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(An article by Ethan Young, who was a member of a sect called Line of March that saw itself as the authentic continuation of the CPUSA in the same manner as the Socialist Action sect saw itself as the authentic continuation of the SWP. In 1984, when I was a member of CISPES, I was dismayed to see LoM members in CISPES arguing alongside the Maoist CWP that we effectively become part of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow campaign. At the risk of sounding like a dogmatic purist, I think it is a mistake for protest movements to affiliate with DP politicians even when they can talk the talk even better than Sanders. Go back and look at Jackson's 1984 speeches and you'll see what I mean. After the 1984 convention when Walter Mondale became the nominee, the "transformational" Rainbow Coalition folded its tents and disappeared. I could be wrong but after Clinton becomes the nominee, as she surely will, and Sanders backs her, the "Sanders Democrats" will fade into oblivion. Sanders will go back to being an honorable de facto Democrat and calling himself a socialist (whatever that means) and that will be that for the "inside out" left until the next "transformational" bourgeois politician comes along.)
Part of the emerging, reconstructed Left will likely take the form of an anti-neoliberal “Sanders Democrats” wing of the Democratic Party. This could directly challenge party centrists in every state, and change the direction of policy battles in Congress and in state and city governments. It would also further challenge the view on the Left that holds to a purist stance of permanently attacking the Democrats as a class enemy. This tendency, which sees the formation of a third party as always the immediate priority in electoral politics, claims that its opponents are careerists or naive liberals. However, the most widely held view among independent leftists is an “inside/outside” strategy, favoring independent candidates where the power of the party machine excludes progressive reformers. Some die-hards of the other camp have been swayed by the upsurge for Sanders.
Sanders’ campaign promotes policies that run counter to neoliberalism and anti-government conservatism, but despite the socialist banner he flies, they don’t undermine capitalism per se. Sanders is more feared for his emphasis on mass mobilization—strengthening democracy under attack by the private sector and quasi-fascist elements. His campaign has made the word “socialist” acceptable in ways that it never was heretofore in the U.S. Now the tiny socialist movement has a chance to crawl out of the rubble and join a new generation, fueled by disgust for the capitalist system and a growing determination to replace it with something just, sustainable, and beautiful.
full: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-political-revolution/ _________________________________________________________ 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
