Re: Students, free education, manual and mental labour

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Philip L Ferguson wrote:

> Late last year there was an upsurge in student protest in NZ, which had
> been in the doldrums for much of the 1990s.  Unfortunately, it takes place
> in the absence of any notable level of working class struggle - days lost
> through strikes have declined by 95 percent in NZ in the past decade.  This
> not only deprives students of a powerful ally but also conditions the way
> they see their struggle.  In the absence of working class struggle, the
> narrowest kind of 'me' politics tend to dominate student 'radicalism' and
> threaten to turn it into a defence of middle class privilege rather than
> anything socially radical.
>
> Below is a very rough draft of something I'm working on, in relation to
> this issue.  I would really appreciate feedback.  What am I not
> considering?  Am I being unfair to students?  Could the arguments be better
> put?  Are they
> sufficient arguments anyway?  Is anything factually incorrect?  Etc etc.
> Cheers,
> Phil
>

I am at an utter loss as to how it might be possible to respond to this
post. I cannot see in it any point of agreement which would provide
the basis for a critique of points of disagreement. I am shocked and
saddened at such depths of disagreement between me and a person
with whom I had found myself in such agreement on many recent
threads on this list. I wouldn't know where to begin to respond to
it.

It adds up if looked at in terms of reality to the claim that in advanced
capitalist countries the working class is disappearing and that Marx
was profoundly wrong in his basic analysis of capitalism.

Carrol