Re: Position of COC on Dems?

[cdavidson@xxxxxxxxxxx]

> From:          Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>
> >The COC statement that was sent to the list was silent on a vital
> >question for the Left: should "progressives" give [critical] support to
> >the Democratic Party?
> >
> >What is the position of the COC on the Dems? Are they in favor of either
> >"independent political action" or a Labor Party? If so, will they tell us
> >*now* that they will not support Clinton and the Dems in the next election?
The CoC National Coordinating Committee just debated this question
over the December 2 weekend.  The range of views were similar to
those in most of the left.  What everyone agreed to was three points:

1.  Work to defeat the Newtists in Congress and to defend those
targeted by Newt, especially in the Black and Hispanic caucuses.

2. Work to build the forms for independent politics leading to a new,
indpendent progressive party.

3. Work to make the election laws more democratic.

No position was taken on whether or not to vote for Clinton.  Views
ranged from "No way" to "I'll probably vote for him but I won't work
for him to what some might call `critical support'."  People seemed most 
interested in the prospect that Jesse
might run as an Independent.

The CoC really is a pluralist group.  Several national leaders are
activists in the New Party--myself, Manning Marable, Rafael Pizarro.
Others are pro-NCIPA, such as James Vann and Arthur Kinoy. Still
others are mainly pro Black Caucus, such as Charlene Mitchell, or pro
Green, such as Peter Camejo, or pro Labor Party Advocates.

What they all have in common is a desire to replace the Democratic
party with a new progressive party.  Only one person, Nathan Newman,
argues for the old social-dem line of realigning, capturing and
transforming the DP into something like a labor party.  They all have
varying disagreements on the best tactics for doing this.

Come November 96, my guess is that most CoCers will probably vote for
Clinton for the same reason most progressives will: they don't like
him but they don't want the GOP to win the White house, and they have
no other immediate practical alternative.  I suppose you  could try to
make this into a "line" or policy of supporting the Democratic Party,
but I think that would be missing the point about what CoCers
actually think and want to help bring into being.

Carl Davidson, Chicago CoC and New Party


     --- from list marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---

     ------------------