Re: [Marxism] Greens, Dems and Building Working Class Independence,

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> But.  Louis. Isnt' that the kind of argument that DSA uses to vote Democrats?
>
> por el socialismo,
> Erik Toren

This is partially true. The other night I got a phone call from a volunteer
working for some local politician--can't remember who. After I told her
that I wouldn't vote Democrat, we had a brief discussion about the 2-party
system. I said that there were honorable Democrats like Major Owens in
Brooklyn or the late Ted Weiss on the Upper West Side. However, the
*institutional* role of the Democratic Party is to co-opt the mass
movements and tie working people to their class enemy. The funding of
Congressional, Senatorial and Presidential candidates comes exclusively
from real estate, finance and retail, etc. Like George Soros, etc.

As I stated here a couple of weeks ago, no new mass party in the USA comes
into existence fully-born like Athena from Zeus's forehead. I anticipate
that some of these Democrats will join a new mass party of the left. If a
labor party is built, I am sure that life-long Democrats in the AFL-CIO
will jump on board. Keep in mind that John L. Lewis was an AFL functionary
before committing to the more radical CIO in the 1930s.

But the essential problem is the 2-party system. As long as the ruling
class can keep politics bottled up, it makes it very difficult to push
forward a more radical agenda. That is why the Democrats have been so
hostile to the Greens, even though from an ideological standpoint there is
not that much difference between Kucinich and Nader.

If we can break the electoral log-jam, it will encourage other forms of
independent political action. You might see a rebirth of initiatives like
La Raza Unida or a Black Party or a Labor Party. We must encourage
fragmentation of the Democrats and win people to alternatives. The big
problem we faced with this ABB 5th column is that they effectively sealed
the breach that was opened up in 2000. I say curse their eyes for that.




Louis Proyect
Marxism list: www.marxmail.org


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