File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-11-09.204, message 97


Date: 08 Nov 96 23:01:04 EST
From: jonathan flanders <72763.2240-AT-CompuServe.COM>
Subject: M-I: US Elections


 >>  Unless Jon is prepared to argue that there are only 28,227 + 3,601 +
3,271 + 2,275 =? 37,000 class conscious workers in the US, he must agree
that the vast majority of class conscious workers did deliberately
abstain, not out of apathy but because there was no reason to vote. 
<<Adam Rose

Jon Flanders:

  I have come to the conclusion that there is a real difference in your 
assessment of class consciousness and mine. What you call class 
consciousness I would call Populism, which can have a working-class 
character and/or be mixed up with what William Greider called the "Rancid 
Populism" of the right wing, of which Buchanan is a good example.

  It's just not enough to be suspicious of the politicians and deplore 
the ravages of the money power. Class consciousness to me means awareness
that the workers are a separate social and economic entitity, with a 
distinct class interest. We are headed in the right direction here in the
US, but have a way to go before we can talk about class consciousness in 
the way that you do, which leads you to the boycott position on the 
elections.

   A friend of mine at work made a nice commentary on the Clinton 
victory. It went like this.

   Picture a sinking vessel on a stormy sea, with passengers clinging 
desperately to the mast, fearing the worst. In the distance a warship 
appears, flying the Union Jack. Relief sweeps through the crowd on the 
distressed vessel. Cheers go up. The warship closes in. Suddenly the 
Union Jack drops down, and in its place goes up...The Jolly Roger, the 
Skull and Bones of the Pirates!

   We've seen this movie, haven't we?



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