Re: [Marxism] Peter Camejo on the crisis in the Green Party

["Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "M. Junaid Alam" <mjunaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>

> The whole GDI thing itself is not being publicized very well, though that
> is probably because it is being viewed and fought as an internal GP
> struggle with not much of an outward focus at this point, from what I can
> best judge.

And if it doesn't change this strategy , it is doomed to failure.


I read the Camejo document. Interesting stuff. But it also expresses the
openly ultra-liberal character of his leadership, which is why the Cobbites
are kicking his butt from here to Shangri-La.

Instead of lamenting on the existence of a Green Institute, he should form
his own, pay for rides for delegates etc etc etc. This is not incompatible
with "one green, one vote" but rather

Camejo's moralist "democracy-conquers-all" attitude is very similar to that
of Salvador Allende, although in less griveous circumstances. Allende's
failure to allow the re-direction of State resources to arm his supporters
(who where the simple majority of Chileans) signified that his enemies were
able to march on him with little effective opposition.

Likewise, Camejo and other real, honest Greens, have politicaly disarmed
themselves in their seeking unity with the Cobbite leadership. These people
are Democrats, they are a Democrat Fifth Column, and even the POUM crushed
fifth columns with violence. This is not "stalinism", this is what
bourgeoise politics are simply about! If I were a Green, I would be purging
the party with notes saying "Go back to your real party".

By abdicating to the Cobbites in their figth for control of the Green's
soul, by not providing an alternative control structure, the Camejo strategy
essentially is liquidationist. Indeed, and in spite of a subjective
opposition to this, he is giving the party away to the Cobbites.

I agree with Camejo on this:  the Cobbite strategy is simple and
transparent. They seek to transform the Green Party from a hopeful national
third party, into a mix and match collection of regional groupings, where it
is strong playing the same role the Working Families Party plays for the
Democrats in New York State, when weak playing the same role the
Conservative Party plays for the Republicans in NYS.

Yet Camejo still seeks unity and debate, and even has a cozy dinner (!!!)
with someone who is not only opposed to the basic reasons for the existence
of the Green Party, but is doing so not by means of party democracy but by
bureaucratic manuevers.

Seems the little trot within Camejo is still putting the little stalinist
down. Trotsky's refusal to mobilize the huge support he had in the USSR in
particular in the Army, is directly responsible for the Zinoviev, Kamenev,
Stalin troika, and eventually to Stalin emerging as single head honcho. Now,
I don't really see anything wrong with Stalin winning and all that, but
Trotsky's protestations after the fact are infantile in that when he could
do something about, he didn't.

It seems there is still hope of saving the Greens from Democratic
corruption, yet Camejo's inability to forcefuly deal with the fifth column,
with the disloyal opposition will destroy the Green Party and turn it into a
glorified, nationa, non-labor, WFP at best, and merge it with PDA at worse.

Now, one has to ask oneself how a sophisticated and experienced political
operator like Camejo is doing all of this?
Could it be that he fear confrontation for reasons of losing his own
funding?
Could it be that the majority he so much purports to represent is slowly
erroding into "Lesser Evilism" as construed by the ABB crowd?
Is it that the irreconciliable contradiction requires barroque ideological
appeals to keep the subjective spirits up to guarantee his own minimal
political survival?
Is Camejo truly commited to his stated goals, or is himself being slowly
attracted to a position in which the Green Party acts as a pressure group on
the left-Democrats instead of a real third party capabable of electing
National candidates (Senate, P/VP)?


I have not a clue, but those are interesting questions that every socialist,
and marxists in particular, in the Green Party should be asking themselves.
Is it worth it to continue to spend political capital, ideological energy,
and money into a project whose best leadership is not even defending
correctly? Or is it time to pack up and move on to the next thing?

Camejo also laments that part of the PDA's "goal is to co-opt the Green
Party back into the Democratic Party". Yet he fails to see the obvious
thing: The Green's militant liberalism, and lack of a cohesive political
project beyond "anything progressive that is not the democratic party", is
precisely what allows the Democrats to spin the web for the PDA spider.
There is so little real difference between the mass of the Green Party and
the PDA, that the PDA's job is done for them.

And all of this remains incredibly clouded by Camejo and Nader's essentially
breaking the Party by not figthing the Cobbites alleged stealing of the
convention (in courts for example) and instead running a personalist,
party-less sideshow presidential campaing that don't even rabid anti-greens
blame for being spoilers.

All in all, the analysis remains the same:

Militant Liberalism + Political Idealism = Go back to the Democrats

sks


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