We are back to what is, most tragically, the fundamental 'force' operating in mass ideology: The United States (the 'real' United states is a White Nation. It is so deeply rooted that only the most severe struggle can begin to break through it. It is this racist ideology that makes these workers subject to the manager's rhetoric.
The ideology is not all powerful, but mere preaching or argument cannot put a dent into it. Workers have to become involved in struggles that cannot be won without overcoming their racist ideology. Marx called it "revolutionizing practice." Carrol -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of raghu Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 2:52 PM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Not a sign of full employment On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: "The manager's prepared remarks are fantastically tone-deaf, almost unbelievably so. Although there's not really any good way to spin the news that a company is moving a factory to a place where workers are paid less and enjoy fewer employment and industrial safety rights, there are surely bad and worse ways, and the manager here chose virtually the worst way imaginable." I think they are rather clever: with no overt racism or gingoism he nevertheless identifies the "true villains," those despicable Mexicans who will work for nothing and steal good American jobs. There are a few interesting points to note about the manager's rhetoric. - "I want to be clear this is strictly a business decision.” Translation: "It's not you, it's me"? - "We still have a job to do, we have to take care of what needs to be done every day and do it well, just like we always do.” The manager here is appealing to the workers - whose termination he just announced - to keep everything running smoothly to make their move to Mexico as efficient as possible. It says a lot about the docility of the US working class that he can ask this confidently from his workers. - "It became clear that the best way to stay competitive and protect the business for the long term is to move production from our facility in Indianapolis to Monterrey, Mexico". And workers should care about this why? -raghu. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
