I need to respond to your earlier comments that made serious critical points I need to factor in.
But here let me say a clear YES, It is a multi-dynamic struggle for real progressives and radicals on the left. And that is what is stumping me as people out in the field call me and ask for advice.
We need to find a way to oppose:
=State repression, militarization, and wars of aggression.
=The Republican Party as it triangulates opportunistically with the Tea Party Populists.
=The Tea Party Populists as they move toward a para-fascist dynamic (not actual fascism)
=Centrist Democrats and their capitulation to neoliberalism.
=Liberal centrists who mock the tea party populists and demonize "extremists" of the right while slyly sharpening their knives for the "extremists" of the Left like us.
And yes, I think the serious mistake of the 1920s and 1930s was to pursue a "united front" instead of a "popular front." I say this realizing that at some point, many liberals will delight in stabbing us in the back. But some won't, and right now we really need liberals in a principled coalition.
And I do think that a significant portion of the folks attracted to the TP movement (like union memebrs who tipped the race for Scott Brown in MA) can be organizsed to a more progressive stance.
The organizers I am speaking to are realy fearful of what they are facing, and need all the help in figuring things out they can get. So am I.
-Chip
________________________________
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org on behalf of John Gulick Sent: Fri 2/19/2010 6:46 PM To: lbo-talk Cc: John Gulick Subject: [lbo-talk] Fascism, right-wing populism, and contemporary research
CB:
>And I also indict the Democrats for moving further to the center and
bailing out
>their wealthy cronies, while liberals delight in making fun
of a movement that
>is out-organizing them.
JG:
I laud your indictment, but doesn't a programmatic critique of corporate liberalism in the DP and its insalubrious byproducts need to be a central part of the "popular front" anti-teabagger _organizing_ effort?
_________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469228/direct/01/ ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk