Harry Veeder wrote:

>On Sun, 22 Jun 1997, Nestor Miguel Gorojovsky wrote:
>
>> misguided Utopia. But inasmuch as defending small business entails a
>> heartfelt longing for a more humane society, where each member was
>> able to sustain him/herself without forced expoitation by some
>> Leviathan of money (whether this image is true or false, it is not
>> important), there is much to be learnt from "small business"
>> defenders.  It is, simply put, the ambivalent situation of middle
>> layers of modern societies vis a vis the two definitively basic ones:
>> labor and capital.
>>
>
>The overwhelming majority of people in "advanced" industrialized nations
>cannot and do not sustain themselves. We are all dependent on one another
>for our survival. The self-sustaining individual of
>today is modern myth, whereby a person's earned income has been equated to
>the private "industry" of the individual who can hunt and/or grow
>enough to feed themselves.
>
That was the point Nestor Miguel was making, that many feel alienated by
modern society and long for a return to the dignity of a society where
individuals can be autonomous. He makes a very good point when he says we
cannot return to this idealised past.

This longing for past autonomy seems (from this distance) a strong part of
US culture, perhaps because in the US, more than any other society, some
people genuinely achieved that independence. Of course you have to discount
the experience of the numerous conquered and enslaved peoples, (Indians,
Africans and Mexicans) to truly idealise this past, but that does not mean
it was not genuine for a large number. I read a fascinating (to me) article
recently, written a hundred years ago by American Socialist Daniel De Leon,
it touches on this history, tracing how changes to the electoral system
marked the disappearance of the autonomous American citizen. I'll post it
to anyone interested.

There is something of that culture in Australia too, but subtly different
in emphasis. The folk hero is not the yoeman farmer, but the "battler" as
against the authoritarian figure or "tall poppy". The battler could be a
cocky (farmer) or swagman or any individual who is up against it. Success
is unnecessary (a successful battler is almost a contradiction in terms),
individual struggle is what is important to the image, against superior
odds or symbols of oppression like banks, bosses, the forces of the state
etc.

I would be quite interested to hear from Nestor Miguel or others how this
myth manifests itself in countries with different cultural heritages, I
know it seems a little off the topic of this list but...

Bill Bartlett
Bracknell Tasmania