<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2180" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brad Mayer:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>"The part about "analyzing the failure of the Labor party" is easy:  Doug<BR>Henwood Thought.<BR><BR>At this (blasted eternal) stage, I'm against calling an independent party<BR>anything limited to workers or labor - that would be a mistake.  OTOneH, the<BR>petit bourgeois progressive radicals have been in retreat, leaving a small<BR>group of dissident trade unionists standing alone before the elections.<BR><BR>OTOtherH, the immediate task for this core of trade union dissidents is to<BR>construct a catchment for the resurgence of this radicalism (as Doug says it<BR>will, post election) that will draw some of these into working class<BR>politics for the rest of their lives (at a crucial time when most middle<BR>class radicals have been conned into thinking that the working class,<BR>socialism and communism are dead)."</FONT></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>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</FONT></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>We don't know what the attendance of the MWM will be.  Likely small, compared to previous marches.  The Nader campaign endorses it.  I believe US Labor Against the War, following intense internal debate, decided against endorsement.  The AFL-CIO did not endorse.  Yoshi endorses it.  I endorse it.  In a couple days we'll know what happened.  To endorse or not to endorse is not the vital question.</FONT></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 important thing is that some on this list appear to be engaging the process of substituting despair, anger, irony, or even foolishness with a somewhat positive or at least more open look at the future of working class or peoples' movements, call them what you will.  Left political people have no alternative but to have confidence that viable movements will emerge to resist the crap that the U. S. ruling class (joined with other ruling classes) is laying on the world's people.  Elections come and go.  The November election is but a symbolic point, an educational experience, which relentlessly shows the bankruptcy of the two party system in capitalist economy.  What's good is that millions now are mulling over resistance plans and structures.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>On October 11 Douglas MacDonald ("Possible Next Steps for the MWM") offered some ideas that are worthy of our consideration.  Than on October 14 Brad Mayer ("Food for Thought from the MWM") expanded on these ideas.  Both seemed to stress what I consider critically important:  liaison of progressive labor with progressive community.  Both alluded to the importance of a future independent, working-class-based electoral party.  Well and good.  We can debate whether such a party should be called "New Workers Party" or perhaps should be a restructured Labor Party.  I fully agree with Douglas that "The demise of the Labor Party must be studied in order to avoid making the same mistakes."  I've been trying to do that all this year.  One important thing, the old LP failed to consolidate necessary community linkages, relying too much on its labor base.  But the old LP tried to bring unions and the community together for nearly 10 years, and had some success.  That on-the-ground experience, I think, should be an important starting point for analysis.  </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Bob Mast</FONT></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>