JKSCHW at aol.com wrote:
> Chip says that when the JBS got in trouble their membership/support base fell from 50,000 to 20,000. the left should have such trouble. My group, Solidarity, might have 250 people in the country. Maybe. I guess humility is called for.
Maybe. Maybe not. The following is worth at least considering.
The 50 (or 20) thousand Birch members includes *both* the activists *and* those whose activity the activists might trigger on occasion. In other words, it represents something close to the total influence of the group. So divide by 10 and you get 2000 or 5000.
On the other hand, Solidarity's 250 are probably for the most part activists, each representing varying numbers of people who under special conditions could be triggered into self-activity -- i.e. into the active mobilizing of yet more active people. The political weight of Solidarity might be rather more than the numbers indicate, and that of the JBS rather less than the numbers indicate.
The "left" still remains a rather nebulous category at present -- but there is no need for excessive humility.
Carrol