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On Sat, 30 Jun 2018 at 9:34 am, Louis Proyect via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > > The key difference between a reformist Labor Party and the Democratic > Party is based on class. For example, socialists have had a tactical > orientation to the NDP in Canada for decades now but none have oriented > to the Liberal Party. Unless we can distinguish between a bourgeois > party and a reformist social democratic or labor party, we are missing > the class criterion. But it seems to me that it’s the exactly the absence of an NDP or Labor Party that has meant the US Democrats have absorbed the functions that such parties play in other capitalist countries. In UK terms it’s like the right and centre of Labour fused with the Lib Dems (a not inconceivable lineup). That the majority of workers especially organised workers and activists orient to the US Democrats in a very similar way to the way such layers orient to the ALP (and some extent to the Greens who have captured a big chunk of white collar section of the working class), people you presumably want to get a hearing among, is the reason campaigns such as Ocasio-Cortez are a consideration st all. The concrete difference it seems to me is that in the US the structure and function of the Democrats makes it possible for such campaigns to put forward a clear pro-working class and activist platform, clearly opposed to the leadership. Which is currently inconceivable via the ALP and very limited via the Australian Greens (including by their explicit proscription of organised socialists). The concrete national-historical difference between UK Labour and the ALP is that in the former it’s been possible for a class struggle current to seize the leadership and some of the structures, win near majority support and involve new layers in activity: this is even more inconceivable via the ALP. Reciting abstract categories isn’t much help without looking at the actual dynamics in each different national arena of the class struggle. > _________________________________________________________ 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
