[PEN-L:9404] Re: Max and the Social Democrats

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Elaine Bernard wrote:

>A major problem in this and every other country
>is that the S.D. parties, that have much more
>flexibility (not a pretty term) to abandone their
>base and acquire a new one

There is something of a - and please forgive me for sounding like a
financial economist in service to the rentier class - principal-agent
problem in SD leadership, and in union leadership too. At the top level,
people find it easy to get seduced into being the junior partners of the
bourgeoisie, going to conferences with the bosses and their intellectuals,
having the perks and often the salaries of the elite, etc. And in America,
we have those damned foundations, the "third sector," the ruling class'
private semi-state, to seduce the leaders of rebellious oppressed classes
and groups.

Doug

--

Doug Henwood
Left Business Observer
250 W 85 St
New York NY 10024-3217 USA
+1-212-874-4020 voice  +1-212-874-3137 fax
email: <mailto:dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>
web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html>