brad wrote:
>
>
> Carrol, you have never once offered any constructive criticism of anything I
> have said about organization on the left. And how dare I offer something
> different, God knows we just need to do the same things we did in the past.
>
I've been writing on organizing and the state of the left on this list for 11 years, & I have no desire to argue with every stray poster that comes by.
One finds a couple of people who agree on an issue. You put out a cvall to collect a few more who agree. Then you make yourself visible, collecting more people who on some aspect at least agree with you and you put on larger acts which attract more people. If it happens to be the right issue at the right time (and the right times are few and far between), others start organizing their own little g roups to push the action and the exttent of the visibility. You never "reacvh out" to anyone; as your movment grows fwider and wider circles of people reach out to you. You start artguing and cursing at each other inside the groups you have created and that brings about a deeper collective understanding of what you are trying to do and your actions grow and so forth.
When times aren't right you keep at the same thing anyhow because sooner or later the times will be right and explosive things will happen. Not predictable. But you have to keep at it.
Carrol