Date: 07 Nov 96 21:52:00 EST
From: jonathan flanders <72763.2240-AT-CompuServe.COM>
Subject: M-I: Class Consciousness in the US Higher?


 >> I imagine that most US comrades on this list do not agree with what
 is after all a vvery strong claim : "class consciousness
 in the US today is higher than at any time since the 1930's".
 This is a very serious claim, and the ISO is building, apparently 
successfully, on the basis of this claim. It should be taken 
 seriously, I think. <<Adam Rose

Jon Flanders:

  It depends on how you define class consciousness. Awareness of 
"corporate greed" and the control of big money over the electoral process
is higher than any time I can remember.

  This is just the beginning of class consciousness however. If you don't
understand simple things like the definition of the working class vis a 
vis the sale of labor power and your relationship to the means of 
production, then it is hard to move to the level of self-organization as 
a class, taking action, seeking alliances etc.

  For example, the same male worker who has no problem with the notion 
that the workers need their own party can be completely clueless when it 
comes to understanding the importance of affirmative action in winning 
oppressed sectors like women and minorities to the working class side.
Too often the notion of "worker" is internalized as male or white.

  It will take seeing class forces in action, which will come in defense
of the "safety net" issues like Medicare and Social Security, to rip the
scales from the eyes of the US working class. I have every confidence 
that Clinton and the new congress will oblige us with some real blows to 
the "social wage" that will start waking the workers up.



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