From: Jim Devine me: >> I've mentioned the wings [of the ruling class] before. To the extent they are organized politically, the major two might be summed up in US terms as "the Tea Party Republicans" (the GOP) and the "moderate Republicans" (the Democratic Party). The Koch brothers vs. George Soros.<<
CB: > Unions , People of Color, women et al have significant influence on the Democratic Party.< Only if they obey the ruling-class rules. In simplistic terms, the money guys write the agenda. The rank-and-file of the DP work within that agenda, making minor amendments to the main propositions. ^^^^^ CB: I disagree with this. There is a real contest between the classes for influence within the Democratic Party. Thus , the New Deal, the Great Society and the Stimulus and Obamacare. Many of the main "propositions" in the DP represent reforms that the ruling class doesn't want and the ruled class does want; or are against the objective interests of the ruling class and in the objective interests of the ruled class. ^^^^^^^ BTW, I don't think that issues such as those of racial and gender equality _always_ contradict the interests of the ruling class. In the past, racial or gender inequality have divided the working class, but there are other ways of keeping people down. Nowadays many "enlightened" capitalists favor racial and gender equality. Some find ways to use that equality to keep workers down. That's very abstract, but I don't have the time to be more concrete right now. ^^^^^^^^ CB: No , fundamentally, advances in these areas are against the interests of the ruling class. Those "enlightened" capitalists, just don't understand their fundamental _class_ interests or they actually oppose their class interests consciously. Roosevelt is a big example, but Kennedy and Johnson , too. Advances in equality are against the interests of the ruling class in the US. Something like affirmative action is an advance in equality that is used to fool many white workers , but ultimately it would undermine capitalism if it really allowed to bring more equality. ^^^^^^^^^^ > Are these the wings of the _world_ ruling class ?< no, since the reference was solely to the US. But there's a similar divide among the organized capitalist political organizations all around the world. ^^^^^^^ CB: Ok but originally on this thread you had mentioned "world ruling class" and I asked that we elaborate the idea. The finance capitalists in the biggest imperialist countries constitute a dominant world class, though there is some 21st Century inter-capitalist rivalry with BRIC's ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
