European Workers Distance from US Through Action

[Amphictyonis]

Sad but true. The way I see it Obama has SILENCED leftists in the US. Too many people are also caught up in this fake ass Tea Party madness (attacking it while defending Obama/Democrats). I say, in America, it's time to ignore the reactionaries and take to the streets to oppose cuts to our schools, jobs, welfare, unemployment etc. We're dropping the ball in the US. Why do you think this is?





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[stella2010]

'Who the fuck knows'

Quote:
Joe Pesci - JFK

[Jimmie Higgins]

Sad but true. The way I see it Obama has SILENCED leftists in the US. Too many people are caught up in this fake ass Tea Party madness. I say, in America, it's time to ignore the reactionaries and take to the streets to oppose cuts to our schools, jobs, welfare, unemployment etc. We're dropping the ball in the US. Why do you think this is?Yup we definitely need to build a militant resistance, that's not afraid to take it to the streets and take on the Democrats and Republicans!

I think people's illusions in Obama follwed quickly by sober disillusionment (along with the aggressiveness of the tea-party) has made many workers and many on the general left totally demoralized and left them with the old sob of "America is just too right-wing to change".

However, there are people taking to the streets in the US - mostly last year it was students and it shows that it's possible to mobilize people and take some strong actions. The problem is that organization is lacking and so the student movement can be disoriented and a little rough because students are having to learn how to fight, ally with workers on their campuses who are also facing cuts, and deal with the administration and liberals and so on.

In Europe there is better mainstream left-wing organization - more militant unions, more established left groups with more roots in the working class and so a response was organized more quickly. But there are different problems for our European comrades to deal with - like real fascist groups mobilizing and the strong influence of social-democratic parties and so on.

[Amphictyonis]

Ya Jimmie. I'm in the Bay Area as well and remember the students being the loudest when UC Berkeley was cutting programs and raising tuition. Thats all well and good but we need workers (no offense to students). We've always had the students. This is because most socialist intellectuals are in the university environment. We need more intellectuals to skip out on their tenured tours in prestigious universities to hit the communities, work places and high schools. I guess the theory has been get to the 'petit bourgeoisie' because they will have the power in the future to 'change the world'. I'm not sure I agree wit that. Most just end up turning into liberals as they get older.

The Obama phenomenon should be a learning experience for the left. Early on I lost (or had huge disagreements with) friends because I called bullshit before he was even in office. I didnt think it would be this bad though. It was a cruel trick, a hoax and the sad thing is it will probably keep working election after election. There seems to be no way to marginalize concentrated wealth. Concentrated wealth controls both conservative and liberal parties. Both are arms of the bourgeoisie. This fact seems to escape people every year.

The thing that really pissed me off this time around was the fact many of us socialists got behind Obama early on. Next time around we need to be critical of both Democrat and Republican figureheads. No matter what color or fake message they're pushing. The most important thing we should do is plant the seed, get the idea of direct democracy out there. Make Americans understand representative democracy is for sale to the highest bidder and it isn't the working class buying it.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Ya Jimmie. I'm in the Bay Area as well and remember the students being the loudest when UC Berkeley was cutting programs and raising tuition. Thats all well and good but we need workers (no offense to students). We've always had the students. Right and I see it as a question of how do we help, from the small state of the left right now, encourge workers to stop waiting to see if the union bureaucrats or the Democratic politicians can help their situation and start taking their own initiative. The radicalism and willingness to side-step the "official channels" and take protests to the streets and even occupy buildings can help encourage other people - it's the same with the immigrant marches and anti prop-8 stuff. If one of these movements begins to take on more of its own momentum and breaks out as a real independent movement willing to pressure the liberals, then this can lead to other movements following suit and seeing the necessity of militant independent action. In addition, many of the student coalitions were actively reaching out or working with unions facing cuts on their campuses.

So IMO you're right, students definitely are not enough (although I don't know if we can say we've always "had" them since I think the movement last year is some of the most militant and wide-reaching stuff I've seen at schools) but I see it as a step towards helping build fight-back as well as the other movements that I mentioned above.

[Amphictyonis]

Right and I see it as a question of how do we help, from the small state of the left right now, encourge workers to stop waiting to see if the union bureaucrats or the Democratic politicians can help their situation and start taking their own initiative. The radicalism and willingness to side-step the "official channels" and take protests to the streets and even occupy buildings can help encourage other people - it's the same with the immigrant marches and anti prop-8 stuff. If one of these movements begins to take on more of its own momentum and breaks out as a real independent movement willing to pressure the liberals, then this can lead to other movements following suit and seeing the necessity of militant independent action. In addition, many of the student coalitions were actively reaching out or working with unions facing cuts on their campuses.

So IMO you're right, students definitely are not enough (although I don't know if we can say we've always "had" them since I think the movement last year is some of the most militant and wide-reaching stuff I've seen at schools) but I see it as a step towards helping build fight-back as well as the other movements that I mentioned above.

We had a lot of workers at the WTO protests in Seattle because they were angry about the jobs being outsourced. Solidarity in that case was found in common interests but selfish motivation non the less. Likewise if the students organized and protested in the same fashion when it comes to working class lay off's and cuts in benefits we'd be looking at a different ball game.

I guess we all need to realize our interests are intertwined. In my opinion I think it better if academia reached out to the working class rather than vice versa (I don't mean some patronizing attempts at organizing from the outside- I mean people giving up their petty bourgeois carers to work side by side with struggling Americans). That's probably asking too much but intellectuals need to stop putting a wall between the working class and socialist theory. As of now I can say with confidence most working class don't understand what socialism actually is.