So - when do Leftists *not vote* for Biden - over this issue? Even facing a clear threat from (semi?)-fascist Trump?
The question assumes that, save the US support for Israel's invasion of Gaza, a pro-vote for Biden would be appropriate given a clear threat from a semi?-fascist. As vicious as it is, the US support for Israel is but a sub-category of that real question. And the answer has to account for the fact that the very rise of the authoritarian illiberal capitalist political forces is the result of --a) 50 years of the bourgeoisie being on the offensive b) is a chronic condition of capitalism made more acute by the economics of overproduction and attempts to offset the tendency of profitability to decline c) a sustained and increasing squeeze on smaller capitalists (our intrepid shopkeepers, entrepreneurs) itself part of a process initiated over 40 years ago with the decimation of smaller, rural based, production and commerce brought forth by Reagan. The above, if accurate, should make it painfully clear to even the most casual observer that at the very moment the left poses this "existential" question, the conditions required for the maintenance and accumulation of capital make the "lesser evil"-- the "liberal alternative"-- irrelevant, incapable, or reversing any of those conditions. Now Marv claims if this were 1912 or 1920 we wouldn't have this discussion because there was theoretically a vibrant independent class based movement, but that's just not accurate for this very question of choosing between and among capital-isms has infested every working class movement since the Knights of Labor. It was the core issue in the AFL--manifested particularly in the AFL's support of Jim Crow unions; it was the main question and issue that divided the working class in struggles in the CIO, in the Oakland general strike, in Operation Dixie. And of course it was the issue that led to the expulsion of first communist and then Communist activists in the unions. Those who think this issue only arises because of the lack of working class independence and therefore Marxists must "meet the class where it is" forget that working class independence does not spring forth sui generis, but is only established by persistent, implacable, and sometimes unpopular opposition to capitalism as a system, capitalists as a class, and capitalist parties as realistic alternatives. -- --S.Artesian -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29036): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29036 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/104479559/21656 -=-=- 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. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
