[Marxism] Re: Marxism Digest, Vol 10, Issue 31: re-inventing the wheel all over again --

["DHE" <cuibono@xxxxxxxx>]

"Petite Bourgeoisie", "New Petite Bourgeoisie/Salaried Professionals", "Labor 
Aristocracy", Intermediate Strata", etc etc. 

The historical fact is that the class position of anybody with US citizenship 
and a permanent fulltime job, in the context of "Globalization, The Latest 
Stage of Imperialism" (aka Global Monopoly Capitalism) is to be found somewhere 
in the Intermediate Strata. 

This has been the case since the founding of the Republic and before. Not to be 
a slave or a Jim Crow defacto slave; not to be a "Savage"  ("the only good one 
is a dead one") -- has always been to enjoy a privileged social position, even 
if the privileges were sometimes meager. 

One more time, let me direct the discussants' attention to the work done on 
these questions by Irwin Silber and the Line of March group back in the 80's, 
under the title "The Labor Aristocracy: the Material Basis for Opportunism in 
the Labor Movement" , pts I, II, & III.; c.f. "Line of March, A 
Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification", issues 11, 12, & 13/14, which came 
out in summer  & fall 1982 & spring 1983.

Capitalism is Global; therefore the Class Structure and the Class Struggle is  
only understandable if seen from a Global perspective. 

First you have to locate the Principal Contradiction, and do so accurately. All 
else flows from how the analysis makes that all-important determination. 

PS: Paulsen is right: you need to approach class analysis with the tools 
provided by E O Wright -- whose work is based on that of Nicos Poulantzas and 
his followers, which I'd strongly recommend reading in order to appreciate 
Wright's contributions. 

Why flail around trying to reinvent the wheel, when many of these questions re 
"dual class positions" etc have been dissected down to the nano level already? 

But lemme outa here -- I gotta make a flier for the Clarence Thomas/MWM event 
we're having at the Local 17 hall on Sept 16.

Ciao Pues -- 

Dan Elliott
Sacramento


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