left political parties and social movments (j o'connor)

Barbara Laurence cns at cats.ucsc.edu
Thu Jun 21 18:53:31 PDT 2001


In germany, the green movement turned itself into a political party; today total membership of the Green Party more or less equals the number of Greens in public office at local, State or Federal level.

Anyone know of an opposite example, of a political party turning itself into a social movement?

At Porto Alegre, there was some tension the first night, between Worker Party city officials and Party officials, whose speeches took up the entire evening, and the social movments, who felf left out of planning processes. By the end, however, it was all social movements, especially the attack on Monsanto's GM fields led by the French farmer-activists.

In Italy, the Refounding Communists have "authorized" an Environmental Forum, organized at the level of regions, bottom-up, which works on green issues with local and regional social movements of all kinds. I think this is a first.

In Korea, out of the crisis of the 1990s, came a new labor federation and new political party, that calls itself a "social movement party." I think this is an attempt to combine social movements (action) and a political party (structure, organization, discipline, formal power in governments) in a single party.

I personally believe that social movments whithout a party(ies) have to be berift of political direction, strategy, et al., while a left party without a social movment is a shell.

Any news or views on this party/social movement relationship, which is too weak to be called a trend but perhaps strong enough to be called a tendency? Jim O'Connor



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