me: > can someone on pen-l paraphrase what Fred Engels said about government > sponsorship of working-class home ownership (or what is public > housing)?
CB: > Here's a quote from _The Housing Question_ . Also, see Number 1 > below from the _Manifesto_. that's not what I was looking for. Rather, it's what Louis posted, the idea that having their own houses undermines working-class solidarity (the way that small-holdings can undermine peasant solidarity). Anyway, just because the SWP [the Sectarian Workers' Party] endorsed Engels' view on the question does not mean that it's wrong. It's not just the one's relation to the means of production that influences one's consciousness. It's also one's relationship to the "means of consumption" (houses, cars, etc.) I remember some UAW leader back in the early 1970s moaning over the fact his members were encouraged to be individualistic and not full supporters of the UAW leadership by their individual ownership of cars (and commuting to work in individual cars on the freeway). Even though he didn't seem to consider that the UAW leadership's own actions may have contributed to this disconnect, it does make a certain amount of sense. Of course, in the long haul, one's relationship to the means of production determines what consumer goods you can buy. So in the end, it's the former that counts. -- Jim Devine / "Living a life of quiet desperation -- but always with style!" _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
