But look. There has emerged just the tiniest spark of hope; in Wisconsin and elsewhere some working people are, at least for the moment, standing up and sayingn No! Thousands of such openings have occurred over the last century and most have flickered out, thousands crushed in blood. Change is NEVER certain: Contingency still rules. But the hope is there. Thought _must_ be given to the fanning of that spark into life. This is not time for daydreaming, no time for mere babbling of what should be or what would be nice.
"The anatomy of man is a key to the anatomy of the ape"; also worded as "The present as history" -- that is we can understand the present only by seeing it historically, looking back on it from a future perspective. Unless you have a crystal ball or claim divine inspiration, that future perspective can only be a hypothetical one: hypothetical, that is, neither an empirical prophecy nor a mere wish for a good world. We can only make (potential) sense of the present by hypothesizing the overthrow of the capitalist order as represented in the capitalist state. Of course that may never happen: Barbarism remains the more likely future as it is the actual present. But as hypothesis it illuminates the present. Pious wishes do not.
WITD now? Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands (just in the U.S.) are thinking and tentatively acting. In my original post in this series I was merely (merely!) trying to work out the principle which is core to carrying on, to thinking out, the demands placed on us by Wisconsin. And a proclamation of what "should" be trivializes that struggle and the thought it reuires.
Sorry again for losing my temper.
Carrol
-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Carrol Cox Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 4:08 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Washington Hospital Center nurses launch24-hour labor strike
Mark Wain: My point of view about each every work space is the employees working there should be made the owning and managing partners of that unit together with the society.
The passive verb in this post conceals the titanic struggle between us an any possibility of its achievement. This is absolute lunacy.
X "should be made": Who is to do the making and how! It doesn't make a fucking bit of difference what "should be." We should all go to heaven perhaps. Should indeed. What idiocy.
How? Who? Thorugh what process. Perhaps you should write a polite letter to the Preseident: Please Mr. President: Issue an executive order that as of March 15 Everyohe will receive according to his need and give according to his druthers.
Fucking idiocy.
Carrol
----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 5:51 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Washington Hospital Center nurses launch24-hour labor strike
>I have noticed over the last year (not just on this list) a sort of
> 'stutter' in the voice of many leftists when the sector of the working
> class
> involved is (like nurses and teachers) 'really' important -- a _service_
> we
> need. The stutter involves flinching a bit on certain demands that make a
> workers' struggle a working-class struggle, a failure to take, as one's
> ground position, the proposition that the work place exists for the sake
> of
> the workers! What, from a political perspective, is THE purpose of
> schools:
> to give jobs to teachers. What, from a political perspective, is THE
> purpose
> of a hospital: to give jobs to nurses and janitors and technicians et al.
> We
> are not talking agitational material here: that is a totally separate
> topic.
> We are talking about what must be the mindset of those who hold those
> positions or who mobilize support for them. And I mean _all_ teachers; not
> just the competent ones. I mean ALL nurses; not just the competent ones.
>
> And what do workers need: they need freedom -- more specifically, in a
> capitalist world, they need freedom from the tyranny of the future.
>
> This means they must be confident that their jobs will not be take from
> them. They must be confident that they will be supported in retirement.
> And
> it means that their pay must be such that the future is no threat. It
> means
> that their working conditons and hours are not such as to damage their
> capacity to live as humans in their hours off work.
>
> This is how we (members of and supporters of the working class) must think
> as we work out specific positions and specific actions. This is the only
> way
> to keep the stutter out of our voices.
>
> We must not allow ourselves for one second to think an 'objective'
> observer
> from the sidelines, as mere cheerleaders, as mere fans enjoying the
> contest.
>
> (Just incidentally, this mindset is also best for the patients and the
> students. But putting students or patients first for one second of mental
> time is in fact contrary to the interests of students and patients as
> well.)
>
> Carrol
>
> I agree with Alan; I'm not criticizing his post but using it as a
> springboard to make further points.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Adam Proctor
> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 3:28 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Washington Hospital Center nurses launch 24-hour
> labor strike
>
> Just got home from walking the picket line all day. There were easily
> 300-400 people in attendence, mostly nurses represented by National
> Nurses United. Also in attendence were public transportation workers,
> teachers, firefighters, and other private sector union members.
>
> Trumka of AFL-CIO gave a rousing speech, as did Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
> Eh, their rhetoric was somewhat predictable, but it sure beats the
> alternative--that is, the suits ignoring the strike action.
>
> Management has shipped in scabs from out of state and locked out the
> 1650 striking nurses for an additional 4 days. So the pickets will
> continue. Here's to hoping this thing grows over the weekend.
>
> -Adam
>
>
>
> On Friday, March 4, 2011, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/04/AR2011030401
> 496.html
>>
>> Wojtek
>> ___________________________________
>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>>
> ___________________________________
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>
>
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