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I think Louis' criteria that being mentioned by the New York Times being a criteria for what is important is ludicrous (of course again he called me out for not recognizing his notorious sarcasm in the past so who knows?) to the extreme. The FIT won elections in Argentina. The FIT preformed into the double digit area in provincial elections. They are a lot smaller than SYRIZA is even when the latter started out a few years ago. Of course Louis might now know this since, well, he relies on the NYT for all things left in Latin America, or so he implies. The Personist and national press *in* Argetnina, that is their papers of record have *not* ignored the FIT and have seemingly sounded the alarm of "Trotskyism" coming to threaten all that is good and godly there. The FIT is a hodge-podge of mostly Trot groups. There seems to be more than just the PO (not Morenoist) and the PTS (ex-Morenoist). The problem they have other than being highly polemical, recruiting competition among these groups, both of which number only between 1 and 2 thousand, is something SYRZIA hasn't had to face: Peronism, which no one seems to recognize as holding the loyalty of the Argentine working class *to this day*. And this includes the FIT which also seems incapable of addressing that section of the class that still holds loyalty to all things Peronist. Both the PO and PTS have variously a lot of respect among workers, including Peronist workers, who vote for their slates in union elections. Argentina still has one of the highest rates of unionization in the world. Both groups, however, formed the FIT only so they could get on the ballot and maybe pull-off some election victories. They succeeded in both. But neither resolved their differences. They are still isolated and, *apparently* still have yet to really win over an actual "section" of the working class or provide a pole that could be attractive to workers who perhaps will vote for them in union or even national elections but don't see them as "leading" anything important enough to join them or see them as leaders of the class. Morena in Mexico has promise, or so I'm told by Mexican friends but they are as racked by factionalism as, it appears, similar to that FIT. The advantage for Morena is the person of Andres Lopez Obrador who by force of personality and personage, is a unifying figure, despite his own adaptation to the State (he refused for a decade to visit either Cuba or Venezuela for fear of being tarred with the "Chavismo" brush). The other united left front is the OPT or "Workers Political Organization" with a dozen far and near-far left groups. It was found by the militant class struggle union, the SME, representing Mexico's electrical union. My understanding is that both groups (OPT and Morena work together in areas of agreement). Morena appears to be strictly electoral, the OPT is involved in the class struggle at the level of the street. Louis' criticism about benchmarks, however, is well taken. It's an area I agree with him on. The benchmark is *our class* and immediate policies needed to alleviate the conditions of the class or sections that are in struggle against Imperialism and their cronies in government. Any "front" that doesn't address these issues beyond leaflets and a newspaper article is useless. If it doesn't mobilize and fight then what good is it? I would add that looking for models around the world is a waste of time. This is proven over and over again. Whatever arises in Argentina today or tomorrow will do so based on the lessons or the *Argentine* working class and not the Mexican or Greek one. David _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
