Strategies for Social Change
Oregon Counters Massachusetts
The stunning win of a Republican novice in the Massachusetts Senate race to replace Ted Kennedy is well known. It is being interpreted as a sign of Obama's fading popularity and also as a sign that the US electorate wants more right-of-center policy. To show the flaw in thinking that right-wing answers to the economic crisis are the only popular option, consider the results of the January 26, 2010 referendum in Oregon. That referendum's 1.2 million voters decisively passed Measures 66 and 67 by margins of over 53 to 46.
Taking Over the Enterprise
We are overdue for a new strategy. Labor and the Left are at low points in long declines. One cause has been adherence to a failed strategy. We need to acknowledge that reality and answer two linked questions. First, what part of getting into this situation was our own doing? Second, what changes in labor’s and the Left’s strategy could revive the two groups and rebuild their coalition into a powerful political force? To answer the first question: labor’s and the Left’s strategic attitude toward capitalism undermined both partners and their coalition.
Transitions between Economic Systems
The transition out of feudalism to capitalism in Europe, mostly from the 17th to the 19th centuries, took multiple forms. It was uneven as well, happening in different ways at different rates in different places. Marx studied that transition's various dimensions because they offered valuable lessons for the different transition he was interested in: out of capitalism to socialism and communism. One such lesson needs restatement now.Labor Movement?
The 2010 Statistical Abstract of the United States (and especially Tables 574 to 650), published by the US Census Bureau, provides many statistics that can update understanding of today's working class and possibilities of its movement. The Abstract counts 154 million people as members of the US labor force in 2008. Of these, 129 million were wage and salary earners (the rest were self-employed), and roughly 15-20 million held managerial or supervisory positions.
Psychology and Economy Discussion at Brecht Forum
Published on December 15, 2009AUDIOThis disussion between Dr. Harriet Fraad and Professor Richard Wolff focuses on how the continued economic deterioration (credit crisis, rising food and energy prices, falling home prices, looming recession, fiscal crises of states and cities, etc.) is interacting with the psychological stresses and strains of US life today (isolation, loneliness, anxiety, depression, violence, child neglect, etc.). The discussion explores whether a potentially explosive convergence of economic and psychological crises is now under way.Economic Crisis and Political Alienation
On September 15, 2009, New York City's 3.2 million registered Democrats were eligible to vote in their Primary election. Only 11 percent of them voted. Excepting the mayoralty -- virtually conceded to Michael Bloomberg, a nominal Republican and real billionaire -- all important city posts were being decided since New Yorkers vote overwhelmingly Democratic. These include New York City Council seats, the controller, and the public advocate. The Council has real power over city life. The controller manages $82 billion in city workers' pension assets anThe Obama Strategy: America’s New Role in the World Economy
Obama’s chief strategic goal, at home and abroad, is to manage a severe crisis in one kind of capitalism (private) by achieving a transition to another kind (state managed or state). Because the crisis of private capitalism inside the US is so serious and requires so many resources and so much focused policy attention, the global position of the US receives relatively less attention and a lower priority. The Obama strategy thus entails a retreat from the Reagan-through-Bush positions on the US role in the world (expressed by attacking them as “counter-productive”).
