I agree with Cox. What we need is a movement from the outside of the established political machine (the EPM, i.e., the media/pundit/political party duopoly/campaign contribution system). We need to be able to talk to "everyday working people" (which includes a heck of a lot of women, "minorities," gays, etc., BTW) to mobilize and/or strengthen counter-hegemonic movements. We also need to learn from them. (Frankly, this is not a matter of changing our politics as much as changing the way we talk.)
It's important to stress that "mass struggle" includes strikes and the like, but need not be violent. The main thing in terms of tactics and strategy is to avoid getting mired in the electoral rut. The electoral road hardly challeges the EPM.
The "majoritarian" emphasis fades pretty easily into "hey how can we get a majority of the vote of the current electorate with their current level of organization and consciousness?" which gets us working in the Democratic Party (or its equivalents in other countries). It gets us quickly to endorsing the lesser of two evils (Al Gore in 2000!).
In the end, if we can mobilize "mass struggle," it will change a heck of a lot of peoples' minds on important issues (as the anti-war movement did vis-a-vis the U.S. war against Vietnam). It's possible that the majority will come our way and we might even get a social democratic government elected. (IMHO, that would be a good thing, compared to the current gov't. But I don't think that soc. dem. gov'ts come because people fight for social democracy. They come because people fight for something better and the ruling class compromises for awhile.)
Even if this rosy scenario works out, it's important to keep the mass struggle going, to pressure the social dems, to keep them honest. Progressive politics and the possibility of actually crossing the threshold into socialism comes from mass-democratic movements, not from politicians or soc. dem. technocrats.
BTW, Rakesh, I don't think it helps communication (or one's ability to get a letter published in the NATION) to call the fellow "Alterboy." I thought that his column stank too, but the NATION's not going to listen to that kind of insult. (which follows an age-ist perspective.)
Jim Devine jdevine at popmail.lmu.edu & http://clawww.lmu.edu/Departments/ECON/jdevine.html "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.