Re: [Marxism] Bay Area United Against War Meeting

["Joaquin Bustelo" <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Morris wrote: "There's no draft now. That makes a huge difference when
it comes to radicalizing youth."

Half or more of the radicals in the 60s were women. There was no draft for
them. The radicalization was centered on the campuses, i.e., among those who
were NOT being drafted. And the youth radicalization was a world-wide
phenomenon, not just one confined to the United States. I think there is a
tendency to put too much stress on the lack of a draft in explaining the
differences between the 1960's and today.

Bob Morris wrote: "If anything radicalizes youth (and their parents) soon,
it will be the economy. Foreclosures, job losses, no jobs upon graduating,
etc. Not that it's to be wished for, and people in a thriving economy
probably have more time to be political because they aren't consumed by
keeping food on the table, but it sure looks like bad economic times are
coming."

I've been hearing this sort of thing since Nixon announced his wage-price
freeze in 1971. It hasn't happened yet. I suppose some day it might. But the
main thing I've observed over the decades it that the left has a nearly
limitless capacity for self delusion about economic matters and how the
evolution of the economy impacts real people. 

Thus quite often you can read on this list how wages have been going down
for decades and so forth and so on. Yet every single material indicator of
living standards in this country has been rising over the decades, the size
of housing units, how they're equipped, number of cars, radios and TV sets,
energy consumed, etc. etc. etc. And whatever crisis of the moment is said to
be sure to doom capitalism -- the (Vietnam) War, the (1970's) energy crisis,
stagflation, de-industrialization, the S&L crisis, low productivity growth,
all the way down to the dot-com, stock markets and housing bubbles of the
last decade -- have thus far failed to produce the predicted effect. 

To me that says the left underestimates the real resources and strengths of
U.S. capitalism, and above all how parasitic it is and how much wealth it
siphons off from other countries. Which doesn't mean that this "crisis"
won't be "the" crisis, but it does tend to make me rather skeptical.

Joaquin


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