Re: If Mao were alive he'd be spinning in his grave

[Gary Maclennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I tend to agree with Nestor's conclusions that the advent of a reserve army
of the unemployed of such a huge proportion in China would first of all
constitute an historic defeat for the working class. Can the class come
back from such a defeat? I think so but not easily.

The TINA argument is interesting to the extent that it resonates with the
failure of the Communist Parties to break out of their isolation.  Here we
in the 'West' should acknowledge that our own failures have put enormous
pressure on revolutionaries in the third world.

Having said that, the conatus to freedom will not die whatever the status
of the class struggle.  The success of the reformers will be their
undoing.  It is just tragic that we will have to go through unmitigated
misery before humanity generally seeks to break through the ideological
formation of TINA .

regards

Gary




At 23:30 31/08/00 -0300, you wrote:
>En relación a Re: If Mao were alive he'd be spinning in his gra,
>el 31 Aug 00, a las 14:43, ÁÎ×Ó¹â Henry C.K.Liu         ¹ù¤l¥ú dijo:
>
>
> > It is estimated that WTO accession and the accompanying privatization
> > will bring at least 100 milllion unemployment to China.  That is a
> > political force that will be heard.  Those of us opposing the shift to
> > market economy and WTO trade rules for China are repeatedly faced with
> > a TINA argument intellectually from the reformers.  An angry army of
> > unemployed will strengthen China's left and provide us with our own
> > TINA argument.
>
>I cannot share Henry's optimism here. Iallow for an immense amount of
>particularism each time I consider things Chinese (sorry, Henry, mine
>are Western eyes, maybe Extreme Western eyes, thus "particularism" is
>Chinese not ours!). But it would be to stretch things too much to
>imagine that a huge reserve army would have in China the opposite
>effect than elsewhere, namely boost militancy. It is my impression
>that this kind of situation blunts combativity of workers. Perhaps
>Henry has some idea on why this should not be the case in China.
>
>
>
>Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
>gorojovsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx