> This is not to indict the the contemporary left or denigrate its necessary
> activities, but to place things in their proper context. The failure to see
> things in context is what underlies many of the exaggerated and
> self-destructive debates about which "sectarians" or "sellouts" are
> thwarting real possibilities of change, and prevents us from examining from
> where real change originates. I've suggested many times that the left's
> weakness is a reflection of current historical conditions rather than the
> political failings of different individuals and groups, as you and Carrol
> and Yoshie argue in your different ways, or of the ignorant masses, as
> Wojtek would have it.
Some of us just flatly reject arguments that the state or fate of the contemporary left is bound to "historical conditions," whatever they may be.
In my playbook, you get together with people and make the change you want to happen. Think big. Be ambitious. Expect the impossible.
People who think like me made Seattle happen. The rest of the left at that time was still debating whether or not the condition were ripe for a comeback of the left. In fact, several of the party socialist organizations were divided over the fact that they had "missed" Seattle.
If the Left continues to sit around, whining about its marginality and lack of power, then its perceived marginality will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Chuck