It's brutal in the electoral playpen in California this year. The state has a cross-party top-two primary election on June 2. The two candidates with the most votes go to the general election. It could well be two Republicans, since there are several major Democrat candidates who could split the Democratic pool of voters into small puddles. What should self-declared socialists do?
PSL is running a " key member ( https://www.peaceandfreedom.us/index.php/news/pfp-gubernatorial-candidate-ramsey-robinson-is-fighting-for-the-people-of-california-not-the-billionaires ) ," Ramsey Robinson, under the Peace and Freedom Party banner. PSL and candidate Robinson openly advocate socialism. PSL is coy about revolution, though. Its mass agitation almost never talks about it. Its party program does say a socialist revolution is needed. However, PSL buries its program where only the most persistent will find it. DSA, which is for socialism but against revolution, has a different view. California DSA is the umbrella organization of Democratic Socialists of America chapters in the state. Whom does DSA endorse for governor? After much hand-wringing, California DSA concludes, "the most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer." DSA calls out the fact that Steyer is a billionaire, that his fortune was "earned through the exploitation of the working class," that he has put money into private prisons and coal mining, and that he talks out of both sides of his mouth about the Zionist genocide in Gaza. But..., but... The guide is no different than the endorsement discussions you get from organizations like Progressive Democrats of America. Not once does California DSA mention socialism, let alone try to connect it to DSA's obsession with elections. The (bourgeois) democratic path to socialism is a closed circle, wholly inscribed within capitalism. For the record, here is the section of the guide about Steyer: Tom Steyer is somehow running the most progressive campaign. Despite being a billionaire, he supports taxing the rich and supports the Billionaire Tax currently on California’s ballot, which CA DSA has endorsed. He has done an about-face from his previous position to now supporting state-level Medicare for All. He has called ICE a “violent extremist group” and outlined how he, as governor, would prosecute ICE agents. He has also been endorsed by a number of major labor unions, including the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, AFSCME 3299, Unite HERE, the California Nurses Association, and the California Labor Federation, as well as progressive groups such as Our Revolution and Courage California, and former gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee. Notably, Steyer is one of two Democrats in the race, alongside Tony Thurmond, to explicitly support California’s law protecting trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports. However, while Steyer has disavowed AIPAC’s influence on Democratic primaries (although, notably, AIPAC does not involve itself in non-federal races) and acknowledged that Israel is committing war crimes, he has refused to call Israel’s actions in Palestine a genocide and claimed that he “honestly does not know what genocide means.” We find this rhetorical trick to be pulled from the same Zionist playbook that motivates genocide denial across the political spectrum—playing dumb about the daily horrors and atrocities Israel commits is not “progressive” in any way. Additionally, Steyer is a billionaire. Even if he glibly considers himself a “class traitor”, his wealth was earned through the exploitation of the working class. Much of his wealth was also invested in private prisons and coal mining, accumulated by the same things he now decries. There are myriad left-wing protest votes one could take (none of which are going to come close to winning), the most prominent of which are Ramsey Robinson and Butch Ware. We highly encourage voters to not cast a protest vote, as the stakes are incredibly high and the chance of the top two candidates both being Republicans is still very real. The most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer. Time will tell whether he’s truly a class traitor. –From https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide#statewide -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41694): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41694 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119270036/21656 -=-=- 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]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
