Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 22:11:54 -0500
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: M-I: The Vortex of the World Market, or Capitalism Sucks


Carrol Cox wrote:

>Actually, contrary to Lou Godena's political analysis, I think a
>real recovery would be more conducive to a struggle for socialism
>than would a plunge into immiseration. Such a plunge has (as the
>events since 1974 seem to show) have a deeply individualizing impact
>on workers, with consequent strengthening of all the factors that
>fragment unity, in the U.S. meaning primarily racism, sexism, and
>a general rise in fear of everyone and everything.

I think you're exactly right on this. Unlike real bone-crunching crises,
like the 1930s, the muted crisis of 1973-? has had a conservatizing effect.
If you argue, as Shaikh does, that the solution to the crisis of the last
24 years has been a relentless attack on the living standards of the
working class, then all the noxious symptoms you list are part of the
side-effects of the "cure." If there is an upswing, these pressures will
ease, and real gains for the working class - and a reduction of these
hideous tensions - may be possible.

Doug





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