As a word, I agree with you. I tried to make that point in the article I
described. But when one finds people using "bourgeoisie" in a discussion
of the U.S., in a contect indicating that they are referring to the
capitalist class, it makes no sense to understand it as though they were
using "petty" or "petit" bourgeoisie.
The editor of Slavic Review devoted his space in the next issue to
urging readers to take my explanations to heart.
Bill
"A. Gregory Wonderwheel" wrote:
>
> Bill,
> Language is a living thing. It's not me, but the American
> dictionaries that do not recognize the translation issues you
> describe. And since I live in the USA and not in France or elsewhere
> in Europe, I don't feel it is a productive fight to resurect the
> original meaning and to try to rewrite the American Dictionaries on
> how the term is used. I remain convinced that if one
> means "capitalist" then one should use the word "capitalist" and
> not "bourgeoisie" because one wants to communicate one's meaning. The
> term bourgeoisie is hopelessly in a coma for the purposes of economic
> analysis in the 21st Century USA. Let's turn off the life support and
> let it go.
>
> Gregory
>
> --- In NewPacifica@yahoogroups.com, William Mandel <wmmmandel@e...>
> wrote:
> > Gregory:
> > You have it backward. In the mid-Sixties I published something
> in the
> > Slavic Review, learned journal of Sovietology, tearing apart a
> booklet
> > written by three respected American academics, one still well-known
> > (deservedly) at UC Berkeley, although now emeritus.
> > They had demolished the article in the Large Soviet Encyclopedia
> > about American history. None of them new Russian, and they relied
> upon a
> > translation by people totally illiterate in the terminology of
> Marxism,
> > socialism, and the labor movement.
> > One of their errors was to translate "burzhuazia" as "middle
> class,"
> > which was nonsense in the context used. The problem is that language
> > itself is used as an ideological weapon. All Europeans (French,
> Germans,
> > Spanish, Italians, Russians, to cite the languages I read)
> understand
> > "bourgeoisie" as "capitalists." Since the United States refused to
> > recognize, particularly after the dangerous emergence of class
> > consciousness during the Great Depression, that there is a class
> > division in this country, the antiquated translation, "middle
> class,"
> > dating to before capitalism existed, was preserved in our
> dictionaries.
> > I am no longer a Marxist because his proposed solution for the
> evils
> > of capitalism didn't work, despite the differences among the Soviet
> > Union, China, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and the variety of other countries
> that
> > tried it. But his analysis of capitalism as a system remains
> entirely
> > valid, and without his terminology one has confusion.
> > William Mandel
> >
> > "A. Gregory Wonderwheel" wrote:
> > >
> > > --- In NewPacifica@yahoogroups.com, "Leslie Radford"
> > > <realleslie@y...> wrote:
> > > <SNIP>
> > > The
> > > > bourgeoisie has fostered that identification in the United
> States to
> > > > divide the working class, giving white workers nominal
> supervisory
> > > > positions over workers of color, marginally better education,
> > > pitting
> > > > whites against people of color and immigrants for menial jobs.
> > > <SNIP>
> > >
> > > Such 19th Century Marxist terms when used to analyze the economic
> > > context of the 21st Century USA are more confusing than helpful.
> > >
> > > In American dictionaries the term "bourgeoisie" means the "middle
> > > class".
> > >
> > > >From the Columbia Encyclopedia: "Bourgeoisie: originally the
> name for
> > > the inhabitants of walled towns in medieval France; as artisans
> and
> > > craftsmen, the bourgeoisie occupied a socioeconomic position
> between
> > > the peasants and the landlords in the countryside. The term was
> > > extended to include the middle class of France and subsequently of
> > > other nations."
> > >
> > > It is not the middle class of artisans, craftsmen, shop keepers,
> > > service and industrial workers, etc., that bears primary
> > > responsibility for how the color line is used to exploit
> themselves,
> > > the middle class. It is the "overclass," as Wise terms them, who
> reap
> > > the greatest rewards and profit from the divisions created by
> > > constructing a color line.
> > >
> > > Gregory Wonderwheel
> > >
> > >
> > > New Pacifica Working Group
> > > http://www.egroups.com/group/NewPacifica
> > > 'Save Our Stations!'
> > >
> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > > NewPacifica-unsubscribe@egroups.com
> > >
> > >
> > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > ========================================================
> >
> > The title of my autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Introduction by
> > Howard Zinn), is based on my demolition of Sen. Joe McCarthy and
> later
> > of HUAC in hearings of 1953 and 1960. It is a history of how the
> > American people fought to defend and expand its rights since the
> 1920s
> > (I'm 86) employing the form of the life of a 30s AND 60s activist,
> one
> > who was involved in most serious movements: student, labor, 45
> years of
> > efforts to prevent war with the USSR and Cuba, civil rights South
> and
> > North, women's liberation [my late wife appears on 50 pages], 37
> years
> > on Pacifica Radio [where I reinvented talk radio, of whose previous
> > existence I had been unaware], civil liberties, and opposition to
> > anti-Semitism and to Zionism. You may hear/see my testimonies before
> > McCarthy and, later, HUAC on my website, http://www.billmandel.net
> I am
> > the author of five books in my academic field, have taught at UC
> > Berkeley, and earlier held a postdoctoral fellowship, by
> invitation, at
> > Stanford's Hoover Institution.
> > The book may be ordered through all normal sources. For an
> autographed
> > copy, send me $24 at 4466 View Pl.,#106, Oakland, CA. 94611
> > ========================================================
>
>
> New Pacifica Working Group
> http://www.egroups.com/group/NewPacifica
> 'Save Our Stations!'
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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>
>
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--
========================================================
The title of my autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Introduction by
Howard Zinn), is based on my demolition of Sen. Joe McCarthy and later
of HUAC in hearings of 1953 and 1960. It is a history of how the
American people fought to defend and expand its rights since the 1920s
(I'm 86) employing the form of the life of a 30s AND 60s activist, one
who was involved in most serious movements: student, labor, 45 years of
efforts to prevent war with the USSR and Cuba, civil rights South and
North, women's liberation [my late wife appears on 50 pages], 37 years
on Pacifica Radio [where I reinvented talk radio, of whose previous
existence I had been unaware], civil liberties, and opposition to
anti-Semitism and to Zionism. You may hear/see my testimonies before
McCarthy and, later, HUAC on my website, http://www.billmandel.net I am
the author of five books in my academic field, have taught at UC
Berkeley, and earlier held a postdoctoral fellowship, by invitation, at
Stanford's Hoover Institution.
The book may be ordered through all normal sources. For an autographed
copy, send me $24 at 4466 View Pl.,#106, Oakland, CA. 94611
========================================================
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