[lbo-talk] Politics vs the DP

// ravi ravi at platosbeard.org
Wed Jun 15 18:19:07 PDT 2011


On Jun 15, 2011, at 6:54 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:
> This is utter bullshit.

Oh well. I guess it had to end.


> But let's not
> lose sight of the fact that to the degree that the working class is
> politically active, it's often as DP activists.

As in? I am not challenging, I am curious for examples of working class activists (outside of perhaps environmentalism) who are primarily DP activists.


> I'll echo Jason Schulman writing in the letters section of a recent Weekly
> Worker (cpgb.org.uk):
>
> [...] note the organisational looseness of the Democrats (and Republicans).
> In fact, today they are both quasi-state institutions - no longer political
> parties in the European parliamentary sense; they are legally regulated
> structures with fixed times and places, where anyone can register. Open to
> all, they have no ideological requirements for membership. To become a
> Republican or Democrat, you just register as such. In fact, these are not
> really parties at all, but coalitions of more or less compatible social
> forces, in which various groups contest for influence under a common banner.
> Of course, it is still difficult for any individual or group to succeed in
> this process without lots of money. But organised groups with clear
> programmatic ideas and a long-term commitment can become forces within
> either party.

What’s a “programmatic idea”? Something like the Tea Party?

—ravi



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list