2026-01-27.1_Forces of Labor quote

“These strikes [1980s Europe] were largely defensive struggles (i.e. resistance to the undermining of established ways of life & existing social contracts), or what we would call Polanyi-type waves of labor unrest. They all met with defeat.”

• pg. 164

-> while the reasons for the defeats are more complex, one aspect worth pointing out & learning from is that predominantly defensive struggles with goals and visions tied mainly to the past are pretty much guaranteed to fail in the long run. without a counter/complementary movement towards imagining & struggling for new/different ways of life / living conditions and without a strong potential for expansion into intercommunal, interregional and international/global solidarity & cooperation, defeat is inevitable.