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LP: "You might think that you have come up with new excuses for voting for DP candidates but you are only trying to reinvent the wheel." To be clear, I am not claiming to have presented a full argument here for why I think a socialist strategy should at times include running as and voting for Democrats. However, I do think I have shown that such a position is consistent with the revolutionary socialist/Marxist tradition and that the idea that this is a break from "socialist electoral thinking at least until the rise of the Popular Front" is false. Re: John saying "please explain where and when any political force has ever done both - concretely organize for a mass working class party while supporting some Democrats." Whether it's been done in this country in regard to the Democrats or not, see my other emails to the list that it was the practice of the revolutionary wing of the Second International including the Bolsheviks to "concretely organize for a mass working class party while supporting some [liberal/bourgeois politicians]". re: "how can DSA and representatives of DSA clearly and concretely explain this when they are supporting candidates of that wing of the Democrats at the same time?" This requires a more extended discussion than I'll give it here but I don't think it's that hard. Since the point isn't to "support" that wing [and I think a lot of the problems in these discussions trace back to ambiguous words like "support"] but first of all to recognize the fact that millions of people that would be the base of a mass socialist party vote for Democrats out of fear of the alternative, so if your premise for building that party is to first convince them they should never vote for Democrats ever, you'll get just where you've gotten: nowhere. If you recognize that people want something better than the Democrats but also want to stop Republicans from becoming more powerful, and so you offer to build with them something better while voting for Democrats against Republicans when you can't get your own candidates elected without 'spoiling,' then you have a premise millions of people are actually looking for right now. -Jason _________________________________________________________ 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
