Mark, the comment you made (under this thread I'm not sure why) was contextualized about raising class consciousness and why unions are not the answer with a one liner about Phlekanov and Lenin. I was responding the issue of class consciousness and how that develops. The intent of Lenin's What is to be Done? is about raising class consciousness and noted, or suggested, that doing that proceeds from different directions...via political parties as that consciousness develops or via unions. Another issue is the manifestation of working class consciousness and what forms it takes, such as parties, or unions, that the working class for itself. In that, even Mamdani and Sander's rhetorical appeals to the "working class" ignore this completely.
On your criticisms of unions around energy and environmental policy, I agree. I was a central organizer along with other energy workers back in 2000 in trying to get labor support for municipalization of PG&E (the nations largest investor owned utility). My own union, IBEW 1245 (the second largest local in the International after NYC's Local 3) organized against this movement and lined up with the company. I was kicked off the San Francisco Labor Council because I broke with the union on this after serving about 8 years there and got the labor council to support the propositions. So I know this issue quite well. I believe our tasks is to get labor to break with corporate/Democratic Party politics because the only real example of the "class for itself" in the U.S. today are the unions. They still play an important role IMO because of that. As the class "of itself" (meaning workers generally as an economic class) vast movement can be had such as the great 2006 "Day with an Immigrant" the millions of participants of which amounted to the closest thing since a real "general strike" since 1946. Regarding Mpls...the focus on getting unions involved (Pretti was an activist in the nurses union there) is critical in this union town because of the potential to bring even more folks into action against ICE, which in this thread, what the discussion should be about. [ Syndicalism is a term with two meanings. 1, it means focusing exclusively on union activity and the development/organization of the trade unions and 2, the more historic usage, is that workers revolution can only necessarily proceed via the trade union movement be the essential vehicle for such workers power. Essentially the program of the old IWW and before that, the huge French revolutionary Syndicalist movement that had inspired many wobblies, anarchists, and revolutionary workers. William Z. Foster organized the "Syndicalist League" prior to being won to communism] David -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40399): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40399 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117460647/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
