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I think I used this phrase lately, & I have since wondered about its correctness. My sticking point is the word "economism," the usual definition of which would make "vulgar economism" a redundancy.
And a further difficulty is the definition itself. What _does_ "economism" mean? How do we identify it when we think we 'see' it?
My memory is vague here, but I think it was first used to describe a political view that economic struggle (e.g., strikes) would automatically constitute a political challenge to the capitalist regime. As such, it was the form taken by classical Reformism in the Second International.
If this is roughly correct, then Eric's usage here and my usage earlier are very close to corruptions of language.
Carrol
P.S. I agree that the pipe line issue is silly. But along with many on this list, including I think Eric, I think we need to be careful about blunting the tools (words) of political analysis.