[Marxism] The absence of real forces [was: The low point]

[Joaquin Bustelo]

JSCOTLIVE: 

"My argument is that we need to take the antiwar  movement into the trade
union disputes and trade union disputes into the antiwar  movement - in
order to provide an analysis which identifies the common  denominator that
underpins both struggles, namely the prerogatives of the free  market.
 
"As Malcolm X once said: 'You can't understand what's going on in
Mississippi unless you understand what's going on in the Congo.' Conversely,
though, you can't understand what's going on in the Congo until you
understand  what's going on in Mississippi. 

JOAQUIN RESPONSE: 

OK on the t-u disputes, but you missed Malcolm X's point. Both the struggle
in Mississippi and in the Congo were struggles by oppressed nations or
nationalities of Black people against imperialism to free themselves. He was
talking to Black folks in the movement, and others who identified with their
struggle, about not lining up behind the imperialists as "Americans." 

JSCOTLIVE: 

"The fact that people do not perceive the link does not in any way diminish
the fact that the link does exist and that our task is to attempt to draw
that link and help them perceive it. Yes, here in the UK too, most working
class people lack consciousness. What of it? Twas ever thus.
 
"False divisions set up by the ruling class on the lines of race, ethnicity,
religion, gender, etc., are nothing new. But just because the task is
difficult doesn't mean we don't set out to achieve it. There is a subjective
factor in all this."

JOAQUIN RESPONSE:

The fact that people don't perceive the links, though, makes it hard to use
the links as a lever for mobilization, which is what Jscotlive was
advocating in the previous email. And I was noting that experience has not
yet produced a successful model of this being done on a truly mass scale.

I'm not sure what he means by "false divisions" -- the division along
national (racial) and gender lines are a social reality. If the argument is
that we have to ignore those "divisions" and focus on what all sectors share
as part of the working people in order to overcome the divisions, I
disagree. This sort of class reductionism has been a plague on the left.

JSCOTLIVE