Re: [Marxism] YADL (Yet another disillusioned liberal)

[Waistline2@xxxxxxx]

I believe the questions of relative bribery of the workers, Lenin's  
conception of the labor aristocracy and most certainly the standard of living 
of  the 
workers since the 1970's is posed incorrectly. The polarity in question  is 
not contained in the "standard of living," a category of dubious value.  
Rather, 
wealth and poverty as a polarity; the value content of commodities as  
compared to a previously existing magnitude and finally the exchange rate of  
labor 
is the starting point. There is of course the 25 year growth of the  temporary 
workforce and the two worker family household that deserves attention. 
 
The "standard of living" of basically every layer of the working class and  
the working class as a whole have fallen for the past 30 years. Not at the same 
 rate for every layer.  
 
Passivity of the workers and the question of the roots of reformism are not  
identical. Reformism is rooted in the class structure of society itself. What  
ruptures this class structure, and causes antagonism to sublate class  
contradiction, and with it reformism is revolution in the productive forces. 
 
WL. 


In a message dated 4/3/2009 2:01:07 P.M. Eastern Daylight  Time, 
jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx writes:

I've written about this here before, and I hesitate to do so  again,
especially because this may now be an exclusively historical dispute,  but I
do not believe the period from roughly 1970 to today or at least  recently
has been marked by a declining standard of living for working people  in the
United States. In part this is due to the "age effect" as US wage  structures
are highly stratified by age. So even if it is true that a 25 year  old today
makes less than a 25 year old did 25 years ago, the 50-year-old on  average
makes much more today that s/he did back then as a 25 year  old.

But in addition, I don't believe the median real standard of living  has
deteriorated, or at least had deteriorated until the year 2000 or  so.
Certainly, by every objective, material statistic I've been able to  find,
households at the beginning of this century were better off than those  30
years previously. This is documented in all sorts of ways, from the  number,
size and quality of electronic entertainment devices to the square  footage
of houses to the number and age of cars per 1000 households. And it  is
reflected in what is considered the minimal or "entry level" qualities of  a
given item, from televisions to computers to housing units. Today,  for
example, housing without central air and heating, laundry facilities and  a
dishwasher is not considered low end or entry-level housing in the  Atlanta
area but sub-standard, below the minimum level for the retail market,  and
saleable only as a "fixer upper" or "investment opportunity." That was  not
true when I moved here 20 years ago.

I believe two factors are  involved: one is that bourgeois statistics
overstate inflation by being  unable go accurately take into account the
quality of goods. The other is  that although nominal household income
adjusted for inflation hasn't changed  much, the SIZE of households certainly
has, declining from three persons  circa 1970 to 2.5 today, which
automatically means a big rise in household  income *per person.*

I think this is a central reason why especially the  left's economic
discourse finds little echo among working people. It  fundamentally does not
correspond to their own lived experience. It certainly  does not correspond
to my lived experience or those of people I  know.

This may all be changing now, I'm not speaking particularly about  the
current conjuncture but rather the broad sweep from 1970-2000 or  2005.

Joaquin
 
**************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store?  Make dinner for $10 or 
less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)

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