Reply to comment

I agree!!!

Thanks to DWS for highlighting the incredible gap between popular disaffection with deregulated, neo-liberal capitalism, and the capacity of working people to actually mount resistance to capital. DWS is absolutely correct that the left ignores this gap at its risk. Two possible responses are likely among most leftist. A minority of the left that still describes itself as revolutionary, deludes themselves that the the masses will soon stream to the left-- if the left "keeps the red flag flying high." Most of the left is already proclaiming Obama's electoral victory as a manifestation of this embrace of "socialism" and is arguing that the left must support Obama to "stop the right."

Unfortunately, neither of these responses actually builds the capacity of workers, people of color, LGBT people, women, and immigrants to struggle. Both actually undermine our capacity to resist. In the absence of real collective movements of working people, a populist/nativist/racist right can capitalize on such "anti-capitalist" sentiments.

The key to making socialism a living political reality, as both Dan LaBotz (http://www.solidarity-us.org/crisisandsocialism)and Kim Moody (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090406/moody) have argued in THE NATION symposium, is rebuilding the capacity of working people to struggle!

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <b> </b> <br> <br /> <a> </a> <em> </em> <strong> </strong> <cite> </cite> <code> </code> <ul> </ul> <ol> </ol> <li> </li> <dl> </dl> <dt> </dt> <dd> </dd> <div> </div> <img> <style> <font> </font> <blockquote> </blockquote> <hr>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy.