Re: [Marxism] Panitch on Crisis

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Nestor wrote:

<Imperialism is still the actual form of the capitalist mode of
production. The main divide in our world today is still the divide
between a handful of imperialist nations and millions of colonial and
semicolonial subjects. It is not unimportant that the masses in the
imperialist nations are reminded, ALWAYS, where does the ability of
the system to -even partially- coopt them.

Every benefit still remaining from the Welfare State is based on (a)
the relation of forces of the masses viz a viz their imperialist
bourgeoisies within the imperialist nations, but also on (b) the
overall brutalization of loot and crime in the Third World. Every
ounce of "butter" that spreads on the loaves of those USA workers who
are still "coopted" drips human Iraqi (African, Latin American, etc.)
blood. Distasteful as it is, I believe that USA Left wing politicians
and intellectuals SHOULD take up the challenge and insist on this to
their own fellow citizens.>

Agreed. But the question is how to frame the discussion in a way that  
appeals to the collective interests of the working, and dare I say  
it, middle classes. In other words, my question is, how do you get  
from 'concrete political grounds' to the 'concrete moral foundation'?  
If you tell someone the butter they spread on their bread has Iraqi  
blood in it they'll just look at you with incomprehension. Most  
people just won't, don't, get it.

Willful ignorance is a major impediment among the white working class  
in particular, at my workplace at least.  Mind you, I'm speaking  
about my own own concrete work situation. Things may be different for  
other people in other places of work.

  If you can't even get someone to realize they belong to the working  
class, how are you going to get that person to the next step where  
they understand the collective and human bond to people of the same  
class (however unequal the comparison may be in raw economic terms)  
in another country, which is  having its life blood sucked out of it  
by imperialism? And even if the economic crisis forces a drop in the  
facade and people begin to see more clearly, more objectively,  
because their own personal situation demands it, there are other  
factors just waiting in line to cross them up.

  Not only is there the impediment to self-knowledge in terms of the  
concrete economic and class dimension, there are the further  
cultural, linguistic, and racial divides. People tend to identify  
more with someone who speaks their own language and looks like them,  
even if that same person represents a class which is grinding them  
down on a daily basis. Funny that. These are the ones who end up  
scapegoating their brown-skinned brothers and sisters. There are some  
co-workers who listen to Rush, and like Huckabee. And many of these  
same, and more, were quietly happy when our immigrant workers were  
fired.

And then there is the fear factor. There are those who understand  
their objective situation vis-a-vis class, and even politically  
speaking (all politicians lie etc.), and they may bitch and moan and  
complain, but when it comes time to DO SOMETHING about it, the  
dissembling begins. I listened to a co-worker just last night  
speaking on the phone to a latino worker who had just been fired.  
This particular worker had been targeted for dismissal for quite some  
time while HR built a case against him. The worker speaking with him  
on the phone is fearful that he may be next in line. Yet when we have  
spoken about union in the past he says he doesn't want ant mafia  
types on the inside demanding monthly dues.

  In sum, there are those who are totally deluded, (the vast  
majority), those who see clearly but are afraid to act, (a much  
smaller minority),  and too few who see clearly and are willing to  
act. And if those too few act alone, well, it's easy to build a cross  
and set it up on the hill.

Greg McDonald
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