[lbo-talk] Re: Left/Venezuela

Laurence Shute lshute at csupomona.edu
Thu Aug 19 17:32:52 PDT 2004



>Doug wrote:


>Shane Mage wrote:
>
> >"breaking with the Dems," for the revolutionary left, is neither
> >a long-term strategy nor even part of a long-term strategy. It
> >is the condition sine qua non for the possibility of a long-term
> >strategy.
>
>It's a reflex, not a strategy. Trots have been saying it for decades,
>as they splinter further into deeper irrelevance, and now the Greens
>have taken it up, as they too splinter further into deeper
>irrelevance. It's a fine impulse if there are steps 2, 3, 4... in
>mind, but it's looking more and more like no one's gotten beyond step
>1 (unless you call splitting steps 2, 3, 4...)

One always gains a reputation for political sagacity by dumping on the "trots" while bemoaning the quadrennial parlor game of the "lesser of two evils."

To repeat Shane Mage's absolutely correct observation:

>...Trots have been saying it for decades...

No, they've been saying it for generations, since even before the birth of Trotsky ("Trots" here = revolutionary marxists and "Dems" = capitalist-dominated parties)

>, as they splinter further into deeper irrelevance, and now the

>Greens have taken it up, as they too splinter further into deeper

>irrelevance. It's a fine impulse if there are steps 2, 3, 4... in

>mind, but it's looking more and more like no one's gotten beyond

>step 1 (unless you call splitting steps 2, 3, 4...)

Splitting is the inevitable consequence of the illusion that one can take "steps 2, 3, 4..." when step *one* remains untaken by the working classes and their totally inadequate leadership (including the whole range from ordinary bureaucrats to self-styled socialists).

Larry Shute



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