[Marxism] In Defense of Harrington and American

[Jim Farmelant]

On Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:37:45 -0500 Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com> writes:


> 
> One thing you are saying is correct. You might expect some members 
> of 
> the DP to come over to the side of the workers movement as class 
> polarization deepens in the U.S. The same phenomenon took place in 
> the 
> 1850s with the development of the Republican Party. Some politicians 
> 
> were formerly DP'ers, such as Abe Lincoln. 

A small correction.  Lincoln was a Whig, he was
never a DP'er. The Whigs, during the 1850s
split over the issue of slavery.  These differences,
especially between the northern Whigs and
the southern Whigs proved irreconcilable and
the party disintegrated, with the many of the
southern Whigs going over to the Democrats,
while many of the northern Whigs joined
forces with the antislavery parties like
the Free Soil Party to form a new party,
the Republican Party. It was in the midst
of this political transition that Lincoln
was able to secure the Republican's
nomination for the presidency in
1860, and Lincoln went on to
win the election with something
like 40% of the vote.

All this, I think, supports the point
that you were making.

> My recommendation in 1850 
> 
> would have been, however, to build the abolitionist movement and not 
> 
> join a pro-slavery party like the Democrats in order to woo some 
> people 
> o an anti-slavery perspective. That is the position that Marxists are 
> 
> in today. We are trying to provide the advance guard of a movement 
> opposed to wage slavery today.
> 
>
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