[Marxism] An analysis of the DP convention that works better

[Marvin Gandall]

Fred asked:

> Marvin, in my opinion, has never made clear how revolutionaries entering
> the
> Denocratic Parry would advance any broad progressive agenda. Does he
> belong
> to a body that selects Democratic Party delegates? Do his views influence
> ftheir decisions? Or is this just a generally leftist milieu where he
> feels
> more at home than other options, including work-related ones?
>
> In this case, inquiring minds REALLY  want to know, so don't take this as
> yet another snarky attack. What is your DP group? How do you affect its
> functioning?
=====================================
Your memory must be slipping, Fred. I noted in my reply to your post
yesterday that "I'm not an American but those of us who don't reside in the
US are all disenfranchised subjects of the Empire with a keen interest in US
politics,and cable and internet access to it", and we also briefly met on
two separate occasions in NYC through some mutual friends, Gus and Suzanne -
once at a Harlem restaurant, and then at a birthday party for an ex-SWP'er
from Chicago. In any case, I'm Canajun, eh, and though I lived for a time in
the US in the 60s, I unfortunately have no first-hand experience to share
with you about the internal life of the Democratic party.

I have had and continue to have American friends who have been active in DP
state and national primaries and campaigns. One belongs to the Progressive
Democrats of America and another, formerly a CP'er, is politically close to
the Committees of Correspondence. I expect if I were an American and
interested in becoming active in the party, I would gravitate in that
direction. I'm also in contact with Julio Huato, whom Marxmailers may
remember, and who still posts to the LBO and PEN lists. He was until
recently active around the DP and is still a good source of information
about what is going on at the grassroots level. They don't consider the base
of the party a wasteland as those on the left at a greater distance from it
do, and my sense from them is that the opportunities to be active, given the
continuous US election cycle, appear to be there for anyone wanting to seek
them out.

In general, the Democratic ranks and and the party's electoral activity
doesn't sound very different from the kind of people and activity I
encountered when I was in the NDP many years ago - the major difference
perhaps being that the NDP, unlike the DP, held policy conferences where the
left could organize itself after a fashion and challenge the direction of
the party in an open forum. That wasn't nothing, but it wasn't everything
either. The conferences were tightly-organized and left caucus successes
few, and I never felt it was sufficient compensation for all of the
administrative and electoral  shitwork at the riding level which was
necessary to have any credibility, particularly if you were a known
left-winger as I was in the Ottawa area. But, like participation in the
trade unions, it was still a better if less intellectually stimulating venue
than the small Marxist circles to take the pulse of politically interested
and progressive working people and to learn to formulate objectives which
were in line with their own views and experiences.

I didn't have the commitment to keep beating my head against a brick wall in
the NDP following the demise of the Waffle in the early 70's and the later
abortive Campaign for an Activist Party in the early 80s. But I remain
convinced that had I the patience to keep at it and things suddenly opened
up, I would be better positioned to exercise leadership than former comrades
and friends who shunned participation in the NDP for any number of reasons.
On the other hand, in my ongoing debate with myself over this question, it's
quite possible some or many of them would have likely been drawn in had a
real internal fight developed, and would have quickly gained influence
anyway. I suspect that might be true of people like yourself, Joaquin,
Walter and others (discounting old age, of course!) if an organized and
coherent opposition were to develop inside the DP, but you'd be the ones to
answer that. Meantime, it seems to me involvement in the DP or the social
democratic parties is at this stage more a matter of personal preference
than of political necessity, although US leftists involved in the Obama
campaign would undoubtedly take issue with that.