Excellent article,with some very good historical background.May I suggest two more books,that are among the best I ever read,Lawrence Goodwyn's The Populist Moment,and Hammer and Hoe,by Robin O. Kelly.
So how do you convince lefties,who vote for the Democrats,out of fear,and lesserevilism,to abandon the Democratic Party,and either vote for an established party,like the Greens,or to build an entirely new party? Do you think the Movement For A People's Party is going to have any success? Hawkins again makes the point we have heard so many times before,that the tactic of changing the Democratic Party from within is a bust.Myee's Hoening's excellent piece in Counterpunch the other day,again argues that the DSA will never truly be a voice for socialism,the poor,and working class,so long as they are tied to the Democratic Party. https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/09/11/democrats-and-republicans-should-just-merge/ The question here for the DSA,is could the DSA sever all ties with the Democrats,without losing a significant amount of their membership,and how might they do this,and avoid such a loss? What if we were to build a real socialist,or populist left party,that would be big enough to gain national notoriety?Could we be big enough and powerful enough to survive a new Red Scare,or neo-McCarthyist attacks?One need only look at the baseless socialist/communist mud thrown at blantant right wingers,like Biden and Harris. I know there are those here who do not approve of Democratic Centralism,and may think bottom up organizing is better.I do believe there is room on the left for groups that practice both models to exist side by side,and work together for common goals.I may also get banned for mentioning the PSL enough times,but we have been doing exactly what Hawkins talks about here as far as local branches offering political education to the public at large.Before COVID-19 hit,we regularly offered public classes,seminars,and study groups.Education about the basics of Marxism.Education about important issues of the day,from a Marxist perspective.Education about the real history of socialist,and communist countries.Our local membership includes a semi-retired college professor,who is a top China expert.Our outreach here is largely based on what communist and socialist parties in the US were doing in the 1890s-1930s.We have even offered conferences on ecosocialism,and climate change.Of course,COVID-19 has pretty much put such public activities on an indefinite hold.Some PSL branches now post invitations to such events as Zoom meetings,on social media. Like the Panthers,the PSL is also involved in community outreach efforts,as far as providing aid to the undocumented,and the poorest people left out of government assistance programs.Food assistance,helping these people get stimulus checks,mask and hand sanitizer making parties,drives for clothing and hygeine products for Central American refugee,you name it.You might want to check out the social media feeds of some of the branches about these activities. If anybody knows of such activities by other socialist parties,I would really like to hear about them. Our branch also has two heads of union locals,one is a teacher,the other a carpenter.This is not uncommon. Sectarianism is an issue Hawkins fails to mention here,and it's the proverbial elephant in the room.It is one of the more serious issues we on the left face,whether it be in internet discussion groups,in street level political organizing,or in inter-party relationships.We on the left will never be a large enough force to be reckoned with,until we settle our sectarian differences. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1534): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1534 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76751875/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
