[Edited Message Follows] [Reason: Editorial changes.] On Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 08:45 PM, Charlie wrote:
> > The armchair man I'm curious, Charlie: How much contact have you had with workers in their unions and political parties? I’ve found there's often an inverse relationship between tough-talking radicals and their experience in working class organizations. Even when they have such experience, they can be temperamentally ill-suited to working cooperatively in those environments and soon find themselves isolated as harmless cranks. I don’t fetishize involvement in the labour movement, but it greatly helped shape my political thinking to have been exposed to it at all levels and sectors over three decades. I was a steward and local officer in a Steelworkers local and a paid organizer for the SEIU, both in Toronto, then a negotiator for the Ottawa local of the Newspaper Guild and finally the lead official and negotiator for a federal union of policy analysts and support staff. I had gone into industry in the early 70’s for political reasons after having been a member of a Trotskyist group. Before that, I was a student and a journalist, including a stint as labour reporter for the Toronto Star. I've long since retired but still manage to get out of my armchair to attend weekly demonstrations in support of Palestine at the BC Legislature. I don’t pretend to be a revolutionary since my lifetime of political activity - presumably like your own - has been safely above ground in movements for reform at home and in solidarity with revolutions abroad. If I thought socialism could be brought about by peaceful means, which I don't, I wouldn’t hesitate to call myself a social democrat. Nor do I believe that capitalism is the end of history; I’ve said before that history changes and in often abrupt and unexpected ways. But continue your incessant childish taunting if you must. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29074): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29074 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/104479559/21656 -=-=- 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. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
