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Re Rakesh's [OPE-L:2934]:
One can not decide whether to support collective organization based only
on the criteria of whether a group is "proletarian". E.g. do you support
the right of poor peasant farmers to organize collectively against large
capital? I know I do. Similarly, there are movements composed of workers
and non-workers (including the self-employed) that should be supported
in their own right (e.g. squatting of housing in urban areas by the
poor). In this case, they organize against capital, real estate
developers, and the state for the right to housing. Do we say to
them: "Prove that you are proletarians before we will support you!" ?
Of course not. Another example from the Northeast US might be
supporting the right of small commercial fishermen (sic) to organize
and fight for environmental protection. Thus, do not suppose for a
moment that we can either use the criteria of proletarian
membership to decide our position on class alliances (if we used
that criteria alone, would we support the Chiapas rebellion?) or
the legal perspective of the bourgeois state. What is again
important -- strategically and politically -- is to remember that
there are *more than* two classes in capitalist society (even
though the working class and the capitalist class form the two
"great" classes).
In solidarity, Jerry
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