Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 10:21:52 -0500 From: dhenwood-AT-panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: M-I: welfare states At 1:35 PM 1/14/97, Robert Malecki wrote: >My understanding of the polish events and why I could go out on the first of >May with a leaflett where on one side we were calling for a general strike >here in Sweden and on the other side defending the line on Poland was in >fact a vital propaganda message to the working class who was beginning to >mobilise against the then bougeois offensive on the Swedish "welfare state". I'm always mystified by this sort of thing. On the one hand, orthodox Marxists generally regard welfare state measures as small beer, and in some cases, harmful (through co-optation) to the class struggle. On the other hand, though, most orthodox Marxists, like Malecki here, are quick to defend the welfare state against attacks on it. My own line is that, however tepid, welfare state measures reduce work discipline and temper the rule of money, and must be counted as a good thing. That's why capitalists hate welfare states, and only grant such concessions under duress (like the threat of something far worse). Does this make me a hopeless Menshevik? Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: <dhenwood-AT-panix.com> web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html> --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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