Alexandre,
There is no evidence that the left is stronger when it submerges itself in the Democratic Party; on the contrary. The experience is that the DP has been happy to use the energies of leftists, and exclude them from any positions of responsibility or power. Leftists who advocate working in the DP have discovered that they get suckered into promoting right wing policies.
It would be good to have a broad left party here. It would be unlikely to progress as rapidly as the Brazilain PT for lots of reasons, not least of which is that Brazil has a base of radicalized workers for such a party. In addition, we have a deeoply institutionalized two party system that rejects any third party. There aren't enough Marxists of any variety here to make a difference; I would be surprised if there were 10,000 self-identified Marxists in America. There is a religiosu left that would be necessarily the basis of any effective left organization here.
--jks
>
>
>
>-----Mensagem original-----
>De: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>[mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]Em nome de Brad DeLong
>Enviada em: segunda-feira, 15 de janeiro de 2001 21:00
>Para: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Assunto: Re: Why the Left Always Loses: What is to Be Done?
>
>
>
>This is not a statement about the strength of the Naderite movement.
>It is a statement about the weakness of the American left when it
>tries to split off from the Democratic Party...
>
>:-)
>
>
>Brad DeLong
>
>
>-A question:
>-Is the left stronger when it doesn´t try to split from Democratic Party?
>-I mean, what is the influence the left has inside Democratic Party?
>-Another comment:
>-The main left wing party in my country (Brazil), the Worker´s Party, was
>-founded 18 years ago. In the first election, it maneged to elect only 5
>-members to National Congress (in 479 members). Now, it has 50 members,
>-three state governors and won in 17 of 62 of the bigger cities in Brazil,/
>-including our larger city. Could it be achieved if this Party remained
>-under the umbrella of centrist parties (the communist party-PCB choose
>this
>-way an now it is a pathetic party that was able to elect only one mayor
>-in those bigger cities- furthermore, it has no more ideology and became
>only
>-an appendice to our right wing government)? Wouldn´t be wise to create a
>-broad left wing party in USA, joining from Trotskysts to social democrats?
>-Would it be able to get something like 5-6% in Presidential elections?
>-And people like Brad and Nathan Newman would be elegible to join it (I
>don´t
>-think so..but, as they consider themselves leftists)?
>-Btw: Our worker´s party was created by a strange (for your
>patterns)alliance
>-between leftist catholics and non Stalinist marxists. The involvement of
>the
>-catholic church was essential to the growth of the party. In USA do you
>have
>-left wing Christians?
>
>
> Alexandre Fenelon
>
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