Frankly, I find this defensiveness from Lafer and Robin extremely confusing and insulting. People in my area have been working hard to move against the recall current to make sure some semblance of a movement would survive the elections - doing precisely some of the things that people like the two of you and many others have been recommending (building labor-community alliances, organizing coalitions across sectors and industries). The suggestion that we had but two options - recall or give up - *really* bothers me. Even with the benefit of hindsight, of knowing the outcome of the elections, to continue to suggest that the movement could be condensed to these two options is infuriating, and to do so while neglecting or under-appreciating the influence of the DP and union bureaucracies is a smack in the face (i know it's nothing personal, but still) to all of the other work people have been doing - long-term, hard work. If Lafer or Robin were to suggest to a room full of local activists that such were our only options they would not be received too well - recall or give up did not feel like our only options 15 months ago, and they still don't. To suggest otherwise is to quit or reveal you were never too invested in the first place.
Whatever thoughts you might have - keep putting them out there. People are hungry and angry, at least in my neck of the woods.
Joshua
On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 4:52 PM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Jun 20, 2012, at 5:42 PM, michael yates wrote:
>
> > Joshua, You are on the money here. A devasting labor loss like the
> Walker recall requires us to debate, to ask hard questions. Gordon Lafer
> chose to write that piece in the Nation. He could have written it in a
> comradely way, trying to find common ground to lay the bases for future
> solidarity. But he chose otherwise. Some say we are engaging in a left
> pissing match. I don't see it that way. Sam Gindin has been vilified by
> former CAW president Robert White (later head of the Canadian equivalent of
> the AFL-CIO) in pretty much the same way Doug and others were vilified by
> Lafer (and Corey Robin too) for suggesting that new strategies and
> organizing models had to be tried because the strategy of concessions was
> the road to ruin. White was ten times more vicious than Lafer. But Sam was
> right then and he, Doug, and others are right now. No one knows exactly
> what to do, but we know that what the unions are doing now isn't building a
> labor movement.
>
> It was great to hear that Wisc activists were passing our stuff around.
> People are thinking. That gives me a lot of hope that this movement is
> still alive. I don't know what exactly to do, though I have some ideas
> about direction. But it's great to be provoking collective thinking.
>
> The FT's Ed Luce gets the title of his book about the dire state of the
> USA, Time to Start Thinking, from a quote from Ernest Rutherford, a
> Nobelist in chem: "Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start
> thinking."
>
> Doug
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