[Marxism] What are the Greens, or waiting for the industrial proletarian Godot

[Bonnie Weinstein]

Dear Mark,

Let me quote Medea Benjamin because she said it best. According to the
article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled, "THOSE PESKY
PEACENIKS," by Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau, that appeared in
the Thursday, July 12, 2007 issue of the newspaper at the following link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/12/MNGK0QV7HO1.DTL&
hw=those+pesky+peaceniks&sn=002&sc=948
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/12/MNGK0QV7HO1.DTL
&amp;hw=those+pesky+peaceniks&amp;sn=002&amp;sc=948>

And I quote: 
 
"Medea Benjamin, the San Francisco activist and Green Party leader who
co-founded the group, said CodePink began shifting its attention to Congress
after its four-month daily vigil outside the White House produced no changes
in policy leading to the Iraq invasion. 'We put all our pressure on the Bush
administration to begin with. Obviously, that didn't make a difference,'
Benjamin said. 'So we thought, "Let's move who we can move, let's change the
Congress," and so we went out and worked like hell to get Democrats elected.
Now we are putting pressure on the Democrats who control Congress. It seems
like a logical strategy to me.'"

This is the strategy for failure of the Green Party. Please don't say they
didn't do that. I heard Nader say something similar on CNN myself. It is
their modus operandi! They are the epitome of a liberal pressure group, not
of an independent (of the capitalist class) party.

How can you say it didn't happen that they supported Democrats when push
came to shove?

You deny it but this tactic been put forward by leading Greens on a
consistent basis.

I have nothing against Democrats being in the antiwar movement--I hope they
join and fight to bring the troops home now and end the war now. I really
hope they put their money where their mouth is and support the antiwar
groups by donating lots of money to the movement with no strings attached.
That would be their own contradiction they must deal with--being against the
war but in support of the War Party. But they can't then vote for the war
budget or the patriot act or the "war on terror" or Guantanamo Bay's
continued existence and still claim to be antiwar.

You are in denial if you think the Greens are anything but a pressure group
for the Democrats.

We need a party in opposition to them and their class and their wars!

Comradely,

Bonnie Weinstein, Socialist Viewpoint Magazine