent and official organizations of African-American, Latino, Asian, and women workers. It’s also worth noting that Jesse Jackson is a perennial favourite on picket lines, particularly among white workers. Most of the independent political organizations also reflect this diversity to one degree or another. We have, in other words, a chance to get the active concept of class right this time.
They're doing it better in LatAm than we are!
Doug
^^^^^^^ CB: I agree with you , Kim and Greg. This is pretty classical Marxist: Workers of the world,unite ! The working class consists of all wage-laborers. Divide and conquer is the main strategy of the ruling class.
Scott Marshall reports that a national leader of the Building Trades recently made a speech with Martin Luther King as a main theme. I you know the history of the Building Trades, mainly those white male workers mentioned above, this is a big sign of an important shift. The composition of the protestors in Wisconsin and Michigan are heavily white male workers. Firefighters seem to be quite militant.
Certainly it is important to understand the working class as demographically diverse. However, we must win over the better paid white male workers ( the old labor aristocracy, bourgeosified workers, or "Middle Class") to unite with the rest, because of their location in the social structure of the mode of production.