On “Jerry White explains socialist perspective in Northern California meetings”

In reading of Jerry White’s interaction with the Peace and Freedom Party member, I wasn’t surprised but a little disheartened about the way the working class was viewed. The idea that we’re a bunch of violent drunks, brain-dead from watching television doesn’t hold water once you actually become involved with us. Working class folks are real and have real problems, which can be daunting for a petit-bourgeois radical. It’s much easier to view us with contempt, trying to think of how we can be helped. I couldn’t help but think of Eugene Debs speaking on the matter, saying, “This whole idea of doing something for the working people is disgusting and degrading…. The real question to be propounded is, ‘What can workingmen do for themselves?’” Folks like Mr. White’s interlocutor don’t want to believe that we’re capable of doing anything at all. In speaking to some of the other mechanics at the plant, I find they’re more than aware of strategies of industry, more than aware of the direction of the bourgeoisie. They seem quite open to the discussion, but they really hope for someone who is of them to lead it. No wonder the petit-bourgeois radicals feel alienated from us.

Vance O
California, USA
15 March 2012

On “Successful start to SEP West Coast campaign”

The on-the-ground election campaign coverage is fascinating and important. I appreciate the insight it gives into the level of class-consciousness, especially among the students. There is much confusion, and much openness to real political debate. These are bright, inquisitive young people who have grown up in a society that has done all it can to stifle critical thinking and infuse every aspect of life with backwardness and a petty, corporatist ideology. They are not happy with the current political atmosphere, but they do not yet understand what must be done about it. This makes them extremely vulnerable to being used by both the Democrats and the far-right elements that Ron Paul represents. It is a very dangerous situation, for the entire world, as the historical parallels you have drawn to the pre-WWI period underscore. That the SEP and the ISSE are diligently fighting to win (save) the younger generations is not only commendable, but heroic.

EG
Michigan, USA
10 March 2012

On “The student debt explosion”

The worst part about these student loans (and I include the Student Plus loans that are attached to the parents) is that they are virtually impossible to discharge in a bankruptcy. Bush and a Republican Congress made sure of that with the Orwellian-named “Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act” of 2005. It was hailed at the time as the banking lobby’s greatest all-time victory. For any student or parent behind on these loans, you can just take a few hundred points off your credit score, and good luck to you getting any decent interest on any sort of loan—if you can even get one. This is a huge obstacle to the economy and economic progress for so many of our young people.

Rich H
Arizona, USA
14 March 2012

On “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks with WSWS”

It is great that Richard Philips endeavoured to let WSWS.org readers know the current status of WikiLeaks and its founder from the latter’s point of view. The unraveling of this unprecedentedly significant case for humanity for authentic news in the beginning of this third millennium is welcomed by concerned world citizens.

The criminality and the immorality of the bunch of bourgeois states on our planet and what it could bequeath to humanity is now clearer more than ever. Julian Assange’s role for that to happen so is invaluable.

However his unrealistic proposition, “if we are successful in promoting justice and having others take up our values…” is apocryphal. It is pretty clear to intelligent humans when they focus on the US’s role of defending Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons, and trying to prevent Iran acquiring the same by making Iranian people starve to death.

I, as a world citizen who is a supporter of the SEP, would like to request of it that it organize all who are concerned about human freedom for news to defend Assange as a part of the supreme endeavour of establishing international socialism to salvage humanity from the nefarious bunch of bourgeois regimes on our planet. This planet belongs to us who are 99 percent and not to the global bourgeoisie. Hats off to Richard Philips.

IVE
Sri Lanka
16 March 2012