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Wow. Well, I'll admit I'm not exactly qualified to judge the analogy completely because I know very little about 19th century France. However the argument appears flawed to me on a number of grounds. For one, the piece quotes Engels to suggest that leftists should not pick between the Boulangists and the Republicans. Assuming Trump stands in for Boulanger, does Bernie stand in for the corrupt politicians of the Third Republic? I think the piece would make more sense if he was attacking those who vote for Hillary, not *any *member of the Democratic Party. And even putting that aside, the final part of the piece argues that Engels advocated (basically) for an independent third party. Putting outside how "revolutionary" it is to have a party that participates in bourgeois elections at all, one would think this strategy would depend highly on the rules of any given nation's elections. For example, in a first-past-the-post system that is designed to ensure two party hegemony (or worse yet, a practically one party system in countries like South Africa), that strategy might not make sense, and there was no real explanation for what the procedure/terms of these elections were in the Third Republic. Just a few reactions. - Amith On Sun, Mar 27, 2016 at 12:02 PM, 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. > ***************************************************************** > > By Doug Greene > > The rise of Donald Trump and his odious brand of right-wing populism has > been one of the hallmarks of 2016’s election season. Certainly, Trump is an > odious person who hates women, calls Mexicans rapists and criminals, and > (not so subtly) courts support from white supremacists. He openly invites > his followers, who seem to be coming out of the woodwork, to commit > violence. Across the liberal and left spectrum, there has been debate on > what Trump represents: Clown? Demagogue? Populist? Fascist? > > The question is not simply academic. On Saturday, March 11, 2016, > protesters in Chicago, many of whom support the social democrat Bernie > Sanders shut down a planned Trump rally. In response, Donald Trump has > threatened Sanders’ supporters with violence. If Trump is a fascist, does > that mean socialists and communists should support Bernie Sanders as part > of a united front, and by extension, the Democratic Party? For many > leftists, support for the Democrats, could potentially mean subordinating > mass actions and independent initiatives into the safe and demobilizing > channels for the “friendly face” of the US Empire. Already, the historical > analogies are out about the danger of the hour about the need to fight > fascism, in the form of Trump and the GOP, above everything: Popular Front > and“Unite to Defeat the ultra-right!” (a favorite mantra of the CPUSA) > which all leads to another round of “lesser evilism.” Leftists who refuse > to support the Democrats against Trump and the GOP are branded as purists > and sectarians. > > full: http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12509 > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%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
