shows the need to go beyond these one-sided views.Īs most of our information about the rioting has come through the capitalist media, it is necessary to deal with the distorted perspective it has given. The more optimistic view held, that despite the weakness of the traditional working class against the massive cuts in wages, what we see in the domination of the American left by single issue campaigns and "Politically Correct" discourse is actually evidence of the vitality of the autonomous struggles of sections of the working class. is - in terms of the topography of the global class struggle - little more than a desert. The pessimistic view is that the American working class has been decisively defeated. This article will attempt to make sense of the uprising by putting the events into the context of the present state of class relations in Los Angeles and America in order to see where this new militancy in the class struggle may lead.īefore the rebellion, there were two basic attitudes on the state of class struggle in America. Most readers will be familiar with many of the details of the rebellion. had appropriated millions of dollars worth of goods and destroyed a billion dollars of capitalist property. It took the federal army, the national guard and police from throughout the country five days to restore order, by which time residents of L.A. Originally published by Aufheben Group (1992).Īpril 29th, 1992, Los Angeles exploded in the most serious urban uprising in America this century.