Well, I don't pretend that my group, Solidarity, has solved the secret of mass appeal. But we are most expressly and be design not a looney would be vanguard, also not a party; and no one has ever accussed us of being a pawn of the Democrats. Incidentally our members are active in Nell on Wheels, the rank and file NT Transport Workers Union Caucus. We have blue collar trade unionists like Mike Parker in Detroit who write books, professors who are activists, like Nancy Holmstrom (Rutgers-Newark, lives in NY--I mentuion her in particular because you sewem to be a New Yorker), and lots of interesting people.
Especially I don't know how you create such an
> organization which is genuinely useful within a short time after
> forming, and which pays enough attention to theory not to wimp
> out on fundamentals, which is both democratic enough and fun
> enough to attract new members, and pays enough attention to human
> weakness not to constantly lose existing ones.
>
I've found us useful for a long while--10 years I've been in now. It's not the best group there could be, but it's the best I've found, and it keeps me paying dues.
--jks