Atta (9): 242: Today's kick-ass question

[Bryan Snyder]

Oh... no system really, but typical anarchist theory normally puts forth one
where non-appealing work is shared (revolving schedules and the like) and
the logic they follow is that the rest of the work would be done out of true
choice, i.e. a farmer would WANT to farm and provide food, the carpenter
loves to build things etc... self-actualization available to everyone.  I,
personally, am aware it's a idealistic fantasy really only possible in very
small communities but I think the main point I was trying to put forth is
the idea of those trampled on by the elect class build the device of their
own demise/oppression.  I think the railways in AtD are like Zyklon-B in
GR... both are made by the people that will be hurt in the long run.  The
laying of railways being an allusion to the creating of right and wrong
sides of tracks ironically built by those who will eventually be on the
wrong side... much like Pynchon's own family, those fallouts from the Great
Depression.

There can obviously be no real anarcho-syndicalist societies nowadays but
TRP always talks about historical turns not taken...

-----Original Message-----
From: David Morris [mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 3:41 PM
To: wilsonistrey at gmail.com
Cc: Jasper; pynchon-l at waste.org
Subject: Re: Atta (9): 242: Today's kick-ass question

Yeah, inequality exists.  Power, money, etc.  As Paul Simon said (Gumboots):

I was having this discussion
In a taxi heading downtown
Rearranging my position
On this friend of mine who had
A little bit of a breakdown
I said breakdowns come
And breakdowns go
So what are you going to do about it
Thats what Id like to know

But Pynchon does display choices other than selling one's time, two of
which I mentioned earlier.  There's martyrdom (street
activists/idealist murdered in the fight), stealing (outlaws of all
sorts), beggars, scroungers & undergrounders (many in Vineland,
including Zoyd), suicides (Herero).  All these are system
system-outsiders.

But what system would provide for everyone's "survival" without
requiring their selling their time?

David Morris

On 5/16/07, Bryan Snyder <wilsonistrey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh ... lol... I certainly did not... sorry.  The choice Chomsky states is
between renting your life away to some authority in order to obtain the
basic requirements for survival and to not do that... his point is that
since the choice of not doing that essentially equals not being able to
survive (and survive would be to have a life where the basic needs are met
and one has access to education and healthcare etc etc...) then there is no
"choice" to be made... most people will "choose" or rather be forced to sell
away their time, often doing tasks that leave a wake of destruction (since
capitalism is a system that, to quote TRP "is only buying time").
>
> My main point was that I think TRP is using the railways to illustrate the
laying of divisions between two very different classes (have/have-nots,
rich/poor, preterite/elect).  I think he does it well too: the elect are the
responsible party (buying the land, hiring engineers, hiring workers (at
horrible wages, an opinion TRP shares with people like Chomsky and Zinn) and
all that goes with being in control of production.  The people affected by
this class division are the ones doing the grunt work of laying the
tracks... creating a "right" and "wrong" side of them.
>