====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
________________________________ From: Richard Seymour <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, May 10, 2010 10:15:30 AM Subject: Re: [Marxism] New Labour ====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ====================================================================== is the bureaucracy of the trade union movement in britain working class? aren't they middle class, part of the managerial class? richard seymour wrote: And when you say that big business financed all of Labour's election campaigns, that's not entirely true. Big business donated lots of money to Labour when it was winning: they like to back a winner, the better to gain influence. Truth be told, they've always done this - capital rallied behind the Labour Party before Blair was leader and before New Labour had even been heard of. But the biggest donors remain the unions, and in the 2010 election, Labour could not have mobilised over 8 million - overwhelmingly working class - votes if it were not for the decisive donations of Unite, Unison, et al. Contrary to the wishes of the Blairites, the union link hasn't been broken, and New Labour has never been able to become a party of the liberal wing of the capitalist class modelled on the Democrats. If you really want to understand New Labour's tortuous relationship with organised labour, and the gymnastics it has had to engage in to keep the unions on board, I recommend David Coates' "Prolonged Labour" (2005), which is by far the best analysis of the New Labour project in government. -- *Richard Seymour* Writer and blogger Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.leninology.blogspot.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/leninology Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Seymour_(writer) Book: http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/s-titles/seymour_r_the_liberal_defense_of_murder.shtml ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/wrstphns%40yahoo.ca ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
