Radical America - Vol 14 No 3 - 1980 - May June

8/8/2019 Radical America - Vol 14 No 3 - 1980 - May June

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VL 3 A-J 9


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Edit ank Bdhead, Mage Daie , Jhn Demete, Maa Eien , Phi Ewe, L

Gdn, Jim Geen, Aen nte, Anne enne , ei MCaet, Jim O Bien , k ThokeAnn Withn

Edta Inten Debah e and ia akett

Cp Edt Dth Mie bk

Sta Jhn Demete

Aiate Edit Pete Bikind, Ca Bgg, a Bhe, Jge C Caeg, Een DBabaa Eheneih, Dan Gegaka Matin Gabeman, Mihae ih, Mke Kaz, Lawene, Staghtn nd, Mak Nain, Bian Peten, Shea Rwbtham, Annemaie TMatha Viin, Stan Wei, Daid Widge

RADIA AMERIA USPS 83880 bd bimn b t Altnav Edcan Pjct, Inc. at Sqa, Smvil MA 043 61 686585 igt ( 1980 b Radical Amca Sbcn at: $10 $18 w a, $7 a nmd. Add $. a t a c ign bcitin Dbl

f intitin F t in B a 40 dcin m cv c f fv m c. Bt

d m ai Pgn, 5 Knland S Bn MA 0 1 1 1 . tting b ai Pign

Scnd cla tag aid a Bn, Ma and addtina ic

Cover: Transition House in Cambridge. Mass photo by Ma Tiseo from the film

"We WilNot Be Beaten


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AERCVolume 14, Nmber May-June

INTRODUCTION 2

GRAMSCI AND EUROCOMMUISM 7

Car Boggs

HELPING OURSELVES: THE LIMTS AD 25POTENTAL OF SELF HELP

Ann Withorn

BATTERED WOMEN'S REUGES: FEMINIST 41COOPERATIVES VS. SOCAL SERVICEINSTTUTIONS

Lois Ahrens

NOTES ON RACE, MOTHERG, AND 48CUL TUE IN THE SHELTER MOVEMENT

enae Scott

"UNION FEVER: ORGANZIG AMONG 53CLERCAL WORKERS 1900-190

Rosyn L Fedberg

GOOD READG 71

LETES 7


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2

TT

Carl Boggs' essay on "Gramsci and Eurocommunism addresses itself to the usmisuse of one of the most important Marxist thinkers of our century. A supporter andpreter of the factory council movement in Italy during the First World War, and tfounder and leader of the Italian Communist Party, Antonio Gramsci has attained amythic status as a eading theoretician of the revolutionary transformation of advindustrial societies Yet like other thinkers in the history of Marxism, including himself, the meaning or application of Gramsci's analysis of Italian society to the prehotly contested

Gramsci's writings have not fared well at the hands of the Italian Communist PCharacterizing the development of talian communism since the 1930s as a return social democracy of the pre-war era, Boggs shows that the PCI has appropriated Gramjustify policies which were strikingly similar to those which he opposed half a centurThe interest in the PCI in doing this is obviously to enable them to claim an unblineage between the revolutionary policies of the Party's founder and the evolutionaclasscollaborationist policies of the Party's leaders today That the PCI would w

reinforce its revolutionary legitimacy particularly in an era when it is attacked froleft for being reformist as well as from the right for being Stalinist is understandablBoggs' essay is an excellent case study of the ways in which contemporary political cotransform and domesticate the very meaning of a body of revolutionary ideas Boggon to show, however, that there is more to this transformation than a misuse of sourc


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text, and an illegitimate defene f the pliief the rrent leaderhip f the PC Beae fthe inflene and pretige f Ermmnim,partiar the talian part, in the UnitedState, the tranfrmatin f Grami int aneltinar iait ha helped t end a faleretinar legitima t ia dem-

rati trategie, a wel a t partial deprie f the inight that remain time and eflin attempting t bid a reltinarmement in the United State tda

The ial demratizatin f Grami iirni, fr Bgg hw that there i n dbtabt the reltinar aim f Gamithght ike enin , Grami had itte e frthe mehania marxim' that dminated theErpean and Amerian) iait mementprir t the Rian Retin t bjetie nditin, bt an atie, trggingwrking la wd end the mier fapitalim and etablih the new rder n pritf thi gal, Grami anazed the btae tretinar mbiizatin that were bthpeifi t ta h a the imprtane fCathiim r the bakwardne f the rraSt h a wel a prbem f a mre generanatre, h a parliamentarim, r the hldwhih brgei idelg and tre ha n

the wrking a Thi atter prbem, whihGrami aled brgei hegemn,emphaized the imprtane f trggling in theinteleta and tra, a wel a theenmi, phere, and pinted tward a re-definitin f the trgge fr iaim bhwing that brgei iiizatin had t beerthrwn in it ttait, and that a merehange in the wnerhip f the mean fprdtin r a militar eizing f tate

pwer were nlpart f the pre f ialittranfrmatinA reltinarie ffer frm the tran

frmatin f Grami int an etinariait b ial demrati fre, it i the

l f time and ef inight fr the bing f a retinar mement in thetda that i mt ate fet Simiar eabnd in the hitr f elfhep inntr With a hitr that ha indedndertanding b the eft, ptatin btate and ainal manipatin b the

the ef help mement in thi ntr rema ear rfletin f the imit and abe brgei tate A Ann Withrn artiede, it i an area that hd man inand pibilitie fr eft atiit and infA we apprah the wrt enmi hard in thi ntr ine the Deprein, it i that mh f the wrk that fal withiream f efhelp wi ffer frm the btting neear t maintain the miindtria priritie f apita A at firt fired epitmized the attak n the gain f the '60 in the wrkpae, fnded, firt tbak i the rrent faerie and elfhep effrt ar the na

rnia, it wa dring the Depreithat elfhep reahed it mt widepreadtant and pitiized tage Eling frmmta aid aiatin f the 9th eefhelp rfaed a nempled nithe rganizatin f rban pr and

farmer that fght fr the priin f ial neeitie in the 30' A the WState are t meet the demand f the elmement, the f hifted and nw preenter arnd ie f emtina pprtrgge againt the intittina aienatinpreaent

Whie the f f mh efhephanged, the eentia dnami f latin and hared empwerment remain

at f heping neef and ther in a pride h pwer that ntine t ebth prfeina heper and the preeptin f aid fr the wh experienThe added awarene that it i the he


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4

athe than he hepe the tate, wh an bethape and ealae the m aitane, i athe ength. When the eeing em-pwemen and tength ae inmed by a eal-izatin that bgei iniin ae nnaal and hat pepe ae n tk, pwe-le, in a pemanen , pliiizatin elt

A hity ha eeaed, hi pliiizain dent by itel lead t einay ain.A itial qetin elhep, th, i it

eatin eltinay ial hange. Tame a pgeie haate, i ha be iedt a adial plitial memen Thi ype elhelp hen gw a pliia ntext,with the memen a the ai he pliiThe eae eent example ae the aielhep aiiie and ape, nineaiing, bateed wmen and edeene)deelping m he eminit memen Gwing m he memen ' ndeanding hepeaiene exal ppein in apitaitpaiahy, hee gp epeent bth ahalenge he exiing ytem, whe pblem they nnt, and a peigatie iin a new iali) iety

Oen, when age ia pitia me-men bide, te like elhep alyntine Caying n witht a mement t

inm i and aie the neeay qetin,pen the pah t negatie tanmatin.Cpatin and the dpliatin apitalieatin epae a einay pgeiehaate i Ahen' ant he AinTexa) Batteed Wmen' Cente, i neexampe

Ahen' aile demntae hw etainweaknee in the mement that led t theeabihmen he ente alwed ibeal t

be able t ntl it peatin and limatediein. The wmen wh etablihed theene wee n inmed by a pliti thatmade hem awae the hegemny heibeal eminit mement, and thei epd

tin apiait m ganizaied he depitiized, eieienthe ente Sme patiipant wee nae what happened in etpet

Viewing the peent apitait enin the United State and the ampan the ight, we an t help bt wnde a

te ehep. In that next, we peate n it abiity t wihtand thening ex, ae and a diiinenty eident in aak n he ERmaie ain and een minimal iaWil the tate eek t pa n t eheme and me the eie iteding Wil thee eie bpyhlgia and emina pphat abnd nw Will he ametain eie a a bai ight taneiane when they ae emed dCan elhep gp then elet aidae hat ange

The ak ialit in he eeie et nining t enempwement and meeting iwhie, in Gami' wd, tipping mak bgei demay ae a m imple Unde peent nditiha been geat diity in aiding i

Thi take i leaet m in the p qein ae, la and ex n bgei ltin . I t ea i gly heapitali te begin t be elehalenged, in peii itatin like helte We need ny lk t the expethe '30' the peedent

While he elhep matin t hin ea beneited m the inp tmni Paty and the gp

diein , hey al wee aided by he amily and mmnity newk emtina and pyhlgia enanigh mateial piin. Thed n exi n h a ale tday. Ee


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the ceatin f an aternatie cta pace thatae fm the wmen' mement f the '0'and '0' i nw being chaenged We need tcitica ae prgram f repacing theintittina fathe the mement f the'30' ght a a remed t the cia i f thatpeid The paramete f the trgge ma bedifferent The need i jt a rgent

In thi ein we're peaed t incde meexcept f artice n the batteed wmen'mement b a Btnarea actiit RenaeSctt She ha wrked with Tranitin e aca heter and an areawide netwk fbattered wmen' grp A the CmbaheeRie Cectie (Dec 199 RadicalAmerica deepened the qetin f themement againt ience againt wmen

Sctt' addreing f the ie f acimmthering and ctre within the heter me-ment pride me needed citica refectin

Rnding t thi ie i R edberg'

anai f the gaizing f cerica wdring the firt three decade f thi cedbe' piece cntine a dicinceri ectr (ee Marge Daie WPace i at th pewite RA J194; Ma Barzik Sexa aramthe Wrkpace JAgt 198) thatpanng addre in the next few iRadical America

CORRECTION

In at ie we negected t a thaPwe' reiew f Black Macho and the

of the Superwoman wa a eied and exerin f her eiew in Condtons FvBack Wmen' Ie


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GRAMSCI ANDEUROCOMMUNISM

rl o

Peaps no wene ceny eos as conbed moe o e evazaon of Man e advanced cps cons an nono msc * n some cces amscmeged as he acc of n sgy fo socs nsfomaon n ndssocees aev e vady of s cm nd dsp e vey moos nd ofenognzd cace of s ngs mscs on commmen seems ea: fom bnng o end fom s ay onsc essays og e fcoy conc aces n O

Nuv o e ommns ay wngs nd Pis Neks sessedmmedcy nd gency of evoony sgge amscs og was mo o ss sseny decd oad e am of conscng new oganzona foms and snsonsa cod embody oy of socs oy eons podconc e n e concs as ncs of e new sae o n e mass pansmen of opa nsgncy

B i Sadga i 1 9 Gami mvd i i 1 9 1 ad, wi il a ivi d, am ivvd i Sa lii F a a dad, tid a dit ad wi m ima PSI idi

wa, mgig a a ladig ia Diatd wi mda mim PSI

i i 919 Gami d a O Nuu w Od mvm ad a wi wa d i i mvmt i i. Wi i fai 9 Gami i gi i dig Ialia mat at iv i a 9 1 . Dig i PI a ( 91 6 Gami vd a a dlga t mi i M

(193, wa ltd a a P d t aiamt (193-6, ad v t a adi af t at f

Amad Bdiga i 194. I at 96, wi t lidai f Mii fai gim, Gami aiamait wa dd ad wa ad, id aag agai Iaia at i 19 ad ial v

i i i va Iaia i. Bw 9 ad 935 Gami w a li f a ad m f wi

ial aatd i Egi i 97 wi am w a Ps Nuus Gami did i Ai 19

Os G s


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8

Yet the ate Gaman Maxim ha ntawa been e nitent with t ig; thee amphne h inteeta syle haenaged a ping diee ange intepetatin the the nding mewhih appea t nit damatia with bththe btane and giding mtatin Gam-

' pi wk he eent apppiatn Gami b the eading Emmnttategit n the taian, enh and SpanihCmmnit pate i the mt iptantexampe h a niting and dittedintepetatin Seiing n Gami theetiaega , hi immene appea t Epean nteeta, h pen eatie and Weten Maxm and hi tat within the nte-natna Cmmnit mement n pat the e

t hi ng inaeatin n Mni pin), Emmnim ha ght t depithim a the inent the demati ad tiaim that i a peae gadattateg ted pimai in eeta paiamenta , and tadenn tgge eading,pemab, t a aeahng intena tanmatin dematatn) the b-gei tate appaat Withn th hemaGam i iewed a the ahitet a taditinthat extend thgh am giatti andpeentda Emmnit nnat h aEni Beinge, Santiag Ca andGege Mahai

h apppiatin Gami b Emmni and a demat hweeet pn a mtiiatin the ata hita and theetia ed Gam' ea en the ndng the taian Cmmnit pat and n the matin it pitia tateg ha been g ditted. Me mptant ,Gaman etina nept exampe, idegia hegemn iab wa ptn, and dematitanmatin hae been taken e bEmmnt eade , ntegated int a

imited, mdeate iadematiw k, and th bbed thei initia a a gide t etina pax hiha gne a bend the nma edeitheme and nept that awa a patheetia enewa neea t meet nenditn he ate Gam at the h

Emmnim me e paae Max wthin the Send ntenatenin withn the deepment thUnin n eah ae etina then eed t egtimate a piti tmate beted the meaning and inteigina the and in.

TH POLITICS OF UROCOMMU

Whie the tem Emmnm

bak n t 19 wth it nitia mamatin in the int BeingeCaiment Mah 9 the the ndeha mh eae igin A the tateg Cmmnit patie, theean be itated n the ea 19444gatti tned the the temm the am via Ialiana thahape C pti ate 196 h, neent Emmnit depate ntea net, t i in the codicaiontandng wdew tategie, and pin thei pen temat elaboraion attian Maxm athe than in an nta new in the tanitn t Mee, t the extent th eindemati ad we a theeta ai Maxit witng it nt t the ng athe penied n Gami Edad Benten' etina Bt the C eadehip tda, anx

aw the mage a demabae Gami whie ditanng te mbia) m the heitage the ntenatna.

he ndamenta pemie the E


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mun mde ha he cmpex ad-anced capam requre a cncepn ca ranrman ha rancend bhcaca Lennm and ca demcrac Thermer rancended b abandnng nurrec-nar pc and he dcarhp hepreara, he aer b reecng he

aukan her caacmc cr andecnmc cape a he ba reunarrupure The new raeg ancpae a pr-nged rugge r hegemn n whchdemcrazan he ae ake pace agradua and peaceu a pbe, wh nudden r quaae break, under cndn reae nuna ab I enage ndramac weepng awa he d rder, nrna aau n burge pca nu-

n characerzed b eera prpedraege he uzan burge dem-crac rm and rucure a he prmarymean acheng a pwer raner and d-manng capam; he rerm heerucure hrugh a bradenng her par-cpar characer a knd Gramcan war pn dened n nuna erm); anaance pc ha aache grea gncance an expandng mdde raa c er-an, prena, echncan, ec, andpn ward a ca bc prgreerce pped he mnpe; a cmm-men he preeran degca der, cnuna rgh, and pcapuram bend he ranna perd andn cam e; a rejecn anguardmand he mnhc cncep he par; hega a prenazed c erce hawud undermne parac and narrw nere-grup nuence; and mae expann

pubc nemen and ca erce n a waha wud gradua uber he hegemn crprae nere

A mar denng characerc Eurcmmun raeg a reed Marx her

he ae and he re he par Laume ha he burge ae re an cercn , ha uncn eenaagenc ca dmnan; reupc hu dreced aganst he ward he ezure pwer b a a par The Eurcmmun, n h

hand, n ha he pca rucadanced capam are n ac que cand cnradcr, her rengh reupn degca and cuura cnenupn rce Burge demcrac, acccann be reduced a mpe mechaca dmnan; n part he ugrma rugge ha ganed ca and uccee n ppn he buThere n mnhc em cnr

nge ca Snce he burge ae ue are a a, n dece, arena cnc, he mu be ewed a a aunmu phere ha can be uzed ppn a eece a b hca

wng her nerprean GEurcmmun eader and her phng degca and ca bche ae a changng equbrum rce red n an expandng caenu The rann ewed a anere ep ward demcrazawhch he par n expeced becca ae bu uncn a a mbeween he ae and mae A Caruggeed, wh each h n he d cabrum a expreed, r exampe,deme rancm n Span and he rag Chran Demcrac n ILe nd new pace whn whch

e and urn arund he degca u agan he hegemn mnpa Wh each age demcrazaeach adance he Le wthn burgeun, he cr egmac and


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pwe mt; i tat t the thdxbefe ad afte mde, Em-mim th peppe a evtiatafmati i whih bgei demahade gada it socialist dema Thegidig pemie hee i that ate apitaitietie wi expeiee pged peid f

eative emi ad itittia tabiiteve i the midt f pdti ad egitima-ti ie Cai i emphati that emiad pitia atatphe i diffit timagie tda i the deveped tie.

ta, the PC' ptwa tategi ev-ti, ad the theetia eewa that ampaied it, ha ght a Gamia fmf egitimati Beige, ie hi aet tthe piti f pat SeetaGeea, ha

eve tied f teig the P C ' Gamiaigi ad tateg a efept that eemmt apppiate t taia taditi ad thepeia diti f Wete Epeaapitaim. Pat eade, i thei viit tfeig tie, advetie the PC dem-atiad tateg a a ti devep-met fm Gami t Tgiatti t Beige .4

PC efft t impit Gami tamp the dematiad mde have teed a thegidig mtif f Gamia Maxim hegem-, ia b, wa f piti, adgai iteeta Piet ga,Gami wa the igiat f the wa f pi-ti tateg that emphaie idegia pep-aati ad ia tgge a a pede t theqet f pwe, ad te ei' eie f the Wite Paae with a gada bid-p twad iait hegem withi the pitia famewk f bgei iet . PaBfaii, the PC ha bee teadi advaig

twad hegem thgh it patiipati ia ad atia gvemet, made pibeb it ef eeta) mbiiati f ew hitia b the ve tateg tied b Gami deed, eve ha Gami

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bee eevat tda, eve have hi ad teahig bee aive. Me peThe ad t the fmati f tateg the atia demati iaim wa peed b Gami aid the gdwk, ad bega the eabf thi tateg with the tibti

the miitat with the tibTgiatti "

The theetia eqati f GamEmmim, a efeted i the wCai ad the, i t imited titepetati. Thi image f Gamm age, f exampe, i the Seh, Japaee, ad Ataia patii'Eurocommunism and the State pme tha athig ee, age thi p

eatihip Cai view tefmim a a tgge t dematexitig tate appaat t vet admiati b ig, itead f fagait , bgei pitia ttetgge made pibe b the weakebgei pwe i the MediteCai, a eade f the Spaih Cmpat that eet emeged fmea f fait ditathip ad detgge, fid i the Emmitthe idea f a ew pitia fmati i iked with that f the hegem f tf fe ad te i iet Thewd be a fedeati f pitia ad ia gaiati that wd athe demati ad a ea ba

The tede t ee i Gami thipiati f Emmit tathaed b divee theit ad beveeft Emmit ike ead C

t Ameia mmetat ike Max G Cadi' view, the demati adgia t f the wa f pit i whih i gded i Gami igiai f the Epea apita it tate e


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that From 1934 onward Togatt readoptedthe Gramcan anay moded by grada-m and tactcm charactertc o h ownon" Th ad the ba or a workng caacent to hegemony wthn the conne ocaptam and repreentate democracy Gor-don tree the mportance o Grc' n

ence on the PC' break wth Bohek orthodoxy" and the Soet mode o potca organ-zaton or what Gramc beqeathed wa aegacy hote to the bttton o dogma oranay o reaty n the appcaton o thecac o reotonary ocam" 1 ere aeewhere the Gramcan connecton pre-ented n qte genera and mpreontcterm embehed wth reqent reerence tohegemony" boc" and democracy" bt

ackng mch rea aement o the orgnatheory

GRAMCIAN TRATEGY AND

BORGEOI DEMOCRACYad Gramc not been one o the onder

and eary eader o Itaan commnm t nkey that h theoretca egacy wod haebeen o enthatcay harneed to the con-temporary potc o Erocommnm For aI ha emphaze Gramc' thoght wa n

act consistently and een harhy antagontcto thoe theme tratege and objecte thatcharacterze the democratc road eectorameconomtc trade nonm antmonopoyboc potca eotonm and nterna tran-ormaton o the borgeo tate. From theeary year ncdng the actory conc phae)throgh the ormaton o the PCI and nto thena perod o ncarceraton and the PrisonNotebooks Gramc whateer h wtche

empha nted that the tranton toocam reqred the weepng overthrow oborgeo potca nttton meanng andamenta break wth the entre captatytem and the contrcton o a new reo-tonary orm o athorty Changng obtace

Editorial board ad aff of rdne Nuoo Graower rg

and method o trgge mght nece

reormaton o tactc bt th stobjecte away remaned n ocGramc the man tak whether n ton o cr or tabty wa creatonndependent proetaran ctre and netwnttton.

In h eary wrtng Gramc had adeeoped a power crtqe o the wwhch eectoraparamentary acttytrade nonm had com to domna

potc o the Socat party whchbecame mmobzed and ncapabe o caot antcaptat trgge The dctthat the party ytem non and parhad eoed many on the terran o bodemocracy and that whe ch trcod be ed or mted tactca ma ge they cod neer become ntrmenadancng reotonary goa honetra" they appeared they normay

toned to egtmate borgeo powernteret From Gramc' perpecte tthe reotonary Let wthn the Soparty) the abyma are o the partthe non wa marked by an nterna decpopar commtment and prt


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Gramsci characterized the pre1920 Socialistparty as an inactive congmeration of parties." ncapabe of taking the initiative, itateed and shifted its coors to satisfy therequirements of votegetting and institutionalbargaining. Never a principed abstentionist inthe fashion of his poitica opponent Amadeo

Bordiga (who competey rejected a forms ofpariamentary activity), Gramsci argued thatsociaist invovement in eectoral poitics madesense ony insofar as it forced the bourgeoisie to

revea its fraudulent commitment to democracy," provoked an authoritarian response,and thereby opened the door to crisis and massupheaval. 12 The goal was to immobiize paria

ment by stripping the democratic mask awayfrom the ambivalent face of the bourgeois dic

tatorship and reveal it in a its horribe andrepugnant uginess." Gramsci refered to thepariamentary circus" a bogus pubicsphere designed to deude the masses intobelieving that real change can ony be achievedthrough eectora and reformist action out-side of which and against which revolutionarypolitics must utimately be directed 13 Likewise,trade union action, within its own sphere andusing its own methods, stands reveaed as being

uttery incapabe of overthrowing capitalistsociety; it stands revealed as being incapable of

leading the proetariat to its emancipation "14

From a standpoint typica of his Ordine Nuovoessays, Gramsci argued: Trade unionismstands reveaed as nothing other than a form o fcapitalist society, not a potential successor tothat society. t organizes workers not as pro

ducers, but as wageearners, i e . , as creatures ofthe capitaist, private property regime, selingtheir commodity abor ." In the end, he felt, theunions reproduced narrow sefinterest, commodification, and individualism instead ofrevoutionary soidarity 15 Moreover, in the

case of both parties and trade unions, theirincreasingy bureaucratic structures produced

12

Svcut iu:\.\lt/4.0\ ' (Factoy occupation Septe

an alienated poitics remote from

activity of the popular strata.

This critique invoved not ony an athe specic Italian institutions and that Gramsci closey observed in his o

tice, but a more comprehensive rejebourgeois democracy as a significant poitica strugge Writing at a time opopuar upheavas and revoutionary oGramsci insisted that these forms werthe bourgeois totaity that had to scended. Thus: the revolutionar

can only be identified with a spomovement of the working masses about by the clash of contradictions inthe socia system characterized by the rcapitalist property Caught in the pcapitaist conflicts and threatecondemnation without appeal to thecivi and inteectua rights, the masswith the forms of bourgeois democreave behind them the legaity of the bconstitution." 6 Gramsci added that th

ist movement shoud ceaseessly spconviction that the current probems otria and agricutura economy can beonly outside parliament , against pariathe workers' state " 7 With each advan


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movemet, of popular mobilizatio ithioca orkpaces ad commuities, the oldstructures ould ose their credibiity (ad legi-timacy) hile icreasigly takig o the charac-ter of empty shels"

Gramsci coteded that a fallacy of allprevious Marxist schemas had bee the ac-

ceptace of historica reaity produced bycapitaist iitiative," hich meat preoccupa-tio ith the existing state as somethig to beseized or trasformed A e approach topoitics ad authority as eeed: We are per-suaded, after the experiece of the Russia,Hugaria, ad Germa revoutios that thesocialist state caot emerge ithi the istitutios of the capitalist state, but is a fuda-metally e creatio i relatio to them, if ot

i reatio to the history of the proetariat." Not the conquest of poer, but a process ofrevoutioary deveopmet rooted i everydayproetaria ife ad culmiatig i e forms,as the basic premise of Gramscis rdineNuovo theory.

Give the strategic bakruptcy of bourgeoisistitutios, Gramsci ooked for ispiratio tothe sydicaist traditio He rote that thesoutio to the pressig problems of the curret

period ca be foud oly i a stricty proe-taria ceter of poer" amey, the factorycoucils (hich had already sprug up i Turiad elsehere) ad popular assembies orsoviets," hich ere expected to mushroomRussiastyle as the movemet progressed. The coucils ad soviets, as orgas of direct,grassroots democracy, oud be the uceus ofa ufoldig revoutioary state hich couterposed to the cetraized bourgeois stateapparatus could give expressio to the his-toric emacipatory priciples of orkers' cotrol ad selfgovermet. As structures createdby the orkers themselves at the poit of pro-ductio, they ould broade the scope ofdemocracy ad chael popuar revolt against

the established poitical mechaisms.local orgas, moreover, oud expad thdefiitio of the poitical," opeig upspace for psychoogical ivovemet revolutioary process: The existece coucils gives the orkers direct respofor productio, leads them to improve

ork, istitutes a coscious ad voldisciplie, ad creates the psychology producer, the creator of history."

GRAMCI AND THE RIE O ITALl

COMMUNIM

With the paralysis of the Sociaist partymidst of crisis, ad foloig the colapsecouci movemet i 90 Gramsci ardine Nuovo group became leadig fo

moldig the e Commuist party. The pof the PCI ad of Gramsci as el shaped by the Bolshevik Revolutio, theiter, ad by hat as uderstood as ism. Whie agreeig ith the cocept of apied revoutioary party, Gramscis ism" as less vaguardist tha some tedecies i that it cotiued to stress thof atioalpopular" formatios such coucis ad the eyformed orker

peasats ' committees. Ad hie Grao approach as ess isurrectioary 9 6 tha i the precedig years, maied as ucompromisigy hostie to geois poitica istitutios as ever. Thus, as oca democratic structures receiveattetio i Gramsci's PCI ritigs, the for a prefigurative" sythesis of partcoucils as stil evidet. Fialy, althourise of fascism sharply iflueced PCI pri

durig this period (especiay after 94leadership shifted to the rdine Nfactio), Gramsci stil focused o the imacy of socialist objectives What frot" tactics meat for Gramsci, i cotthe Popular Frot approach later adopt


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Togliatti as a process of mass mobiizatiofusig atifascist ad aticapitaist strugglesdirected ot oy agaist the Mussolii regimebut agaist bourgeois domiatio i geera

The rea sigificace of the eary PCI pres-ece i Itaia society as Gramsci sa it asits embodimet of a revolutioary idetity.

Through the Commuist party the orkigcass as abe for the first time to breakdecisively ith bourgeois poitica traditiosad ith the bourgeois pariametary state"the PCI opeed u p the possibility of a auto-omous" sociaist deveopmet ithi a estate system." The party's historic goal ve if ot aays effectivey advaced i theeary years as to create the basis of sociaistdemocracy out of the ashes of bourgeois

democracy to assist i the explosio of edemocratic istitutios" that ould couter-pose themselves to parliamet ad replace it " Gramsci argued i typical fashio for thisperiod that it is a ecessary precoditio forrevolutio that the complete dissoutio ofpariametary democracy should occur iItaly. " Breakig ith bourgeois traditiosaso meat a critical (though by o meas uambiguous) approach to the uios hich

Gramsci vieed as a source of bourgeoisideoogy ad capitaist disciplie." Here heattacked the PCI's iitia tedecy to removeitsef completely from trade uio struggles ithe ame of purity." Gramsci pushed astrategy of buildig revolutioary groupsithi the factories aroud the coucils adcommittees that coud split these forms aayfrom the uio hierarchy ad elarge thesphere of activity"

14

Later eve after the cosoidatio of fascist

poer Gramsci retured to the earier themesof orkers' cotro ad revolutioary democ-racy. He argued that revolutio as still o theageda o matter ho oudly the Sociaistscaled for a essetiay defesive posture to

combat fascism. The PCI's ie as as much to costitutioal oppositio fascism eve if the costitutioa ouphods a programme of freedom ahich ould be preferable to fascismvioece ad arbitrary poer. " I Gestimatio the stregth of fascism as

it had created othig more thaatioa itegratio leavig the regerable to e crises ad reeed mass mobilizatio. Aticipatig a democratic upsurge agaist MussoiGramsci hardly cosidered a scearupo logterm politica stabiity

I the Lyo's Theses" a strategic grammatic documet ritte for tThird Cogress i auary 1926, Gr

out to trasate Marxism ad Leiismaguage of Itaia history ad polguidig pricipe as the democratLeiist strategy to fit the more comditios of Europea capitalism the reary party as stil idispesabe but tcoquest of poer ould have to be gmore i popular movemets ad idcosesus tha as the case i Russthis premise Gramsci argued that

trasformatio oud have to move beimits of both vaguardism (hich srapid isurrectioary seizure of poer orgaizatioa formulas) ad socialdereformism (hich looked to a iteraturig of the bourgeois state) WLyo's Theses" is sometimes citePC's iitial departure aog the deroad (possibly because Togiatti had aauthorig it) such a iterpretatio Gramsci's focus o colective participa elemet of socalist democracy itegic commitmet to bourgeois deistitutios. O this issue Gramsci aiver: the fudameta task of the to orgaize ad uify the idustrial a


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prolearia for the revoluion and the founda

ion of he workers' sate," placing before the

proletaria and its allies he problem of insur

recion against the bourgeois stae..."28

These themes were carried forward and theo-

retically elaborated in he Prison Notebooks.

Removed for he first ime from daily poliical

involvemen, the vicim of fascis repression,Gramsci put forh a more pronounced Jaco

bin" or Leninist Marxism. Despite his obses-

sion wih anifascis struggle (or perhaps

because of it), Gramsci devoted grea attention

o the problems of revoluionary identity, the

transformative role of the pary, and he direc

ive function of intellectuals. A the same ime,

he revised his view of fascism: not only was he

regime itself more stable than he had prediced,

bu its diffuse reactionary ideology corre-sponded o certain widespread elemens already

present in mass consciousness. Thus, while

Gramsci continued to stress revolutionary goals

the objective condiions for beginning the

transition o socialism presumably being just as

ripe as ever he adopted a longerm perspec

tive. The forced integration" of fascism made

immediate popular insurrection less likely This

produced Gramsci's wellknown turn toward

the subjective" dimension in the Prison Note-books, where the concerns of philosophical

renewal, praxis, mass consciousness, ideologi-

cal hegemony, and the role of intellectuals gave

new deph and complexity to his heory of the

pary and of the transition

The concept of hegemony enabled

Gramsci o advance beyond Lenin's narrow

and onesided vanguardism. From Gramsci's

viewpoint, wha orthodox Marxism lacked was

an undersanding of the often subtle but pene

traing forms of ideological control and

manipulation that served (along with

repression) to bolster all bourgeois instiuions

The idea of hegemony filled this void by calling

attention to he role of various worldviews or

AHTONibRAMSCIn VXQ MItRET DANU S PAISON$ Of O II

French pamphlet protesting Gramsci' s imprisonm

organizing principles" (made up o

systems, values, myhs, habis, etc.) inducing capitalist sociey, no only wi

spheres of the stae and production bu

he educational sysem, media and

religion, the family, and everyday life.

exten that prevailing ideologies are inte

y the general populaion, hey took

character of common sense." This

source of Gramsci's dual perspective

corresponded to his famous categories

movemen" and war of position, " an

can be roughly translated ino he two

phases of socialist poliics insurrec

struggle for power and (what necessar

cedes it) the subversion of ideo

hegemony. For any movement to suc


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Grac oward e end o e

democracy built around movements forworkers' contro and drect selfgovernment. tnecesstated a break wth bourgeois insttu-

tons and the development of new loca struc-tures of power such as councils signfyng thebrth of a qualtatvey different kind of poticsand state power. Gramsci contended that withadvancng captasm paramentary formswold become virtualy mpotent enfeebled bythe encroachments of the authortarian state.The Eurocommunist version of democratctransformation with ts roots n ogliatti'stheory of structural reforms seeks to extend

and perfect bourgeois democracy throughbroadened partcpaton curtament ofmonopoy power professonalization of theciv servce and decentrazaton" (moepower to ocal government) It assumes that bywnnng signficant economc and socia re

18

forms and by helpng to dffuse a partiethic the left can whtte away at the tes of power and priviege wthout haabandon cvi liberties and the musystem.

The problem wth this strategy of ratization is that despite its apparent

gressve" or advanced" character andits positve departure from Leninst cent remans confined to the boundares ogeos pluraism. Havng reected themodel t has failed to develop a concepsocast democracy that challenges the aenated potics (the indrect detachedof invovement) statsm and the social of labor Concretely the Eurocommuoccupaton wth the goal of an intern

formed state gnores the role of corgans of strugge workers' and comassemblies acton committees and grmovements of feminists students and on shaping a more comprehensve demand socalst transformaton . In faiingfront the problem of how to generamodes of poltical fe of how to arrdfferent reationshp between potcatures and mass activity Eurocommun

resisted comng to grps with the rea cobureaucratic mpedments to democratizIn th e end we find an nnovatve"

that nvokes the mystique and potcguage of Gramsc but whch has ittle mon with the actua hstorca Gramsc.Eurocommunst theorists emphaticaly dactuaty of revoluton" and the possiinsurrection soca struggle and poputro over the economy and state as u

and even dangerously adventurist."they sti l formally cng to antcaptastist programs such claims are destbecome abstract as they grow more anremoved from the methods and strateand the vision necessary to achiev


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This separation of goals from srategy inherenin a inear organic evolutionism that restrictssocialis ransformation to bourgeois instiuions and negates the theory of rupure" wasthe essence of classica socia democracy anda major source of its difficut fate. Not Gramscihen but Bernstein emerges as he first creative

theoreica genius behind the Eurocommunistdream of a democratic road

CONCIONThe sysematic distortion and misappropria-

tion of Gramsci by he Eurocommunists posesissues that go far beyond he destiny ofGramsci's arxism or even of he Communistparties themselves It is not a mater of pre-serving he integrity or purity of one theorist's

contributions nor of clinging to the memory ofa revouionary period hat has long sincevanished Nor need we prove that Gramsci'spolitical v ision and analysis were in the long runcorrect much less ha hey ought to be directlyappied to the present conex in he advancedcountries

At issue is something entirey different: thepoenia impac of strengthening sociademocratic currens in Western Europe and the U.S

on t he future development of sociaist and pro-gressive movements Insofar as sociademo-cratic perspecives have become dominant even fashionabe wihin he Left in a numberof countries he pressures favoring a narrowpragmaism seem insurmountabe On the otherhand such pressures tend to limi the kinds ofquestions that can be asked; they resrict thescope and possibiity of revoutionary visionanguage and commitments On the other

hand these pressures reinforce already strongendencies which insist hat socia ransforma-ion can amount to ite more han securinglimited reforms within he exising politicalframework. Eurocommunism is situated square-y wihin this evoving srategic wordview

however much it protess against thohave anticipaed is ecipse as a revoforce. And much ike earier phases odemocraization i is being defended afied in he name of pas revouionaryand images ha have been emptied of conent . Why this shoud be true is no

to understand Al strategies of sociarequire some form of theoretica egitust as the legacies of arx and Lenbeen employed to ustify bureaucraicism in he Sovie Union and elsewhereEurocommunism he heroic stature of is invoked to rationalize what amountscycing of the very socia democraGramsci himself so strongy detestopposed.

In Southern Europe and the U.S sethe Left have seized upon Gramsci's cof ideoogical strugge democracy mticipaion poitica aiances etc as dote to Leninist vanguardism he dictof the proetariat and he Soviet modsinglepary stae Guided by the sassumption that the ony strategic cbetween an oumoded Leninism and a reaistic" sructura reformism this a

inevitaby associates the egacy of Gramthe vision of a harmonious linearmentary road to socialism. Whie it service to ypicaly Gramscian themetransformaion of socia relations cueveryday ife it fails o explain hogoas can be achieved without simutacreaing the institutiona basis of a newcratic state without pressing the aims ostrugge Hence in the midst of econo

poitica crisis we find the contesociademocratic currents absorbed bourgeois ogic: for Eurocommunism ony mean a rereat ino the poausterity aw and order and bureaucfluence whie for simiar forces in the


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where o mass sociaist movemet exists itmeas itegratio ito the orbit of the Democratic arty

APPENDIX: TOGLIATTI AND TEORIGINS OF "EUROCOMMUNISM

Although efforts to pipoit the theoreticaad strategic origis of Eurocommuism areboud to be arbitrary a good case ca be madefor the period begiig i the mid1930s Thisis whe the CI uder the guidace of theCom iter ad the leadership of Togliatti firstadopted opular Frot tactics Ideed Togliat-ti aog with Dimitrov helped formulate thispolicy at the Seveth Comiter Cogress i1935 I a compete turaroud from the co

frotatioa politics of the third period" thefrotist approach ooked to broad aliaces ofatifascist forces workig maily through elec-toraparliametary ad tradeuio activity asa meas of defedig bourgeois democracy adstregtheig the iteratioal positio of theSoviet Uio agaist the challege of ussoiiad Hitler Frotism" came to be idetifiedwith the defesive struggle agaist fascism ota revoutioary strugge agaist capitalism ad

for socialism I the ate 1930s Togiatti (ioscow) argued for frotist tactics i a seriesof artices pubished i the party oura Statoperaio; with the C eadership either udergroud or i exile it was prepared to accept theComiterTogiatti ie I uly 1941 theC stated that its obectives were to overthrowthe fascist regime reestabish costitutioafreedoms form a popuar govermet adarrest the fascist hierarchs This reflected a dra-matic shift from the C's Fourth Cogress atDusseldorf i 1930 where Togliatti caed fora isurrectio of the Italia peope agaistfascism te destructio of fascism and capital-ism by revoutioary methods ad the estabishmet of soviets ad a dictatorship of the

20

L 27 AY 193Ie ium l" a t\ Or. n '< ! , M h

t a* n r > !

f , . - c _ . I,- . Ic ._ tr-. - ._#"-

_ , . r U_ fl ,

i # * U .":,!..:.N-y f4 _.

A French eae announcng Grc

proletariat A importat Comiter figure for e

years Togliatti iteraized the outooSoviet leadership its perceptio o

politics its sese of priorities ad its sad tactical orietatio His attachmeCommuist arty of the Soviet Uio quaified Togliatti's ifluece ecouradeveopmet of frotist attitudes amoeaders that carried over ito the Resista


23/80

postwr yers. Hence the re consequences ofthe opulr Front would not be felt until themid1940s nd lter when shortrnge tctics(for the overthrow of fscism) were buit inton institutionized longterm strtegy thtbecme known s the democrtic rod to soci-ism. By 19444 the wr nd the prtisn

mobiliztion generted new revoutionry opportunities: the power structure ws in shmbes councils nd oc structures hd proif-erted in northern nd centr Ity nd theC hd grown into thriving ntionlpopu-r" prty. But such revoutionry opportunities were never pursued. Toglitti on his returnfrom oscow in 1944 steered the prty towrd frontist nd defensive new course" strtegythe CI spurned insurrection turned wy

from locl democrtic forms induced theprtisns to surrender their rms nd movedtowrd collbortion with bourgeois prtiesround the immedite gos of reconstruction" encting Repubicn constitution ndbuiding government of ntionl unity."The C entered every Itin cbinet betweenApril 1944 nd y 1947 hoping to soidifyinstitutiony its ttempt to crete brod ntifscist colition.

The Cs cose ttchment to the SovietUnion during those yers ws reinforced by theSoviet roe in defeting Germny nd by thecommon strugge ginst fscism. Yet Stlinsims were fr removed from those of prole-trin interntionism they were primrilyto secure sphere of contro in estern Europend mintin stbility esewhere so tht theUSSR could rebuild its own society. A revoution in tly (or esewhere in Europe) woud dis

rupt these prospects by forcing Soviet conflictwith the Alies. Therefore frontist poicy thtdefned fscism rther thn cpitlism s thetrget of strugge nd emphsized moderteelector tctics ws functionl to Soviet inter-ests but disruptive for socilist movements in

Western Europe It my we be thtctics lso corresponded perfectly to thpremise of cpitist stbiiztion " decline of the proetrit s revolugency in the dvnced cpitist couWhtever the expntion the CI s n instrument of postwr stbiizti

Togitti s genius both in his prtyship nd his theoreticl cpcity rehis shrewd ppliction of Resistncend Grmscin concepts within orienttion to the chlenges nd presthe postwr sitution. For exmpe Tsoon pproprited Grmscis ides of lpopulr" strugge soci bloc" nfor ideoogic hegemony but trnstinto frmework of elite linces e

mobiiztion nd structur reform bourgeois stte the Grmscin vision utionry trnsformtion ws jettisonprty of new type" envisged by Tws mssbsed ntionl formtion tht woud struggle for n expnded rcy within the poitic institutionsnscent Itlin repubic Toglitti s fmtoris in Rn during the te 194ery 190s hmmered wy t this de

from pre193 CI strtegy while egitit in expicity Grmscin (nd even Lterms. Of course the Cominterns Front ws conceived in strictly mneuver nd this ws surey the degiven it by the CI during nd immfter the Resistnce In retrospect hfrontism cn be understood s the genesv Iln, s institutionized tctevolved into the Cs contemporry

crtic rod strtegyOnly fter 196 however with the SoStliniztion cmpign nd Toglitti's tion of poycentric" word Commcould the Cl unch the v Iln in Togitti begn to outline theoretic


24/80

premises of a politca strategy within andthrough the bourgeos democratic state; thestate apparatus woud not have to be destroyedby the working cass and repaced by new prole-tarian forms but coud be internaly reformedand democratzed n the process of budngsocasm Togatt noted the compexty"

and the ncreasingly popular character of themodern paramentary system and concludedthat state power coud be gradualy trans-formed from a mechanism of captalist dom-naton into a sphere of open contestaton whereeements of socasm could be ntroduced nCI parance the idea of a secular non-ideologica" state woud suppant the out-moded arxst concept of an instrumenta"state hus wth each eectora gan wth

each new reform wth each new institutonapostion conquered the C in alance wthother democratic" antimonopoy forces could set n moton a power shift away fromcorporate power and toward socasm Itcoud n the language of Gramscian strategyhope to acheve hegemony" within institu-tons that were no onger domnated by a singlecass And snce the boundary separatng stateand cvil socety n neocaptasm" was moredffuse than ever bourgeoi politica structureswere more vulnerabe to incursons of alsorts

These were the strategic premses inked toan evoutionary peaceful and more or essstable transitona process routed through a re-constituted bourgeos state that paved theway to the Eurocommunsm" of BeringuerCarrilo and archais a decade afterogiatti's death Although possessing no realtheoretica orginaty Eurocommunism lke

the v l before it represents a unqueamalgam of traditona social democraticfrontist and neoarxist currents It reflectsnot the extenson of Gramsci for whom thedemocratc roat was nothing but a massve

22

deception but his misappropraton fononrevolutonary obectves. As we hathe rentroducton of Gramscian cbarely conceals an underyng strategcthat actualy recals Bernsten ratheGramsci for the C the historical anretcal determinants the present stra

back to 19 or even 1935 but no ear

FOOTNOTE

I Pietro grao, Mae e potere Roma Edto

1977) pp. 25053. Ths takes up a famlar T

theme the gradua modfato of strutures res t oe step further by argug that the p

should ever be the exlusve agey of potial h

2 atiago Carrlo, Euroommuim ad Lodo Lawree ad Wshart 1977), pp 272

stresses that as the bourgeos state expads i futos it beomes the major lous of otrad

ate aptalsm; but ths poit s ever realy dev

3. Ibid p 28 It s eessary to dstigush herhroi ogog rses that are edem to apbasi otradtos ad atatrophi rses o

that might ead to system olapse The Euroo

reogze the frst deed base ther strategy osst that gobal apitasm the absee of wa

eough to ota the latter. This perspetve df

orthodox Kautska) Marxsm, whh assumedma rises of the apitast eoomy woud grad

toward ataysm rupture, but s osoat diate ater wth Berste' s evolutoary st4 Ths was oe of the themes that emerged fro

etatios of ergo egre ad Luo Lombardo Roferee o Euroommusm the U. 1978 Maxy Be, Marketg Euroommuiso 38.

5. Petro Igrao, La svota d 1956 e la va

soalismo, Riaita Jauary 21, 1977

6. Paoo Bufai, Le origie dela ostra L Uita April 24 19 77 Ths artie was oe o f mlshed i a speia ssue of L Uita ommemorat

tieth aiversary of Gramss death The ke

Gramsi's ifluee o urret PCI deveopmeemphasized by leadig PCI fgure Giorgo Napli

sees the struggle for hegemoy a mpesoasts to outdo apitalsts maagg the eo

hs The Italia Road to Soiaim Westpor

Lawree Hill a d Co , 1 977), p. 46


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7. Carrillo op c p 8. I p. 102.

9 Frado Claudi Eurocommunsm an ocalsm

(Lodo: Nw L Books 1978) p 85.

10 Max Gordo "T Tortial Outlook o Ialia

Commuists ocals Revoluon o 33 p. 31 .1 1 . Gramsi "ydialism ad t Couis i uiti

Hoar d. elecons from olcal Wrngs 191-19(Nw York: Itaioal Publisrs 1977) p. 109

12. "Rvolutioaris ad t Eltios op c p. 1271 3 Ib pp 28-129.

14. "Eltoralism op c p. 105

15. "ydialism ad t Couils p. 1 10 . For a abo

raio o s ms s my Gramsc 's Marxsm (Lo

do: Pluto Pss 1976) pp 86-89.

16. "T Party ad t Rvolutio op c pp 142-14317 . Ib p 149

18 " La Coquista dlo sato L 'Orne Nuovo (July 12

199) i Mario pila d. Anono Gramsc cr

olc (Roma: Edioi Riuii 1967) p. 221 .

19. "Fis Rw t Pary i Hoar op c p 1 60.

20 " Two Rvolutios op c pp 306307. T orliasydialis iu upo Gramsis arly oug is vi

dt ot oly i t mpasis o xtraparliamay

poiis bu i poduivis bias oward sritly work

pla aivity.

2 1 . " idaao osigi L 'Orne Nuovo (Oob 1919) i cr olc p. 248

22 "T Commuiss ad t Etios i uii

Hoa d. Anono Gramsc elecons from olcal

Wrngs 191-19 (Nw Yok: Iraioal Publiss1978) p 33

23 "T Eltios ad Frdom op c pp. 36-37.

24. "O Ya op c p. 82.25 "Our Trad Uio tragy op c pp. 6768.

Gramsi opposd Bodigaispid statgy ot oly i

spr o rad-uio poitis but i or aas w i t

aso akd a ssiiviy o popula "spoaous orms

o sruggl

26 "T Progamm o LOrne Nuovo" op c p. 235.

27. "Lyos Tss op c pp 340341 ad 360-361 . is aaysis o soial dmoay Gramsi autiod tat

o sould o alow aliy o asism o obsur t

a a soia-dmoai urrs rps o igt

wig o t polaria bu t l wig o bougoisi

28 Ib p. 35729 or xamp "N ots o aia History ad " T

a ad Civi oiy i uii Hoar ad Gory

Nowl-mi ds eleons from he rson Noeboos

of Anono Gramsc (Lodo: Law ad Wisar

1971) pp. 57 235. T oigis o su a approa a

arady b dtd i "Lyos Tss ad v i

som o Gramsis arlir writigs.30 For a mor omprsiv assssmt o t d

btw Gramsi ad Li s my Gramsc 's . 5 ad Paul Pio "Byod Li ad

Gramsis Marxism heory an ocey (Wi3 . Hi Wbr "Euroommuism oia

Dmoay Ne Lef Reve o 1 0 p. 13 32 A issu is ot so mu t statgi rqu

broad aias or v t sop o su aliatir politial diiti o. I as o Euro

paris tat diiio is primaily loral.

33 Fo a xll disussio o is poi sMadl From alnsm o urocommunsm

Nw Lt Books 1978) pp 1647734 Gamsi did i Api 1937 T availabbasd upo rports om is brotr ad otidiats tat Gamsi vr supportd Popu

poliy Luio Coltti "Gamsi ad R

Ne Lef Reve o 65 pp 9 1-9235. Carls F Dlzl Mussoln 's nemes

An-Fascs Ressance (Pio N : Prio

siy Prss 196) pp. 12 7 20736 Tis poit is dvopd by Hrbrt Ma

ove Marxsm (Nw York: Vitag Books

3941.

37. u oria samts ar rpatd t

Togliattis wiigs ad rpos spially i t

1958-1964 A good samplig is oaid i Togva Ialana al ocalsmo (Roma: Editori Riui

or xampl pp 179-182; 192-196; ad s

Domad sulo staliismo "P u go vro ddll 1assi lavoaii ad Pr u

maggioraza.

38 . Probably Togiais mos ambitious or otio btw Gamsi ad is ow ory

tural orms is is "N quarasimo aiv

pario omuista italiao i paro (RomRiui 1964)

39. Luio Magri rs to is as "orgai lima spii statgy rood i isory rlig

statgi oi (by pary adrsip ta tally saps utur dvopm " Italia Co

i ixis Ne Lef Reve o. 66 p 39

CARL BGGS is an associate editor ofAmerica, and a member of the New AMovement He teaches sociology at UCis the author of Gramc' arxmPress)


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HELPING OURSELVESh d P f f

With

Self help has emerged as a widey acclaimed major hrus of he eighies. Pomagaznes, The New York Time and he federa governmen have al recognizepoenia of he self help movemen o influence human service policies and progHundreds of housands of self help groups now exis across he counry Some are affwih naion-wide organizaions whie ohers are more isolaed local effors where peopl

ogeher o help hemselves cope wih and cure a wide range of human problems. Ideically hey range from he conservaive piey of an Alcoholics Anonymous o he rfeminism of feminis sef-heah aciviies )

Is his aciviy simply an exension of he self-absorpion of he sevenies Is i a rino individua souions and a ploy o keep peope from demanding wha hey need frosae? Or does i reflec a growing, healhy skepicism of professionals and he welfarebureaucracy? Coud i be a sign of a poenially imporan rise in commimen o podemocracy? Wha, indeed, is he proper response of sociaiss and feminiss o his grhenomenon?

hese quesions are of some imporance o he Lef in he Unied Saes he s

magniude of curren self help aciviy especialy among working class peope, cals upo have a leas, an analysis f is poliica implicaions and an undersanding of is aurher, he experience of feminis self help suggess ha here may be ways o coseleced self help aciviy wih a broader socialis and feminis sraegy A is bes, selmay even serve as one way o formulae a lef poliics which is more grounded in he

Opposte: hoto by Ken Heyman from The Famly of Woman


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experience of working class life and whichthereby helps define socialism more broadlythan the economistic formulations which sooften characterize it. n addition an understanding of the power of self help as a meansfor individual change may also go farther incomprehending the fundamental inadequacies

of the social services provided by the modernwelfare state.

WHAT IS SE HE?

he nature of self help itself gives rise to thecontradictory questions raised above. Self helpis the effort of people to come together ingroups in order to resolve mutual individualneeds. Today this activity consists of indi-viduals sharing concerns about personal

emotional health or family problems. Some-times community or ethnic groups whichorganize to improve their neighborhoods orsocial situations also call themselves selfhelpgroups. he major reasons fo defining anactivity as self help are that it involves groupactivity and meetings of the people with theproblem not outside experts or professionalsand that the main means by which difficultiesare addressed are mutual sharing support

advicegiving and the pooling of groupresources and information. embers benefit asmuch from the sharing of their problems andthe process of helping others as they do fromthe advice and resources provided by others. Inmost cases there is a strong ethic of groupsolidarity so that individual members becomeconcerned about the progress of other groupmembers as well as in their own cure".

Within this broad common definition how-ever there is wide variety in focus and emphasisfor self help groups. At one end of the spectrumare the politically aware feminist self helpefforts in health care rape crisis batterewomen shelters and other service areas. Hereself help is selfconscious empowering demo

26

cratic effort where women help each otoften provide an analysis and an exampwhich to criticize and make feminist don the system. At the other end are which focus on the specific problem onAA other anonymous" groups or victim groups with self help used on

means for coping with a problem not anative model for society or even delivery. In between are groups whicselected self help as a means to help thebut which also come to draw from the ways to suggest broader changes oftensocial services system and sometimeswhole social system. While all share keyof self help and all may teach certain lessons about the importance of social ne

and group solidarity their differenccrucial and need to be understood anuated as a part of any Left critique of se

HISTORICA ROOTS O SE HESome of the comforts and supports n

vided by selfconscious self help groualways been available. rior to industriaopment village and family networks wprimary means by which people helpe

other survive the economic health ansocial dificulties associated with a hardindustrial disruption made such suppoaccessible early nineteenth century began to band together in new fomutual aid" organizations composed vidual craft workers or in America espof groups of ethnically homogeneous whese early groups formed to provide basic economic and social needs not afrom employers the state the church graphic community. eager resourcepooled to provide burial and family insulimited food clothing and economic suptimes of ill health disability and familIn Britain and the U.S. the emergence o


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bural socees" workngmen's ad" assocaons frendly socees" and mmgran adassocaons refleced consan effors byworkers o help each oher and help hemselveso cope wh he healh and socal problemsassocaed wh capals developmen. Theremanng records of such groups show a grow-

ng sense of collecve responsbly whin hegroups and he gradual creaon of socal ne-works whch performed wder socal funconshan only he nsurance of economc survval.2

s easy o admre hese selfconsousworkers' effors lke ha of Workmen'sCrcle o form an organzaon ha couldcome o her asssance n erms of need andespecally n case of sckness ha would provde hem and her famles wh plos and

decen burals n case of deah and exend somemeasure of help o her survvng dependensha would fnally afford hem congenal fel-lowshps and hereby lessen he lonelness ofher lves n a srange land" s mporanhowever o avod romanczng hs early selfhelp acvy Some groups were conrolled byhe more conservave and esablshed elemensn he craf or communy who kep he groupsfrom ganng a more broad class" denfca-

on Ohers served as a base from whch o ds-rus or gnore raher han denfy wh he

needs of oher workers no n he same ehnc group. And a bes hese early could only provde he mos mnmal asso her members sll leavng hem whsocal dsadvanages Of course n mepublc ad was exremely punve and nonexsen even such lmed effor

crucial o he survval and srengh of wand her famles Bu hey were also phe only means of survval Self help wonly help avalable was no developbeer more humane alernave means por; orgnally was he only means por. Ths s a crucal dfference beweeself help and curren effors

Exacly hese lms o early self help were wha led early unons and soca

Bran o agae for greaer publc rebly for socal needs. n response o hsure he Brsh governmen began o ahowever poorly and unfarly many healh and welfare funcons of he segroups Unons oo developed more bcrac bu also more exensve servceme he mmedae servce needs addrehe self help groups The ype of care prby he unons and he governmen was

ever generally herarchcal and rounzmbued a all wh he prncples of dem

icnic of La France Muual A i Sociey Lynn Mass


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shang and mutual dependence whch had alsochaactezed eay self help effots. (Hee wesee the tadeoff whch contnues nto todaywhen smascale sef help effots ae assumedby lage publc bueaucaces The sevceaspects ae made moe wdely avalable but themutual ad featues ae eplaced by expetse

and bueaucatc potes)In the US the ecognton howeve gudg-

ng of publc esponsbty fo human needsdd not take place untl much ate and awaysn a moe mted way Instead the captalststhe tade unons and the mansteam leadeshpof the emegng soca wok pofesson untedn the aguments that pubc sevces mghtweaken ndvdua ntatve and ndependenceWhe these foces dd not especaly appecate

the democatc soca oots of self help they ddsuppot the deal that the needy shoud hepthemseves" wthout ookng to publc budgetsfo suppot The wok ethc the Hoato Algedeoogy and the ack of a boadbased socalsto abo paty meant that the vey success ofwoke and Black sef hep effots was used todeny the necessty of boade pubc espons-bty fo majo soca needs Sef help became aconsevatve tem an end n tsef whch was

nvoked to keep wokes and mnoty goupsfom demandng soca assstance The pce ofdemocatc self suppot became lmtedmateal ewads whch wee seen as nobe anda pat of the Amecan tadton of ndvduaeffot Samue Gompes was a leade n thspopuazaton of a hghy consevatve unde-standng of self help:

28

Doing for people what they can and ought todo for themselves is a dangerous experimentIn the last analysis the weare of workersdepends upon their own initiative

Gven such a clmate many socalsts and

adcal blacks gew to be skeptcal of sThey could see the lmted mteal easkng the pooest wokes and black pcae fo themseves n the communteeve the psychologcal benefts of localo mutual ad ost evoved a stamakng demands on the state fo sev

suppot and then always agtatng focontol and nput nto what was pWhle socalsts communsts and blatants of the 1920's and 1930's dd notoppose self help stateges they dd gvew them as a mted tactc.

The Unempoyment Councls and Lethe 1930's dd suppot numeous seactvtes: cothng exchanges ent shousng and food assstance tansp

hep etc These goups also oganzmade demands on loca wefae authoweve and neve vewed self help asn tself as dd cetan ess poltca goups whch aose dung the ealy deyeas Communsted oganzatons lay wee ctca of the membes fonto wok whch was only" self hentenal pess suppoted ts use only accompshed two goas: 1) dentfydeveopng ocal actvsts and povdwth meanngfu ocal wok and 2) pobase fo makng potca demands emegng pubc wefae system Othepaty neve explctly valued self help aof oganzaton even though t suppotan self heptype effots fo ts own m camps chld cae goups even goups Fo nonpaty membes the bacsm emaned: that self help effots neavoded class stuggles and confontat

the enemy unless hghy lmted n scdected towad moe potca" wok cated paty membes


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SE EP AS A SERVICE ACTIVITYThere is an interesting parae to these atti-

tudes in the professiona deveopments of theperiod ust as the more conservative tradeunionists and back eadership supported sefhep as a means for worker and communityindependence so did the more conservative

doctors awyers and socia workers whoworked in the private sector The private heathand wefare estabishment saw individua andgroup change coming out of sef hep activities.ore ibera professionas argued that thisstrategy abandoned the poor and they there-fore aied with eftists in demanding morepubic programs. They argued that it wasunreaistic to expect the victims of society tohep themseves and that outside intervention

from expert professionas funded by thegovernment was the ony reasonabe hopefor change. These ibera socia workers andmedica experts gained power in federa andstate programs throughout the 930's and 40'sso that by the 950's the pubic heath andwefare estabishment had become as critica ofsef hep as a service strategy as eftists were ofit as poitica tactic

Sef hep came into its own as a service

activity during the 930's and 40's in spite (orperhaps because) of increasing professionahostiity. As the private and pubic insuranceand wefare estabishments grew sef hepchanged form moving from group provision ofwefare insurance and buria services to aprocess of socia supports for deaing with arange of persona famiy and emotiona prob-ems The process of sef hep became important not for itsef as a mode and base for

democratic sefsupport but as a means toachieve persona goas for change or to come toterms with unavoidabe difficuties.

The poverty of the Depression gave rise tomany sef hep service projects Food cothingand housing exchanges deveoped European

refugees and interna immigrants ormutua aid groups ost important hwas the birth of Acohoics Anonymouin 935; it has served as a primary mosef hep service activities since its incewas founded by a pair of midwestern who found itte hep in the medica

work or psychiatric professionas anbegan to deveop a behavior oriented rey imbued program of group support ansure for acohoics. The mode consistedmitting the power of one's probem anding hep from feow acohoics as we a higher power" in order to earn drinking This was to be done by devenetwork of feow acohoics by attendquent even daiy meetings where

sions take pace about persona expwith acoho and where the goa of sobribe achieved one day at a time". Dupon such basic simpe principes Arapidy reaching 40 by 947 and cuinvoving more than 7acohoics

t is easy for sociaists and professiocriticize Acohoics Anonymous. Its rpietism is fundamentaist and imiting. its procaimed organizationa refusa

federa money or poitica positions erans have increasingy designed and acohoism services across the country mony with AA principes. These proften excude women and those who hhit bottom" with their drinking as inteectuas or more educated middpeope ess comfortabe with the somewhpistic Tweve Steps Yet AA does aphave a higher success rate than other fo

professiona hep with the compex prassociated with acohoism. It does atargey workingcass popuation who harecourse to private services. It aso offehoics the experience of a nondrinkinmunity where they can earn to ike the


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better dmit to ther problems trust others ndbegin to rebud their lives. One feminst co-hosm counseor summed up its lmittons:

30

AA cnnot be eveythn, epeclly fowomen It c be conevtve n But

fo mny wmen AA ll thee I fee

It ' nonjumentl but t puhe them totop nkn It offe the compnonhpn uppot ofothe who hve been thouhthe me thn It ve people hope to oon

Im not yn thee couln t be omethnbette, moe poltcl, le elou But onthe othe hn you hve to elze how fcult n complex "nkn poblem Ittke nceble eney, ptence n fot

tue to cope wth lcoholc Mybe onlyothe lcoholc cn An th n onzton they hve cete whch wok bettethn lot of othe thn So wht we ty too upplement AA fo women wth moefemnt nly n content, y ce evce n o foth The whole poce of ettn youe toethe n toppn nkn too fle thn fo u to unemne AA

Other self help services hve formed usingthe Anonymous model where the focus is onthe problem fced nd the process of mutulhelp nd support s vued s n effectve mensto tht end not s go in tsef. GmblersAnonymous Overeters Anonymous rentsAnonymous (for people who hve bused theirchldren) re only three of the dozens of groupswhich re modeled cosey on AA nd ttemptto help people dmt tht they hve probem

nd get hep from others n the sme situtionto overcome it. Al groups rely on recovering"vctms to hep others helping roe whch isoften mjor form of continung mprovementfor the od time members. Athough somegroups mke greter use of professionls thn

others in l peers ssume prmry routside soci networks often grow ougroups whch provide people with wiof supports Whe there is no hrd dnonymous groups (most of which exchve been founded since the midfiftito ttrct lrgey white workngcltion nd crete strong loytes mohelped

Since the 940's other servces whichhep s mor mens of heping peowth or resove personl difficultiemerged ny drug progrms hve uhep ctivities to crete terntve coties" chrcterized by mutul discosuport nd pressure. Snce the 1940's (nroomng in the 1970's) there hs been

ncrese n helthoriented sef help pfor the fmies of vctims of cncer diseses nd for the vctims themselvevictims cncer victims hert disese prents of chidren wth own 's Syndrnme only few of thousnds) hvtogether to discuss their feeings rectsymptoms nd to help ech other emoWhe these progrms re often suppthe medcl system they frequently

shre voc nd strong crticsms ofsionlism nd professonl cre

The socl wefre nd medicl ements hve rected to l this increhelp ctvty wth dfferent types of reSometmes groups hve been criticizedurng the initil phses) for resstfessionl tretment" or for vodngThe more critc the groups becomequlity of professonl cre ( compo

most l sef hep groups no mtter worgns) the more they re resisted bynd soci workers. However unt tpens they re often supported by profs nother form of service especily fowith dfficult" probems i.e those p


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lke acohosm dug abuse ncuable"cance senty and othe afflctons not amen-able to conventonal nteventon. Indeed thefedea govenment has become enamouedwth self hep appoaches povdng funds focetan effots and even dentfyng the exst-ence of a contnuum of cae" ncudng self

help at one end and fu nsttutona cae at theothe all of whch wl eque some fom ofpubc suppot and montong

As wth AA t s easy to ctcze ost ofthese self hep sevce effots can be egtmateyvewed as methods by whch the estabshedmedcal mental heath and socal wok pofes-sons get peope to povde sevces to themseves whch the pofessonas won't o can'tpovde Cheap cae and an avodance of publc

esponsblty may be obvous Yet eftstswokng n these felds also have suppoted sehep sevces n ecognton of the mts of po-fessona cae and n ode to suppot the cea-ton of a stonge less feafu consume conscousness among cents o vctms of pobems as vaed as acohosm dug abusecance and chonc dsease In addton manymembes of such sef hep sevce goups fndthem much moe helpful and acceptabe foms

of cae than othe moe pofessonal sevcesSuch goups may povde eease and suppotwhch come fom shang and comadeeThese esults cannot be dsegaded especalyfo people who fet despeatey aone befoe theexpeence. A wokng cass vetean of AAOveeates Anonomyous and Smoke ndes efected smay on what sef hep meant to he :

Se help oup elly help They mke you

feel like you e not lone with youe oyou poblem You he with othe nfin out you e not the only one who mokein the howe o bke two pie fo you fmily n et one befoe nyone come home

Im not ue how it wok, but omehow you

feel like tyin in

My ite h in fct uhie She h lwy luhe t moup but fte tht hppe

oine one hee She ut couln t lone, feelin o uilty n not knowone with the me poblem Tht'

help men to me

atcualy mpotant to many peophep goups s the oppotunty to helwth smla poblems. The expeence ths can be powefu and stengthencaly fo peope who have ony fet kbefoe

In shot as a fom of socal sevcegoups have poven themseves to be

and empoweng to many despte theta use as a vehce fo povdng cheaces to unwanted cents As one aspegeneal soca sevces system self hepseem a secue and welcome addton. Tton emans howeve whethe ths sef help actvty has any undeyng mthe left. Fo such dscussons we mustecent effots of the women's moveme

THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMINISTSEF HEP

f t ween't fo the deveopment ofself hep especaly n health we mghnteested n the whole queston of whehelp can be a seous pat of a socast Self hep woud be seen as meey a soce wth tte boade poltca mpactmpessve effots of women aound tty to take sef hep seously as a healtof elatonshp between women and to wth femnst anayss may suggest genea model fo euntng self hpotca pactce

Sef hep has been a centa pat femnst sevce wok whch has n tu


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35/80rphi RY dy li f r is f r l h g


36/8034

ne of he pevalence of ape and women-baeng The yemuppong apec of allmedcal and welfae cae foced women nodevelopng new model and no lookng oeach ohe fo nfomaon and uppo. Theealy uccee of many goup n ang he

concoune of women who came fo ev-ce wa heaenng and uanng Suanedpacce mean ha femn have been able opu he pncple of elf help o he e oexploe he need fo ucue and pecalza-on whn a elf help famewok o dcovehe complexe of many healh and emoonalpoblem and o deemne when pofeonalhelp may ndeed be neceay

All h leanng and gowh ha no beenwhou co howeve. Healh cene paculaly have uffeed nene bueaucachaamen fom he medcal pofeon whchha been anxou o poec gh o conolwho pacce medcne. o elf help po-gam have uffeed fom fundng poblem ofa mla o The medcal and ocal welfaeeablhmen demand legmacy befoehey povde money hough hd pay pay-men (edcad pvae nuance) o decevce conac They eque a he vey

lea a pofeonal cove fo mo alena-e evce and ofen efue fundng unlbueaucac heachcal ucue ae acual-ly n place Some baeed women heleognally eceved money n lgh of favoablepublcy wh mnmal hale bu a mepaed welfae agence peed o fund aange of evce (e. nonfemn pogam) wh moe famla pofeonal ap-poache. n addon nflaon and cu back

have alo lmed he amoun of money aval-able

The poblem have no been all exenalehe The me and emoonal demand ofmo elf help evce have made had fomo goup o uan aff much le o do

he connual polcal educaon necemake he elf help offeed uly femnen Women wh pofeonal apaoa lack of femn value have been delf help effo The peue caaleady oveexended femn o leave

han fgh ceepng bueaucacy effcand pofeonalzaon n he md.h happen he muual ad democahang apec of he evce fade a uhey do when publc bueaucace decove

When uch poblem ae coupled wen geneal declne n a boadbaed fmovemen hey become even moe dffendue and uggle wh Even n we

onng elf help pojec en feel mlaed and le ue of wha all meexpeed by a women healh woke

After we fial/y ot our licee the all thi paperwork to o al/ the timwome ' commuity eeme le itbecaue we were 't i crii aymorwome who wate to work i the cemore iterete i health care thafemt jut eem to take more effort to b

n thee ay, to raie political iueroup or work meeti We're tila o OK but ue it ' a lot harerue to be

Femn evce hen have no olved old poblem wh elf help. Thehown ha poble fo pacpaonhelp o be an effecve mean fo pgowh and developmen. Epecally he

evce have hown u ha elf help mabe an nncally bee model of camay heeby offe an mmedae and pway fo people o undeand wha wh publc and pvae healh and welface. All have hown he naual lnk be


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democratc femnst movement and the processof sef hep Women who have partcpated nsuch programs talk about themseves as per-manenty changed I dont thnk I can everaccept wthout crtcsm the od authortaranmodels agan" But over tme the pressures toprovde servces on a arge scae wth adequate

fundng work aganst the abty to work n aself help manner Is t reasonable to assumethat we could realy provde femnst self hepservces to all the battered women who needthem for exampe? And f t s not we arealways stuck wth the lmts of even the most effectve self help efforts that the harder wework and the better we functon the greater thedemand and the more mpossbe t s to meet

PROBEM AND POTENTIA OE EP

Gven all ths how should eftsts respond tothe lkelhood that self help servces are lkey tocontnue to grow and reform n the future?The current momentum and recognton ofexstng programs seems unstoppable and wlprobably be even more appealng to admnstrators wshng to support an mage of contnuedservce provson n tmes of rea cut backs An

ncreasngly popuar answer to anyone wth aproblem wl predctaby be: on or form aself help group "

Should more socasts jon wth femnsts nsponsorng overty potca dual self helpactvtes"? Can we on wth exstng sef hepprograms and work from wthn" seengthem as workng cass organzatons needng aleft presence n order to acheve a progressvepotenta? Or should we reman outsde the

whole effort (except perhaps for pure femnstservces) and provde ony a crtcaly correctanalyss of the hopeless mass phenomenon"?

These questons are ony party facetous Asadvanced captalsm urches along servces andthe servce economy wl become more mpor

tant Self help servces may play an nmportant role n ths On the hopefuhelp actvty has the potental to becofrom whch people can crtcze demaffect the nature of the servce systemve way and out of whch progressvand clents can form meanngful all

the negatve sde self help servces mprovde an opportunty for anothesona coverup See we have a humaWe even let people take care of eaafter they are near death or ncapaemotonal and personal problems

The problem assumng these opcomes one f how to assst self help achevng ther potental as a base foand change rather than provdng tac

maton of professona hegemony antalst wefare state

In promotng the potental of secannot however gnore certan mmay be bult nto the actvty Frst wdeny that the nature of sef helpenormty of the dffcultes whch brto t often emphasze ony the personsons of peoples problems Even f components of problems are admtte

are n femnst and some other self hethe stress remans on how the vchange rather than on the mpcabroader socal acton There can evenform of vctm bamng whch takes plhelp: We are so fucked up ony weeach other Admttedly ths s an aspsychologca servces but the sef hewth emphass on socal support procty may serve to mask the ndv

approach more It aso may make t hpeope to move on to other actvtethe self help group may form the onlsystem peope know (AA has a strong ths; people become professona astl centered n the group and ther


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-DI

long afe dnkng has ceased o defne helves) Fo self hep acvy o lead o boadeccsm of he socal sevce sysem o hewhole of socey, hese endences mus beecognzed and alenaves made avalable, a

leas o hose who can make use of hemSecond, even wh self help se n a boade

conex, he quesons of scope and eaonshpo he sae wl s l affec u s Self help acvys pobably only a med sevce acc whch,whe can fom a base fo cczng and pes-sung he lage sysem, can neve fully eplacehe pofessona, bueaucazed sevces, aeas unde capasm Ths s a moe dffcupoposon o accep n pacce han sounds

n heoy We ge sucked n, we wan o savehe wod" and s dffcul o emembe hepolcal analyss whch els us ha he pob-ems we face ae geneaed by socal focesbeyond ou mmedae conol s had, ashose nvoved n sef help ofen adm, o have

36

o push he sae o povde sevces wknow wll be nfeo o wha we chough self help (bu on a lmed scahs leads o bunou and fusaon , eswhen boade movemens ae no acve

o help us keep ou acvy n pespecFnally, hee ae some phlosophca

lems assocaed wh self help, whch aeo hose suoundng many populs any self help goups, especally nfemns acves, become so skepoganzaon and expese ha hey almos myscal and annellecual Wclass ogns of cuen oganzaoexpese may lead o hs, as an

appoach becomes selfdefeang pocess of sef help, some people becompes" n he poblem mus hey hen egoup? O goups end o enven he pepeualy eleanng eveyhng abouems fom a femns, wokng class, co


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o black pespective. While Babaa Eheneich's and Deide Engish's suggestion that wetake what we want of the technoogy withoutbuying the ideology" sounds good the fulciticism of al pofessionalism which isinheent in heathy self help may make thisdifficult.

Futhemoe we stil have to fight ampantspecialization in self help goups. GantedDES daughtes have diffeent needs fom mas-tectomy patients and fom exmental patientsbut to be effective self help concens wil needto be linked togethe in boade analysis ofpocesses and poblems. A this must be ac-complished whie ecognizing that peope in im-mediate pain may esent any deviation fomthei immediate pobems.

hese ae seious dawbacks not to be ig-noed. Yet cuent cicumstances suggest thateftists shoud stil become involved in manyfacets of self help. We have the accumulatedexpeience of feminist sef hep to guide usaway fom some of the wost pitfas. We havethe undeniabe boad public inteest in sef hepto povide a esponsive cimate fo ou effots.Finaly and most impotantly we have anationa social and economic situation which

may make self help once again a necessity fosuviva. Inflation and ceeping ecession havealeady made daiy iving moe tenuous andpessued. he oposition 13 appoach tosocia sevices wil make pofessiona suppotsless avaiabe subect to moe competitionamong those deseving sevice and moebueaucatization and fomaities befoe sevices can be deiveed. Given such a set of fac- it is not uneasonabe fo leftists to sup-pot and initiate sef hep effots as both aboad base fo citicism and change in thesocial sevice system as we as favoabe set-tings fo people to become exposed to sociaistand feminis ideas and pactice.

he pimay base fo ou involvement in self

hep goups can be pesonal. As femisociaists most of us expeience poblemlives as women men paents childesuvivos dinkes pocastinatos ple fat peope loney peope. oining ing a self hep goup can hep us as peust as activists with an agenda. his hmao souce of stength within the movement. Women have heped each obeen heped themseves with some eaand poitica issues in thei ives. heand loss of isolation which comes fomactivity ae eal and can povide us wgible enegy and stength. (his is nothat we cannot foste the ceation of goups othe than those we oin. Wehistoy of the batteed women's goup

this but it won't hut if we get some too.)Because self hep goups deal with pwhich aways contain a poitica as wesona component ou politica pespecbe a ea asset to such activity. Al goups contain an implicit citicismbueaucatic and pofessiona sevicespay an honest oe in binging this anciticism to the suface. Ou pespectiv

socia pogams and expets fai mayhep membes of the goup to stop themseves fo whateve pobem they speed up the deveopment of a socialwithin sef hep goups. It may aso hvidual goup membes ean about and feminism in a gounded not abstAs one woman not a sociaist de

I ws lwys f of tht stuff: so

femnsm It soune lke volence n t lest t ment b chnes n twhch wee beyon me Then I bevolve n se help oup hee [whee some of the women wee femone ws soclst They tlke bou


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m n femnm people helpn echohe, people yn o mke wol

whee we coul ele o ohe people moeeqully. h me ene o me n I een neee

Here the atural liks betwee self help ad

socialism / femiism reemerge At its best selfhelp provides exactly the kid of equal sharighelpig ad carig that we believe a socialistsociety ca embody he participatio i suchactivity may help ewcomers uderstad whatwe are workig toward ad offer the collectiveexperiece we all eed if we are to cotiue tothik that socialism is ideed possible.

38

As self help groups grow i their criticism ofthe health ad social welfare system ad i idi

vidual receptivity to left ideas socialists adfemiists ca help to orgaize the ewfoududerstadig ad ager ito pressure groupsfor chage We ca also help groups makealliaces with service workers who do ot seethemselves as elitist professioals but rather asworkers with a atural alliace to cliets A-other way to foster such alliaces is to fosterworkplace self help groups i huma serviceagecies which take up a rage of issues help

build ew etworks ad draw parallels betweeworkplace situatios ad those of cliets Iother workplaces we might use self help groupsas aother form of orgaizig which castregthe the coectios ad supports whichworkers ca provide each other o the ob

At a less persoal level we ca fight to pre-serve the victories of femiist self help espec-ially the wome's shelters ad wome's cliicsad also oppose federal attempts to professio-

alize ad cotrol such services as a coditio offudig heoretically we might do some aalsis which helps us better uderstad the atureof self help activity How is self help activityrelated to the populist treds ad values i thiscoutry? Ca it actually serve as prefigurative

commuism" ad allow people to expeeve briefly the social relatios which

exist uder socialism? How is it relatedarchism or to the otio of couteroy" discussed by Gramsci? Although refrom the fray such thoreticl pursuitshelp those egaged i self help better stad the ature of their activity ad passist them i avoidig the frustratio wofte accompaies self help work

Fially at the least as socialists adists we eed to view the impulse which

people to seek self help istead of profecare as a healthy act which embodies thi oeself ad oe's comrades which is eif we are ever to have socialism he lefto fid ways of expressig support for thret widespread eergy ad to help itWho kows we might eve fid a little hourselves i the process

NOE

1 here s a very arge urre ieraure o self h

eadg fgures ths area are Fra Ressma a

Garer who have wrtte S Hlp in h Human(Josey Bass, 1977 ad sposor he Naoal


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Clearighouse (CUN Y, 33 Wes 42d t. , Room 1 227, New

York NY 136.2 For a useful review o this history see Afred H Ka adEugee I. Beder el He Grous i Wester oiey

History ad roses i Te oual of pplied

Beaioal Siee X, o. 3 (96

3 Maximilia C. Hurwi Te oe Cile (New

York, 1936

4 amuel Gomers Seey ea of e ad abo 2vols (New York, 1925.

5. Pauie B. Bart, eiig the Meas of Rerodutio

A llegal Femiis Aborio Colleive How ad Why i

Worked, Abraham Lio hool of Mediie Uiver

sity o liois Chiago.

Deutsch-Englische JahrOcher GermanEngsh YeabkN. 6, a Shakespeae ecial s ut nw (240 pp)

Thmas Metscher: Geschchte Humantt Utpe

Buce Erlch Patter f the uges n theJacan Shakespeare

Rudf Shne: De egsche Fhhumase

Sll avaable

NO 1 : crtical essays Sheley, ndusa flk sgCaudwe prgressve American Theare,ga's Lve Sy

2

N 3:N 4:

NO 5 :

n cutura sudes ntbus ncude RaymndWlams Stuar Ha Graham Murck, Davd CagJhn akey

a US-Bicetennal umber featuig aticles byPau Sweezy Philip S er and Dk ede

Thties Mvemen ad R Decade wh cributs by H Gustav Kaus, Ramon e rtegaDeer Herms ad Eberhad Brnng

Thery, practce and cs he eachg fEgsh as a reg language.

(Eglish summaries rma atcles icluded)

ditoal addess: rstra3

28 Breme

33( Germay)

Glver is pblished twce yealyPrce per ssue DM 550 (DM 2, r sudents)Subscptn ate: DM 2860 (DM 25, fr sudets)

des fomARGUMEN-Vetrieb, Tegeler Strae 6 0 Beln 65( Germany)

6. Ibid_

7_ Heli . Marieskid ad Barbara Ehrereih

oiaist Mediie The Womes Heah M

Soial oliy eemberOober, 975

Ann Witho is an editor of Rcland is interested in a aspects of huma

ost of the quotes in the article are tacomments and papers written by humaworkers in a course she taught on Seat the University of assachusetts/ B

bLb a montly pae neWetterover te laomovement from aank an flepont of vew

SUBSCRIB TDAY! nclosed is $5 or a one-yea sbsc Please send e a fee sape copyNae

Addess

Cty Slale Zipn ion afi aion, i any

Mi Edci Rc P o 2000i Mci 48220


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BAD WOMN' FU Gemst perat ves s a l erve st tt s

oi hr

Reuges o baeed woen, ike ape cisis cenes, see o be undegoing a ansion houghou he nied Saes o einis, o hieachica, couiyoganiaions o insiuionaied socia seice agecies he shee i usin,poides a ypica eape o his asoaion s soeone who wiessed his popa o he oigia Coaiio o aeed oe which oed i usi, eNoebe 1976 and ae as one o he shees wo sa peope is hied i May

hae had a ong associaio wih he Cee, o paig o ipeeaio sageepeience ay hep einiss woking wih baeed woe aoid he pias we

hen we bega in oebe 976 we wee a coaiio o wey woe who epea einis couseing coecie, a woen and acohois ask oce, a Chicao nuses, socia wokes, gan wies, a woens cee, he oca ena heah agencwoe who had hesees bee baeed o who had coe o aiies whee osises had been baeed e epesened a diesiy o agecies, ages, ehniciieideoogies Though ou dieences wee abundan, ou coon goa kep us sihae eeyone s concens head e spe hudeds o hous aking abou wha we he goas o he goup o be because we e ha pocess o e cuca o ceang bueaucaic oganiaio hough discussio i appeaed ha we a beieed hieaodes ae oppessie o a peope, and hae hisoicay bee especiay so o inoio wen, in paicua, baeed woen ecause o his conicion we eieed sucue o euges o woe shoud be odes o coecie wok ach indiidua


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have he own ae of expetie and th

Radical America - Vol 14 No 3 - 1980 - May June

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