Max says:
> Capital will go wherever the State permits it to go.
> Hence the laws of and among States are the logical
> target. Trade agreements & the workings of the WTO
> are part and parcel of these laws.
Somehow that is translated into a politics that says we need to focus on
the actions of the Chinese state or China and not the actions of the U.S.
state. The problems facing US workers from highly mobile capital go
beyond China, but focusing on China and the actions of the Chinese state
narrow the politics in a way that is self-defeating if our aim is to
illuminate what is happening and build a radical movement for change.
Max adds:
>
>
> Rather than labor's present campaign, MHL proposes
> that we "focus our attention on US capital and the
> logic of international capitalism." But that's not
> politics; it's a seminar. Or a book. Getting up
> in front of a crowd and saying, "I denounce
> capitalism" is not politics. It's a potential
> component of politics, but one that lacks any
> referents in current events or practice.
>
I guess we have a difference of opinion on what politics is about. The
issue is not short-run "victories" which are really non-victories. Keeping
China out of the WTO will only ensure the status quo. At issue is first
determining what kind of political understanding we want to promote and
then figuring out how to effectively promote it.
I think that in this period ideological struggle is very important. Real
politics is finding a way to help people understand the nature of the
system that they live in and move as quickly as possible to embrace
actions to transform that system in appropriate ways. If the problem is
capitalism and the role of the US state and US MNCs, then we need to think
creatively about how to promote that understanding.
Saying that the issue is china and its lack of human rights for workers is
not some how any more or less a lecture than saying that the issue is
capitalism and the actions of US MNCs. The difference is that the first
is just a bad lecture, from which confused politics is bound to come. And
the second .... well you can guess.
Marty
