Slaughter and Wright distort a point about electoral work. I've been doing it for decades, and I can't think of anyone on the left doing GOTV for Dem candidates that simply works to have an individual voter cast a ballot and go home. Perhaps the regular Dems do. But in our case, every voter we get out, we also try to engage in Educating the Vote with others they know, then Protecting the Vote on election day and during the counting, then Summing UP the Vote afterwards, to recruit them into IPOs like PDA or even into our socialist groups. They say "Voters are asked just to do the minimum..." Asked by whom? (The passive voice can cover up a lot). Certainly not LR and its close friends. Finally, they evade a direct reply to a correct point they make about LR, seeing the 'principle contradiction' in the current conjuncture as 'fascism vs democracy.' If you think this is wrong, say so, but tell us either what you think the principal contradiction is, or why we should scrap the whole idea of a principal contradiction in such matters.
I am not clear what folks mean by "class struggle" elections? What is the point--to make a point, or to actually elect someone? I have a feeling that Eugene V. Send himself would have trouble winning DSA's nod. I have spent many hours gathering signatures to place some worthy comrade on the ballot--to no avail.
I had the same problem with Goodkind’s essay: the fight against fascism is a priority, but it does not eclipse other class fights, and it will not be won by uniting with genocide-supporting Democrats like Kamala Harris or Chuck Schumer. Mass politics is not synonymous with electoral politics, especially not the kind of electoral politics that subordinates socialist and anti-imperialist objectives in order to support and unite with corporate Democrats. Mass politics is class struggle in every arena, including trade union and community struggles, electoral struggles like the Mamdani and Katie Wilson campaigns, and the fight against Zionist genocide or US imperialist adventures in Latin America.
Slaughter and Wright distort a point about electoral work. I've been doing it for decades, and I can't think of anyone on the left doing GOTV for Dem candidates that simply works to have an individual voter cast a ballot and go home. Perhaps the regular Dems do. But in our case, every voter we get out, we also try to engage in Educating the Vote with others they know, then Protecting the Vote on election day and during the counting, then Summing UP the Vote afterwards, to recruit them into IPOs like PDA or even into our socialist groups. They say "Voters are asked just to do the minimum..." Asked by whom? (The passive voice can cover up a lot). Certainly not LR and its close friends. Finally, they evade a direct reply to a correct point they make about LR, seeing the 'principle contradiction' in the current conjuncture as 'fascism vs democracy.' If you think this is wrong, say so, but tell us either what you think the principal contradiction is, or why we should scrap the whole idea of a principal contradiction in such matters.
I am not clear what folks mean by "class struggle" elections? What is the point--to make a point, or to actually elect someone? I have a feeling that Eugene V. Send himself would have trouble winning DSA's nod. I have spent many hours gathering signatures to place some worthy comrade on the ballot--to no avail.
I had the same problem with Goodkind’s essay: the fight against fascism is a priority, but it does not eclipse other class fights, and it will not be won by uniting with genocide-supporting Democrats like Kamala Harris or Chuck Schumer. Mass politics is not synonymous with electoral politics, especially not the kind of electoral politics that subordinates socialist and anti-imperialist objectives in order to support and unite with corporate Democrats. Mass politics is class struggle in every arena, including trade union and community struggles, electoral struggles like the Mamdani and Katie Wilson campaigns, and the fight against Zionist genocide or US imperialist adventures in Latin America.