> On Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 11:32 PM,<leninstombblog at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> The capitalist system is in a period of long-term crisis, but it is not
>> collapsing and will not unless a sufficient array of social forces are
>> assembled behind an alternative mode of production. That's not going to
>> happen overnight, so there's no point in reaching for maximalist demands in
>> the hope of the integument collapsing under the slightest pressure.
>>
> That's one way to look at it. Another is, if you aren't going to get the
> minimal acceptable demands (in this case, full employment in the public
> sector, etc., etc.) for the foreseeable future, why not reach for the sky?
> What's the argument against it? Serious question; I haven't heard one.
Because the point of making demands isn't to draw up a wish list of ideas we can daydream about. The point is to assemble a mass constituency for radical politics. Please, please let's remember: this isn't about "us," it's about "them." It's not about the wishes and desires of the small number of people who have already joined the mobilization, it's about the millions whom we want to join it. A guaranteed job for everyone who wants one is a demand that splits the elite from a huge majority of the population. A demand that everyone get a check from the state so that they can choose whether or not to work is a demand that splits radicals from the majority of the population. ***It doesn't matter how great the idea is!*** It is only worthwhile if it is politically relevant - if not, it's just another website.
That doesn't mean you forget about the latter goal, it just means you accept that *right now* there's not much constituency for it.
SA