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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yoshie said:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"The following
note, too, is basically written for those who are <BR>interested either in the
Nader campaign or the Green Party or <BR>third-party organizing in general or
opposition to the ideology of <BR>Anybody But Republicans, so you can ignore it
if you like."</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I know of
</FONT> three major resistance responses available to the future
left: (1) mass street action, boycotts, and
allied (2) connecting unions and community groups in radical,
independent electoral politics (3) a mix of 1 and 2.
Independent working class politics shouldn't be shouldered aside in this period
when #1 above seems to dominate and be the focus of analysis, so I appreciate
Yoshie's attention to aspects of #2.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Though it's been pretty well written off, I'm still
partial to the Labor Party concept, and now directing some attention
to why it declined and what its future might look like. Let's remember
that the LP and the Green Party both emerged in the early 90s when much was
looking gruesome (still is, of course, and probably getting worse).
With the unwitting help of the Sweeney 'revolution' in the AFL-CIO, and a
growing ecology movement in the Anglo middle class, two independent 'third'
parties were formed that rejected in principle any collaboration with the
Democrats and Republicans. Coming from two relatively
distinct classes, there was little 'natural' social overlap.
While the LP program and membership was class conscious from the git-go, it
wasn't until Nader entered the scene that the GP's class consciousness took an
upswing. Nader became pied piper for many LP activists who in
2000 jumped the floundering labor ship to enter blue-green
waters. But that's history, and now both baby parties are in dirty
water.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Could it be that Eric Thomas Chester's <EM>True
Mission</EM>, Verso, 2004 (subtitle: Socialists and the Labor Party Question in
the U.S.), that rejects on the basis of historical experience any 'third party'
except the Socialist Party, be generally correct? I seriously
doubt it. All we really know is that independent parties in the 20th
Century have been relative failures, including the SP. Some of them, most
notably the LP, incorporated the rudiments of socialism, but failed to
get past first base. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Since we may have to rethink some things,
</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>fortunately the future of class resistance still
remains, and there is a straightforward logic that won't release me.
Number 1 above (street heat, etc) is a necessary but not sufficient
tool to bring about fundamental change. Should that tool be organized and
controlled by batteries of well meaning 'at-large' revolutionaries and
intellectuals (current models: ANSWER, United for Peace & Justice) that
basically are not part of extant local social organization or not actual
long-term rank 'n file? Or should that tool be in the 'democratic'
control of fundamental 'peoples' institutions', such as organizations of
workers (in or outside the NLRB fold) plus those who are part of -
like it or not - the neighborhood common life of workers (churches, block
clubs, self-help groups, identity collectives)? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Two institutions - work and neighborhood - are
everlastingly intertwined. Makes sense to me that radical electoral
politics must be so organized. Black Workers for Justice, Jobs with
Justice, and ACORN seem to understand this. The Labor Party and Green
Party, bless their hearts, began to appreciate the relationship just as things
were going into a kind of tail spin. But we live and learn.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bob Mast</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>