Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Rebuilding a Labor and Left Movement

Release Date: February 3, 2022
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: Aviva Chomsky

Overview

This episode of Economic Update focuses on the fragmentation and challenges within the American labor and left movements and explores lessons that can be learned from international and historical examples. Host Richard D. Wolff begins with a critical look at corporate capitalism through the lens of the Microsoft-Activision merger, offers global economic comparisons with China and the UK, and then welcomes historian and activist Aviva Chomsky for an in-depth discussion on the problems and potential of rebuilding an effective and inclusive left/labor movement in the U.S.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Setting the Stage: The Flaws of Capital Allocation

[00:10]

• Wolff opens with a parallel between the Russian Revolution and today's blind economic elite, calling out the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision deal as symptomatic of a system misallocating resources during times of crisis.
• "Spending $68 billion not to solve any of [our problems], but simply to make one mega corporation, Microsoft become a mega player in yet another industry that gets monopolized ... That's a system that is not taking care of its problems and is going to be overwhelmed by them." – Richard Wolff [06:15]

2. Global Comparisons: China and the UK

[07:00]

• Wolff debunks common US narratives about China, focusing on direct inflation comparisons and China’s economic resilience.
  • "7% inflation here, 1.5% inflation there… The Chinese doing pretty well all things considered." – Richard Wolff [08:10]
• Parallels between political theater in the UK (Boris Johnson and Brexit) and US (Trump), highlighting both leaders' inability to solve systemic economic issues.
  • "It’s theater, it’s flim flam. It’s an attempt to cash in on the justified upset and anger of a mass of people without dealing with the economic system. Capitalism, that’s the problem..." – Richard Wolff [13:57]

3. Dynamics of the American Left and Labor

Fragmentation and Disconnection

[16:23]

• Aviva Chomsky agrees that the US left and unions are fragmented, often at odds with themselves, and struggle to bridge between being "broad" and "deep".
  • "There’s almost a conflict between broad and deep in the left in the United States... the union movement itself is broad and encompasses unions that range from the left to the right. Really?" – Aviva Chomsky [17:06]
• Historical exclusion of non-white and immigrant workers weakens the movement and its ability to globalize its vision of solidarity.

Limited Vision and "Bread-and-Butter" Unionism

[19:23]

• Challenges in US unionism: Is it focused only on immediate member interests ("bread and butter") or a broader social movement for transformation?
• The US’s tendency to see union improvement as being in tension with global welfare, especially in relation to immigration and international labor exploitation.

4. Lessons from Latin America

[22:08]

• Chomsky emphasizes a relatively successful unifying force in Latin American left/labor movements: anti-imperialism.
  • "Without thinking about those struggles as part of a larger struggle that has to include anti-imperialism at its center, I think that’s something much more visible to Latin American workers and unions than it is to US workers and unions." – Aviva Chomsky [24:22]
• The integration of unions with political parties (even with its own infighting and challenges) sometimes provides clearer direction and collective action potential.

The Absence of Real Political Parties in the U.S.

[25:33]

• Chomsky contrasts the US's lack of true political parties with Latin America, suggesting that even problematic, contested party systems allow for more coherent left politics than mere alignment with mainstream parties void of transformative vision.
  • "The Democratic and Republican parties are more like a joke than they are like actual political parties.... [The US] is not a party with a coherent vision for social transformation. There is no such party in the United States." – Aviva Chomsky [26:20]

5. Sources of Hope and Future Directions

[27:06]

• Chomsky notes encouraging signs in the labor sector: increasing recognition that labor must broaden its vision beyond “bread and butter” to embrace social movement unionism and the public good.
  • "A really strong recognition among many sectors of the labor movement that the only hope for a reinvigorated labor movement is social movement unionism and organizing for the common good." – Aviva Chomsky [27:06]

Notable Quotes

• "Spending $68 billion not to solve any of [our problems], but simply to make one mega corporation… become a mega player in yet another industry… That’s a system that is not taking care of its problems and is going to be overwhelmed by them."
  – Richard Wolff [06:15]

• "There’s almost a conflict between broad and deep in the left in the United States."
  – Aviva Chomsky [17:06]

• "Without thinking about those struggles as part of a larger struggle that has to include anti-imperialism at its center... that’s something much more visible to Latin American workers and unions than it is to US workers and unions."
  – Aviva Chomsky [24:22]

• "The only hope for a reinvigorated labor movement is social movement unionism and organizing for the common good."
  – Aviva Chomsky [27:06]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:10] – Introduction; Microsoft-Activision merger as an allegory for misallocated capital
• [07:00] – US vs. China and UK: Inflation and economic narratives
• [10:55] – Political theater: Boris Johnson, Brexit, and parallels to Trump
• [16:21] – Introduction to guest Aviva Chomsky
• [17:06] – Fragmentation within the US left and unions
• [19:23] – Bread-and-butter vs. social movement unionism; labor’s troubled relationship with inclusion
• [22:08] – Lessons from Latin American labor and anti-imperialism
• [25:33] – US absence of real political parties and impact on labor alliances
• [27:06] – Hopeful developments within the current labor movement

Tone and Conclusion

The conversation throughout is direct, critical, and laced with both historical awareness and urgency. Both Wolff and Chomsky stress that the American left and labor movements are at a crossroads: only by overcoming internal fragmentation, broadening their vision, and embracing anti-imperialism and solidarity can they become a force for transformative change. Chomsky’s closing remarks offer a cautious optimism rooted in current moves toward social movement unionism and the pursuit of the common good.

This episode serves as both a critique of the status quo and a call to consider international and historical context to forge a more unified and purpose-driven American left and labor movement.