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Predictably, Bernie Sanders did not win the Democratic Party's nomination for president, and - just as predictably - he has graciously pledged his loyalty to the Democrats and for their barely functional candidate. The Democrats will modify their platform to appeal to Sander's supporters, will nominate a woman for VP, probably a woman of color, make changes in the DNC, and promise to give the Sandernistas a voice in the party's inner circles. Biden could even go on to win in the general election against Trump, in something like the final scene of Bertolucci's 1900 only much worse. Most of his disappointed followers will vote for Biden, especially if Bernie campaigns for Biden. With Trump's consistently awful management of the pandemic, and the economy plummeting, he should be able to lose this election no matter who the Democrats run. This is especially true given Trump's enormous angst to get the economy going again before the pandemic has run through its first wave. Neither Sanders himself nor the possibility of his election ever should have been the primary focus of revolutionaries. Sanders was made possible by a mass movement that is being born - not called into being by Sanders the great caudillo of the left - but growing in the pores of society because of the degeneration of society as capitalism decays. Sanders touched what was already there: massive disaffection with the medical and education systems of the United States, massive disaffection with the housing crisis, massive resistance to violations of immigrant rights, Black lives matter, Me Too... The fact that Sanders calls himself a socialist is good for this movement because it will continue to think of itself as socialist, not Liberal, and not just Progressive. Thank you Bernie, you have played your role in history. Sanders loss was not a historic defeat for "the parliamentary road to socialism". It was just one episode. Labor and Social Democratic Parties have lost lots of elections and come back for more. so have Communist Parties and all sorts of other parties. It was also not a historic defeat for the left in general in the United States. The left is growing in the United States and will continue to grow once Sanders himself leaves the stage. The next stage is almost certainly going to be in the streets rather than at the ballot box. The protest movement that is likely to arise now will take a different form if Trump is reelected than it will if Biden is elected, but it is nevertheless on the agenda for the simple reason that society is in a deep crisis, and this election is not going to resolve it in any way. Anthony _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
