1). The working class is tied to the capitalist class because they are employed by them. Individuals rise and fall in and out of employment. Some are able improve their wages and standard of living. The tend is an increasing mass of underemployed, low wage labor and unemployment.
The question being posed is: "what is the meaning of class struggle in America and how can we win concessions from the capitalists?" 2). There is an identity of interest between capital and labor because they constitute the meaning of capital. Without this identity of interest capitalism - as a mode of production, could not exist. The dominating feature of the capital-labor relationship is bonding (unity). It is only at specific moments that struggle, or a rupture takes place, carrying the working masses to the threshold of political revolution. The struggle within and between these major classes, has been for the past century (in America) to reform the system in favor of one or the other. To extract more wages, political liberties, desegregate, send kids to better schools and college and then, go back to work. 3). National health care is the perfect example of a winnable concession because of the identity of interest between workers, capitalist and unemployed, and everyone else. A fight inside the UAW has been over the refusal to organize our members to demand a national health care system outside the responsibility of the company - employer. The refusal to battle for national health care as mobilization of the ranks is cowardice - fear, of the membership and setting in motion a wave of discontent. Inside the UAW today, at the highest level, the individuals at the commanding heights of power are not facing some ideological opponent preventing them from acting. The individuals (as a group process), are cowards, ignorant and some simply do not care. Their Chrysler, Ford, GM pension plus ten years of service in the International union, will give them pensions of a little over $7,000.000 (seven thousand) a month. Yet, winning national health care is highly probable because it unburdens direct expenditure for health care cost. Rather than protest union leaders place the cost burden on the backs of retired workers and cut backs in programs. Winning national health care does not and will not mean that Obama will be pushed to the left or right, or that he is good or bad for that matter. Winning national health care means we have been successful in pinpointing what is possible based on a reading of class identity, class alignments, the relative strength of contending forces within classes and so on. An organized fight for national health care will put steel in the backs of th wavering and scared. A section of capital desperately needs the government to foot the bill for national health care and so does the working class as a whole. 4). This "identity of interest" dynamic apply to housing demands on one level and certainly food stamps. A grouping within capital are most certainly sending their lobbyists to "the heights of constitutional authority" screaming that the people are hungry and need food. Retail business from Wal Mart to Publics and all the supermarket chains are going to impact the body politic demanding expanded food production and consumption, aligning themselves with the masses. "Increase my capital, or rather the masses food consumption." The food processing industry wants the people to eat and buy their products. Concession can be won and are worth fighting for in the here and now. Winning them does not mean you pushed someone to the left, or made an incremental step along the path to political power. Nor does it means we have won an increment of socialism. What can be won is food. The same can be said to a degree concerning extension of unemployment benefits. Unemployment tends to beget more unemployment as a cycle. The people need money to buy things and keep the economy functioning. A huge section of capital is clamoring for help, but so are the workers. The points of intersection of class interest is where communists apply the most force. Not because we can win socialism in increments, but because these issues are the spontaneous program of the workers. There is a list of points of identity. Everyone understands this process on one level of another, but it is never presented as a coherent theory of real class collision and collusion. Instead, one tendency is to look at the individual in office (Roosevelt for instance) and pin ones hope on them being the image of the Second coming of Christ. Capital is bonded to labor as the foundation of the system. Capital and labor are bonded in such a way that only the individual can walk out of this relationship, but not an entire class. The mutual struggle within their primary bonding is what drives classes and society through the quantitative boundary of a given stage of the mode of production. Reform is possible at various boundaries and also concessions can be won based on identity of interest. 5). It was a very simple thing for the bourgeoisie to use us - (communists), as foot solider's, during the period of transition from craft unionism to industrial unionism:under Roosevelt. What explains the workers behavior? The workers are and were very patriotic no matter what the program of the CPUSA, or anyone else. The workers in their millions supported the war effort and the political group - CPUSA in this instance, said "Support the War Against Fascism! Defend the Soviet Union." This is not literally what happened but briefly sums up identity of interest. It was the workers themselves, who supported and imposed the "no strike agreement" on themselves - in the main. The idea that the CPUSA imposed this on the workers gives the party to much credit and strength. The war created a moment of political and ideological identity between, an important section of the industrial workers and the need to stabilize war production. These workers voiced their demands for union and Roosevelt - capital, agreed that production had to be stabilized. The consequence appeared in the ideological and political arena. After Foster meet with Roosevelt our fate was sealed. If one can speak of a "ballot box socialism" as ideology and a coherent theory, here is its origin in America: Foster's meeting with Roosevelt. Let's look at a lost fight that will produce zero - no, concessions. 6). Auto for example is a lost fight. Sorry, but an increasing section of the American people are turning against the automobile as an institution; auto workers and their union are viewed as selfish higher paid workers who care for no one but themselves and they make crappy cars. No decisive section of capital cares about auto. The density of its organic composition of capital is high, meaning lots of machines and advance robotics or high fixed cost and this combines with its universal overcapacity, making auto an unattractive investment vehicle. The auto workers as individuals, will become revolutionized in their decay and disintegration. Fortunately, these auto workers losing their jobs forever, are pushed into a lower level of the working class and here they bring their experience and awareness of organization, along with other real world skills. After settling into their new life amongst the real proletarian masses, many of them will be an attribute to the revolutionary movement. Those fighting to save auto, or rather the Detroit auto makers, even under the banner of nationalization, will be and are being side stepped by the masses. The intersecting points of identity within the working class or between labor and capital are missing. Lobbying in Washington for auto is a thankless task today. The only - and I mean only, single point of intersection is health care, but . . . the fight for health care by the auto workers require them to surrender their identity as auto workers and leap outside the bound of employer-employee conflict. 7). The electoral process is placed in the context of our living process; as real classes and real social and political grouping, colliding and contending - in collusion. The hallmark of a communist is the ability to independently find their own bearing amid the social chaos, twists and turns and submerged rocks that lay along the path of social and political revolution. How can one find their bearing if no one discusses what is the basis and context of the social struggle? Not only the bourgeoisie but the workers themselves have not been on the side of communism. Their connection with capital, which is daily eroding, was to strong in the past and being reasonably intelligent folks the workers adopted the program of the capitalist. The capitalist program in post war America promised the working class certain benefits and delivered them. Reuther's power was not his oratory. He delivered the bacon. All the clamoring and penning away from the CPUSA about the "right and "ultra right" today is meant to align the workers with the left. The left is the Democratic Party. The struggle around TARP, is interesting. Here is a political fight with no significant base in the working class and militant oppression from within capital. Home ownership is basically an arena of the best paid workers historically and no one cares because someone lost their house. Many of those who lost "their houses" don't care and simply rent. Millions are simply walking away from their mortgage. The Bush W. regime cares little about someone losing their mortgage. The profit centers for speculative investment remain structured debt. None of this means life is to be understand as hard categories or boxes. It is simply a model to make sense of a world that often seems filled with nothing but nonsense. How Mr. Obama deals with pensions and social security is going to determine his fate. That is my guess before he has taken office. For the past 30 years, the speculator (as a class concept dominating the world total capital) has eyed with passionate lust, these huge pools of money. Obama did give a signal about "entitlements" and scaling back and mentioned Social Security in the same sentence. WL **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26hmpgID=62%26bcd=De cemailfooterNO62) _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
