Re: [Marxism] Greens to be on Ohio State Ballot

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 6/30/06, Marvin Gandall <marvgandall@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> a
> left-wing split from a badly divided Democratic party.

That would be a German "Left Party" scenario, a development that I
would certainly welcome as a step into the right direction.  For such
a split to happen, the Green Party or some other party like that, as
well as non-electoral political organizing, needs to become far more
stronger than it is now, capable of really shaking up the status quo.
I don't know if that's possible.  In the short term, I foresee more
alienation from electoral politics among all sectors of the working
class.

> In the meantime, anything which promotes contact between Green party
> activists and DP dissidents has to be a good thing, and the responsible
> attitude on both sides ought to be to approach the other in that spirit and
> to search for ways in which they can cooperate. I don't know how much
> practical contact there currently is between these two camps - both of which
> draw on the same left-liberal constituency - and whether, on balance,
> relations are generally friendly, antagonistic, or indifferent.

Marvin, you really would have to come down here sometime, even just to
say hello to me.  :->

One thing about the United States: entryism (entering into an existing
institution, boring from within, and trying to steer it to the left)
in electoral politics makes no sense, for there is no party structure
in which one can enter.

Entryism probably doesn't make sense in labor unions either.  If your
focus is labor, you probably want to team up with like-minded comrades
and work in fields -- there are many -- currently neglected or ill
served by organized labor.

If anyone wanted to practice entryism at all, I'd recommend doing so
by entering a mainline Protestant denomination and doing
congregation-based organizing or converting to Islam and doing
mosque-based organizing.  Mainline Protestant denominations like
Episcopalians and Presbyterians really practice democracy within their
groups, and they are not without financial and other resources, as
well as international connections, so it's worth joining them if you
want.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>

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