tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post6904656848972686489..comments2024-03-18T22:33:57.428-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: SHATTERED DREAMSRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-64156866225914775752014-08-30T14:32:05.736-04:002014-08-30T14:32:05.736-04:00I view all such efforts with enormous enthusiasm. ...I view all such efforts with enormous enthusiasm. Obviously, they are pinpricks on an elephant, but only the endless duplication of those efforts can create the possibility of real change. Lord knows it will not come from the top!<br /><br />I will take a look at the link. Thank you.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-61346396412616829122014-08-30T13:28:37.180-04:002014-08-30T13:28:37.180-04:00Anthony Cody believes that public school teachers ...Anthony Cody believes that public school teachers could have a key role to play role in "activating" the power of the working class.<br /><br />http://www.livingindialogue.com/will-teaching-class-take-lead/<br /><br />While this might sound a little far-fetched to some, consider the case of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Karen Lewis. The CTU was in decline when Lewis was elected President. The CTU has become one of the most powerful teacher union locals in the country because they unified their members and led grassroots efforts to form alliances with parents, civil rights leaders, and community leaders. Now Lewis is considering a run against Rahm Emmanuel for mayor, and some polls have her leading. She could conceivably win if she can form a coalition around education, community and economic issues.Ludwig Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17145442092958521609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-5411460791441849922014-08-29T11:07:25.290-04:002014-08-29T11:07:25.290-04:00I know that Seattle is an unusually advanced city,...I know that Seattle is an unusually advanced city, but I like the idea of organizing around a call for a $15/hr minmimum wage. It may be that the old workfloor based labor union must give way to shifting coalitions of issue based groups.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-57887730486421936392014-08-29T09:17:50.671-04:002014-08-29T09:17:50.671-04:00In Seattle, where I live, we elected Kshama Sawant...In Seattle, where I live, we elected Kshama Sawant, of the Socialist Alternative, to the City Council in 2013. This was a citywide election, and I can assure you that there are not enough Socialists in Seattle to have elected her all by themselves.<br /><br />How did this happen? The reasons are complex, but I think it's fair to say that she galvanized many voters with her $15/hour minimum wage campaign. She built a coalition of working class voters, lefty liberals, LGBT activists, and so on.<br /><br />Her opponent, Richard Conlin, was not some right-wing Republican, but had offended voters by opposing mandatory sick leave for workers in Seattle, and he offended teachers when he sided with administration during contract negotiations. <br /><br />I don't know that we'll be electing a second Socialist to the Council any time soon. But if it were to happen, then it would have to involve a fired-up coalition similar to the one that Sawant built. And I'm not sure that what happened in Seattle can be replicated elsewhere in the USA. However, lefty candidates in other cities might consider a $15/hour campaign as both a worthy political cause and a way of organizing working class voters.Ludwig Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17145442092958521609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-89036961373678738152014-08-29T01:23:41.267-04:002014-08-29T01:23:41.267-04:00There's also Marx's comments on the family...There's also Marx's comments on the family and inheritance dissolving.<br /><br />Just as people now think it's absurd that we allowed a king to rule us, and his son to assume power through no merit of his own, they will think it's absurd that the rich passed money on to their children.<br />TCPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11425174804732160737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-90971371546042427512014-08-28T19:01:49.484-04:002014-08-28T19:01:49.484-04:00God, I love it. Now, how can we bring that spirit...God, I love it. Now, how can we bring that spirit to the Great Satan?<br />Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-27464346169895670142014-08-28T18:51:04.078-04:002014-08-28T18:51:04.078-04:00" But there is very little evidence I can see..." But there is very little evidence I can see of the development of an organized national or international working class movement poised to seize the day"<br /><br />Watch this space. Scotland stands on the brink of a second period of enlightenment, political enlightenment.<br />I am fully confident that a political earthquake is about to hit Scotland. A grass roots movement so enormous in proportion to our small population has been working so tirelessly towards our goal of full autonomy, independence for our wee nation, that it has taken the mainstream media by surprise. We have the momentum, and we will win.<br />The political divergence between England and Scotland is vast, a plethora of irreconcilable differences drive us apart; not differences of dialect or sense of national identity, but how we want our society to function, how we demand a more democratic system, how we despise the nuclear weapons we are compelled to host, how we perceive our obligations to the most vulnerable members of our society . <br />Even if we were to lose, the fact that we've made it this far makes our fight a recurring theme in Scottish politics until the day we win.NotHobbeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443644930695303411noreply@blogger.com