I quite agree with drieux blast at corporate welfare as it's called.
But I think his take on trade union history (back to the turn of, I take
it, the 20th Century) reads the present back into the past. I think
it's a pretty accurate take on much of trade unionism today --my share
of the pie, my house in the 'burbs, etc. But, this is a post-World War
II version of trade unionism, promulgated through a well-oiled corporate
attack on the more militant element in the labor movement --an attack
that (a) reflected the reality that the labor movement had a much more
pervasive radical take on American capitalism & capitalists, and (b)
combined with red scare tactics generally (against antiwar dissidents,
civil rights activists, etc.) that went well back into the early decades
of the century --notably in the Palmer raids and propaganda efforts
post-WWI. See ALex Carey's excellent book, Taking the Risk out of
Democracy.
The capitalist class and its minions didn't just co-opt labor (which
they began to do rather effectively after WWII, and continued in the
post-60s years), they drove the more radical elements out to the
demonized margins of society. The residue of THIS attack (as well as
the cooptation) are with us today and are, I think, a critical obstacle
in the path of radically democratic mobilizations.
Ted
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