E.J.‘s great as always, but I wrote this, which I meant to send to Dobbs after he invited guests to decide whether or not he’s right in referring to Communist China as exactly that. I’d rather post this publicly, but whatever people at Truthdig decide. It really is about about the abuse of terms, but also about labor.

For cryin’ out loud, Lou, there’s absolutely nothing about China that is communist, as anyone who’s ever actually read Marx and Engels knows. Same as there wasn’t much communist about the old Soviet system, certainly not after Stalin came on the scene. “Communism,” big “C,” was reduced to an ideology (much as “Democracy,” big “D,” has been) to justify same ole, same ole: political rule by one class over every other. More to the point, OWNERSHIP by one class of means to life for all others.

OF COURSE the Chinese government is just one more authoritarian regime, no matter what it calls itself! Same as Mexico, same as pretty much everywhere. Hannah Arndt was warning of communism but of authoritarianism, as in political-economic tyranny, no matter ideological justification. Hitler’s party was National Socialism, big “S.” Nothing remotely socialist about that one either. Capital flourished under Hitler. Ask IBM.

The Chinese government is an authoritarian regime in control of a thriving capitalism. Capitalism thrives best under political authoritarianism, contrary to the beliefs of idiots who continue to equate capitalism and democracy, mainly as a result of misreading Adam Smith, same as conservatives have always misread Darwin, thereby abusing him too for purposes of ideological justification for what finally amounts to theft of labor-power. Pending mangos grabbed off trees (which requires SOME minimal labor), all commodities are the product of labor, even financial instruments in the end. It’s really not that complicated, mystifying as econometricians try to make the “dismal science,” for one very obvious reason, though not so much out of some conspiracy as out of indoctrination, that really got started when the French Third Estate sold out labor after that revolution. Capitalism involves the theft of labor Period! Simple! Just as Marx wrote it down. Capitalists are terrified of his writing to this day, for fear capital’s heart might be exposed for the utter con it really is.

I’ve most enjoyed “shocked” economists’ and other commentators’ reaction to China, as China has become living proof that economic capitalism and political democracy have little to do with one another. Marx coulda told ‘em that! He DID tell ‘em that, but all are too frightened to listen, or even to read. Big media’s been serving its function too, at least since Walter Lippmann, according to Chomsky, determined that America is really two democracies: one for us, meaning himself and other elites; one for them, meaning laboring masses, of which he too was terrified.

It’s not a damn accident American workers’ wages aren’t rising, but a function of deliberate policy, as America’s elite has picked up where it left off before the Great Depression, when FDR really had to do something (aside from getting us into the war), which happened to result in a substantial middle-class, while the capitalist class hated the guy, referring to him as a damn socialist! He was in some sense! Thankfully. He also saved American capitalists’ butts, which were in some jeopardy along about 1933. We had more guts back than, fewer SUVs.

Your guest (one of Lou’s) was right about China, while you’ve (Lou) been dead wrong. See stats re China’s economic growth for indisputable proof that capitalism thrives best under authoritarianism. If that’s not indication enough, I can’t remember when I ever got a serious say in how my workplace was run. So much for democracy, which, if it doesn’t exist in the workplace, to include sharing of ALL profits among workers and only among workers (if so-called “free markets” are an absolute MUST), isn’t worth spit.

The unions saved America from being stolen and need to do so again.  Child labor? Unions banished it in every industry they were successful in. Unsafe working conditions? Meager pay? No retirement? No health care?  It was the unions that changed that.  Without them we had company towns and company housing and company stores.  And company goons to enforce.

Unions changed that.  But they lost sight and Ronald Reagan demonized them during the PATCO strike.  They were “evil” but RR made the skies unsafe, and air travel slow—it has taken over 20 years to recover, but the unions never did.

Without unions we have the WalMart-ing of America—full-time workers fired to be replaced by two half-timers—both ineligible for health insurance. O/T hours deducted so managers can look good. Say “Union” in WalMart and get fired instantly.

And the gap between the rich and the rest of us gets bigger.

Unions need to start over, like they did in the late 19th and early 20th century, rebuilding labor as the business that supplies business and has market power.

Jobs shipped overseas?  Why are we buying that company’s products?  We have no ship-building industry, no electronics industry, a sick car industry, a dying steel industry.  We LOST them!  Japan has even higher labor costs but THEY still have those industries.

Total free-market for everything works no better than total socialism and planned economies.

The United States we see now is a result of broken unions.  We have: Corporations running the country. Greedy thieves for CEO’s. Corporations hiring illegals. Corporations telling you to take a flying f??k when you ask for a living wage. No benefits. No future. No security. No vacations. No jobs. No borders. Kinda the same climate that started unions in the first place.

Thank you Ronald Reagan! Thank you Bu$h1. Thank you Clinton. Thank you bu$hit2. Thank you U.S. Congress.

Labors best friend has always been DR.RON PAUL he is being blocked by the msm and his name is known by everyone who wants to level the pay difference of the ceo’s and the workers who earn the ceo their bloated salaries..RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT

The spineless members of all labor unions have gotten what they deserve. They have voted in leaders who are on the take from industrial regimes. They have allowed tax breaks for expansions into states that give corporate welfare for campaign contributions. The only way labor will get any attention is to build a solid front and organize a National Strike, just like they did in Poland recently. If the military-industrial complex does not want to pay a living wage, then let them do their own plumbing. No pay-raises is no answer, just continued poverty.This is from a forced out retired Union member. Age discrimination is rampant in this so called free society. National Strike? No way.  Then are you going to save this Nation for the thieves in Washington

Disagree.  For years, all we heard about in the media was corruption (real and imagined) in unions, and how unions no longer represented ordinary workers. We heard about all these deep, dark and sinister things going on, at our expense, using our union dues to enrich a handful of the Big Guys who would sell out the workers at the drop of the proverbial hat. In short, the public was subjected, via mainstream media,  to a very long propaganda campaign against unions.

Meanwhile, Big Business worked relentlessly to not only stamp out current union membership, but to prevent workers from forming unions.  Today, the US is in the lead when it comes to anti-unionizing
measures, from utilizing propaganda to firing those who try to start unions. We see the horrendous results all around us, as worker safety took a back seat to corporate profit, as Americans have had to work much harder for less, under increasingly dangerous working conditions while corporations use their string of record-breaking profits to move our jobs to foreign nations. 

I did hear a share of anti-union talk among regular working people back in the late ‘70’s/‘80’s, but those days are gone.  What we hear now is more and more demand for unions; the reason isn’t greed, but worker safety and job security. Corporations have utterly failed in those areas, showing a pretty shocking level of contempt for American workers.

For years, people were afraid to fight for the right to establish unions, terrified that they would lose their jobs, but that’s disappearing, too.  After all, most have little to lose. So, as always, the pendulum is swinging back to where we were in the early 20th century.  We’ve reached the point where people are dying on the job because corporations don’t wish to be oh-so-burdened with safety regulations, etc. We have unprecedented economic disparities, and conditions for American workers are FAR below those of modern nations. In a nutshell, people increasingly want union protections, and this is worth the price of union dues. Not only is it worth fighting for, but our children’s futures depend on it.