inverted totalitarianism: the product of corporate capitalism and government in america
- Thread starter rickyb
- Start date
you read that right it was the slogan of the republican party. they thought workers should control the jobs they worked in and fire the bosses they dont like, get rid of the rules they dont like, and pay themselves more.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
rickyb,
Are you speaking of the republican socialism circa 1848' in France which did advocate for worker owned cooperatives and business ventures? If not, I'm interested in what you are sourcing to support the claim. That would be most interesting to read.
If you are speaking of mid 19th century France version, their republicanism and the American version are just a wee bit different IMO. The American republican party emerged from the ruins of the Whig Party (northern Whig voters) and dominated by railroad interests. Even Lincoln himself lawyered up on behalf and for railroad concerns which did nothing but help his later political cause.
it was noam chomsky again who frequently mentions it.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
Fascinating. Can you link one or 2? Thanks.
he says it practically every time he talks about worker control, ive heard it at least in 10 different speeches from him.
one of my big complaints from the left is they mention worker control enough, but many of them support it.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
I watched that interview right after it came out last summer and I didn't remember a reference to the republicans as such that you alluded to in post #22. Since I could have missed it, I watched the interview with Chris Hedges again and I still heard no reference as a kind of defense of anti-capitalism/advocacy of worker co-ops as a matter of republican cause.
Can you reference to some timestamp on the video as to what you heard along those lines?
brown bomber
brown bomber
rickyb,..awaiting an intelligent response
it should be in the two videos i posted. maybe not exactly the way i said it, but if the republicans are against wage slavery (capitalism) and against slavery, then it implies they are in favor of worker control which is what chomsky always talks about when he says that.
Morsi
Active Member
Wage slavery is different from slavery. Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans argued that the condition of wage workers was different from slavery, as laborers were likely to have the opportunity to work for themselves in the future, achieving self employment. Of course this was used as a justification to excuse the horrific abuses of workers during the industrial period while simultaneously allowing the dismantling of the South's economic backbone.
Don't get me wrong im not saying there is that much of a difference because there isn't but there is enough at least for a famous republican president like Lincoln to say soo. I agree with wkmac, the republicans have been corporate stooges since the start.
you`d have to do your own research on what chomsky says. there are books on it.
i heard sheldon wolin say the same thing about republicans always being in the pockets of corporations but i think these days they are extreme right wing, whereas 50 years ago they were closer to the centre.
realbrown1
Annoy a liberal today. Hit them with facts.
On the bright side, he has a lot of free time to post here.
Morsi
Active Member
Sure they were technically anti abolitionists at one point, therefore closer to the left and farther from the right and anti slavery. However I disagree with the label "extream right wing" they arn't extream anything. Just like democrats they are extreme about is money and nothing else. Perhaps they take advantage of some people who subscirbe to radical right wing ideology but not many. Alot of your typical extreamists are groups like the John Birch Society and the Minuteman Project. Groups that detest the government for not doing enough in order to maintain white supremacy. Or think the govt shouldnt even exist
realbrown1
Annoy a liberal today. Hit them with facts.
Is that article equating the Republican party in the US with the Republican party of France? They are not even close to be the same.
not that extreme but they were alot more moderate 50 years ago. i encourage you to look up what chris hedges and noam chomsky have said on it. democrats are now as right wing as the republicans were 50 years ago, and repubicans are way to the right.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
Republicans are said to have opposed slavery in the days of Lincoln and that opposition was towards a single form of slavery. In fact at the time, slavery in the form of owning another human being as property was in absolute collapse across the entire western civilization (it was dying on it's own) and the sad irony is that all those nations except our own avoided war in achieving those ends.
Now to take an opposition to human ownership as property and then equate that to an opposition to wage slavery is IMO a false conclusion. I understand the "wage slavery is slavery" argument and it may have some moral merit but I think you error in projecting this on republicans and then making an argument that republicans wanted worker co-ops and self owned businesses. History IMO sez otherwise and Chomsky is pretty smart on history and I doubt he made that leap either. Or if he has I've yet to see it and I'm sympathetic to some of Chomsky's and Hedges POV and work.
yea i was thinking about that too maybe they just wanted higher wages and better working conditions. if i see his videos and he mentions it i will post here.
wkmac
Well-Known Member
If you find it, that would be great.
