[lbo-talk] Politics vs the DP

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

I wouldn't propose moving the Democratic Party to the left as an end in
itself (though left-wing activity would push liberal policy leftward).  That
was I suppose the stance of Harrington and company and those who thought
they could turn the Democratic Party into a labor party.  The point is that
Third Party electoneering and perceiving the DP as the "main enemy" at this
point doesn't make sense.  The left should be unifying and continuing the
work to build movements like the anti-austerity movement in Wisconsin, with
a sober understanding of what Kucinich, Conyers, et al. are.

I actually would disagree with the part of Schulman's letter that I
excerpted that argues for creating a "party within a party," as it infers
some type of permanence in the relationship between the left and the DP.

On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 8:12 PM, <wrobert at uci.edu> wrote:


>    This seems remarkably naive, ignoring the powerful institutional
> gatekeeping devices that exist between the decision making structures
> of the parties and the average individual who registers to be a part
> of a particular party.  Any effort to change the democratic party
> strikes me as largely futile.  If there is anything to learn from the
> Popular Front, it's the CPs collaboration in a variety of civic and
> political groups that had far more to do with the creation of a
> historical block than the formal engagement with the democratic party.
>  Perhaps more accurately, the extent that the latter occurred was
> dependent on the former.  (There's a larger argument here that would
> read the New Deal as a neutralization of the Popular Front.)
>      On the other hand, the previous argument doesn't take away the
> possibility of working with the various activists who remain
> committed to the democratic party.  This was certainly true of our
> recently formed caucus, focused on reforming our local, UAW 2865,
> and I could see it working with any number of concrete projects,
> such as opposing the various occupations or other practical reform
> issues.  However, these projects all operate outside of the
> democratic party, aka 'the roach motel of the left.'
>
> robert wood
>
>