[Marxism] Going into industry
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Recollections of an ex-CP'er in Vivian Gornick's The Romance of American Communism: What can I tell you about the years in industry? They were, for me, slow, imperceptible, pointless death. I spent seventeen years working beside men I never had any intimacy or shared experience with, doing work which numbed my mind and for which I had no physical facility. Its sole purpose was to allow me to grow close to the men and be ready to move when a radically pregnant situation arose. Well, I was never close to the men and no situation arose, at least none I would ever know how to move into. I discovered very quickly I had no talent—repeat none—for organizing, for unionizing, for negotiating. I was slow-witted, clumsy on the uptake, half the time I didn't know what the hell was going on around me. When a real, a natural organizer arose among the men, not only did I see how far away I was from the action, I couldn't even encourage the guy in a radical direction. I'd open my mouth and out would come, I'm sure, I can hardly remember now what I said, some Marxist-Leninist formula The guy would just stare at me, shake his head, and walk away. I know he liked me, but I'm also sure he thought I was retarded. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Going into industry
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Gladys Scales in A Red Family: Junius, Gladys, and Barbara Scales: The [Communist] Party knew they had talented people and used their talents, yet many stupid things were done with people. One was a period of industrial concentration, where intellectuals and students were taken out of school and put into factory work. They were going to organize the workers. First of all, they stuck out like sore thumbs. You can't take an intellectual and put blue jeans on him and make him look like a worker. The workers didn’t particularly trust him. They weren’t really at ease and neglected their own talents. It was like putting a square peg into a round hole. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Going into industry
POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * The thing about the turn to industry was that it was dreamed up by professional revolutionaries/organizers who had absolutely no intention of turning to industry themselves. There was talk of this nonsense in Australia too, but I was never part of the group that took it seriously. But in the IS we had the absolute fetishization of factory sales. Two Battlers sold at factory gates = 300 sold at a rally. What stupid nonsense. comradely Gary On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 12:46 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote: POSTING RULES NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Gladys Scales in A Red Family: Junius, Gladys, and Barbara Scales: The [Communist] Party knew they had talented people and used their talents, yet many stupid things were done with people. One was a period of industrial concentration, where intellectuals and students were taken out of school and put into factory work. They were going to organize the workers. First of all, they stuck out like sore thumbs. You can't take an intellectual and put blue jeans on him and make him look like a worker. The workers didn’t particularly trust him. They weren’t really at ease and neglected their own talents. It was like putting a square peg into a round hole. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/gary.maclennan1%40gmail.com _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] Going into industry
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For some people it worked quite well, and some stuck it out and did (or are
still doing) for decades.
I mean for goodness' sake if we listed the jobs we've all had just to
survive, and in which we functioned as normal human beings just to get
through the day (including especially thanks to the normal camaraderie with
coworkers), then you can see how long-term patient colonizing was
possible.
I don't regret having done it in a variety of types of workplaces.
On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 7:05 PM, Gary MacLennan via Marxism
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:
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The thing about the turn to industry was that it was dreamed up by
professional revolutionaries/organizers who had absolutely no intention of
turning to industry themselves.
There was talk of this nonsense in Australia too, but I was never part of
the group that took it seriously.
But in the IS we had the absolute fetishization of factory sales. Two
Battlers sold at factory gates = 300 sold at a rally. What stupid
nonsense.
comradely
Gary
On Wed, Jul 8, 2015 at 12:46 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:
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Gladys Scales in A Red Family: Junius, Gladys, and Barbara Scales:
The [Communist] Party knew they had talented people and used their
talents, yet many stupid things were done with people. One was a period
of
industrial concentration, where intellectuals and students were taken
out
of school and put into factory work. They were going to organize the
workers. First of all, they stuck out like sore thumbs. You can't take an
intellectual and put blue jeans on him and make him look like a worker.
The
workers didn’t particularly trust him. They weren’t really at ease and
neglected their own talents. It was like putting a square peg into a
round
hole.
_
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