[lbo-talk] Contradictions of contemporary working class consciousness

[Carrol Cox]

"This is mainly a consequence of the construction of the social safety net
and collective bargaining system and the steady improvement in living
standards in the wake of the economic depression and political instability
of the 30's. This in turn has allowed union leaders to retain the loyalty of
the majority of their active and passive members and to easily fend off
challenges from left activists seeking a more radical direction. Where there
have been rank-and-file rebellions, these have typically resulted in
elevating leaders who have inevitably shared the worldview and replicated
the behaviour of the faction which they replaced. The more recent decline in
real wages and job security as a result of organizational and technological
change and!

  outsourcing has made workers less rather than more inclined to join unions
and challenge their employers."

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Perhaps. But at least consider the possibility of exactly the reverse being
true. Working-class militancy increased in the 1960s and early 1970s;  it
has decreased as conditions have worsened. It seems mere dogmatism rather
than real historical analysis to assume that higher living standards promote
satisfaction, lower living standards the opposite.

Militancy requires free time. 

Carrol