Social movements (was Re: [lbo-talk] DIY abortions)

[Chuck]

Marvin Gandall wrote:
> Wojtek and Chuck - the most unlikely of bedfellows -  are united in 
> building
> an iron wall between political action and social action. Most everyone else
> would say you have to engage in both, that these are complementary rather
> than contradictory forms of protest. Demonstrations and other mass actions
> are necessary to give people confidence in their collective strength;
> political action is necessary to give effect to their demands, typically
> through legislation. We may, and often do, disagree on what are appropriate
> tactics in both arenas, but I don't think anyone on this list would elevate
> one as a "principle" to the exclusion of the other - except Chuck, who has
> an anarchist's hostilty to participation in the bourgeois political system,
> and Wojtek, who has a genteel conservative's repugnance for the "thuggish
> multitudes" and what they can accomplish in the streets.
> 
> Given their present views, I'd want neither leading my army or my trade
> union, although they both strike me as bright and engaging people. I'd be
> worried that Wojtek would always be counselling retreat and Chuck would
> always be urging an assault, and that neither would ever take into account

Ah yes, nothing like the cartoon version of my actual politics.

Ridiculous nonsense.

Chuck