Date: Fri, 17 Feb 95 17:10:21 EST From: Sam D Fassbinder <sfassbin-AT-magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> Subject: Re: re: Populism On Friday 17 Feb 1995 Doug Henwood says: But then there's the larger issue, NAFTA itself. The nationalist/populist position on both sides of the Rio Grande is a simple No! This is very different from the classically Marxist position, which, as stated by Marx himself in his famous 1848 Brussels speech, is that since free trade heightens the tension between capital and labor he cast his vote for free trade. Anyone want to step into *that* minefield? My response: I'm afraid that I don't believe that free trade heightens the tension between capital and labor. What might IN REALITY (and not in some economistic fantasy) heighten tensions between capital and labor is the existence of a labor force that can agree that action against capitalist interests is better than no action against capitalist interests. This is not going to happen as the result of some calculable behavioral stimulus-response to free trade. It might happen as a result of a change in the way workers negotiate the system, which might be affected by free trade, lower wages etc. for sure. But you have to try to understand worker subjectivities and worker culture if you want to know what motivates them to become Marxists, unionists, fed-up populists or whatever is needed to get the job done. Don't you? I kinda doubt that macroeconomics will tell you all that. Samuel Day Fassbinder Department of Communication Ohio State University 3016 Derby Hall, 154 N Oval Mall Columbus OH 43210 --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- ------------------
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