Re: [Marxism] Re: Brenner's response (the Bolsheviks and thepeasantry)

[Bill Hutton <wsh291@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stuart Lawrence wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Hutton" <wsh291@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
> > > Re-reading the history of the Russian Revolution has made me think
> > > more about the rural issue in the US. Russia had about 20% of its
> > > population in the cities and the split with the peasantry led to
> > > famine conditions in the cities.  In the US the urban population in
> > > 80%.  Any revolutionary organization here should have a well thought
> > > out approach to worker/farmer alliances.<<
>
> Those actually working in farming or living on farms are a minuscule
> fraction of the US workforce and population. In 1990, a total of 3.9
> million people lived on farms, or 1.6 percent. The 2000 US census
> reported that "farmers and farm managers" made up 0.6% of the employed
> civilian population (773,218 persons) and those workers employed in
> "farming, forestry, or fishing occupations" comprised 0.7% (951,810).
> The 2002 USDA Census of Agriculture reported that there were 1.2 million
> farm operators whose primary occupation was farming, and 900,000 whose
> primary occupation was something other than farming.
>
> By comparison, nearly a million people in the US are employed as
> landscaping and groundskeeping workers and supervisors.
>
> As for the vulnerability of the US working class to a grain strike by a
> rebellious agricultural sector, one has to consider how much
> agricultural input goes into making future Big Macs and Chicken
> McNuggets rather than to feed people.
>
> Stuart Lawrence
I read somewhere recently about how people in the US throw away 15% of
their food.  I don't believe this included wastage at grocery stores,
restaurants, processing plants, etc.  There is obviously some slack in
the system.  However a workers party still needs a well considered
program for an alliance with food growers.  I am not sufficiently
knowledgeable about the economics of the agricultural industry to have a
program in mind.  But I think such a program would not include armed
workers detachments roaming the country side in search of grain surpluses.

Perhaps a study of the populists of the late 19th and early 20th century
would suggest some ideas for such a program.




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