Could democratic socialism become the brand of a new generation of political actors — not just on the fringe, not just in New York City, but across the country?
No matter how popular socialism becomes among the proletariat, it still won’t wrest control of the state through the ballot box, because the bourgeoisie would sooner unleash fascism than allow socialism. Bourgeois democracy is a fake democracy.
But you can’t have a revolution until Socialism is popular among the proletariat. That popularity is expressed and quantified through the ballot box.
It isn’t until overwhelming public demand for Socialism is denied, that revolution is even possible. Until we are all voting for it, and the establishment says “no”…then there is no possible way it’s ever going to happen.
So, why stand in the way of that process, by telling people not to vote for it when it is available? You are stalling your own progress. The people’s will is not “fake”. Acting like we don’t understand what we’re voting for, is not only counterproductive…it’s infantilism.
Thank you for this. It’s positively infuriating the way the left keeps eating itself. There is no way the establishment will let socialism take root in the Democratic party, but there’s real value in moving the Overton window to the left enough to allow people to see either the benefits of socialist policies or (more likely) the opposition to it.
The whole “fuck these guys, they’re not revolutionary enough” is a great way to ensure that nothing ever gets done.
We should absolutely have red lines though. Some of these candidates already cross them, and even more candidates may be all talk. But shitting all over anyone who dares to do anything other than launch an unpopular resistance is not constructive.
No matter how popular socialism becomes among the proletariat, it still won’t wrest control of the state through the ballot box, because the bourgeoisie would sooner unleash fascism than allow socialism. Bourgeois democracy is a fake democracy.
But you can’t have a revolution until Socialism is popular among the proletariat. That popularity is expressed and quantified through the ballot box.
It isn’t until overwhelming public demand for Socialism is denied, that revolution is even possible. Until we are all voting for it, and the establishment says “no”…then there is no possible way it’s ever going to happen.
So, why stand in the way of that process, by telling people not to vote for it when it is available? You are stalling your own progress. The people’s will is not “fake”. Acting like we don’t understand what we’re voting for, is not only counterproductive…it’s infantilism.
Thank you for this. It’s positively infuriating the way the left keeps eating itself. There is no way the establishment will let socialism take root in the Democratic party, but there’s real value in moving the Overton window to the left enough to allow people to see either the benefits of socialist policies or (more likely) the opposition to it.
The whole “fuck these guys, they’re not revolutionary enough” is a great way to ensure that nothing ever gets done.
We should absolutely have red lines though. Some of these candidates already cross them, and even more candidates may be all talk. But shitting all over anyone who dares to do anything other than launch an unpopular resistance is not constructive.
I’ve never told anyone not to vote, only that bourgeois democracy can’t be reformed; that the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.