Re: [Marxism] Unionization rate drops to 6.9% in private sector

2011-01-23 Thread Adam Proctor
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Mark wrote:

 Some of them are not doing well at all,
 despite a college degree and a lifetime of work.  But they talk as though
 they own oil companies and banks overseas.  We're dealing with something
 very, very different where consciousness requires less and less of a
 material check.


This is the damnest thing, isn't it?

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Re: [Marxism] Thoughts on Arizona

2011-01-11 Thread Adam Proctor
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 So, too, I don't know what the hell people are talking about when they talk
 about a Trotskyist position on such things.  Are we developing a Marxist
 analysis with a Ouija board?


That' s a clever response, and we're all very impressed, but I said no such
thing.   I'll just dismiss myself from this thread now.


-Adam

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Re: [Marxism] Thoughts on Arizona

2011-01-10 Thread Adam Proctor
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 Louis wrote:

It is to put Democrats on the defensive, which they have done with
 ease. Two days ago we were discussing Bob Herbert's dismantling of
 Obreagan. Now we are focused on the nefarious Tea Party. We need to
 refocus our discussion on the biggest threat to the American working
 class--Barack Obama, the clear choice of big capital, not the Tea Party
 side show.


I agree... and it goes somewhat against the ISO/Trotskyist current of which
I identify.  I, like Louis, have been a little disturbed by the obsession on
the left over this whole affair.  My position is as follows: even though it
is true that we must counter bigotry and injustice where ever we find it,
sometimes, the best defense is a good offense.   Moving away from a constant
defensive posture does not preclude defensive action--it only implies that
focusing on an offensive posture is the best way to incorporate an effective
defensive strategy.   I am, of course, speaking at an extreme level of
abstraction, but it is rather Marxian to find the adequate level of
abstraction to tackle important issues, is it not?

Some might argue that such an offensive strategy is just not feasible for
a leftist movement that appears so marginalized, if not crippled.   But at
what point does this view of ourselves as marginalized and crippled become a
self-fulfilling prophecy?

-Adam

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