Re: [Marxism] Goff analysis of Petraeus testimony (and my comments)

["Joaquin Bustelo" <jbustelo@xxxxxxxxx>]

Fred Feldman writes: "So one question to be asked is: Yes, the Democrats'
victory expressed positive developments in the consciousness of the masses,
and opened the door therefore to deeper exposures of both parties.  But I
would like someone to explain to me how support of the Democratic party by
conscious revolutionaries like Goff, Joaquin, or myself could have or did
advance this change in consciousness, which in my opinion took place at a
much deeper level. How does this process advance because we, who have gone
through our own ex0periences that convinced us of the nature of the
Democratic Party, have decided to support it in order to expose it."

Unlike Stan, I did not call for a Democrat vote in 2006, although I
understood the tactical reasoning behind his approach and consider it
perfectly rational. Quite simply, he argued, Democrat majorities in either
or both Houses would sharpen the internal contradictions and disarray of the
U.S. Government caused by its defeat in Iraq. I think that judgement of the
probable effect of that sort of outcome has been confirmed by events. 

Nevertheless, I didn't agree with Stan for a couple of interrelated reasons,
one being that IN REALITY only 10% or so of the House seats were "in play"
and a comparable or smaller number in the Senate. In the House,
computer-enabled and enhanced gerrymandering has made elections almost
superfluous. In addition, in terms of the immigrant rights movement in
Georgia, many of the Democrats and especially the head of their ticket,
their candidate for Governor, joined in immigrant-bashing with the
Republicans and to call for a Democrat vote here did not make sense as the
Latino immigrant rights movement had been the most visible and active social
movement in the state. And I believe many similar situations, not just in
terms of immigrants but also women, union rights, etc., would be evident
across the country, where calling for a Democrat vote would very sharply
contradict what people had been fighting for. Thus it made no sense to call
for a vote for Democrats generally, especially since for the big majority of
voters, it would make no difference to the outcome of the specific
House/Senate races involved in their localities, those having been already
decided to all intents and purposes.

However, we should be clear that what Stan advocated (and did) was classical
"critical support" (like a rope supports a hanging man, as Lenin put it).
The tactic of "critical support" in this sense is a way of *opposing* and
*exposing,* and not "supporting" in any real sense at all. The U.S. SWP
rulebook about which parties it was "permissible" to use this tactic
against, turned "critical support" of this type into a POSITIVE thing that
only certain parties "merited," the meritorious being usually the very worst
scoundrels of all.

I did vote for one Democrat in the 2006 election cycle -- Cynthia McKinney,
but that was in the primary. Georgia has no party registration and open
primaries, in other words, you simply ask for the ballot of either party
(but not both) or a non-party ballot (referenda and some local races), which
eliminates various complications. I did not view this as "critical support"
in the sense of "support the way a rope supports a hanging man" but as an
expression of support for the democratic right of the DeKalb County Black
community to political representation, which in my opinion is what has been
at stake in the repeated efforts to drive McKinney from office.

And, I know, some people --quite a few on this list-- consider voting for or
urging a vote for even ONE Democrat to be a call for voting for Democrats in
general in every election, a statement that socialism is not necessary, and
so on. About that, all I can say is some people have religion, but I don't.

Joaquin

Joaquin


________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism