For the SOCIALIST PROGRESSIVES GROUP members..........

[socialist_n_TN]

There's a new article on the election posted on the League for the Fifth International's web site. Kind of an overview article by Marcus Otono. Because of the content I'm not going to link the article here, but here's a link to the general website.

www.fifthinternational.org

Check it out if you're interested in the take.

[yallerdawg]

1. One day...

A party of labor must involve itself in the day-to-day lives and problems of workers and of the oppressed of all strata. It must work in the communities, neighborhoods and, especially, the workplaces and in every day of its existence and not just every few years. When we can build this, there will be the prospect for real change and not just another band-aid to cover the gaping chest wound that is capitalism in 2016.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. Yep, one day.........

I'd like to see a start on this by 2020 myself. It's too late for this years' election cycle, but 2020? Yeah, that's doable..

[Phlem]

5. +1

Nice.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Thanks..........

[Lifelong Protester]

2. Thank You!

I was worried you had disappeared from here.

[socialist_n_TN]

3. I'm kinda laying low during the election.......

As the article states, I have some heretical takes on bourgeois election as far as DU goes anyway. But I do check in every now and then.

[Lifelong Protester]

6. Well, I am glad you are here!!

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Thanks. And I will be checking in every now and then.......

[LWolf]

7. This was an interesting read.

I won't comment on much of it here at DU, but this part:

Yet the forces of the Left are so divided into warring micro-sects that they cannot even get together to debate an action programme of immediate and transitional demands on which a common slate of candidates could stand. Even at a time when capitalism is under pressure from all sides, the far left has been unable to offer a unified electoral platform, despite appearing to agree on many of the essential elements of such a platform.

That, and I'm a bit concerned about losing the momentum and energy built in the last year; the reality of November is disheartening. The 7th paragraph down from this one expresses exactly what is so frustrating.

I agree with the article's conclusion.

[socialist_n_TN]

8. Thanks.....................

I'm coming around to the belief that the far left needs a more mass party (at present it would be the Socialist Party IMO) to enter and become a "left current" within that party. This is similar to what's being done in Labour in the UK. Of course Labour has the advantage of actually BEING a workers' party, albeit a bourgeois one, whereas in the States we don't have anything comparable. Putting the energy and effort into a grouping that would actually be FOR workers first, NOT profit, would be a way to keep the momentum.

As to the seventh paragraph down, I don't really see any way around that conclusion.

[LWolf]

11. I'm open to that.

I have little interest anymore for party politics, but a party that was actually about the masses could change that.

[white_wolf]

13. Working Families Party?

I don't know too much about them aside from the fact that they endorsed Sanders in the primaries. They seem to have some influence on electoral politics, though minor. Still they might have more power than say the Socialist Party or CPUSA, which everyone seems to regard as joke regardless of political leaning.

[socialist_n_TN]

14. Yeah, I don't know much about them either, but they are intriguing............

and already somewhat established in a few places. I do know that in a lot of places they defer to the Democrat that's running, so that might be problematic depending on the candidate. I suppose after the November election it might be worth comparing the votes those two parties get.

CPUSA is the "left" (?) wing of the Democratic Party and has been for decades now, so I don't think that's a viable option. But check out the Socialist Party's platform. It's really close to what we need. Definitely close enough to enter and form a faction.