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"Incoherence" is usually a signal that the leadership is pulling strings from behind the scenes. That was one of the things that I learned most clearly from Occupy Oakland (OO). That was maybe one of the most radical of the Occupies. What happened was that a small group of left anarchists initiated Occupy Oakland, and right from the start they were meeting privately to make the decisions. I was close to them at that point because we both were in favor of keeping the liberal Democrats out. Also, I had a certain "rep" because I was the only one with a labor background, and not just any labor background, but one in which I'd been expelled by the union leadership. So I was involved in their private meetings. Formally, decisions were made at the nightly open air meetings. But the key question was which proposals were put on the agenda and which weren't and who it was who presented the proposals. All of that was decided in committee, but the committees were stacked. Take one example: There was to be a labor organized march onto the square that had been planned since before OO had started. There was a series of negotiations about this between the organizers of the march and... who? The negotiation team for OO was totally selected behind the scenes. I doubt that 1% of the participants in OO even knew that this was going on. And DSA? It's the same "incoherence" that masks a leadership that is determined not to allow any momentum develop behind a break from the Democratic Party. Of course, the fact that the demographics of DSA is not exactly conducive to such a break also plays a role, but surely there would be room for some serious discussion and debate. One last point: Somebody had suggested that I try to start a discussion group in EBDSA. I did try, but there has been zero interest so far. However, the leadership of EBDSA is holding a "socialist school" or something like that.From what I saw, that is fairly well attended, but it's a total set-up job, organized in such a way as to avoid any of the contentious - and therefore most important - issues facing the US working class and socialists today. They had one on the labor movement and the presenter for that was some college kid that I am certain had zero experience in the unions. But, of course, he was thrilled to be up there talking before 50 or so people. John Reimann On Sat, Aug 18, 2018 at 8:10 AM, Mark Lause <[email protected]> wrote: > You seem to be reading a great deal more coherence into the DSA than I > see. I decided early on that I would not try to play any kind of > leadership role in a body that seemed to me to be so incoherent. > > All of us can influence the atmosphere among some members and in those > parts of the organization that we can each. > > > > > > -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ 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
