I am not able to access Arena's references for this article. If anyone else is able and/or knows this "Sampson 2010" reference i would like to check it out. thank you, Dayne
Heroes and villains abound. Among the latter are the leaderships of the United Paperworkers International and AFL‐CIO. The former essentially sold the local out while the latter gave at best lip service to the struggles in Decatur. (Sampson 2010 <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#wusa12245-bib-0041> ) On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 5:26 AM Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > Breaking the Silence? The Mass Strike, Occupy Wall Street, and Demanding > Jobs for All > John Arena > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorStored=Arena%2C+John> > Journal of Labor and History: 31 August 2016 > > SECTIONS > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#> > [image: PDF]PDF > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/wusa.12245> > TOOLS > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#> > > SHARE > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#> > Abstract > > The ruling class solution to the 2008 global capitalist crisis has been to > restore profitability and power to capital through massive state bailouts > of banks and industry combined with savage attacks on working class living > standards, with Greece simply being the most advanced in the process. At > the same time, a post‐2008 global mass strike emerged that provided an > opportunity for a working class response to not only the latest round of > attacks, but to those imposed over the three decades of the neoliberal era. > In this article, I use a Luxemburgian theoretical lens to analyze the > U.S.'s Occupy Wall Street component of the mass strike process. I highlight > the intramovement ideological and political obstacles to advancing the mass > strike process through establishing a broad set of radical, working‐class > centered demands to address the crisis. > > The way for us to generate the capacity to make the politicians of > whatever party respond is to build the social forces around issues … and > it's not just that the issues are right on their own, but that the issues > we're talking about are those that have the potential to unite broadly the > population and which effect most of the American public when they wake up > in the morning and go to bed at night. The things they are concerned about > and are anxious about are things like affordable housing and health care > and quality education and having a pension. > > Adolph Reed1 > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#wusa12245-note-0001_1> > > Why the silence? Why, in the aftermath of greatest capitalist crisis since > the 1930s and weakest recovery in the postwar era, has the U.S. working > class been incapable of forging a social movement demanding—let alone > winning—a popular solution to the catastrophic situation facing wide swaths > of the population? How might this type of movement emerge and what are the > obstacles? Of course, I can already hear the objections: “What about the > Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement?.” Did not the “movement of the 99%” > break the silence and offer a class wide solution to the one‐sided recovery > that has created what the *New York Times* calls “a golden age for > profits,” while workers’ wages have fallen to their lowest‐ever share of > GDP (Greenhouse 2015; Schwartz 2013 > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#wusa12245-bib-0043>)? > The Occupy movement's framing of the conflict as a class one did mark an > important break from the fragmentary, post‐modern single‐issue approach to > organizing that has been emblematic of the neoliberal era of the last three > decades. Undeniably, Occupy has contributed to changing political discourse > by putting income inequality on the political agenda (DiSalvo 2015 > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#wusa12245-bib-0010>, > 266; Hammond 2015, 310). Whether you see Bernie Sanders’ Democratic > presidential campaign as a political advance or setback for building > working class political power, OWS's message of income inequality clearly > helped lay the ideological ground work for the Vermont socialist's > unexpected electoral success. Nonetheless, Occupy was not able to emerge as > a movement of even a significant section of the 99% that it claimed to > speak for, nor leave any working class organizational legacy, or impact > public policy. The central factor that limited the movement's growth and > power, I argue, was the failure of activists to offer a concrete program, a > broad set of demands that could speak to the constituency they claimed. > . . . > Heroes and villains abound. Among the latter are the leaderships of the > United Paperworkers International and AFL‐CIO. The former essentially sold > the local out while the latter gave at best lip service to the struggles in > Decatur. (Sampson 2010 > <https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/doi/full/10.1111/wusa.12245#wusa12245-bib-0041> > ) > . . . -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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