******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Here's a detailed history of that "marxist-leninist" milieu by Ethan himself. One can't stress enough the Rainbow parallel, both in terms of hopes falsely raised and in movement-building derailed. N.B.: I've had numerous encounters with Ethan over the decades and never a negative one, however much we disagreed. http://www.freedomroad.org/staticfiles/familytree/discussion/thetrend.html On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:13 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > (An article by Ethan Young, who was a member of a sect called Line of > March that saw itself as the authentic continuation of the CPUSA in the > same manner as the Socialist Action sect saw itself as the authentic > continuation of the SWP. In 1984, when I was a member of CISPES, I was > dismayed to see LoM members in CISPES arguing alongside the Maoist CWP that > we effectively become part of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow campaign. At the risk > of sounding like a dogmatic purist, I think it is a mistake for protest > movements to affiliate with DP politicians even when they can talk the talk > even better than Sanders. Go back and look at Jackson's 1984 speeches and > you'll see what I mean. After the 1984 convention when Walter Mondale > became the nominee, the "transformational" Rainbow Coalition folded its > tents and disappeared. I could be wrong but after Clinton becomes the > nominee, as she surely will, and Sanders backs her, the "Sanders Democrats" > will fade into oblivion. Sanders will go back to being an honorable de > facto Democrat and calling himself a socialist (whatever that means) and > that will be that for the "inside out" left until the next > "transformational" bourgeois politician comes along.) > > Part of the emerging, reconstructed Left will likely take the form of an > anti-neoliberal “Sanders Democrats” wing of the Democratic Party. This > could directly challenge party centrists in every state, and change the > direction of policy battles in Congress and in state and city governments. > It would also further challenge the view on the Left that holds to a purist > stance of permanently attacking the Democrats as a class enemy. This > tendency, which sees the formation of a third party as always the immediate > priority in electoral politics, claims that its opponents are careerists or > naive liberals. However, the most widely held view among independent > leftists is an “inside/outside” strategy, favoring independent candidates > where the power of the party machine excludes progressive reformers. Some > die-hards of the other camp have been swayed by the upsurge for Sanders. > > Sanders’ campaign promotes policies that run counter to neoliberalism and > anti-government conservatism, but despite the socialist banner he flies, > they don’t undermine capitalism per se. Sanders is more feared for his > emphasis on mass mobilization—strengthening democracy under attack by the > private sector and quasi-fascist elements. His campaign has made the word > “socialist” acceptable in ways that it never was heretofore in the U.S. Now > the tiny socialist movement has a chance to crawl out of the rubble and > join a new generation, fueled by disgust for the capitalist system and a > growing determination to replace it with something just, sustainable, and > beautiful. > > full: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/a-political-revolution/ > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ 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
