Apathy and Boycotts

Your Comments

18 May 2004

I think all socialist and communist movements should be realistic about the attitudes of the people they hope will bring about change.

I teach people of all age groups and income brackets from all walks of life and sometimes ask questions in class about political topics.

One such question is "Do you think people should boycott certain products which are made by underpaid and overworked people in the third world, many of them children?"

A small minority of people show an interest in these people`s plight. Here are the kind of answers I get from the majority:

"Our economy started in that way, theirs should too."

"They should count themselves lucky that they have a job at all."

"You never know what has been fairly produced and what hasn`t, so I don`t bother to check."

"They should show some initiative, go out and do training and stop taking handouts from the west."

"Third-world people? They`re all over here stealing our jobs."

"It`s not fair, but life`s not fair. End of story."

All the same, I´m not going to give up pointing out the truth to people. I don`t know if Professor Hobsbawm hears opinions like these. But if he does and despairs, can you blame him?

Kevin, Germany

What do you think?

The Socialist Party, so far as I know, nearly always will give support to people who say they want to do a boycott (given that the poorly paid people producing the goods have called for it).

But I think Kevin clearly shows the limitations to this idea in the responses he elicits from his students. Not something that's going to get mass support in many cases! Not a significant method of struggle. A useful tool in some cases, of course.

Poor method, poor results. Don't blame it on the students.

Anon

Well the sad fact is if that everyone boycotted products that were made through unethical means we'd all be not using a lot of products.

Unfortunately products that are made ethically are usually more expensive than the ones that aren't because they don't exploit cheap labour.

The average consumer will always go for the cheapest stuff. I always look for bargains in my local supermarket.

But how do I know where those cheap items came from? Who suffered as a result of cheap labour.

I think there is nothing wrong with supermarkets reducing their prices but they should be banned from not paying the suppliers a fair amount or from cutting the wages of their staff.

Dan, East London

Due to the word-limit, I didn`t have space to point out the connection between my last point about apathy and the planned economy debate.

The Socialist Party opposes the kind of top-down, non-democratic planned economy which was normal in the Soviet Union.

If I´ve understood them correctly, the Socialist Party also sees the Soviet Union model as the result of the isolation of the Soviet Union following the 1917 revolution and the attempt to build socialism in one country. They advocate instead Trotzki`s idea of "permanent revolution": a worldwide networked socialist movement to overthrow capitalism across the globe.

The point I was attempting to make is this: an internationally-networked workers` solidarity movement only works if workers show understanding for the day-to-day struggles of workers in other countries.

If they don`t, worldwide socialism and the kind of economic democracy of a bottom-up planned economy becomes impossible.

I hope I´m wrong. In response to Anon I´d like to say I don`t blame the students: our current system encourages apathy as a way of keeping things the way they are.

Yours, still living in hope.

Kevin, Germany

Hi Kevin

Solidarity is something that emerges when people are fighting battles and they are looking for support.

It begins when workers look for support in for a local struggle they are involved in, firstly in their home town, then in their country, then internationally. Then from that comes the idea of supporting other workers elsewhere when they need support reciprocally.

Although the trade union leaders have abandoned these principles and the Labour Party forgotton and betrayed them, nevertheless they will rise again. Not in advance of struggle, but as part of the rising struggles.

Marxists accurately anticipate events because they study the history of workers struggles - not the bastardised versions peddled by capitalist societies "experts" but the real history, properly weighed and balanced.

Anon

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