I think you are misreading the ABB (for want of a better term) position, which many have expressed here and I have some sympathy with. It is not true that they hold that no progressive ends can be achieved except through the DP. The argument rather is whether there is anything at all to be gained through the DP or is it a lost cause, or worse a prime barrier as you hold. As we all seem to agree these things are not binary issues... I think ultimately the DP is indeed a barrier to progressive ends (some version of the old argument about the middle class or liberals being the buffer). But as Chomsky has argued (quite convincingly IMHO) at this particular time there are small but significant gains to the only available option: the DP gaining power. Perhaps stuff like increase in minimum wage. A slightly smaller threat to the developing world. A tad bit less draconian treatment of immigrants. So on.
> Given this divide, and its resolvability only through practice, not
> debate, to speak of everyone on lbo getting together is a joke not
> because lbo members are personally unwilling to unite but because it
> would be stupid (on the part of both 'sides') to unite.
Well, it depends, doesn't it on how we see this issue of the DP? Even those of us on the ABB side think of the DP as a tactic/means. What matters are the progressive ends you talk about, where we have substantial agreement. During the 2000 election cycle an email was being forwarded around pointing people to a web site that asked you a set of questions and then ranked the candidates closest to you based on their stated positions on these issues. A large number of people were surprised to find that the socialist was the closest to their requirements! So, I do think there is a significant basis for agreement. Tactics can differ of course and in fact, it seems to me, it is internal discussion and analysis that can help us choose the best one. What is the practice that would instead resolve these differences?
Yes, I do realize that you believe that one cannot plan such things etc. But then why not collaborate and see what comes of it!
--ravi