Re: Re: Re: Re: spooks act against Venezuela - as Chavez Seeks Unions Destruction

["Nathan Newman" <nathan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Devine" <jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


At 09:57 PM 12/01/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>And Hoffa did not win because the government supported Hoffa Jr. - if
>anything Carey had the support of a lot of the monitors in the Carey-Hoffa
>matchup - but the progressive forces screwed up with their .  So the TDU
>forces lost because they lost
>the trust of the membership.

-Correct me if I'm wrong, but the TDU forces and the Carey folks who
-"botched [a] diversion of union funds to fend off Hoffa" are two different
-groups of people who were temporarily allied. The former are more
-independent of the existing political establishment, while the latter are
-more like Clinton Democrats.

Not all struggles fall nicely into that rigid framework of analysis, as if
every position on electoral politics will map onto internal union struggles.
Yes, there were distinctions between the hard-core TDU folks and other
allied forces in the Carey camp, but it was some of the most progressive
forces allied with the citizen action groups that were part of the debacle.
Admittedly, the ones who really screwed it up were bundle of progressive
consultants and lawyers who did the specific money laundering deal, but the
fundamental problem was ultimately that the TDU-Carey forces were losing the
fight for the hearts and minds of the rank-and-file and that failure led to
the panick and dirty deal.

I've talked to folks from a number of perspectives in the progressive camp
of Teamsters and it is very hard to simply allocate blame for what happened.
It's just sad, but the TDU folks continue to organize at the grassroots, so
hopefully another day.  And it has forced Hoffa to toe a more progressive
line.

-- Nathan