Michael Smith wrote:
>
> On 08/08/07 10:49:13 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> I'm with Carrol as to the fun of not voting. But I didn't exactly say
> that voting or not-voting is a null choice (i.e. that it doesn't make
> any difference). What I was trying to say is that the position which
> needs to be defended is the Yea, not the Nay. The Nay, [clip]
>
> As to whether it makes a difference -- I disagree with Carrol to this
> extent: I think each vote for a Democrat does a weensy bit of net
> damage to the well-being of humankind (WBOH), and each abstention --
> particularly if it's proudly proclaimed from the housetops, e.g. by
> wearing a Don't Vote button -- does a weensy bit of good, if we accept
> that achieving, and spreading, some degree of enlightenment is a net
> gain for the WBOH.
>
> Small, I know, but consider the coral reef, how it grows.
I would agree with Michael's amendments to my post. On another post --
Jim Straub wrote:
>
> I guess I chose C.
>
> Others?
>
> > The choices for socialists are now either [clip] c) adapt to the consciousness of the ranks in these parties and merge with them and their immediate struggles
I would agree, but interpret this in a different way. I have been merging with the (mostly) Democratic masses for 37 years "in their immediate struggles" -- none of which involve electoral work. We surprised the Bloomington teachers when they were considering a strike (they lost their nerve) by bringing to the Board of Education a petition signed by mostly poor or black people (the addresses established this) not only defending the teachers but suggesting they increase their demands. We got one black student out of prison after his public defender had royally fucked up. We did in '88 work in the Jackson campaign. Some advance from that but death and other factors bled that away in later years. We collected a mass of signatures from Public Housing (mostly black and latino) for the Normal Firefighters when the whole department had been jailed (it was an all-white male force, but several black women not only signed the petition but offered to circulate it to others.) And so forth. In fact we spent a hell of a lot more time "merging" with actual DP voters than anyone in the fucking DP County Committee ever did. It is naive nonsense to claim that to rally with DP masses one has to support DP candidates in elections.
And on another post--
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> On Aug 8, 2007, at 10:48 AM, Michael Smith wrote:
>
> > Is it conceivable that the masses are... mistaken? We seem to have no
> > problem with this conclusion when we discuss the masses' religious
> > views.
>
> Quite possible. But it does mean that people who want to peddle the
> not a dime's worth line have a lot of work to do.
Well I'll be damned -- and here for 40 years I've just sat at home and figured that the revolution was going to come tomorrow without any work. I never dreamed that it might take some work. We all owe Doug great thanks for his powerful grasp of the obvious which we would otherwise never see.
Carrol