Nobody ever thought that a welfare state meant real welfare -- that was not the point.
On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 07:47:52PM -0600, Carrol Cox wrote: > > > Michael Perelman wrote: > > > > I believe that a welfare state might be in the long run interests of > > capital as a way to manage labor -- that is what Lou Proyect mentioned > > earlier. > > A welfare state that does not increase educational opportunities (which > means stuent subsidies, since a student who has to work in college isn't > really astudent) and reduce hours of labor (enforced stringently, > whether workers want to work longer or not), is only a pretense. And if > a state approaches that situation, it generates what is _really_ a risk > to capitalism: a desire for freedom from having the meaning of your > activity determined not by its concrete results but by the activity of > strangers (as when a rise in productivity 10,000 miles away threatens > your job). > > The '60s were a warning shot acoss the bow of capitalism. Leisure > (including leisure of students) did increase in the late '50s and early > '60s. Students had time to think and read and talk to each other. And > there was _also_ a population not fully served by that and to a great > extent not even 'in' the system (the Jim Crow) -- that poulation, > looking on what was happening, and having gained _some_ breathing room > itself, revolted. The students noticed, and they began to revolt. (This > was not a "generation gap," but merely (as has always been the case, > younger workers taking the lead in a working-class uprising)) And the > Black Revolution spread to the cities of the North in the form of the > Panthers, DRKUM, etc, who introduced a wholly new factor in to U.S. > politcs: Inmdepnednet Black organizations, rooted in the Black > community, who united with the white or mixed movements on their own > terms. One can make a list of 1000 stupid things done in that decade, > but they are all irrelevant to the tremendous leaps forward in > funamental conceptions of forms of resistance. > > The Capitalists won't risk that again, if they can help it. > > Carrol > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
