Mike B)
***************** Carrol wrote: Attacks on inequality are, it seems, a crucial element in political agitation. But lets be clear. At least from a Marxist perspective the demand for equality is quite false. And the formula for communist society does _not_ imply equality; in fact it is a call for inequality:
>From each according to his [her] ability:
In other words, humans are unequal in their ability, and it is wrong to call for anyone to provide more than his/her abilities provide.
To each according to his [her] needs.
Humans do not have equal needs; many need much more than others. That need should be satisfied. Again, communist society is a fundamentally unequal society.
The aim of communist society is human freedom, and human freedom (however defined) is in contradiction to the demand for equality. We demand much more medical care for the ill than for the well. That is only one example.
And I think that even for agitational purposes it would be well to get away as much as possible from attacks on inequality and put more emphasis on the constraints on human freedom built into capitalist relations of production.
Carrol
P.S. And in politics, of course, we demand very unequal effort from various sectors of the population or from particular comrades. For example, we do not place political demands on children nor on parents. That is why the suggestion that students should refuse to take the tests associated with No Child Left Behind is such an outrageous suggestion. Individual students and individual parents must not be asked to stick their necks out. The political burden of attacking NCLB must be born by others. *********************************************************************** Wobbly Times http://wobblytimes.blogspot.com/