[DEBATE] : Re: (Fwd) Cosatu not impressed with 'developmental state'

[grinker]

Actually I just liked the quote but...

Waterman wrote: 

>1. I am just wondering to which present or future bloody conflicts you 
imagine this to imply;

>2. Whether you consider it applies to the struggle against Apartheid;

It sadly applied quite well actually


>3. Whether it is not possible that the working class is not capable of 
wavering;

Of course it is/has, especially as it was dominated by the politics of an
essentially inconsistent class

>4. Whether the petty-bourgeoisie (however you might define them) might not 
be also capable of 'proletarian' behaviour;

'Proletarian' behaviour - what's that? Progressive/emancipatory behaviour,
sure, under the right circumstances and led by other forces

>In other words, it is an archaic rhetorical declaration of faith in a 
working class (given revolutionary capacities by the Marxist intellectuals),

that no longer can rest of 19th century expectations, and that therefore is 
an obstacle to the confrontation of 21st century realities and 
possibilities.

Of course it's archaic - it was written in 1850. 

>This is class-determinism of a simplistic kind, with such classes accorded 
fixed characteristics and roles in social emancipation.

I think he was painting a broad brush picture which in the African post-war
national liberation context certainly rings true in most cases.