me: the labor leaders had proved their >> mettle by fighting the communists and other leftists in the unions, in >> many cases kicking them out. These leftists had wider goals than >> simple wage-and-benefits negotiation.
Tom: > The Communists also had other fish to fry, which were not so > objectively progressive. Right. Most people have ulterior motives. ^^^^^ CB: What are you social democrats' ulterior motives ? (smile) ^^^ My impression is that the CP's goal in this period was to become power-brokers in the labor movement (including affecting the unions' stand on foreign-policy issues), instead of pushing a class vision that was much broader than that of the labor leaders who ended up winning. ^^^ CB: In terms of broader vision, the one Marx pushed in the _Internationale_ was proletarian internationalism ( workers of all countries unite). As they say in _The Manifesto_ "In what relation do the Communists stand to the proletarians as a whole? The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole. They do not set up any sectarian principles of their own, by which to shape and mold the proletarian movement. The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties by this only: (1) In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality. (2) In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole. " Applying these principles to WWII period,the "common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality" and "the interests of the movement as a whole" , those of the world proletariat were in defending the first proletarian revolution in the Soviet Union. Supporting the SU was the best expression of proletarian internationalism in this period. Thus, the American Communists had the "broader vision" in the period of US industrial unionist advance in the 30's and 40's. ^^^^ Other communists besides the CP ones had yet other goals. This message has been scanned for malware by SurfControl plc. www.surfcontrol.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
