====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
fro portside.org -- > > The Weight of Dead Generations > > By Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman > > New Labor Forum > Spring 2011 issue > > http://newlaborforum.cuny.edu > > [** The following piece will appear in New Labor Forum's > Spring 2011 issue. To subscribe to New Labor Forum, please > visit http://newlaborforum.cuny.edu or call 212-642-2029.] > > clip - > Marx was wrong. He famously declared that "the tradition of > all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains > of the living." But it turns out that, for some, the > remembered past can act like a tonic, an inspirational > elixir, even a promissory note about how what once was might > be again. Over the course of American history, popular > movements of resistance and rebellion have sometimes > resolutely turned their backs to the future in concerted > efforts to return to some mythic golden age. Others have > enlisted their collective recollections of the past to > fashion an emancipated new way of life. > > As the sesquicentennial of the Civil War begins, we are > reminded of this plasticity of historical memory and the way > it gets deployed to resolve contemporary dilemmas. > Commemorations of the Civil War functioned for generations > in the South, to reinforce commitment to the Confederacy's > "Lost Cause." "Confederate Balls," reenactments of > Jefferson Davis's inauguration, and the like had a political > purpose in solidifying core beliefs about white supremacy, > states' rights, and loyalty to the region's all-white > Democratic Party. Around the turn of the twentieth century, > when the hot- blooded emotions of the war had finally cooled > enough, the "Lost Cause" got nationalized and found a home > in the North as well. There it served to turn a conflict > over freedom and slavery into a shared national tragedy that > hid the country's ugly racial pathology. > > In the South, that distinctive recall of the past at the > same time worked to replenish the soil of social > subservience, leaving the Southern oligarchy of landlords, > merchants, and their political facilitators in charge. > Still, for legions of true believers in the "Lost Cause" it > was empowering, firing resistance to Reconstruction and all > subsequent attempts to end American apartheid. For a long > century, most white Southerners reveled in their peculiar > version of the past, used it to define their moral > imagination, and mobilized politically on its behalf; but > they were imprisoned by it, unable to envision a future that > would liberate them from hierarchies of the South's caste- > based political economy. Already, the sesquicentennial has > shown us there's life still left in that old dog: Haley > Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, recalls that life in > 1960s Yazoo City wasn't all that bad as the White Citizens > Council kept the Klan at bay, and Virginia's governor > "forgot" to mention slavery in his sesquicentennial > proclamation. Dream and nightmare! > > Using and being used by the past is hardly unique to > partisans of the Old South. Take the Tea Party. Memories of > its revolutionary-era forefathers-no matter how fantastical > the images of that revered past may be- incite among Tea > Party partisans an enthusiasm to restore an idealized world > of self-reliant heroism. Government-whether it's King > George's or Barack Obama's-is the great enemy; dependency > its toxic seduction. No one actually contemplates donning > knee breeches and pinafores, however. Rather, for Tea Party > followers the nearest historic exemplar of what they want to > see restored is a kind of Disneyland version of small > town/suburban yesteryear: nuclear families, conventional > marriage, home ownership, Christian morals, cultural and > racial homogeneity, and economic self-sufficiency. One > might call this the twenty-first century version of a > romanticized family capitalism; profoundly sentimental > insofar as it ignores how utterly dependent that suburban > arcadia was on an intricate network of federal, state, and > local government programs and bureaucracies. > > Like those who once rallied to "The South Shall Rise Again," > the Tea Party rises in righteous resistance to reclaim the > way we never were. It draws its energy from an imaginary > past. But that same fantasy disarms it. After all, what > helped set off the uproar a year or so ago were government > bailouts of Wall Street fat cats. Tea Party militants, > however, have reset their sights not on big business and > finance-such anti- capitalism cuts to close to home-but on > the leviathan state, in particular what's left of its > social-welfare apparatus. Back to the future may tickle the > fancy and win votes but, without a real alternative to > corporate capitalism and the welfare state, "don't tread on > me" is an idle boast. > > ....... > > [Steve Fraser is editor-at-large of New Labor Forum, a > writer, and a historian. His latest book is Wall Street: > America's Dream Palace. > > Joshua B. Freeman teaches history at the City University of > New York and is a consulting editor for New Labor Forum. He > is currently completing a history of the United States since > World War II as part of the Penguin History of the U.S.] > > > > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
