[lbo-talk] Campaigning vs. Voting

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>I'm thinking of starting a "Marxists for Dean" caucus, with the 
>>slogan, "It's conjunctural, man." Any volunteers to sign the 
>>initial manifesto?
>
>In the '50s there was a popular series of jokes of the form, "What's 
>the height of _______?" E.g., "What's the height of arrogance?" 
>Answer: A Flea approaching an elephant with intentins of rape.
>
>Add all the marxists in the u.s. up (disregarding of course those in 
>states where one party or the other is a shoo-in), and the chances 
>of their adding any weight to the Dean campaign is about as great as 
>that of a flea raping an elephant.
>
>Before everyone stampedes to focusing on the election, I would like 
>to see someone at least attempt an argument that it will make a 
>difference in the outcome in November. Yoshie has argued on Pen-L 
>that a Democrat in the whitehouse would tend to "demobiliz[e] 
>liberal activists from protests." I think I disagree on that, but I 
>do fear that the _campaign will have such an effect -- and still not 
>affect the electoral outcome. Notice, I am NOT arguing that there is 
>no difference between DP & RP; I am arguing that the efforts of 
>marxists (and other radicals with organizing experience) will be 
>wasted in the campaign, wasted in the sense that they will not make 
>a signfiicant difference in the vote, while their continued activity 
>within the anti-war movement _would_ have an appreciable effect.
>
>Carrol

Marxists and other leftists can choose to vote for any of the 
candidates or even not vote at all, and it won't make any difference 
in 2004.

Marxists and other leftists who are in favor of helping create a mass 
political party of workers and our allies in the near future should 
not waste their time and energy campaigning for any Democrat.
-- 
Yoshie

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