From: Ryan-AT-bitstream.mpls.mn.us
Subject: Re: the anxious middle
Date: 03 Mar 1996 20:23:58 GMT


Doug quoting the NYTimes:
> Some experts say that part of the growth in membership of the so-called
>hate groups is traceable to disaffected downsized workers."

Doug:
>Now if this isn't a ripe period for leftist organizing, spiced with a
>revival of the Marxist message, then I don't know what is. Who else has a
>theory of why capital is behaving this way?

Thanks for saving me a trip to try and find a New York Times. I agree with
both of these statements. It is certainly not coincidental that the way the
militia movement has emerged and spread regionally is reflected in the way
proletarization of the workforce has taken place. (Although I still disagree
they are a hate group except toward government/corporate hegemony.) And the
class composition of the militias has become more upscale with the more
recent trend of better-paid workers displacement.

I am surprised how many ideas coming from the disenfranchised right sound
leftish, especially regarding "predatory capitalism", a common target. It
should be a good time to reclaim former leftists or make ties with some
victims of downsizing by explaining the externalization occurring with global
capitalism.

As I see it, one of the biggest obstacles is that anything labeled with
Marxist-Leninist or communist buzzwords, makes most people cringe. It is a
knee-jerk response. 

That's one reason to look at something like LPA, which people may gravitate
toward if it can shake the union bureacracy image. I know that one of the
fears of some in the LPA is that the left "fringe goups" are going to try to
take over with their own agendas. One national officer told me he doesn't
want to keep socialist groups out, but there is some fear a vocal presence
would turn people off and he is probably right. We have to accept that
amongst many workers, our parties have earned a bad reputation, especially
from some strike situations. A major challenge, in my opinion.

I have had problems with CPUSA but have to give them credit for their very
good recent publication, "Labor at the Turning Point". If the working class
would get past seeing the shameless party self-promotion, they might start
paying attention to this kind of work. (Although I just read an article in
PWW comparing Buchanan to Hitler, but that's a different story.)

Speaking of political writing, Bryan Alexander has written an excellent
article on fascism in Bosnia in the March issue of Liberty magazine. 

Sally Ryan



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