>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/12/00 07:27AM >>>
Charles, contained within this article are the following lines:
> It's a question of which direction this country will go in, he said. "Will it be in
the direction of giving greater power and a greater concentration of wealth to those
who
are already rich and powerful? Or will there be a greater sharing of power and wealth
for all the people?" Mason asked.
>
> "The wealth is already concentrated in the hands of a small minority and they have no
qualms about making all the vital decisions for the rest of us. But that is not what
democracy is all about."
>****
I am wondering what you think of this. Do you feel that the Democrats are fighting for
democracy here? The CPUSA sells their little paper in Canada. I stop buying it during
the month before elections happen every time. How this Democrat defending developed is
understandable (though incorrect) as a part of the New Deal era, but to maintain that
line today is right up there with calling for the defense of the East German worker's
state by some other groups.
((((((((((((((
Comrade Mac,
The Democrats have caved to the right for about 20 years, and have explicitly broken
from the New Deal , liberal reform ideology. The CPUSA line is based on the
Republicans being borderline U.S. style fascists or whatever Napoleonic type regime
would be appropriate for describing them if they shifted to open terrorist rule in
whatever phase of imperialism we are in. In other words, it is not so much based on
supporting Democrats as fighting for democracy, but defending against Republicans
going for the juggler.
Actually, I would say the Naderites and those who focus on anti-Democratic Party or
break with the twoparties of big biz line, have a point in criticizing this CPUSA line
in this particular election, because the U.S. is not in economic crisis. And then on
the lists I am on, there is a lot of discouragement of discussing the next depression
of U.S. capitalism, so one doesn't get the feeling that there is a dangerous economic
crisis coming comparable to the one that brought fascism in the Europe in the 30's.
But who knows ? This is the Crash list. There could be a big crash in the U.S. , in
which case, since Reagan and Reaganism especially, the Republican Party has been
developing a number of features that could make it quickly convertible to a fascist
party, so we could get quick fascism in response to a quck economic turnaround and
crash. And there is the problem that the Republicans now control all three branches
of the federal government. So, I do worry a little about turning my back on these
motherfuckers and just playing ultra-Left , aggravation of contradictions and the
working class needs to be weaned from the Dems type games with the lives of those who
would really suffer if a Republican juggernaut goes the next step of Reaganism.
Also, Nader had a number of weaknesses from a left standpoint. He is substantively
just a New Deal "Democrat" . He is no kind of Marxist at all. He has an extremely
shallow socalled anti-corporate approach. He is not a radical, but a moderate lefty
sort of . He doesn't have a history of building third parties.
Also, the CPUSA has a sort of jealousy /envy issue here. They have run candidates for
Pres. Gus Hall just died and they may not have the money to run someone now. So, they
feel it should be them , not Nader running, if anybody.
Also, Black voters are overwhelmingly for Gore, so the CP has a long tradition of
being more in touch with Black masses than other lefts. This is one Nader's glaring
weaknesses: his lack of anti-racist focus. The CPUSA beats most other Left tendencies
on this issue alone almost all the time, and as old as the CPUSA is in some ways, this
position makes them more radical and correct than these other Left tendencies. There
is political wisdom in the U.S. for whites who ally with Black people, just in and of
itself. This is aggravated by white leftists with the somewhat paternalistic notion
that this Black bloc vote for Democrats means Black masses must be weaned from the
Democratic Party. Actually, there is an argument that left intellectuals should
follow the Black mass rather than assuming that the Black mass should follow them.
That is the depth of radicality of Black people in U.S. history.
))))))))))))))))))
I see great importance in following the Florida events, particularly as more stories
and
evidence of the disenfranchisement of Black voters grows. That doesn't lead people into
the Democratic party at all- their unwillingness to even talk about this (but instead
"chad: is it pregnant or dimpled?") hopefully will help break the stranglehold of the
Democrats on much of the US progressive community.
However, as I saw on the back of the People's Weekly World around the end of October,
they were running an editorial *against* Ralph Nader in favour of the Gore ticket.
An issue of Granma I picked up today had a guest editorial by Ralph Nader in it's
pages.
Granma is giving a better education to the working class of America.
Macdonald
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