Given Barak Obama’s victory, during the course of Presidential elections of 2009, the existence of unionist sentiment is this country makes perfectly good sense – after all, it is because Obama’s voters do share the Socialist values of a welfare state, which had prompted them to favor Obama among the other Presidential candidates. Apparently, while being fused with the idea of social egalitarianism, the idea that it is solely up to employers to look up after employers’ well-being creates a strong popular appeal among people who are being quite incapable of understanding one simple thing – it is namely the proper functioning of free-market economy that creates a national wealth, which in its turn, establishes objective preconditions for the living standards in this country to grow increasingly improved.
However, in order for free-market economy to function properly, under no circumstances should the government or unionist movements be allowed to meddle in economic affairs, simply because it is namely the generation of profit, which can be thought of being the only legitimate subject of commercial organizations’ activities. In her article “Myth and Ethics in Business”, Aviva Geva makes a perfectly good point, while suggesting that ethical considerations have absolutely no place in market-based economy: “Business is expected to do whatever is necessary in order to succeed, and is not expected to be concerned with abstract morality. Business is a one-dimensional, purely profit-seeking enterprise. Profit is not just prioritized; it is elevated to the exclusion of all other interests” (2001, 585). This suggestion provide us with the insight onto why, throughout America’s history, there were no strongly influential Laborite movements in this country – unlike what it was the case in other English speaking countries, the influence exerted by bureaucratic apparatus and by promoters of Communist agenda onto this country’s socio-political and economic life has traditionally been comparatively weak. In her book “Why is There no Labor Party in the United States?”, Robin Archer rightly implies that the utter failure of a Laborite movement in U.S. can be explained by the fact that the number of American citizens endowed with socialist/collectivist mentality had never reached a critical mass: “The most important socialist parties – the Socialist Labor party in the late nineteenth century, and the Socialist party in the early twentieth – were enduring organizations, but despite a handful of local successes, they were not electorally significant” (2007, 5). It is namely individualist-minded and industrious individuals from Europe, who had created foundations for America’s current economic prosperity. Unlike what it is the case with today’s pro-Labor sophisticates, these people knew a simple thing that, when being left without much of a governmental supervision, the proper functioning of free-market economy produces miracles.
Therefore, we will dare to disagree with the suggestions that America needs a Labor Party, which would consist of self-appointed neo-Liberal “promoters of workers’ cause”, who never held in their hands anything heavier then a pen, as it is the case with Britain’s New Labor nowadays. And, the reason for this is simple – Labor movement is being based on conceptually fallacious premise of wealth’s distribution rather then wealth’s creation. Moreover, the apologists of Laborite movement do not seem to understand that; whereas, economy’s functioning is objectively existing phenomenon, the subjects’ of economy ability to satisfy their existential needs is not. Steven K. Ashby, and C. J. Hawking’s book “Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement”, provide us with numerous glimpses onto Laborite mentality at work. For example, authors suggest that the labor dispute at A.E. Stanley in 1992-1995 should have been blamed exclusively on Company managers’ intention to increase the efficiency of A.E. Staley by laying off unnecessary workers and by introducing new technologies at workplace: “By 1992, the plant had just 850 union members. Management was able to gut jobs through speedup, excessive overtime, and new technology, all of which were typical in the industry” (2009, 17). According to authors, the fact that A.E. Stanley would become a bankrupt, if it had failed to increase its operational efficiency by implementing earlier mentioned measures, is of very little relevance. In its turn, this explains the particularities of Ashby and Hawking’ apparent ignorance – the essence of the foremost idea that is being promoted by their book can be articulated as follows: workers should never face the risk of being fired, even if the practice of keeping them employed does not make any economic sense.
One does not have to be a political scientist to realize these kinds of suggestions as being essentially Marxist. And, we are all aware of what happens when self-appointed spokesmen for “fairness” take over governmental offices – it is only the mater of time before they drive an economy into the ground. One would only have to study the history of Socialist countries in 20th century, to realize the full validity of earlier suggestion.
Therefore, it is important to understand that the fact that Laborite propaganda sounds particularly pleasing to the ears of people not overburdened with intelligence, does not make it less of a meaningless propaganda. For example, in the video “Mouseland”, which can be found on the web site of YouTube, Kiefer Sutherland proudly pronounces his affiliation with New Democratic Party (known for its affiliation with Laborite movement), while tactfully avoiding to mention the fact that NDP’s reign in British Colombia, during the course of nineties, had almost completely destroyed province’s economy. This is why nowadays; many British Colombians think of abbreviation NDP as a being some sort of a swearing word.
The “Mouseland” video promotes a populist myth that mice will be able to benefit enormously by voting for mice, instead of voting for cats. Yet, it is namely when a particular mouse finds itself in position of exercising cat’s authority that it begins to treat other mice worse then cats would – apparently, despite his rather sophisticate appearance, Sutherland had proven himself utterly ignorant as to how people’s psychology works. Had he studied history, Sutherland would know that when “ordinary folks” are being suddenly elevated to the position of political prominence, it does not deprive them of their “ordinary” mentality, which is why it is namely the “self-made” politicians who are being traditionally associated with allegations of corruption.
This is exactly the reason why the history of Laborite movement in 20th century’s America is nothing but a history of American mafia finding its way into country’s highest governmental offices. For example, the very embodiment of American Labor movement, Jimmy Hoffa, who served as the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1958 to 1971, was continuously facing the charges of money laundering, racketeering and bribery, throughout the course of his career. Therefore, it is only utterly naïve people who may believe that the pushers of Unionist and Laborite cause are being genuinely concerned about ensuring the well-being of ordinary working Americans, as their foremost agenda. This is why, we cannot share Steve Babson’s enthusiasm, who is his book “The Unfinished Struggle: Turning Points in American Labor, 1877-present” strived to present us with the insight onto American Laborite movement as being nothing less of the “way of the future”: “Organized labor formed through the struggles of common men and women, who in seeking their rights for collective bargaining and a place on a shop floor, often confronted hostile management and state authorities” (1999, ix). In order for this sentence to make sense, it would have to be reformulated as follows: the psychological anxieties of common men and women, in regards to collective bargaining, used to be artificially boosted up by left-wingers for the sake of gaining immediate political dividends – yet, America is not a Europe, which is exactly the reason why American Commies and the representatives of Italian mafia, under disguise of Laborites and Unionists, were never able to gain a strong popularity among ordinary Americans. Had Steve Babson remained intellectually honest with himself and his readers, he would have mentioned strong links between American Labor movement and the agents of foreign influence in this country, simply because this movement would not have lasted even a few years, if it had not been used as the primary tool of money laundering. Yet, in “The Unfinished Struggle”, Babson talks of just about anything except for what really matters (like what are the actual sources of Labor movement’s financing?), while resorting to an application of a variety of sophistically sounding but utterly meaningless terms, such as “multicultural quadroon”, “transition-decision making”, “workplace empowerment” etc. Apparently; the only difference between the promoters of Laborite cause in the past and those who indulge in Laborite rhetoric today, is the fact that; whereas, people like Hoffa used to suggest that workers should be getting paid, regardless of whether they work or not, people like Babson imply that citizens should not even be concerned with their ability to represent any professional value whatsoever, in order to qualify for a variety of social services, provided by the state.
Thus, instead of indulging in lengthy philosophizing on the issues they could not possibly comprehend, American hawks of Laborization should simply take a little trip to Britain, so that they would be able to see the actual effects of New Labor having exercised a political authority in this country, since 1997. These effects are being clearly visible – the continuous decline of British economy, the widening gap between rich and poor, the growing deficit of GNP, and the almost complete ruining of country’s energy sector, which is why it is only the matter of a year or two, because British society will be plunged in the state of an acute energy crisis. Given Laborites’ adherence to the idea of “multiculturalism”, the number of Muslim mosques in London now overexceeds that of Christian churches, with native-born Londoners being unofficially forbidden to walk into the area where the newly arrived immigrants from Pakistan now “celebrate diversity” at the expense of British taxpayers, by setting cars on fire and by gang-raping White women.
It is important to understand that Laborite/Socialist movement cannot be discussed as “thing in itself”, because of being nothing but one among many by-products of Communist mentality. It is nothing but a form of society’s illness – whereas; in Soviet Union the Communist illness has assumed clinically critical form, while subsequently ruining Russia’s economy and reducing country’s population by 60 million, in Britain it has assumed more subtle form, which is why British society continues to exist, despite the lack of a self-awareness as to the fact that Communist bacilli continue to undermine its integrity. Why is it that up until recently, British professionals strived to immigrate to U.S.? This is because 60% of their salaries used to be taken away from them by New Labor government in taxes. Apparently, these people had a hard time understanding on what grounds should they be willing to share their riches with social parasites, who despite their unwillingness to work, still claim being eligible to a variety of social services.
It is exactly because there was no strong Labor movement in America, which used to attract industrious people to this country, throughout the centuries; thus, contributing to the process of America eventually attaining the status of world’s superpower. Therefore, the suggestions that America need Labor party are not only deprived of any rationale – they are preposterous. Even though Obama’s government seems to be dedicated to the idea of enforcing social fairness upon citizens despite their will, it will not be able to tamper with the functioning of America’s economy for too long, unless it consciously strives to create preconditions for its eventual collapse.
The conclusion of this paper can be formulated as follows: the idea of Labor movement is based on old Marxist assumption that it is namely the class struggle that defines historical dialectics. However, there is no country in the world, which would be alienated from Communist values more then America. This is exactly the reason why Laborite/Socialist movement could never take deep roots on American soil. Those who suggest otherwise are being obviously incapable of thinking in terms of logic.
Bibliography
Archer, Robin. Why is There no Labor Party in the United States? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.
Ashby, Steven & Hawking, C.J. Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009. Print.
Babson, Steve. The Unfinished Struggle: Turning Points in American Labor, 1877-present. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999. Print.
Geva, Aviva “Myth and Ethics in Business”. Business Ethics Quarterly, 11.4 (2001): 575-597. Print.
“Mouseland”. YouTube.Com. 2006.