Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 22:32:05 +0100
From: Hugh Rodwell <m-14970-AT-mailbox.swipnet.se>
Subject: M-TH: Re: Feral revolutionism


I wrote:

>>What I want to see on the list is burning hatred for capitalist
>>exploitation and the repression it produces, in all its forms.
>>
>>If people are driven by a sufficiently strong desire to get rid of
>>capitalism and its states as soon as possible, they'll listen to each
>>other.

And Yoshie replied:

>Well, if the above had been the case, there would have been no such things
>as sectarianism and splits and the like. You know it is not true.

I said I wanted it, not that we had it.

Sectarianism is always a telltale symptom of the wrong objectives being put
first.

Splits are different. Each split must be judged on its own merits. Some are
necessary because of fundamental incompatability, others are not.

People usually fight and organize because of individual and limited
grievances against local oppressors. It takes a lot of training and
experience to see the enemy as capitalist exploitation rather than other
more limited forms of oppression. Once a core of revolutionaries have this
conviction, however, and once they gain some authority in the class
struggle, the step becomes progressively easier for each new revolutionary.

Yoshie also says:

>I would like to hear more about *male workers* supporting women's workplace
>and other struggles. Women in heroic supporting roles are old stories.

1) The Hillingdon women got good support throughout Britain.

2) The Women of the Waterfront  were very successful on their own terms,
they were fighting for *their own immediate interests* given the social
structures capitalist Britain forced on them. The oppression they felt and
fought against was class oppression rather than gender oppression. They
expressed their particular gender identity in this struggle through a
gender-specific organization of working-class women to counter-attack
against the bosses and government and bureaucratic oppression. This is a
new development -- the women weren't this well-organized during the miners'
strike, for instance.

3) Support is important. Heroic support is not to be sneered at. "Old" is
irrelevant. As women come to the fore in struggle, men will be seen at
their side supporting them. I would like to hear more about women's
workplace struggles period. I would also like to see more women in leading
positions in unions, especially female-dominated ones, and in politics. The
women in my organization can more than hold their own compared with the men.

Cheers,

Hugh




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