The reason that ideological purists of any political movement hate their more pragmatic counterparts is that by gaining legitimacy and even popularity in the real world, the pragmatists make the proponents of ideological purity less relevant within the broader movement. In other words, pragmatism becomes a threat to the ideologues' power and influence. This is the crux of the issue in my opinion.
Workers will never ever get anything in this corporate fascist system through electoralism. Nothing. Ever. She just has the courage to say it. It is pure physics that tells us where things go by "voting harder and complimenting AOC and progressives": MORE FASCISM. It's kind of telling when neoliberals like you continue to blast the left, just as you blame Kshama. Pot calling Stove black?
It’s just weird that you felt like it wasn’t worth mentioning that prior to this loss, Kshama won 3 consecutive elections without running as a Democrat.
I think this article has many valid points that should be discussed, but I really just wish you were more willing to address nuances that don’t cleanly support your thesis.
And the way you describe Seattle as this deep blue special place that has a “socialist” mayor is honestly really reductive.
There are countless examples of Kshama being the only principled member of the Seattle City Council and winning victories for the working class despite the Democrats on the council.
I’m also a current member of SAlt, I didn’t agree with Kshama and the rest of the members who split with her, and have been really disappointed in a lot of their actions since then, so I absolutely have criticisms. It just bugs me to see so much glossed over.
I'm not taking anything away from her time on city council. But at some point, Sawant and her supporters should recognize that municipal elections are not the same as federal elections. It's not revolutionary socialism to raise the minimum wage. Hell, liberals do that all the time. If she's talking about ending genocide and imperialism, her program needs to work at the federal level. It does not.
You literally are, though, when you refuse to mention any of that work and instead treat this latest electoral defeat as the “nail in the coffin”
No one is claiming that winning reforms under capitalism is revolutionary socialism. You’re cherry-picking and arguing against a strawman.
Re: min wage increases - “Liberals do that all the time” now you’re just showing your ignorance of the history of minimum wage struggles in the US. The 15 Now movement, which forced all those liberals to accept the $15 minimum wage demand, was the result of a grassroots movement that Kshama’s office was instrumental in championing and building support for.
You didn’t even bother giving half-hearted nods to the successes of Kshama’s 10 years in office. The birth of the 15 Now movement, the first ban on caste discrimination outside of India (which made Kshama a huge target of the Modi regime, who denied her a visa to visit her sick mother), supporting rank and file wildcat strikes against the wishes of conservative business union leadership, the fact that she was elected to office as an open Marxist before Bernie was even a household name.
You just used her electoral loss as a lazy “dunk” on another socialist. I don’t really see how that’s any different from the sectarianism you chastise ultra-leftists for.
“the inability of ultra-leftists like her to muster any concrete political activity over the last century” this is just objectively false. You can still argue against someone ideologically without ignoring their very real and concrete victories. It just sounds like you’re doing a “my team is better than your team!!” despite claiming otherwise.
Excellent book written by a longtime labor activist who worked in Kshama’s council office for 10 years detailing our accomplishments through that office. In case you want to hear a different perspective on Kshama and modern Trotskyist politics.
The reason that ideological purists of any political movement hate their more pragmatic counterparts is that by gaining legitimacy and even popularity in the real world, the pragmatists make the proponents of ideological purity less relevant within the broader movement. In other words, pragmatism becomes a threat to the ideologues' power and influence. This is the crux of the issue in my opinion.
Well siad.
“The Left looks for traitors; the Right looks for converts.”
Workers will never ever get anything in this corporate fascist system through electoralism. Nothing. Ever. She just has the courage to say it. It is pure physics that tells us where things go by "voting harder and complimenting AOC and progressives": MORE FASCISM. It's kind of telling when neoliberals like you continue to blast the left, just as you blame Kshama. Pot calling Stove black?
It’s just weird that you felt like it wasn’t worth mentioning that prior to this loss, Kshama won 3 consecutive elections without running as a Democrat.
I think this article has many valid points that should be discussed, but I really just wish you were more willing to address nuances that don’t cleanly support your thesis.
And the way you describe Seattle as this deep blue special place that has a “socialist” mayor is honestly really reductive.
There are countless examples of Kshama being the only principled member of the Seattle City Council and winning victories for the working class despite the Democrats on the council.
I’m also a current member of SAlt, I didn’t agree with Kshama and the rest of the members who split with her, and have been really disappointed in a lot of their actions since then, so I absolutely have criticisms. It just bugs me to see so much glossed over.
I'm not taking anything away from her time on city council. But at some point, Sawant and her supporters should recognize that municipal elections are not the same as federal elections. It's not revolutionary socialism to raise the minimum wage. Hell, liberals do that all the time. If she's talking about ending genocide and imperialism, her program needs to work at the federal level. It does not.
You literally are, though, when you refuse to mention any of that work and instead treat this latest electoral defeat as the “nail in the coffin”
No one is claiming that winning reforms under capitalism is revolutionary socialism. You’re cherry-picking and arguing against a strawman.
Re: min wage increases - “Liberals do that all the time” now you’re just showing your ignorance of the history of minimum wage struggles in the US. The 15 Now movement, which forced all those liberals to accept the $15 minimum wage demand, was the result of a grassroots movement that Kshama’s office was instrumental in championing and building support for.
I seriously encourage you to read even the first couple chapters of TCFYAYRS - it talks about this in greater detail than I ever could https://orbooks.com/catalog/we-re-coming-for-you-and-your-rotten-system/
You didn’t even bother giving half-hearted nods to the successes of Kshama’s 10 years in office. The birth of the 15 Now movement, the first ban on caste discrimination outside of India (which made Kshama a huge target of the Modi regime, who denied her a visa to visit her sick mother), supporting rank and file wildcat strikes against the wishes of conservative business union leadership, the fact that she was elected to office as an open Marxist before Bernie was even a household name.
You just used her electoral loss as a lazy “dunk” on another socialist. I don’t really see how that’s any different from the sectarianism you chastise ultra-leftists for.
“the inability of ultra-leftists like her to muster any concrete political activity over the last century” this is just objectively false. You can still argue against someone ideologically without ignoring their very real and concrete victories. It just sounds like you’re doing a “my team is better than your team!!” despite claiming otherwise.
https://www.joewrote.com/p/dsas-electoral-strategy-works-a-response/comment/231108102?r=4025u&utm_medium=ios
https://orbooks.com/catalog/we-re-coming-for-you-and-your-rotten-system/
Excellent book written by a longtime labor activist who worked in Kshama’s council office for 10 years detailing our accomplishments through that office. In case you want to hear a different perspective on Kshama and modern Trotskyist politics.