> The nontraditional approach was apparently derived
> from nonprofessional but intelligently run marketing
> surveys conducted by the founders, who went around
> gathering data on why people didn't go to church.
>
> Maybe left groups might take a cue. Unions are: the
> SEUI has been studying the WCC and other big box
> churches to see how they, as one says in today's
> repulsive jargon, "grow" their membership.
I hate to admit it, but I've been doing the same thing and have based some of my organizing on the idea that the megachurches (and traditional churches) are on to something. To some extent my strategy as an organizer for the past ten years has been based on growing the cultural and social infrastucture of our movements. This was highlighted for me back in 1996 when I was talking to a comrade who went on to become the GST of the IWW. She pointed out that the labor movement in this country used to have a significant base of union halls, offices, papers, and other political and cultural infrastructure. That mostly disappeared after the 1940s. So I've looked at my work in the infoshop movement as part of a strategy of restoring that infrastructure.
Left groups and movements should take a cue. If we can't get our people together for social functions like churches do, then why should we expect people to join our movements? People aren't interested in the correct position that your organization has or your entreaties to people to "take action." To a big extent, they want to be part of something social. They want to meet people, get laid, learn something, or feel that they are part of something that benefit them and others.
Look at which events leftists will flock to. They don't flock to meetings. They will attend Noam Chomsky lectures in droves and people like the social aspect of mass demonstrations. I'll admit that one of the main reasons why I like to travel to protests, convergences and book fairs is to meet new people and have reunions with comrades.
Would our movement grow and become more effective if we built the leftist equivalent of churches?
I think so. I really think that this is a primary missing ingredient for the American left.
Chuck