[Marxism] A Retort on the Left and Elections

[Louis Proyect]

milongo:
As far as I know, Nader and McKinney are liberals. I've never heard 
either one advocate for the overthrow of the capitalist system. McKinney 
WAS a Democrat until not that long ago. While a Representative from the 
state of Georgia she was more progressive than the average Democrat but 
hardly a revolutionary. In fact, at the local level there are many 
Democrats with similar politics. Just examine many of the Democrats in 
the NYC Council. So, in that sense, she's not unique.

Reply:
You don't understand. The "overthrow of the capitalist system" is not 
even a remote possibility. The main task facing radicals is the 
construction of a left party that is not controlled by the bourgeoisie. 
The fact that many of Nader's demands are shared by Kucinich or whoever 
is besides the point. The real dividing line is whether or not the left 
should be part of the Democratic Party. In this respect, Nader is more 
"revolutionary" than you despite your Karl Marx tag.

Mygonzo:
In 1993, David Dinkins, the Democrat, narrowly lost the mayoral election 
to the Republican, Rudolph Guiliani. It was well known that Guiliani was 
a white supremacist and a great friend of Wall Street. His eight years 
as mayor were a disaster for the working class. Under Guiliani we saw an 
unremitting effort to destroy the provision of all social services to 
working people in NYC. One of the first things he did was cut funding 
for public hospitals. He eliminated the penny tax on stock transactions 
costing the city billions of dollars. He encouraged more "aggressive" 
policing, resulting in greater abuse of black people by the police: 
Abner Louima was sodomized in a police station, and Amadou Diallo was 
murdered entering his building.

Reply:
What is this? Ex post facto support for a Dinkins vote? And from 
somebody quoting Marx about what it means to be radical? God help us.

Melanomanza:
You can talk about third parties all you want but there are real 
consequences to allowing these reactionaries to take power.

Reply:
How old are you, mglinga? Some of us have been around the left since the 
1950s and have heard this from the CPUSA all along. You should realize 
that except for a handful of people on this mailing list, this kind of 
whining about the consequences of not voting for the "lesser evil" makes 
us livid with rage. You should not bang on about this ceaselessly since 
for me it as far worse offense than threatening to punch somebody in the 
face.