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Re: AUT: Argentina: Diary of a Revolution

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I found Jordan's piece interesting, though also similar to a number of other
pieces on Argentina I've read over the past year. I too had some questions
along the lines of:
- how will people extend and solidify their (aparently) growing power to
control their own lives?
- there is vast and also growing poverty - what will that do to people's
struggles if a counter-revolutionary offering develops from some variant of
capital? and how strong will self-organization be?
- what larger-scale shape will people's power take?

Note that I am using the term power, but not "taking power." The Zapatista's
rather pioneered this concept (tho not the practice, perhaps) as a counter to
traditional left "seize state power" ideologies - precisely because of the
incessantly counter-revolutionary practice attached in the end to such
constructions of power. The Zaps call on people to exercise power, not seize
power - and that is what is happening with some folks amongst the broad
working class in Argentina (here including what some folks term middle class
- in the course of struggle some of them are showing they are at this time
acting as working class).

Scott's questions are valuable because he is correct that unless power is
expanded and consolidated, capital will survive. And then it cannot be
maintained in one country for long - so what would that mean? Simple putting
forward the old formulations of seizing state power as social dems and
leninists and others do provides no viable answers - but those of us who
think people should organize to exercise power and develop forms of
generalizing that power without creating a new state apparatus are engaged in
that honestly revolutionary project of striving to construct a new future
without a blueprint. I hope we can learn from Argentina, John Jordan's work
helps (we shall see what his book addresses - this was, after all, just a
short piece), but we have much to learn.

Monty Neill




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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2>I found Jordan's piece interesting, though also similar to a number of other pieces on Argentina I've read over the past year. I too had some questions along the lines of:
<BR>- how will people extend and solidify their (aparently) growing power to control their own lives?
<BR>- there is vast and also growing poverty - what will that do to people's struggles if a counter-revolutionary offering develops from some variant of capital? and how strong will self-organization be?
<BR>- what larger-scale shape will people's power take?
<BR>
<BR>Note that I am using the term power, but not "taking power." The Zapatista's rather pioneered this concept (tho not the practice, perhaps) as a counter to traditional left "seize state power" ideologies - precisely because of the incessantly counter-revolutionary practice attached in the end to such constructions of power. The Zaps call on people to exercise power, not seize power - and that is what is happening with some folks amongst the broad working class in Argentina (here including what some folks term middle class - in the course of struggle some of them are showing they are at this time acting as working class).
<BR>
<BR>Scott's questions are valuable because he is correct that unless power is expanded and consolidated, capital will survive. And then it cannot be maintained in one country for long - so what would that mean? Simple putting forward the old formulations of seizing state power as social dems and leninists and others do provides no viable answers - but those of us who think people should organize to exercise power and develop forms of generalizing that power without creating a new state apparatus are engaged in that honestly revolutionary project of striving to construct a new future without a blueprint. I hope we can learn from Argentina, John Jordan's work helps (we shall see what his book addresses - this was, after all, just a short piece), but we have much to learn.
<BR>
<BR>Monty Neill
<BR>
<BR>
<BR></FONT></HTML>

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