[Marxism] Working class in-itself, not for-itself

[Anthony Boynton]

A few points in regards to Joaquin Bustelo's recent
post, (In reponse to a distortion of my views by a
list member From: "Joaquin Bustelo"
<jbustelo at gmail.com> Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 15:08:39
-0500).

I agree with most of the substantive points Joaquin
makes about the absence of a "working class for
itself" in the United States today, and the movement
in the same direction in all of the other imperialist
countries. 

I would add to this that there is a strong tendency in
Latin America in this direction as well, even though
it is masked by the rise of social democratic and
radical nationalist electoral movements.

The percentage of workers who are organized into
unions, a very imperfect measure, is falling all
throughout Latin America. The new electoral movements,
including that of Hugo Chaves, are not specifically
working class movements, they are movements of the
"people".

Although the explanation for the world wide tendency
is not simple, and is in fact very contradictory, I
think that basic explanation lies int he fact that
while the world economy has grown very rapidly - thus
creating millions and billions of new workers, the
traditional organizational centers of workers have
either been defeated or isolated in relatviely
priveleged layers of "labor aristocrats" who mostly
ahve devoted their resources to defending their
priveleges rather than trying to lead and organize the
new layers of workers.

The Latin American electoralist phenomenon are in a
sense going against the current, since they -at least
in part- are examples of the organized workers trying
to lead the unorganized workers.

The dissolution of working class consciousness is the
single most important phenomenon of the second half of
the 20th century. 

More later, Happy New Year, Anthony




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