Re: Fw: [A-List] Marxist Utahpia

[Mike Friedman <mikedf@xxxxxxxx>]

I had pretty much the same experience during the "turn to industry," when I
went into transit. When I tried to sell the Militant there was little
interest, although co-workers would buy the paper from me for the same
reason that they would buy pocket knives, seasonal gifts or whatever, from
other co-workers. Nicaragua or El Salvador solidarity -- some small amount
of interest. My commitments and priorities simply weren't theirs -- I
wasn't an "organic intellectual," in Gramscian terms. There was an
exception: I bitched and complained like everyone else in the shop about
safety conditions, so they elected me safety person. That was the only real
organizing I did when I was in transit (and it was no longer
proselytizing), and it was the only time I ever suggested a job action (a
slowdown, followed by a scaled walkout from unsafe areas), and folks
actually seconded it and did it. Of course it helped that the shop steward
was on my side.

Mike

At 10:02 AM 12/20/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> Even though Hans was involved with a Maoist rather than a Trotskyist
> sect, I would dare say that there was not much difference in their
> fruitless effort to proselytize fellow workers. For that matter, the


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