Re: [Marxism] I t?s Time for the Left to Build a Force Outside the Democratic Party
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 2/6/20 7:00 PM, Andrew Pollack via Marxism wrote: https://www.labornotes.org/2020/02/teacher-strikes-boost-fight-racial-justice-schools Teacher Strikes Boost Fight for Racial Justice in Schools First of all, Andrew and other comrades as well, you need to clip extraneous text just as you are reminded in every email. Secondly, I specifically referred to workers getting involved in political struggles outside their bailiwick. The article above demonstrates that teachers oppose racism in their schools but I am not sure this is a sign that a proletarian socialist party is on the horizon. Teachers in urban public schools surely are confronted by "segregation, underfunding, and the criminalization of the students they teach—problems that hit Black and Latino students hardest." To do their job properly, they have to tackle broader questions to be sure. However, the indication is that the "vanguard" of the teachers nationwide favor Bernie Sanders for President, a logical choice given the state of the class struggle. Making a leap between that and launching a new party does not necessarily follow. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] I t?s Time for the Left to Build a Force Outside the Democratic Party
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * https://www.labornotes.org/2020/02/teacher-strikes-boost-fight-racial-justice-schools Teacher Strikes Boost Fight for Racial Justice in Schools On Thu, Feb 6, 2020 at 2:58 PM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > POSTING RULES & NOTES > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > * > > On 2/6/20 2:41 PM, John Reimann via Marxism wrote: > > It was just last spring that hundreds of carpenters - mainly apprentices > - > > rallied against a sellout contract in New York. There was even a campaign > > towards a wildcat strike (which didn't get off the ground). Prior to > that, > > thousands of construction workers actually shut down central streets in > > Manhattan in protest against a major nonunion construction project. > > > > In 1999, 2,000 carpenters did go on a wildcat strike in the SF Bay Area. > > There are strikes and there are strikes. When these carpenters get the > wage they rightfully deserve, they will go back to the atomized > existence that characterizes all of the blue collar/factory workers in > the USA. When I see carpenters showing up at protests against ICE or at > a cops out of the subways protest under their own union banner, I'll sit > up and pay attention. > > What are the teachers doing now who were on a wildcat strike that Eric > Blanc wrote a book about? Any sign of them doing anything except going > to work each day and then returning home to look after family affairs? > > I am afraid John is susceptible to what Freud called projection, even > though I generally have little use for his theories. As a young college > student, just like most people who hooked up with Labor Notes, et al, > John was radicalized by the war in Vietnam, read Karl Marx, and > concluded that only the working class can lead the USA to socialism. > > Unfortunately, most carpenters don't travel that road. Just go out to > Queens or New Jersey and find a bar where they hang out after work. See > if you can get them interested in helping to launch a new party of the > working-class. Don't blame me if they look at you as if you have > two-heads. Not to speak of losing some teeth. > _ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com > _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] I t?s Time for the Left to Build a Force Outside the Democratic Party
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * On 2/6/20 2:41 PM, John Reimann via Marxism wrote: It was just last spring that hundreds of carpenters - mainly apprentices - rallied against a sellout contract in New York. There was even a campaign towards a wildcat strike (which didn't get off the ground). Prior to that, thousands of construction workers actually shut down central streets in Manhattan in protest against a major nonunion construction project. In 1999, 2,000 carpenters did go on a wildcat strike in the SF Bay Area. There are strikes and there are strikes. When these carpenters get the wage they rightfully deserve, they will go back to the atomized existence that characterizes all of the blue collar/factory workers in the USA. When I see carpenters showing up at protests against ICE or at a cops out of the subways protest under their own union banner, I'll sit up and pay attention. What are the teachers doing now who were on a wildcat strike that Eric Blanc wrote a book about? Any sign of them doing anything except going to work each day and then returning home to look after family affairs? I am afraid John is susceptible to what Freud called projection, even though I generally have little use for his theories. As a young college student, just like most people who hooked up with Labor Notes, et al, John was radicalized by the war in Vietnam, read Karl Marx, and concluded that only the working class can lead the USA to socialism. Unfortunately, most carpenters don't travel that road. Just go out to Queens or New Jersey and find a bar where they hang out after work. See if you can get them interested in helping to launch a new party of the working-class. Don't blame me if they look at you as if you have two-heads. Not to speak of losing some teeth. _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
Re: [Marxism] I t?s Time for the Left to Build a Force Outside the Democratic Party
POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. * Louis makes several mistakes as well as unwarranted assumptions. He writes: "In my entire life on the left, no significant motion has been detected by construction workers except maybe on May 8, 1970, in New York City when about 200 construction workers were mobilized by the New York State AFL-CIO to attack some 1,000 college and high school students and others who were protesting the Vietnam War." It was just last spring that hundreds of carpenters - mainly apprentices - rallied against a sellout contract in New York. There was even a campaign towards a wildcat strike (which didn't get off the ground). Prior to that, thousands of construction workers actually shut down central streets in Manhattan in protest against a major nonunion construction project. In 1999, 2,000 carpenters did go on a wildcat strike in the SF Bay Area. And back in the early 1980s, my local passed a resolution in favor of a labor party and authorized me to hold regular meetings of the Bay Area Coalition for a Labor Party in our hall. None of this means that carpenters, and construction workers in general, will be in the lead of a movement to build a working class party, nor that they will even be in the lead of a working class resurgence in general. Nor does it even mean that blue collar workers will be in the lead. Hopefully, Louis would agree with me that the US working class is composed of much more than blue collar, manual workers. But Louis is simply much too categorical in what he wrote. It could be argued that these struggles I mention were just workers fighting for their own narrow interests. Yes, in a way that's true. But who among us would argue that it isn't out of exactly these struggles over immediate interests that a wider, and more political struggle can develop? Louis also writes: "John writes these things out of a deeply felt need to be authentic." I'm glad he's a mind reader. John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
