From: michael a. lebowitz (mlebowit@SFU.CA)
Date: Fri Dec 10 2004 - 21:24:26 EST
At 20:02 10/12/2004, Paul Bullock wrote:
>The discussion concerning what is called th 'informal sector' here or the
>'marginalisation'
>of both workers and expelled poor peasants and landless labourers was
>conducted
>for a long time in LA, especially Brazil in the 70's. So, much has been
>written.
>
>The degree of experience such workers have of larger
>or organised production, or the extent to which small workshops have been
>their
>occasional experience , or whether they act as appendages to the recycling
>industry,
>or rely on period farm work in migrations, does not obscure the fact that
>they
> have to work in some way to avoid starvation. I sometimes wonder quite
>what
>is meant by those talking of the working class !!!! ( the 'full time',
>trade unionised or not,
>industrial, etc employee of the imperial heartlands??? ) Why are these
>workers
>not seen as part of the 'working class'??
>They don't live on thin air and arn't members of the property owning
>classes.. ..
>what exactly is the suggestion here???
>
>Paul Bullock.
Paul,
Exactly my point... and why I think this is worth exploration on
this list. (I'm unfortunately not familiar with the Brazilian discussion.
Can anyone--especially our Brazilian participants--- fill us in?) In
particular, I think this is a discussion that needs to occur before
considering 'the dictatorship of the proletariat'. In Venezuela, where
about 1.5 million out of 14 million (over half of whom are in the informal
sector) are organised, do we mean basically the oil, steel and aluminum
proletariat?
in solidarity,
michael
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at
Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724
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