I wrote > I think that AA [affirmative action] would be best if
it were the result of grass-roots efforts by the out-groups to
win concessions from the working-class in-groups, in an effort at
attaining long-term unity, rather than being bureaucratic
impositions from above by the capitalists and their
government...<
Louis Proyect asks>> Does such a dichotomy correspond to
history? [followed by a list of useful empirical
examples] The civil rights movement's direct action
forced the federal government to send troops into the
south to protect activists. Bureaucratic? Top-down?<<
The examples are good, encouraging me to emphasize that I was
writing at a relatively high level of abstraction. Of course, in
the real world the dichotomy that I posited is mixed up with a
lot of other things (as is usual with abstractions).
Nonetheless, I would emphasize that a state-organized program to
root out discrimination & segregation is more likely to benefit
the working class, especially in the long run, if it is forced
as a response to broadly-based grass-roots pressure; it's even
better if the out-groups try to ally with the in-groups rather
than simply appealing to the benevolence of the powers that be.
(An analogy: Though the Teamsters for a Democratic Union got a
lot by appealing to the gov't to clean out the mob, the extent
to which they relied on the gov't means that they had to make
concessions to the gov't, limiting the success of their efforts
in the long-run.)
>>...The only way blacks and other oppressed minorities [or
majorities such as women -- JD] will gain full freedom is when
the state power is taken away from the ruling-class and delivered
to the working-class. <<
Right. In the long-haul, programs that fight discrim & seg and
raise working class power eventually create a confrontation which
drives the capitalists to counterattack (or to take their money and go
elsewhere, etc.) Then, the only real solution is to get rid of
capitalism altogether.
>> Cuba, while not perfect, did more to break down discrimination than
any other Caribbean isle with a legacy of racism. At a certain point,
that brutish, bureaucratic, hierarchical state is indispensable.<<
I was talking about capitalist bureaucracies (and state bureaucracies
under capitalism). Anyway, Cuba was in many ways the product of a
revolution from below, mobilized by the Bay of Pigs invasion and related
events. It wasn't simply Castro and his pals up in the hills beating
Batista's army. The social revolution that was sparked was one
of the outsiders (Blacks, rural workers, etc.) and thus the
Cuban state had to fight racism to maintain support from those
groups. (Even sincere commitments need to be backed up by
pressure from below, given all of the pressures pushing people
in the other direction.) It would be interesting to know the
extent to which the Cuban government's anti-racist committments
have been weakened by their current drive to attract
multinational corporations' investments. After all, such an
effort requires a passive and dominated working class.
The Cuban state bureaucracy seems absolutely necessary to defend
the island from the US (and seemed generally popular among
Cubans when I visited the island in the late 1970s). The problem
is when socialismo becomes what the Cubans call "sociolismo,"
the rule by a bunch of "old boys" who will fight to preserve
their own privileges; these efforts by the "old boys" tend to
undermine future grassroots movements for justice, pointing to
the very real threat of US imperialism to justify thier
undemocratic ways.
It's not my job to decide whether the benefits of the Cuban
state exceed its costs (partly since I'm far from up-to-date on
current conditions there). It's up to the Cubans themselves to
make that decision, in the most democratic way possible. I'm
hoping that the US relents, so that the Cubans get a chance to
get more democracy. Of course, the US isn't going to do that
without massive popular pressure, especially since our leaders
are so opposed to democracy, grass-roots or otherwise.
in pen-l solidarity,
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
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