Re: MS and political practice

[lucinda <lucinda1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When Justin Schwartz writes that MSers are more likely to support coops
than are other types of leftists, but that he knows of no one who actually
tries to start them, he is giving evidence of the very theoretical/practice
disjunction Adam Rose raises as a critique.
   I do not believe that such a disjunction is intrinsic in the theoretical
orientation of market socialists (whether analytical marxist or otherwise),
but view it more generally as a limitation of the left more generally.
As someone on the margins of academia and the margins of radical political
action, I subscribed to the list to be informed on both levels (plug here
for maintaining a single list). Jim Lawler's recent post on his efforts to 
create a cooperative buy out of the GM foundry in Ontario was IMO exactly the 
type
of praxis which presents the possibility of making a meaningful difference in
people's lives today, while setting the groundwork for a more sustained
revolution for socialism.
   The fact that such efforts are so few and far between is unfortunate.
In an effort to engage in "political" action (protests, voting campaigns, etc.)
the more direct economic activity seems often to be neglected. One of the
reasons I am a supporter of the CP is that they do maintain an active presence
in strike support and other front line actions. Though I understand there will
be many who object to the forms this has taken, and the limited nature of that
action.
   Utopian experimentation such as Owenism was an abject failure, which may
explain the lacuna in part, but the cooperatives movement of the 1890s
appeared to be a limited success (though ultimate failure). The holistic
approach in Marxism suggests the neccesity of revolutionary change because
capitalism will strangle non-profit driven, non-capitalized alternatives;
but isn't it possible that limited efforts to gain control of the means of
production might provide a sustained systemic critique?
   If I find a left-wing party that does provide real-world, real-time
answers to how workers can obtain control of their workplaces and the profits
they generate, I will fill out my party card and leap in feet first, as would
a number of workers who find the sectarian left too abstract. Does
anyone out there know of such a group?

Brian S-J


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