LETTERS
Editors: Michael Harrington argues persuasively in his article in Dissent, Fall 1982 ["A Path for America"] that we will soon be entering the age of social democracy in America. The failure of...
...The point here is not to berate the UAW for failing to win control over GM's investment plans—how could it, when it was making concessions— but that the 1982 concessions contracts are by no means steps toward job security...
...The idea that the two parties could sit down cooperatively on the basis of concessions and work out an accommodation beneficial to both sides is a fantasy at best, dangerous at worst...
...It also flies in the face of everything we know about power relations between labor and management...
...If this is so, then a departure from such practicality would dismiss half a loaf in favor of no loaf at all, a good idea only if you have tenure...
...Wallingford, Pa...
...People are going to demand in the late 1980s and 1990s that something directly be done about unemployment...
...political arrangements...
...it's about the companies trying to weaken unions—and thus far succeeding...
...In many ways the companies are weakened—by foreign competition, and by debt...
...foreign policy...
...Wanted: A Foreign Policy Editors: I read, with much interest and respect, the argument by Theda Skocpol in your Winter 1983 issue...
...The company is free to "outsource" at will, as long as no plant is completely closed...
...We never could and never will...
...A socialist third party suffers from no such constraints and, indeed, will be the only party willing to bring a social democratic program before the American people...
...The union's second set of concessions to Chrysler, though mandated by the Federal Loan Guarantee Board, set off a wave of concessions in other unions...
...2) a reorganization of political parties to enhance communication between the grass-roots and elected officials about policy proposals and their implementation...
...Supporting liberal politicians in the Democratic party is not going to do anything to advance social democratic ideas...
...The only closings prohibited (and only for two years) are those attributable to "outsourcing...
...DORIS B. GOLD Queens, New York...
...Why are they likely to do so under the auspices of radical social democrats...
...My question is: Is it possible to have a "social democratic" foreign policy...
...Most important, though, is the effect the UAW's concessions had on the rest of the U.S...
...One could more convincingly argue, citing the same historical evidence brought to our attention by Dr...
...They are liberals, not socialists, and social democracy is just too radical for them, and no matter how much support democratic socialists give them, this is not likely to change...
...foreign policy in her article...
...DONALD F. BUSKY Philadelphia, Pa...
...What concerns me is who will be the leaders that will be willing to go beyond the Great Society programs, and espouse and campaign on an explicitly social democratic platform...
...What precisely should we do to our parties to encour399 age communication...
...In return, the top 80 percent would be guaranteed a job either with Ford or elsewhere, and the right to a short work week (and short pay) if production schedules were cut...
...BILL JOHNSTON, JR...
...We are told that a truly radical program of "democratic planning" (even if it cannot safely be called "radical" in public) will require "basic changes in U.S...
...Socialists dream on...
...Finally, Bensman seems to hold out the possibility that in the process of making concessions unions can make big gains: "If workers are to benefit from concession bargaining [he writes], they must gain some control over decisions about capital investment and new technology...
...David R. Gergen, for example, Reagan's assistant for communications, said at a U.S...
...If at the time of negotiations a company has'enough power to force the union to make concessions, then surely it has the power to hold on to its old management prerogatives...
...The inspirational qualities of this call last as long as you can avoid trying to figure out what it means in detail...
...Skocpol does not include anything about a possible restructuring of U.S...
...It has all the force of a cliche...
...The failure of Reagan's policies to end the recession is becoming apparent to everyone...
...Chamber of Commerce luncheon, "If we do not succeed in this term or next, we will not go back to the Great Society programs, but something much further to the left" (News-Journal Papers, Oct...
...In order to get social democratic ideas before the American people it is going to be necessary to either support people in the Democratic party willing to run on explicitly social democratic platforms, or build a socialist third party...
...JANE SLAUGHTER Detroit Corrections • The first paragraph on p. 179 of our Spring 1983 issue—part of "Industrializing Our Universities" by Irwin Stark—should have read: "Culliton offers the example of Cesar Milstein, who with a colleague was credited with the invention of monoclonal antibodies and who in sharing the cells with others asked that they not seek patents on the basis of his work...
...To say that Skocpol's proposals are vague is to pay them a compliment...
...q New Deal and Socialists Editors: Theda Skocpol in her article "Legacies of New Deal Liberalism" (Dissent, Winter 1983) asks us to put aside our "practical liberalism" in favor of a "social democracy" —which presumably will be neither practical nor liberal yet nevertheless of use...
...3) an extension of political participation to accompany the called-for expansion of public authority...
...The reason for this is that the U.S...
...I support the latter alternative, because I believe the liberals, let alone the moderates and conservatives in the Democratic party, would kill any such social democratic proposals before they could become part of that party's platform, and stop any socialist from being nominated for president...
...22, 1982, p. A-7...
...In exchange for guaranteeing that the top 80 percent of the work force at its 400 Chicago assembly plant would be reduced only through attrition, Ford demanded the right to use part-timers, eliminate relief workers, no restrictions on mandatory Saturday overtime, an extremely harsh "Industrial Incompatibility Attendance Program" combining several skilled trades classifications, and a committee to "selectively screen" laid-off workers for call-backs, thus undercutting seniority...
...This "social democracy" is said to be guided by "a vision of American democratic politics committed to using public authority to regenerate industrial development...
...We can't soft-soap them into giving us anything...
...They try to coerce us and we try to coerce them...
...Volunteering Editors: Michael Walzer, in his article "Socialism and the Gift Relationship" (Dissent, Fall 1982), seemed to be putting the stamp of approval on current volunteerism at a time when budget-cutting in the human services is causing louder drumbeating for unpaid workers...
...Instead, she would have us believe that a departure from these still popular and still traditional values will secure social democrats their success with the American electorate and also assure the invulnerability of social democratic programs "to conservative counterpressures...
...The notion that workers are going to win new, innovative breakthroughs in exchange for concessions is not being borne out in practice...
...My own answer would be "no...
...What actual changes in congressional election laws should be made...
...The majority of industries will still be under capitalist ownership, nor will there be complete economic equality and the abolition of classes...
...GM's plan to buy 200,000 subcompacts from Isuzu and its recent deal with Toyota—both legal under the contract—will cost American jobs...
...But when it comes down to cases, we find that Ford insists upon language guaranteeing its right to cut the work force, and to destroy long-held working conditions for those who remain...
...Skocpol doesn't address the obvious implication that their "practical" sense must have told these liberals that only such a presentation would appeal to the great body of American voters (just those voters who would make up Skocpol's own "broad, national alliances of social groups...
...Shouldn't we be taking a closer look at the points feminists made ten years ago in rejecting that form of "self-exploitation...
...But in the area of labor relations they're not weak...
...Many staffers from other unions told me: "After Chrysler, everything changed...
...Its third set, in January 1981, started an avalanche...
...As my mother, father, and the day-care coordinator all used to say, "I don't care who started it...
...The shortcomings of the "lifetime employment" project have recently come to light...
...In addition, a much needed and far-ranging social welfare and social security system will be constructed that will address and deal with the problems of our poor and needy in a way that our present system has totally failed to do...
...LIZ WELCH New York City Concession Bargaining Editors: David Bensman's "Concession Bargaining in Steel" (Dissent, Winter 1983) is an excellent analysis of the concessions process at Steelworkers Local 65...
...Indeed, his Take from the Poor and Give to the Military policies have only made matters worse and brought on much unnecessary suffering...
...More than vagueness is at stake...
...The concessions offensive is not about companies coming hat in hand to the big strong unions asking for help...
...How in fact do we broaden political participation...
...Social democratic policies will be enacted whereby closed factories and industries will be reopened under nationalized ownership, under democratic participation by the workers and consumers...
...The "practical liberals" of the New Deal are said by Professor Skocpol to have been mistaken in attaching their recommendations to "traditional American individualist values...
...And when concessions were made to profitable GM in April '82, the word was out that anybody could get concessions...
...These reforms, too, sound inspiring--until you begin to wonder what exactly is being recommended...
...We are reminded that laid-off workers in industry will need to enter the social-service sector for survival jobs in the coming years...
...The reader, I believe, should be forgiven a certain doubt in the face of such splendid optimism...
...Sarcasm, jibes about academic appointments or the lack of them, stabs at writing style, and the bandying about of Jim Jones and Jean's grandmother move this discussion out of the realm of the serious and into the realm of the embarrassing...
...and committed to ensuring economic security and cultural opportunities for all Americans...
...Most Americans don't...
...When did the American people repudiate their tradition of individualism...
...It misrepresents, however, the nature of the UAW's contracts with Ford and General Motors and the possibilities for concession bargaining in general...
...On Elshtain—Ehrenreich Editors: As proud a feminist and as strong an advocate of plain-speaking as I am, I think a debate has gone too far when two of the handful of articulate feminist theorists go at each other like the lady mud wrestlers you come across on late-night TV...
...And it advances the examinations of these very real questions not one bit—fourteen columns of overly personal hairpulling, hurt feelings, and (worse) stereotypical "female" hysteria only lend conviction to those who still watch discussions of feminism and the family with skepticism or contempt...
...UAW members there voted down the proposal by a 4:1 margin, and neither of the other two Ford plants that were to get "lifetime security" have agreed on a proposal...
...Skocpol, that "the New Deal's halfway victories" (my emphasis) were genuine victories and were due to the very practicality of its liberalism so scorned by the good professor...
...It may have looked good on paper...
...How are all these nice things going to happen...
...Bensman praises the UAW's "steps to gain 'job security'" through experimental "lifetime employment" projects and limited bans on plant closings...
...i think that I can be wrong on this point and since Skocpol did such a fine job in arguing for the possibilities of a social democratic policy within the U.S., I would very much appreciate if she could briefly do the same for foreign policy...
...One is always surprised at the relative conservatism and sentimentality of young activists who sound like true Reaganitcs in preferring small but splendid local health and service efforts staffed by themselves and people in their neighborhoods, and resisting "public provision...
...labor movement...
...As Michael Harrington has correctly pointed out, this coming stage of social democracy is regrettably not democratic socialism...
...there is this matter of practicality...
...They have a plan, and labor is weak...
...Beyond that, a socialist third party would be more likely to preserve the movement to go beyond social democracy to the stage of economic democracy, with the revolutionary abolition of capitalism, the establishment of genuine democratic socialism, and the end of social classes...
...But it will be an important step on the road to democratic socialism...
...RICHARD SWEDBERG Cambridge, Mass...
...The present leaders of the Democratic party—Kennedy, Mondale, Tsongas, etc.—certainly aren't willing now—nor are they very likely to be in the future...
...Where is the evidence for Skocpol's faith...
...She makes a very eloquent plea for a social democratic policy in the U.S...
...is an imperialist power abroad (but not at home—hence the room for reasonable reforms within the U.S...
...I, however, have difficulty with the article on one point, namely U.S...
...Such changes should, we are told, include three "reforms": (1) a reorganization of congressional elections "to encourage representatives . to support sustained party programs in the interests of broad, national alliances of social groups...
...Not only are socialists predicting some radical changes ahead, but even some members of the Reagan administration can read the writing on the wall...
...To quote Tom Tormey, a speaker at the November '82 Labor Notes conference (I attended, as I cover the auto and steel unions for Labor Notes): "Negotiation is a process of coercion...
...The scientific ethos,' Culliton concludes, 'is incompatible with the definition of technology as private property.— • On p. 236 of the same issue, in "The Graying of the Intellectuals," Russell Jacoby meant to list among some contributors to a memorial volume for Paul Baran not Bruno but Charles Bettelheim, the French economist...
...There is a similar catch in the language on plant closings...
Vol. 30 • July 1983 • No. 3
