preaching, waiting

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>How do you square Adolph Reed & the Labor Party with Hardt & 
>>Negri's anti-statism?
>
>Well, I like unions, at least if they're democratic, imaginative, 
>and inclusionary, and I like the idea of political parties, as long 
>as they're not a self-appointed vanguard, and I like the LP's 
>emphasis on organizing rather than electoral politics. So, at best, 
>it looks like an attempt at the self-organization of the working 
>class. In my heart, or gut, or whatever organ it is that's the 
>repository of instinct, I don't like states, but in the practical 
>neighborhood of my brain I realize that states are with us, and will 
>be for a long time, so you try to lobby for the best deal you can 
>get from them. I'm also all for experimentation & stuggle of all 
>kinds; I don't have any magic bullet, so you fight where you can and 
>see what happens.
>
>Doug

The LP looks like a self-appointed _rear_guard, though, in the sense 
of sitting on its _ass_.  :)  Abstention from electoral politics may 
or may not be a good thing at this point in history, but it's not 
clear for what purpose it is organizing itself, how it is planning to 
achieve its goals, etc.  It somehow looks to me as if it's even more 
afraid to challenge the Dems (& the AFL-CIO) than Nader/the Greens.

Anyhow, all political parties & organizations are in a sense 
"self-appointed" unless & until they win the allegiance of the masses.

Remember to tell Hardt & Negri to get in touch with "the practical 
neighborhood" of their brains once in a while. :)

Yoshie