----- Original Message -----
From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] union money>
>
> Marvin Gandall wrote:
>>
>>
>> I think the question which always needs to be asked is whether the
>> liberal/social democratic parties still retain the allegiance of the mass
>> of
>> politically progressive trade unionists and social movement activists who
>> are our political kin, and, if so, how do we best connect with them given
>> their present consciousness?
>
> This is what the vast majority of leftists have been doing for 50 years,
> and each year the left and workers in general are weaker than the year
> before. Do you really want to continue to pursue a strategy which will
> eventually have us trying to decide between two parties, both of which
> are to the right of Reagan Republicans and Thatcher Tories?
>
> Carrol
--------------------------------------
The vast majority of leftists, including those who made revolutions, have
viewed the matter this way for a lot longer than 50 years. But we've been
over this so many times you know my answer. It's essentially twofold: a) the
issues separating conservatives and liberals are not insignificant,
especially as concerns the existing rights and goals of the social
movements, which is why they continue to support the latter over the former,
and b) it seems idealist to me to think you can devise a "strategy" to sever
their current political relationships any more than you can conjure up a
strategy to overthrow capitalism in the absence of a social crisis and mass
protest, which amounts to the same thing.