Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 18:41:58 -0500 (EST) From: louisgodena-AT-ids.net (Louis R Godena) Subject: Re: M-I: Unions & the crisis of "tri-party rule" Doug argues against the gloom of Godena Thought: >what Louis refers to as the "Left" seems nowhere near >dead. There's a vigorous grassroots movement within the union that's been >building for 20 years. TDU supporters control about 40% of Teasmter. Doug, the "Left" *has* been dead for fifty years, if by that designation you mean a movement self-consciously socialist that aims to overthrow capitalist relations. If you mean what passes for the "Left" of the Democratic Party, then congratulations; you can have them, and a lot more, too. And what I said about the CP being a fit analogy to these blowhard union publicists who make the kinds of statements that credible people like you are expected to repeat is right on the mark. I have been to rallies where the line was "10,000" or "20,000". Buuuullshit!! People aren't stupid. Give them what they want and they'll come to you. What people don't want is old wine in new bottles. And they can smell swindlers a mile off. The "grassroots" movement in the labor unions is about as revanchist, old-fashioned, backward- looking, and as afraid of real change as the employers whose ass they usually end up kissing by the time their members reach fifty. Even more so, some of them. As one of the few on this list who is genuinely pro-labor (having to earn my living by working rather than by talking about it, with fairly frightening consequences if I fail to do so), I welcome the sight of these fat-assed, labor-faking thugs with their paws at each other's throats. I haven't met one yet whose primary concerns, to paraphrase Earl Butz, weren't a fat wallet, a way to avoid having to work, and a warm place to shit. I would rather shoot my family and then myself than leave their fate, or that of my country, in their callow hands "Forty per cent"!?!! Fuck you! When the beginnings of real change appear on the horizon, you'll know it. And I doubt whether this bunch will be after your wallet, either. Louis G --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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