Melvin once again shows his ignorance Part III

Raucan and Atlee Yarrow Confuse the Issue: the Point Here is that Melvin Shows his Ignorance again

Tuesday, 30 August 2007 20:19:16 -0500

From: raucan@msn.com

Mi Querido Companero:

All revolutions and movements need enemies and slogans. That is the problems with your approach to revolution, While interesting, I dont really understand it. Maybe it just my simple populist approach, but I understand how the people function. If I am addressing farm workers who have just been ripped of their wages and trying to organize them, I can't tell them that both the Boss and them are victims of an oppressive system that pits both of them against each other.

My approach: The boss is a rich guy making profits off your labor and you need to use your leverage as worker to get more pay. Marxist? Maybe,but it get them to think and to understand the world. When you are hungry and desperate, there is no time to ponder on the gray areas of social relations. The questions is: Who is keeping me from eating and how do I get him out of the way.

Raul

Raul,

Here in Florida the Boss is sometimes even more the victim and in fact you and others can look on the net to see many co-ops of Bosses who work together for year around crops to help keep their family farms going as there isn't always for the most part a big faceless corporation telling workers what to do and as you state stealing their labor. I know the concept, but one reason for local autonomy is that Florida is not Texas even at the farm level. Many are family owned, simple folk who just want to be in the peace of the country and have a respectable life away from the urban troubles.

The problem comes into play when farmers and workers are forced into a capitalist market to ship and sell their goods en masse or loose all the work because they cannot move the food into the system. All the major changes took place around 1910 when industry took over the means for the large portion surpassing agriculture in capital for a greater GNP, bottom line dollars.

In Florida where the state has tripled land taxes in the last five years there is a major cash strain which has lead to several farmers forced to further sell more land to ease the burden, this in turn has lead to more urban sprawl and less land to grow leading to higher cost with reduced production and less need for jobs in farming. The farmer (Boss) it stuck in a market where we the "Social" should advice them to sell and how to sell to more local markets for a sustained wage to maintain the family farm and living wages far from companies like ConAg. This provide seasonal and healthier goods to the people's market.

As a pre-teen child I worked my summers on one uncle's cattle ranch in Canyon City, CO where we provided milk and beef to the community and there was no extra workers due to several reasons based on market concerns. Today that ranch is gone and replaced by urban sprawl and gang warfare. My ex wife's family in Elizabethtown, KY. once grew all sorts of foods and tobacco. NAFTA took those jobs with cheap and unsafe products. We "Social" should be demanding the FDA hold imports to the same American standards of safety and are not. My Great Great Grandfather had a huge farm and eleven children. None of those children live on that farm today. The farm is now known as the Holyoke Mall in MA. where hoses are near the one million dollar mark and has some of the nation's highest taxes. On the other side of the equation I have a person known to me who owns a farm in Iowa Brazil and pays workers $65 a week which is the top wage for the area. Yet I have jumped on his case several times to change this. His problem is that in order to sell to the market there is but one place to move his product, ConAg. We as "Social" beings should help both workers and family farmers in the same boat and this is why most of the action is in the market directly with places like Taco Bell, KFC, and other Yum Brands. This is why we need to go after Wal-mart and other big box stores. Captialist in the market are always looking for an equation like - = + while "Social" responsible persons are looking for the simple = or +=+ for win win or balance.

The bottom line is that there isn't one cookie cutter way and without autonomy to react and network we "Social" become self defeating.

Atlee Yarrow