On 2011-12-23, at 12:29 PM, Fernando Cassia wrote:
> Hardly any thread ends with an
> agreement on anything and it all ends in an excersive in collective
> finger ponting between members of the Left and calls to ignore the DP
> and liberal sectors of society.
Not to worry. Many US radicals ignore or scorn US liberals in theory, but the minority of them who are actually active appeal to and work closely with liberals in practice. Even Carrol. He and others have no choice. Most activists in the trade unions, black and immigrant communities, antiwar, womens', environmental and other single issue movements seek to reform rather than overthrow the system, and, their sometimes angry feelings about the party leadership notwithstanding, see the DP as the political vehicle for realizing their demands. I expect Carrol and other ultra-leftists reserve their vehement comments for this list, and, in their relations with these activists, temper their criticisms and subtly adapt to the liberal political consciousness of the majority every bit as much as leftists like Charles and Julio, for example, who explicitly recognize the necessity of doing so. Let me qualify that: there are some on the left who don't mind being relegated to the margins of political life, and consider it the measure of their political integrity.