Shane Mage wrote:
>
> On Jan 27, 2010, at 10:56 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:05:08 -0800
> > Joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Well, first we need something everyone will understand, like Lenin's
> >> "Peace, land, and bread."
> >>
> >
> But! "Peace, land, and bread" was not Lenin's--it was the Russian
> masses'. The genius of Lenin and Trotsky was their ability to hear the
> masses and speak to them in their own language.
I dsagree quite a bit with Shane, but he is absolutely right here. It is presumptuous to invent master slogans for a party before that party even exists. Such slogans MUST conform to actual movement in the population that has already achieved some visibility.
I would like to see someone _try_ to start a party now. I personally am convinced (a) the next surge of the left will not be expressed in a single party but in a miscellany of partie, ad hoc coalitions, local struggles over this, that and the other thing; extravagant acts of repression which generate a need for more efficient communication among different localities, political organizations, ad hoc groups of various sorts, etc. But efforts (plural) to build umbrella parties will be part of that, and the only way to know whether a party can be created is to keep trying and failing in various ways and under various conditions. The Labor Party still exists and has good people working on it in some ar eas. The Green Party (or, rather, several Green Parties, still exist, and are pretty silly in pacles and quite interesting in others. The Peace & Freedom Pary is still alive in California. Let's have some more.
But just because, rationally, there should be a Party does not at all mean that it is possible to have a party. The first thing Brad needs to do to start his Party is try to link up witho 50 or so like-minded souls arund the nation, having among them enough money to pay for ful-page ads in three or four major papers. With real luck there will be another 100 that respond. Then you can brainstorm among you as to what to do next. Good luck.
Carrol