On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 10:43 PM, hari kumar wrote: > > In the USA, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) hope to revitalize, > or ‘ginger up’ the Democratic Party (DP), rather than creating a party > outside of the DP.
I generally agree with your comments above, Hari, especially about there being no principled differences between Marx and Engels and Lenin. However, as you know, our views diverge on what is the appropriate form of organization for Marxist activists today. In the recent interesting discussion to which you refer, I expressed my thoughts on the subject which can be summarized as follows, and I invite your reply to them: 1. “A Leninist party was and would again be necessary to lead a revolutionary crisis to a successful conclusion, and I don’t see much harm in the small Leninist groups recruiting cadre in preparation for that eventuality. But given the current level of political consciousness of the most advanced workers (such as those supporting Mamdani), they have remained on the margins during our lifetime.” https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40056/ 2. "T he present contradictions in the system will have to sharpen to the point of collapse before the working class loses confidence in the possibility of its reform and moves towards revolutionary politics essentially on the basis of its own experiences in struggle.” https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40115 3. "A more appropriate model IMO which corresponds to the current level of class struggle is the Marxist study group or caucus, not unlike marxmail but active outside of social media. The fastest growing is the DSA which functions as a left social democratic caucus within the Democratic Party but which also independently recruits trade unionists and radicalizing youth to its ranks." https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39599 I believe your characterization of the organization is mistaken. While there are doubtless some in the DSA who consider the possibility that the organization can “revitalize" the DP, the more widely held belief is that at some point the organization will split with the Democrats - either when it is strong enough to form a viable third party or, more probably, when it is expelled by the party establishment as were the Militant in the UK, the Waffle in Canada, and other left-wing factions in the parties historically supported by the trade unions. For these reasons, like others on this list, I would opt to join the DSA if I were living in the US rather than any of the tiny Trotskyist or ML-ist groups which publicly present themselves as an alternative to the Democrats - to the detriment of their credibility with the most politically conscious workers in and around the Democratic Party. This is likely the paramount reason why other Trotskyists and ML-ists have been drawn to the DSA and organized themselves as the Red Star, Marxist Unity, Communist and other caucuses. A telling indicator that the advanced workers are abandoning left social democracy for revolutionary Marxism will be the growth of these caucuses at the expense of primarily electoralist caucuses like Socialist Majority to which Mamdani belongs. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#40168): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/40168 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/117257520/21656 -=-=- 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: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
