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Okay, but couldn't the same criticisms that apply to the DP's corruption also apply to the electoral system as a whole? I feel like that sounds more like an argument against voting altogether. What is the difference between voting for a renegade Democrat who gets crushed by reactionaries in his party vs voting for a Green who doesn't even factor into the election at all? - Amith On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 5:46 PM, Louis Proyect <l...@panix.com> wrote: > On 3/2/16 5:24 PM, A.R. G via Marxism wrote: > >> So I'm curious, what's wrong with voting for Bernie in the primaries, and >> then, if he loses as half of the Marxist critics are suggesting, voting >> for >> a Green during the general election? It seems like the only way the issue >> will come up is if Bernie wins the primary. If that happens I still think >> it makes sense to vote for Bernie while separately organizing real >> opposition outside of the electoral system altogether in order to downplay >> the effects of the grassroots opposition deflating in the rare event that >> he takes the White House. >> >> > The issue is whether it is crossing class lines to vote for a Democrat. Up > until the Popular Front of 1935, socialists and Communists always voted on > a class basis. With the Popular Front, that came to an end. To show you how > committed the left was to that position, Upton Sinclair's son nearly broke > with him in 1934 when he ran as a Democrat. > > Most of our problems today, especially in the USA, is how this line is > blurred. With the DP having any kind of credibility, it makes it much > harder for environmental movement, labor movement, et al to avoid > cooptation. > > > > https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm > > Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers > must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge > their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party > standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty > phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates > will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance > of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the > proletariat is to be swindled. The progress which the proletarian party > will make by operating independently in this way is infinitely more > important than the disadvantages resulting from the presence of a few > reactionaries in the representative body. If the forces of democracy take > decisive, terroristic action against the reaction from the very beginning, > the reactionary influence in the election will already have been destroyed. > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
