[Edited Message Follows] [Reason: Last two paras provide further development of my brief comment about the DSA in yesterday's post.]
On Thu, Dec 4, 2025 at 11:27 AM, Mark Baugher wrote: > > Not all want to lead, but the actual leadership in a > revolutionary-socialist organization needs to be far larger than the > number of functionaries. A healthy organization needs to have more leaders > than can fit into the small subset who participate leadership bodies or > positions. This points to the inherent tension in the concept of democratic centralism. It would be more democratic if the political committee were subordinate to the central committee which would meet more frequently and be representative of the competing tendencies in proportion to their membership support. However, internal party debate then would become more frequent and contentious and decision-making more drawn out between general meetings. This is what prompted Lenin to counterpose his model of a narrow centralized leadership directing the activity of a more politically conscious, homogenous, and disciplined membership able to swiftly and effectively carry out the party line above and below ground in a fast moving revolutionary crisis. But we're are not in a revolutionary crisis and until we are, I agree the greater weight should be placed on the “democratic” side of the democratic centralist model. Whether this is more aspirational than achievable is an open question since the leadership of even today's multiple small Trotskyist and ML groups seems inevitably to devolve to their most experienced and committed individuals, often their founders, who become their paid or unpaid central leadership. A more appropriate model IMO which corresponds to the current level of class struggle is the Marxist study group or caucus, not unlike marxmail but active outside of social media. The fastest growing is the DSA which functions as a left social democratic caucus within the Democratic Party but which also independently recruits trade unionists and radicalizing youth to its ranks . Unlike the smaller and more marginal Leninist groups organized on democratic centralist lines, the DSA local chapters are relatively autonomous and the it welcomes multiple competing tendencies who are represented on its leading body..() https://socialistcall.com/2023/07/27/dsa-caucuses-guide-2023/ ) The organization has garnered much national publicity with the rise of Zorhan Mamdani from obscurity to the NYC mayor’s office . Mamdani is a member of the DSA’s Socialist Majority Caucus which spearheaded his campaign. The DSA and the Leninist groups are also sharply divided on strategy. The latter generally see themselves as revolutionary parties in embryo which, however isolated today, are destined to someday “intersect” with and form the core of a radicalizing working class. The DSA has an entryist perspective of building its forces from within the DP which, like the left-centre parties in Europe and elsewhere, has historically been the political home of the trade unions and allied social movements. It anticipates a “dirty break” with the DP as the class struggle accelerates, but the timing of a break with the Democrats is already a lively issue within the organization. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39599): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39599 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116549413/21656 -=-=- 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. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
