You have to get out in the world and meet folks on their own turf, something which a lot of urban radical intellectuals seldom do.
Michael YatesCapitalism is a powerful producer of output, crisis-mongering on the left notwithstanding, and this too makes the system seem to have a lot of promise. This is why it is so important to agitate against the system in good times and bad. We can't depend on some super crisis to get folks thinking but instead have to focus on all of the contradictions of the system which cannot be ultimately resolved by it.
Michael YatesI still believe that workers must be the basic force which must organize and eventually transform society (along with peasants in poor countries). This is because they are the source of the profits which make capitalism what it is. They can shut the system down, and at the same time they possess the unique knowledge needed to make it work in everyone's interests.
Michael YatesWhat needs to be grasped is that the system itself is the cause of all of the misery in the world. This is a simple but powerful idea.
Michael Yates