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Let's Explore the History of 'Class Warfare'
Recently, Warren Buffett remarked that America was engaged in "class warfare." Conservative reaction was immediate, indignant, and anticipated. When President Obama followed up this week with his "Buffett Tax," conservatives again were aghast.
Words like "class warfare" are not commonly used anymore -- they were considered anachronisms from the days of "commies and socialists." Nevertheless, they are appropriate -- and Americans should not be horrified by them.
The fact is, "class warfare" has been an essential part of American history for more than a century. As the industrial revolution gained traction, and as America became less of an agrarian society, wealth and capital began to be accumulated and concentrated on a severely uneven basis. Between 1870 and 1900, the share of national wealth held by the richest 1 percent of households peaked at around 45 percent. The results were violent strikes, the rise of unions and the beginnings of the socialist movement in the United States. In short, "class warfare."
In the early 1900s, Republican Teddy Roosevelt arrived on the political scene to fight the excesses of the infamous "robber barons" whose greed had undermined economic fairness in America. He clashed with the superwealthy, like J.P. Morgan, and ordered the Justice Department to take antitrust action against monopolists. He introduced railroad regulation, and food and drug safety. He pushed for the adoption of an income tax, and a federal estate tax on the inheritances of wealthy families. He set precedents in federal regulation of manufacturing and commerce. He launched the federal government on an ambitious program of environmental protection and conservation. He was truly engaging in "class warfare."
Later, another Roosevelt, FDR, would engage in similar "class warfare" with the New Deal. His election in 1932 and his subsequent presidential terms marked a historic political realignment, creating a new Democratic majority of liberals, workers, immigrants, African-Americans and women, and laid the foundations of a limited American version of the welfare state. During World War II, he raised the top tax rate to 92 percent.
In short, what we really have here is a semantic argument. Conservatives know that "warfare" is a hot word and might resonate with the public. But call it any name you wish, and the reality of class warfare is the same (as defined by Wikipedia): "the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests between people of different classes."
This tension has been part of our culture (indeed of virtually all societies) forever. While violence may result from this class tension in many societies, in America we have generally found a better way to conduct this "war." With the ballot box.
Buffett reminds us that "my class is winning." Indeed it is. No need to revisit all the statistics, but quickly: the top 1 percent of Americans take home 24 percent of all income and control 42 percent of all financial wealth. The bottom 80 percent hold only 7 percent of the financial wealth of our nation. Some 46 million Americans live in poverty.
Obviously, this condition creates precisely the kind "tension and antagonism" that constitutes "class warfare." Those who deny it are disingenuous; those who decry it are insincere.
As to how to redress this, while the ballot box is the preferred American way, it is not being employed by those who would benefit by electing a more fair-minded Congress, or a hero in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt. In fact, in the 2010 election, which turned our country even further to the right, only 41 percent of Americans bothered to vote.
That is concerning, because other options for addressing this state of affairs are far less desirable. While conservatives can bask in their recent election victory and the superwealthy can continue to pile on unimaginable riches and the lobbyists for special interests can continue to wield their undue influence, warning flags should be raised.
"Class warfare," of whatever kind, will not ultimately be good for the country, nor for the wealthy, nor, for that matter, for capitalism itself. History has shown that whenever wealth becomes excessively concentrated, tension and stress are created.
Class warfare -- by this or any other name -- is a condition that Americans of all political stripes must work to mitigate ... and soon.
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66 Comments so far
Show Alldespite his progressive leanings, Teddy Roosevelt was also a firm proponent of the USA's "righteous destiny" to police the world.
Very true, he was a proponent of manifest destiny. The wars he started in latin and south america to increase our influence, plus to build the canal are the minus side of the good that he did. A very mixed blessing for us and set the tone for future presidents.
As long as societies have existed where one class has been able to accumulate the surplus value society as a whole produces there has been class struggle. That is the defining movement within a class-based system. The only way this can be eliminated is to form a classless society, but this will require that the working class win this class struggle. Liberals have always wished that class struggle wouldn't exist as it supported a class structured economic system.
As Marx pointed out, the winners of class struggles within each historical epoch of human history, have defined the new revolutionary society that arose out of the one that preceded it. To wish away this motor of social development, until a class comes to the forefront that's interests are universal to all (where classes are no longer necessary), is just plain ignorant. Alas, this defines a "liberal".
What motor of social development are you talking about? Where's the social development? In this country we spit on the poor and working class, laugh at the sick and tell them to die, and say I've got mine, screw you. If that's social development, I don't want any part of it. I would call it social undevelopment.
We do need a new revolution where we care about the sick, the poor, and the elderly instead of saying that only the wealthy are good people. A society where we value all of us instead of some.
In today's climate, we are supposed to scorn the poor, sick, and elderly, and to worship the almighty dollar as greed is good and more greed is better. Alas this defines a conservative.
"We do need a new revolution where we care about the sick, the poor, and the elderly instead of saying that only the wealthy are good people. A society where we value all of us instead of some."
Agreed. And it is class struggle, with the working class winning, that is the motor to the society you crave.
Mainstream, boring and i guess the fact that he was a military officer is supposed to give him more credibility. So let's all go vote for good guys!!!!
Oh, yes, Teddy R.......I believe he actually began u.s. interventionism and aquired a few islands from spain - Cuba being one in particular.
While T. Roosevelt was definitely an imperialist, US interventionism began long before him The wars against Native Americans, the Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, The Mexican American War.....
Jefferson's covert war against Spain for Florida is one few know about but is an inconvenient fact for many when confronted by it.
I did an 11th grade report on that one.
Excellent. You know more than 90% of US History teachers. Did your teacher make any remark that you can recall other than giving it a grade?
I got an A abd he was very pleased. It was an AP class.
I love the study of history.
While we're on the subject class warfare sign the petition below.
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The U.S. Postal Service is our most trusted government agency. It provides universal service to all Americans – rich or poor, urban or rural. It receives not a penny in taxpayer subsidy.
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This is an attack on unionized public workers like the attacks on teachers and state workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Help save the post office by forcing a vote on HR 1351, a bill cosponsored by 211 Congress members -- almost half the House of Representatives.
Click to contact Congress and to find out where there's a "Save America’s Postal Service" rally near you tomorrow (Tuesday).
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Any particular period or area? If the US Civil War interests you and you have access to a college library where copies ought to be found, you might investigate the 3 volume series, "The History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," which was written soon after the War by Henry Wilson, senator from Massachusetts. Given your moniker, I presume you're more into labor history. Here's a link to a collection packed with information that very few use or even know exists, "Foreign Relations of the United States," http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/FRUS
I'll check both out.
Thx
"The history of all hitherto existing society [2] is the history of class struggles."
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Spicer sez: "... while the ballot box is the preferred American way (to redress this imbalance), it is not being employed by those who would benefit by electing a more fair-minded Congress ..."
***
It's hard to "employ" something that exists less and less each passing year.
Perhaps YOU have a "ballot box"; many instead have a ballot computer. Software is proprietary, by the way.
Proprietary software is proprietary. :-) GNU/Linux and OSS are not. There are alternatives ... use them. I do.
I've been using Debian GNU/Linux since 2005, and Mandrake or Red Hat before that. I think most people don't even realize Google is powered by Linux...
forgotten here with the discussion of what did what when and other denigration of those that care ... is survival ... it's bad enough that as a modern society in a globally connected economy that a country like america has almost a sixth of it's population in poverty ... it's another to think that we cannot find a better approach to making it better ... wealth is the corrupter ... but resources become the issue ... who controls the resources and their agenda becomes what we should be concerning ourselves with ... and we don't have a benevolent controllers at this time ... so forget the simplicity of a 'class warfare' and see the reality of what being impoverished really means ... blaming the poor for being poor is an ignorant and selfish attitude just as blaming a victim and saying they deserved to be victimized ... if you bought into the idea that wealth is a product of hard work ... then most americans should be wealthy instead of unemployed and struggling to survive ... ignorance is abundant in america but it doesn't feed you or change things ... stop being ignorant of the reality that we either all work together or all perish under ignorant ideas ... sharing and showing that you care isn't a weakness ... when you believe what your told rather than see for yourself how things are is really the laziest way to do things ...
Love the sign:
"They only call it class warfare when we fight back."
Which is probably why we hear it so seldom.
The term "warfare" implies aggression, and that is accurate. Aggressive class warfare has been declared by the wealthy against the rest of us. The aggressive never ending quest for more more more is at the root of the structural violence that oppresses most of humanity. That same never ending search for more is also a mental illness. The people who seek endless wealth, who prize their hoard over life, are ill and should not be in positions of power.
But they're the "job creators" and they pay all the taxes , so they should own the Gov't. 'cause they paid for it. According to wing nut logic anyway.
I agree that the endless quest for great wealth is a mental illness; so did Adam Smith. I don't mean that in a pro-captitalistic way, just to say that we have lost a sense of morality that would have been assumed some centuries ago. At one point war profiteering was spat upon, but now it’s openly respectable.
You can’t look at economics or politics without looking at psychology, and by that I mean really questioning what our mental health “experts” are assuming. Liberation psychologists such as Bruce E. Levine point out that what we call mental illness is defined primarily as an inability to conform comfortably to one’s environment. The experts entirely ignore the question of the effect of the environment on the health of the specimen, and particularly sidestep such illnesses as what we might term “greed,” and the gross accumulation of wealth in our society is of course proof positive that one has indeed reached the pinnacle of mental health. Off-the-charts scores for adapation!
The fight between the sociopaths and the humans defines the struggle of history. The plight of the US human today is that WE ARE LOSING BADLY, but then, haven't we nearly always? The US populous was lulled by a few decades of Keynsian economics working well for enough of us as the propaganda experts, brought to us by the DOE, Disney, and pornography et al, did their magic, and this country's populace is in no shape to fight a class war.
Based on your comment, you will likely find the essay available through the following link of interest, http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-09-24/culture-and-behavior-dangerously-addictive-why-we-are-biologically-ill-suited-ric
Interesting article--I bookmarked it and will have to chew on it for a while. Thanks. I sent you a reply before this, but it didn't make it through cyberspace, apparently.
"The powers that be, know exactly what they're doing, and find it amazingly funny to parody their actual crimes, with the indirection and purposeful distraction of phantasmagoric entertainment."
What a deliciously sick point. The entertainment industry parodies what it's owners are doing to us, and then they make money on that too.
"The fact is, "class warfare" has been an essential part of American history for more than a century."
Class Warfare is an integral part of the 1787 constitution as it allows just one class and gender to hold all political and thus most economic power. Failure to recognize such a primary facet of the US's national fabric and history is monumental for the discussion of this and many other topics.
""The fact is, "class warfare" has been an essential part of American history for more than a century. As the industrial revolution gained traction, and as America became less of an agrarian society, wealth and capital began to be accumulated and concentrated on a severely uneven basis."" ******************************************
Spicer is correct about the existence of class warfare which is a bunch of psychopathic greedy people wanting everything for themselves if for no other reason than to look down their noses at the people they hate and oppress. And that is so easy to do when one totally gives up any resemblance of conscience.
Now, I differ on Spicer's 'for more than a century' statement. Obviously Spicer hasn't read Howard Zinn's 'The People's History of the United States' where Zinn's research found that since columbus, class warfare has been a full time war. A war that the invading europeans brought over here to pass on to the american indians who had what the europeans considerd was 'theirs' while continuing the class war amongst themselves.
Consequently, when the colonies really started to pick up in population and the 'elite', for some strange reason, were able to claim land and resources as their's alone, since then there has been severe oppressive treatment of those some how not fortunate enough to claim what was the indians as their own and they were continually exploited in the same manner as sweat shops up until today around the world. Zinn gives a most truthful look into the sordid history of this country the europeans stole and, not counting the genocide of the indians, those europeans ruthlessly oppressed their 'fellow' europeans.
And don't think when the u.s.a was established that the constitution, bill of rights and declaration of independence was to protect all the 'new' citizens in this 'new' country. On the contrary, it was subtly crafted to protect the 'elite' by allowing on certain wealth to be elected or hold offices of authority. No land, no money did not vote.
So much of Zinn's research is missing here in Spicer's short synopsis of 'Class Warfare' that makes me believe he didn't even read Zinn and being an almost quasi historian, I would expect some acknowledgement of what Zinn wrote or just some of the references.
None the less, Spicer does stand tall with trying to prove the existence of the class warfare, if only it would get on the M$M. There in lies the rub. The corporate M$M's 3 or 4 owners have the majority of people in this country on the doofus band wagon hanging on to 'their' every word when they should be listening to reason instead of punditry.
Class warfare began with the advent of Classes when settled agriculture allowed for the material accumulation that's a prerequisite for establishing hierarchies--Classes. Thus, Class Warfare began about 12-15,000 years ago, likely in Southeast Asia based on rice cultivation in the now flooded area known as the Sunda Sea.
When the USA was established, there was no constitution or Bill of Rights; what existed was the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation, and 13 separate State Constitutions, along with English Common Law and the unwritten compilation of what could be called the Rights of Free Englishmen. Much of this is untaught even at the university level with the Revolutionary War's battles and intrigues getting overemphisized. What's worse is there's no testing of potential history teachers to discover how much they don't know--and what they don't know will surprise most, or perhaps not given the historical ignorance of most US citizens. And why do you suppose that is? Knowledge is power; if you lack it, then you're at a distinct disadvantage.
Surely. As Gore Vidal declared, "we have gone barbarous."
Your comment echoes many things I've previously written/commented upon at this forum. You might try detailing HOW "We all together must stop them, for it is our survival," which is also a topic I've explored here, too, and where I very recently reiterated my current stance to remain within the political process versus armed revolution.
Civil disobedience is political--direct action--and is thus within what is considered the political process. Dissent serves to point-out the system's dysfunction. Radical dissent says the dysfunctional system must be replaced. Informing people how we came to be in this condition is how I view my role as an historian/social scientist since the Tree of Injustice must be uprooted 100%, not just pruned here and there, which is why most of my postings usually contain a historical theme as you've read on this thread, since few know the history being exposed. And uprooting the Tree involves knowing how it came to grow in the first place, some of which is also explored on this thread.
A freindly heads-up about your promotion of PONEROLOGY.COM: It might very well be considered spam by CD's editors and you'll have your entire posting removed for violating the rules for posting comments. I hope my inadequate recap helped some.
I have a nephew, a fool of a boy who's spent six years getting an education degree to teach high school history, who draws a blank on US history. That's what he'll be teaching if he ever gets a job.
Our education departments are a joke. I got licensure to teach English in secondary school, and had to pass an exam called Praxis. It was a two hour exam and ridiculously easy, and it was readily apparent that the classes I had taken for the licensure covered 95 percent of the material on the exam. Yet most of my classmates were taking the exam over and over, clear evidence that they hadn't actually read the few books required in their classes. But no matter. If you passed it eventually and could double as a cheerleading or football coach, you had a hope of getting a job.
The last thing our schools want are history teachers who actually know some history. What, are you crazy?
There's a lot of history.Depends on you consider "some history"
I note that you mention that your "fool of a boy" nephew is deficient in US history. So he probably specialised in the history of some other country / region / era / topic.
That doesn't mean that he doesn't know "some history". Lack of knowledge of nay particular country ./ region / era can usually be easily remedied as long as one has the tools, the knowledge of how to go about studying history.
Hello Elizabeth H, and thanks for your reply. Once entered into academia, I soon learned why most radical professors kept quiet until they gained tenure. After 25 years in my first career, I returned to college to get my degrees. Initially, I was appalled at the lack of learning displayed by my much younger cohorts, yet my age allowed me to establish a rapport with my professors that I'd never have gained since they were mostly peers. I was thus provided with insights gained over decades of research as several were Zinn-like and beyond. The most important I've tried to impart to our community here at CD as I did when I taught.
As for your nephew, ask him if he knows why we are in the condition we are today; and if so, how will he impart that information to his students when that reality gibes with what's written in the textbook he's required to use. If he says he doesn't know the answer to the first question, tell him there is a definitive answer and to be an effective teacher he must know that answer. Of course as you note, being an effective teacher doesn't mean you'll find or keep your job; rather, it means being able to live with yourself, which isn't easy for those knowing the answer.
"That is concerning, because other options (other than voting) for addressing this state of affairs are far less desirable..."Class warfare," of whatever kind, will not ultimately be good for the country."
The author is ambivalent about class warfare at once saying that it is inevitable, but then saying we must work to "mitigate" it. Typical liberal. Throwing water on working class resentment, all the while pretending that he is an ally.
Like most liberals he wants small change that won't upset the social order, of which he is a beneficiary.
Voting alone has accomplished precious little for the masses. Electoral victories for the masses are a result of class mobilization and action. They do not occur without explicit non-electoral class conflict.
The US needs much more conscious mass action, more class battle waged by the masees of working people allied with workers around the world.
dreamjoehill (quote the author Myles Spice) wrote:
"That is concerning [sic], because other options (other than voting) for addressing this state of affairs are far less desirable..."Class warfare," of whatever kind, will not ultimately be good for the country."
The author is ambivalent about class warfare at once saying that it is inevitable, but then saying we must work to "mitigate" it. Typical liberal. Throwing water on working class resentment, all the while pretending that he is an ally.
Like most liberals he wants small change that won't upset the social order, of which he is a beneficiary.
Voting alone has accomplished precious little for the masses. Electoral victories for the masses are a result of class mobilization and action. They do not occur without explicit non-electoral class conflict.
The US needs much more conscious mass action, more class battle waged by the masees of working people allied with workers around the world.
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Excerpt from "A Primer on Class Struggle" by Michael Schwalbe, Common Dreams, March 13, 2011:
"The most important arena outside the workplace is government, because it’s here that the rules of the game are made, interpreted, and enforced. When we look at how capitalists try to use government to protect and advance their interests -- and at how other groups resist -- we are looking at class struggle."
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4
* * * * *
My Reply:
dreamjoehill,
I agree with you, dreamjoehill.
In addition to class mobilization and action, with respect to voting and elections we need to change the system.
Minimally, that means replacing Plurality Voting with a consent / dissent grading scale based voting procedure, such as Yes No 'Maybe So' Voting or Category Scale Power Voting; and overturning the unconstitutional Citizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo United States Supreme Court decisions.
“Only 41% of Americans bothered to vote” because no matter who wins the result will be the same. It isn’t the party affiliation of the elected official, it’s the wisdom, consciousness, intelligence and heart of the elected official that will make the difference. When everyone running is heartless and lacking true intelligence and wisdom it doesn’t matter who wins. Why bother voting. The people who are running who can make a difference are not allowed to have their voices heard or allowed on the ballot
Ralph could be right again when he says that Only the Superich Can Save Us. There are no Roosevelts left and the Kennedys have been "taken care of". Evidently, a viable candidate needs to be super-rich, righteous and have a good set of cojones to stand up to his oligarch peers.
Direct democracy
I am trying to do my part..... I have handed out small squares of paper that have, Common Dreams, Counter Currents, Peak-OIl-Crisis.org and David Korten, Derrick Jensen, Michael Klaire, and Amy Goodman at 12:00 every wk day on our local NPR station....... Yeah, there are a lot more, but this was a start. I handed out about 50 so far, I think..... I tlked to a young man today, maybe 22 or so.... He took like six squares to hand to his friends..... I talked to him for about 20 minutes.... explaining a bit.... of a few issues.... He really listened......
I'll offer some encouragement - Well done! And it's important, too. If all of us do this it translates to many additional thousands of informed citizens in a very short time.
Good job Mr. Spicer.
America has been engaged in class war for only a "century"?
So what the hell was going on before 1911??? I guess the poor were just skipping around in fields with top hat cigar smoking capitalists picking flowers and singing songs?
i also wish the author could have made a reference to the work of the late historian howard zinn, who eloquently/passionately presented history from the perspective of the disenfranchised.
the elites have always used violence and the threat of violent reprisals as a means to frighten and further erode the masses, in the hope that the masses will not find the gumption to fight back. yet we have fought back many times in the past.
i find it fascinating that the author makes no mention of the black panther party in the US (as people who recognized class warfare and fought back) or the various slave revolts throughout american history.
i mean what exactly was slavery on the american plantation ? it was a very crude yet complex way to extract labor from a subjugated class to create and refine xyz commodity into money. in a nutshell class warfare.
of course there were rebellions, like the slave uprisings along the german coast of louisiana in 1811 (documented in the book by daniel rasmussen - American Uprising: The Untold Story of America’s Largest Slave Revolt).
http://www.amazon.com/American-Uprising-Untold-Americas-Largest/dp/0061995215/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1
review from booklist at amazon....
{When Americans think of slave rebellions, Nat Turner and John Brown come to mind, but the largest armed resistance to slavery in U.S. history was commanded by Kook, Quamana, Harry Kenner, and Charles Deslondes. The four led an army of several hundred slaves in 1811 to revolt against plantation masters and to march on New Orleans. Historian Rasmussen details the political climate of the time, including French sugar plantation owners destabilized by efforts of the U.S. government to Americanize the region, threats from nearby Spanish-held territories, and the recent slave revolts in Haiti, 6,000 miles away.
The slaves were emboldened by Haiti and aided by a cosmopolitan mix of ethnic groups—Africans, Native Americans, people of mixed race, slaves, and Maroons—who enjoyed fairly free movement around the area.
Rasmussen details the history and politics of the region, the revolt itself, and the vengeful reprisals that followed, including efforts to rewrite the history of the revolt. Readers will appreciate not just the historic recollection of the attempt to overcome the oppression of slavery but also the more recent developments that have recovered it from obscurity. --Vanessa Bush }
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most americans are unaware of the slave uprisings as they are unaware of the panthers positive influence, (and subsequent justification for hunting them down)
in urban america in the late 60's.
http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/
{A few months later, J. Edgar Hoover publicly states that the Panthers are the "greatest threat to the internal security of the country."
In Chicago, the outstanding leader of the Panthers local, Fred Hampton, leads five different breakfast programs on the West Side, helps create a free medical center, and initiates a door to door program of health services which test for sickle cell anemia, and encourage blood drives for the Cook County Hospital. The Chicago party also begins reaching out to local gangs to clean up their acts, get them away from crime and bring them into the class war. The Parties efforts meet wide success, and Hampton's audiences and organised contingent grow by the day. Fred Hampton On December 4th, at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, thanks to information from an FBI informant , Chicago police raid the Panthers' Chicago apartment, murdering Fred Hampton while he sleeps in bed.}
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there has always been resistance, there is resistance today (albeit isn't as large of a movement as we could imagine or would like to see).
and one day this sick perverted form of neo-feudal capitalism will collapse, b/c of built in structural flaws (like the crazy swings in the business cycle that are essential to generating obscene profits) that are inherent. it's just a question of time.
...peace...
Taking 100% of someone's labor is called slavery, taking 92% is/was somehow called fair?
I don't worry what others make, and taking directly from them for my use is called theft. Using my agent called the government to do the same thing is still theft.
Buffet states he needs to pay more taxes, doesn't feel the need to pay the taxes he owes!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-hathaway_n_941099.html
While we won't know what it is/was, I bet he got something in return for his rich need to pay more proclamation.
Class warfare (struggle) has always been with us. The financial elite maximize profits while weakening unions, preaching austerity for the rest of us. Lower wages equals more profit for the elite few. My underwear was produced in Honduras and Pakistan. WHY/
Excerpt from "Longshore Workers Make a Stand for Labor" by Jack Heyman:
Last February and March, labor supporters occupied the Wisconsin capitol and held marches of more than 100,000 to protest an attack on unions. That electrified workers around the country, but the action was derailed after it became a political football for Democratic Party politicians. So now teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin have no bargaining rights. ILWU pickets proudly wear T-shirts reading "No Wisconsin Here."
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/28-2
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Excerpt from "A Primer on Class Struggle" by Michael Schwalbe, Common Dreams, March 13, 2011.
"The most important arena outside the workplace is government, because it’s here that the rules of the game are made, interpreted, and enforced. When we look at how capitalists try to use government to protect and advance their interests -- and at how other groups resist -- we are looking at class struggle."
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4
* * * * *
My Comment:
Michael Schwalbe is right. Government is where the rules of the game are made, interpreted, and enforced. The "ALEC Exposed" revelations regarding the extent of the corporate effort to purchase politicians, write "model" legislation, and get that legislation passed at both the federal and state levels of government should convince everyone of the importance of the political struggle for the control of government. Conceding control of the government and the rules of the game to capitalists is a mistake.
What's more in the case of Wisconsin teachers and other public workers, the government is the boss in the workplace and capitalists currently are controlling the boss.
Jack Heyman gives the impression that taking the struggle to the electoral arena in Wisconsin through massive protests and recall elections derailed the fight "after it became a political football for Democratic Party politicians"; and suggests that this is the reason "teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin have no bargaining rights."
Actually, had there been no protests Scott Walker's anti-union bill would have passed sooner, and there would have been no recall elections that replaced two Republican supporters of Scott Walker in the Wisconsin Senate. Currently, a Republican state senator, who voted against the final version of the union busting Scott Walker bill, is the swing vote in the Wisconsin Senate.
Workers and all the rest us who have no jobs shouldn't interpret the response of Wisconsin Democrats as a indication that Democrats are necessarily on our side. There is no evidence justifying such a conclusion.
Many Wisconsinites support the recall of Governor Scott Walker. Hopefully, Walker will be recalled early in 2012.
The ILWU slogan still stands, "No Wisconsin here!"
But Jack Heyman should acknowledge that the struggle of public workers in Wisconsin is somewhat different than the struggle of longshoremen in the state of Washington.
Protests, civil disobedience. lawsuits, strikes, and recall elections are all appropriate means for recovering public workers collective bargain rights and other benefits.
The struggles in both Wisconsin and Washington state are not over. The people of Wisconsin may well be called upon to inspire and electrify workers around the country again.
I wish both Wisconsinites and longshoremen in Washington state the best and thank them for what they have accomplished so far.
Let's explore the history of 'class warfare!'
Long before the U.S. Supreme Court's unconstitutional Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission "equal protection under the law" violating anti-democracy decision, a decision which favors the money powered dissemination of the political speech of weathly corporations, or to described the actual facts more precisely, of the wealthy people who control those corporations; both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party had already fallen under the nearly complete control of corporate power.
Citizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo simply consolidated corporate power over the Democratic and Republican parties. Controlling the two major political parties is an important part of any effort to control the government.
The appointment by the U.S. President and the confirmation by the U.S. Senate of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices who made these two decisions possible, as well as the Supreme Court decisions themselves, were all acts of class warfare promulgated by people who serve corporate power on behalf of those who control weathly corporations.
In order to establish genuine democracy in the United States, Plurality Voting must be replaced by a consent / dissent grading-scale based voting procedure such as Yes No 'Maybe So' Voting or Category Scale Power Voting; and both Citizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo Supreme Court decisions must be overturned.
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Let's explore the history of class warfare!
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AD wrote:
While we're on the subject class warfare sign the petition below.
In my youth, I was a proud postal worker. Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are postal workers – the largest unionized workforce we have left.
The U.S. Postal Service is our most trusted government agency. It provides universal service to all Americans – rich or poor, urban or rural. It receives not a penny in taxpayer subsidy.
And it faces destruction – thanks to Republicans in Congress, acting for huge corporations through a manufactured “Shock Doctrine” crisis.
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My Reply:
Two Socialist Worker reports posted on behalf of Tom Larsen.
The first report is about the attempt to destroy the U.S. Postal Service.
In this particular case of class struggle, where the U.S. Postal Service is the target, the government is both the boss and an arena for class struggle.
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Excerpt from "A Primer on Class Struggle" by Michael Schwalbe, Common Dreams, March 13, 2011:
"The most important arena outside the workplace is government, because it’s here that the rules of the game are made, interpreted, and enforced. When we look at how capitalists try to use government to protect and advance their interests -- and at how other groups resist -- we are looking at class struggle."
Article URL: www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/31-4
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Excerpt from "A manufactured postal crisis", by Tom Larsen, International Socialist Organization (Socialist Worker.org), September 15, 2011:
IN A recent New York Times article entitled "Postal Service is nearing default as losses mount" gives this grim forecast for the post office: "The United States Postal Service [USPS] has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances."
But what is the source of these problems? The article continues, "The post office's problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs."
Well, that's true! What these dire facts don't tell us is that the revenue and cost squeeze is completely manufactured by Congress and the executive branch. In December 2006, then-President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), which had the overwhelming support of both parties in both the House and Senate.
The act contains many restrictions on how the Postal Service can generate revenues--for example, even though it can't adjust prices (like Fed Ex or UPS can), "the USPS must compete with UPS and other private firms in the package delivery business."
While the act argues that the USPS must become more "businesslike," it is not allowed to compete like a business. Even though the Postal Service is mandated by the Constitution and has a "universal service obligation" to deliver mail to all Americans regardless of where they live (unlike private carriers), the Postal Service cannot exercise "unfair competition" with the private sector.
In effect, business says don't compete with us where it's profitable, only where it's unprofitable--but otherwise, act more like us.
The most significant new requirement from the PAEA is the establishment of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. This changes the "funding of its retirees' health care costs from an out-of-pocket or pay-as-you-go basis [how every other organization does it] to pre-funding these obligations."
The PAEA requires the USPS to prepay between $5.4 billion and $5.8 billion annually between 2007 and 2016 into a retirement fund. This represents 75 years of pension funding that Congress requires the Postal Service to fund in just 10 years. Removing the prepayment of this fund, as the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) claims, would allow the USPS to operate in the black.
Article URL: http://socialistworker.org/2011/09/15/a-manufactured-postal-crisis
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Excerpt from “Showdown at Suncadia” by Tom Larsen, International Socialist Organization (Socialist Worker.org), September 26, 2011:
At the entry to [Suncadia, a sprawling 6,300-acre resort that sits on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains], CAN [Washington Community Action Network] activists had constructed a graphic suspended about a 100 feet in the air by balloons that had a huge arrow pointing up that read "Top 1%" and another arrow pointing down that read "Rest of us." Protesters held signs and banners that had slogans such as "Your greed is destroying America" and they had printed 17 yellow T-shirts that spelled out what was the dominant theme of the protest signs: "Cut tax loopholes."
The protesters also chanted for almost two hours. Chants included, "Schools are closing, it's not fair! Time for banks to pay their share," "We pay taxes, yes we do--we pay taxes how 'bout you!" and "Corporate criminals have got to go! Handcuffs for the CEO! No more social service cuts! Tax the bankers! Jail their butts!"
The Cle Elum Sherriff's department and the State Highway Patrol were also there in force. CAN's strategy was to cooperate with, not confront, the police. The timing of the protest was to coincide with the arrival of and keynote address by governor Gregoire. At one point, a protester asked one of the police officers if the governor had arrived yet. The officer responded by saying: "I don't know, I have been out here chanting with you!"
One of the governor's aides did come out to address the protesters. He said that the governor was glad that people are concerned with the issues. But he was unwilling to answer protesters' questions about the slashing of education and social service budgets. He said that the governor would very much like to have met with them, but that she had rush off to mediate an agreement between striking Tacoma teachers and the Tacoma school district.
At this point, CAN organizers had the protesters return to the campsite to debrief the day's action and have a "people's summit." Besides recounting their successes in confronting the AWB [Association of Washington Business], CAN organizers had individuals tell their stories on how austerity is affecting them.
Article URL: www.socialistworker.org/2011/09/26/showdown-at-suncadia