Lou says:
>Marx and Engels were not always involved in
>party-building. Sometimes, especially during an ebb in the class struggle,
>they would concentrate on theorizing about the state of the movement and
>what to do next.
Theorizing is absolutely important, but given the drift of the
comments on American workers in some recent PEN-l posts, I'm afraid
that some Marxists are often tempted to *theorize* American workers'
revolutionary potential *out of the political window* -- unless the
Second Coming of the Great Depression hits them, that is. If our
hope lies only in things getting absolutely horrendous here, we might
as well give up for the time being, watch capital's offensives
against workers with our hands in the pockets (or our noses in the
books, as the case may be), wait for the political Judgment Day or
something like that. That would be at least a logical -- if
politically unwise, in my view -- course of action. You don't
actually believe, though, that nothing we do (except theorizing)
matters in an ebb in the class struggle unless & until a Great
Depression comes, do you?
> >It seems to me that both you & Brad believe in the iron cage, though
>>with different political reasons & conclusions. If you believe in
>>the iron cage, though, what's the point of being a socialist in
>>America?
>>
>>Yoshie
>
>How did this turn into a question of being a socialist or not? I wouldn't
>spend $150 a month to maintain a Marxism mailing list if I was not a
>socialist. The issue is whether workers in the USA can be reached in
>significant numbers with a revolutionary message right now. I don't
>believe so.
As I said, what is can & will change, though there is no guarantee
that change will be for better. That is true *with or without a
Great Depression*. Meanwhile, we work on reforms while getting out a
revolutionary message at the same time. Otherwise, we end up being
not so different from Brad, Nathan, & other supporters of the
Democratic Party, except in our self image.
Yoshie
