Louis rebutting Nathan:
> This is a false analysis of the differences between the US and Europe. The
> key difference is not that the US is multicultural and that Europe is not.
> It is rather that Europe has had massive social democratic and Communist
> Parties since the 1930s which are tied institutionally to the trade union
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> movement. This means that they are forced to deliver at election time. The
> problem in the United States is that a mass class-based electoral formation
> never came into existence. The American social democrats and the CPUSA
> decided that our Democratic Party is the equivalent of a European workers
> party and fought efforts to build new parties. This, of course, is a
> position that Nathan agrees with. It used to hold water when the Democratic
> Party appeared to be in favor of social spending. LBJ's Great Society was
> the last major example.
Of course Louis knows very well that a mass European left dates from much
earlier; he probably means that it effectively committed suicide on
August 2nd, 1914 and was rebuilt from a ghastly disarray during the '20s.
Otherwise I agree completely with the points he makes here. Europe is
just a different creature.
valis
