Well I should be there. Maybe a few other IWWs as well.
I'm mildly curious who organized this - do the ICC have new cadre in Oakland, or local sympathizers, or was this arranged from a distance? No need to answer that.
ICC Public Forum on May 68 - Oakland, CA - Sunday 27th July
Beltov wrote:
How did the forum go? I heard about 30 people turned up and there was a good discussion. Haven't heard much else from our people because they're finishing their vacations...B.
I did a headcount at one point and there were more like 25 people -- coming from a fairly wide variety of political perspectives which were: left communist, council communist, marxist humanist, pro-situ, post-left anarchist, conventional leftist, and a couple nutty conspiracy bugs warning about the brownshirts outside the door and the camps they're gonna lock us up in (and no I.W.W.s because with OT out of town, the rest must've been out electioneering). Despite an infamous Bay Area crank claiming that there are no left communists in the Bay Area, close to a dozen of the people at the event would describe themselves as such. And several other local left communists didn't attend because they're away on their summer holiday.
The presentation was quite good and flowed from an account of the working class upsurge in '68 through subsequent struggles to the radical possibilities for working class self-activity today. I agreed with nearly everything, but my only reservation is that I don't share the presenters version of decadence theory. Other than that, it was great fodder for discussion. And the discussion was equally spirited, comradely and interesting. With the exception of the very few very brief conspiracies of a fascist threat, most comments were insightful and affirmative of radical possibilities in the present. All in all a worthwhile forum.
You're right. I'm sure that the best and the brightest (who would never electioneer) knew about the forum, but with so many competing events that day they didn't come.
I was conflicted too, because just down the block at La Pena there were two unrelated but consecutive events: the Transit Workers Solidarity Committee (?) had a meeting with special guest Peter Cole, author of the new book about the interracial Wobblies on the Philly waterfront back in the day; later an event with some formerly-striking teachers from Puerto Rico. Did any libcom-ers go to either of those? If so, how were they?
slava wrote:
I can't speak for my fellow workers, but I know I was busy electioneering that day.
For whom? McCain or Obama?
slava wrote:
It is time to move on. This will definitely be my last post.
I guess you meant that other thread, but some of us were hoping you meant this board. Oh well.
I must've misread that previous "last" post of yours, because I honestly thought you said that you were putting your energy into MoveOn.org.
What are you doing at Libcom anyway, when you seem to have so much contempt for radicals advocating class struggle? Wouldn't you be more comfortable here: ?
Regardless, you should've come to any of the 3 events mentioned above; you definitely would've learned something about rank-and-file militancy.
Hieronymous wrote:
slava wrote:
I can't speak for my fellow workers, but I know I was busy electioneering that day.For whom? McCain or Obama?
Actually, I really want to vote for my friend Robyn for president. I think she will do a fabulous job!
Hieronymous wrote:
I must've misread that previous "last" post of yours, because I honestly thought you said that you were putting your energy into MoveOn.org.
LOL. that was a good one!
The International Communist Current will be holding a public forum in Oakland, California. Here are the details:
Sunday July 27th, 2pm to 5pm
Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library ( http://www.marxistlibr.org )
6501 Telegraph Ave
Oakland
CA 94609-1113
The subject for the meeting will be 'May 68: the return of the working class after 40 years of counter-revolution'.
Here's the basis of the presentation, which will be followed by several hours of discussion. All welcome...
=================
May 68 - The student riots. Ah, the idealistic 60s, all that talk about class struggle and revolution - it's all a bit out of date now, no?.
No: May 68 in France was not a student riot. The brutal repression handed out to the students in the Latin Quarter was just the spark that lit a far wider movement a movement of the working class, the most massive unplanned general strike in history.
It was an event of historic importance. For over four decades the international working class had been dragged through the depths of defeat and counter-revolution as the bourgeoisie attempted to wipe out all remnants of the international revolutionary wave which shook the world in the wake of October 1917 in Russia. Stalinism, fascism, the 'war for democracy' of 1939-45, the cold war between the eastern and western imperialist blocs, the propaganda about the alleged integration of the working class into 'consumer society' All these were the difference faces of that counter-revolution.
May 68 marked a dramatic break with this dark period and opened the way to an international wave of workers' struggles that included the Hot Autumn in Italy in 69, the Cordiba uprising in Argentina in the same year, the massive strikes in Poland in 1970, the struggles of dockers, transport workers, miners and many others in Britain in 1972-4.
Far from being integrated into capitalist society, the working class in the late 60s and 70s showed its capacity to respond to the first stirrings of the underlying economic crisis of the system. This crisis has never gone away but has got deeper and more widespread in the 40 years since 68. And despite many set-backs, difficulties, and changes in shape and experience, the working class has not been defeated, a fact demonstrated by the development of a new series of struggles around the world since 2003 and the emergence of a new generation of young people asking fundamental questions about the future that capitalism has in store for humanity.
That is the true heritage of 68: the renewal of the class struggle as the only basis for challenging the present system of society - a system which is still guarded by the same forces that helped to sabotage the movement forty years ago: parliament and elections, the trade unions, and the parties of the 'left'. The heritage of 68s is above all the whole experience of self-organisation through action committees, of passionate debates in general assemblies, the revival of the idea of the workers councils and the rediscovery of buried revolutionary political traditions: in sum, the perspective of proletarian revolution as the only realistic alternative to a capitalist society in utter decay.
Come to this meeting and discuss this analysis and the perspectives for activity that follow from it.
Visit our website: http://en.internationalism.org
email: usa at internationalism.org