From Athens, Greece: Opinions and web links I find interesting about politics, science, life, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Feedback and comments: send to mihalisATgmail.com
For some reason I'm reminded of this recent post over at Crooked Timber.
"As Hartz explains it, socialism never takes root in the US because socialism is what you get when a liberal gets exasperated, in a 'why won't you DIE?' way, conronted with some Feudal relic, and starts reaching for some serious levers of power to take care of this problem. (That's putting it a bit baldly, but that's the thesis.) America "lacks a genuine revolutionary tradition ... And this being the case, it lacks also a tradition of reaction ... and becomes as indifferent to the challenge of socialism in the later era as it was unfamiliar with the heritage of feudalism in the earlier one."
I don't actually agree with this, but I think it's an interesting starting point.
Well it's a different discussion, but I am continuously surprised by how easily the fact is missed that the (large and popular) socialist and anarchist labour movement (and beyond) was physically crushed by a combination of government action, private terror and mafia collaboration whenever it became even remotely "dangerous".
America doesn't have a "revolutionary tradition" (it does but anyway), among other reasons. because the revolutionaries were physically eliminated or persistantly terrorized.
No Pinkertons or Union Gangsters in Britain f.e. Surely that had something to do with it!
...and yes, our discussion about Allende contributed to the post
2 comments:
You're baiting me, aren't you.
For some reason I'm reminded of this recent post over at Crooked Timber.
"As Hartz explains it, socialism never takes root in the US because socialism is what you get when a liberal gets exasperated, in a 'why won't you DIE?' way, conronted with some Feudal relic, and starts reaching for some serious levers of power to take care of this problem. (That's putting it a bit baldly, but that's the thesis.) America "lacks a genuine revolutionary tradition ... And this being the case, it lacks also a tradition of reaction ... and becomes as indifferent to the challenge of socialism in the later era as it was unfamiliar with the heritage of feudalism in the earlier one."
I don't actually agree with this, but I think it's an interesting starting point.
As for the rest of it... um. Not just now.
Doug M.
Well it's a different discussion, but I am continuously surprised by how easily the fact is missed that the (large and popular) socialist and anarchist labour movement (and beyond) was physically crushed by a combination of government action, private terror and mafia collaboration whenever it became even remotely "dangerous".
America doesn't have a "revolutionary tradition" (it does but anyway), among other reasons. because the revolutionaries were physically eliminated or persistantly terrorized.
No Pinkertons or Union Gangsters in Britain f.e. Surely that had something to do with it!
...and yes, our discussion about Allende contributed to the post
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