Re: [OPE] autopilot

On 2010-02-25 13:49, Gerald Levy wrote:
> That's why this strategy is limited to countries which already have a
> strong
> trade union movement. In the US, union membership has been declining for
> several decades and it is increasingly divided.
I'm afraid we can't place too much hope in a country where the working
class has never, even at its industrial peak, constituted itself as a
political organization on a national basis.
>
> How do you see your strategy as fundamentally different from an
> "economistic" one which Lenin and others were so critical of?

I think what Paul is suggesting is fundamentally different than the
narrow type of 'economism' in which the sectional interests of a
particular trade union is pursued. A demand such as 'the right to full
value-added' cuts across the entire economy. But even in a broader sense
this does not constitute a 'pure' economic struggle; the moment a trade
union struggle extends beyond immediate workplace issues and challenges
property rights it is already on the terrain of political struggle
because it involves the state apparatus.

//Dave Z
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Received on Sun Feb 28 08:58:32 2010