Secrets of the City

Ah, excellent! The legacy of socialism in this town is a great one. The 1934 Truckers’ Strike, which opened up the city for trade unionism, was headed by three Trotsykites named — wait for it — the Dunne Brothers.

St. Paul had no real stake in the socialist movement, by the way — the working classes and the Catholic Church had worked out a sort of benevolent, paternalistic form of Catholicism that emphasized social work and collectivism, hence precluding the need for grassroots secular socialism. Really excellent book on this subject by a visiting professor at Macalester called Claiming the City. 

Great stuff, Max!

My favorite quote from Floyd B. Olson is, “I’m not a liberal, I’m a radical.”

I think one of the most interesting things about socialism/communism in Minnesota is its ultimate demise. When the D and the FL parties got together to form the DFL they worked together to chase out all the commies from MN. The D became more liberal and the FL became more conservative and there was no place left for radicals.

Additionally, because of the socialists/communists, we were one of the most progressive states in race relations. We had many of the first integrated unions and the first elected black officer of an integrated union in the country. Particularly strong was the union that dealt with hotel and train staff.

We have such a rich and interesting peoples’ history but most people don’t know anything before Humphrey aside from Ft. Snelling stuff. It is really too bad.

I was always partial to Floyd’s “Better red than yellow.”

According to this “Opinionated Catholic” blog, our communists are Minnesota Nice, too!

The term “socialist” does not have the same meaning as it once did in the 30’s. The idea of socialism now is code for welfare or governmental patronage. Socialism and communism as a class struggle against “capitalists” was a completely different battle in the 20’s and 30’s. It was a working class movement, meaning people that worked where part of the movement. Now the whole terminology has been coop-ted by both the left and the right in this country. The underlying meaning and economic philosophy has been lost. The out come is Right-wing and Left-wing sheep.

swandog, I think you’re going to have to elaborate. Are you saying that most people in favor of “socialist” policies in this country now don’t have jobs? I can’t say I’ve seen evidence for this.

swandog, I think you’re going to have to elaborate. Are you saying that most people in favor of “socialist” policies in this country now don’t have jobs? I can’t say I’ve seen evidence for this.

what I mean is that Communism and socialism were more driven by a true working class.  communism more that socialism one could argue.  The idea in the 20’s and 30;s was driven who controlled the actual means of production i.e. land , capital ect.  and how the income from the means of production was distributed.  Socialism in today’s environment is driven more by a  collectivist or governmental control of actual money collected by the government and redistributed throughout the entire society.  Socialism is not driven by workers of the world uniting but is more in line with governmental support directly to the population.  I tend to lean to the right on economic policy but do in today’s current crises see some need for governmental intervention.  However, I do think that Oboma is selling out the unions by not pushing for card check and focusing on putting people to work at a livable wage.  Instead I see a greater emphasis on collectivist philosophy.  One example is his push for service ect.  One might want to look at that and remember that actual jobs are more important than social work with a marginal living stipend.  We need Jobs not programs.   His lack of support for labor can be seen in the drive to force Chrysler into bankruptcy court.  GM will soon follow.  The outcome of this will be to destroy the unions while at the same time bailing out the banks.  It shows his priorities.

Nice piece Max very cool

However, I do think that Oboma is selling out the unions by not pushing for card check and focusing on putting people to work at a livable wage.

The votes aren’t there. That’s why he (and the Democrats) hasn’t pushed it. They’re going to need 60 votes to pass it in the Senate. Specter has fallen in line with the GOP Party line, and several southern Democrats have indicated thewy won’t support it as written. That leaves them 5-6 votes short, since there currently aren’t any other GOP votes to be won.

No need to waste political capital on a vote that you can’t win right now.

The votes aren’t there. That’s why he (and the Democrats) hasn’t pushed it. They’re going to need 60 votes to pass it in the Senate. Specter has fallen in line with the GOP Party line, and several southern Democrats have indicated thewy won’t support it as written. That leaves them 5-6 votes short, since there currently aren’t any other GOP votes to be won. No need to waste political capital on a vote that you can’t win right now.

I see your point but he is still selling out the UAW by forcing bankruptcy.   If we can bail out banks that print money then we should consider a auto bail out  or welfare for the UAW.  At least they make something and have a huge multiplier affect on the over all economy.  My point is that Oboma is no friend of the working class (the republicans are no better).  He is a friend to banks and welfare recipients this is becoming more evident each day.  He will redistribute wealth both upward and downward but the middle class will pay in the end.