Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Activism (Page 11 of 30)

These are posts on activism from the blog Base and Superstructure. This takes many forms. The focus here is on political activism, above all on activist organizing and base-building. One concern is how to build effective movements. There’s also a need to create solidarity with fellow members and build coalitions with other groups. The main aim of good movements is to work together to advance material interests. This section also includes critiques of electoral work, and discussion of how and when to use elections to advance activist goals. Navigating the balance between grassroots work and electoral work is difficult for everyone.

socialism youth movement

Should Socialism Be a Youth Movement?

February 27, 2023 /

Recently, a debate opened up between two DSA caucuses – Socialist Majority and Bread & Roses – over a few strategic questions. Among other things, it shows an emerging split within the national org’s majority coalition. I don’t want to review the entire debate, especially since I’ve looked at parts of it in other posts. Rather, I want to look at a new part of the debate: the issue of who the DSA should target in its recruiting efforts. Should the DSA try to be a youth movement?

As a start, I’ll note that in some ways, the DSA is already a youth movement. It grew from 2015 to 2020, often rapidly. And it did so in large part on the strength of new members under the age of 30. Nearly everyone who joined was under the age of 40. But is all this the goal of a good recruiting effort? Should DSA keep focusing its efforts on finding new members among young people?

I think the answer is more complicated than the simple “yes” given by the Bread & Roses faction.

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Dealignment and Posting Alone

February 20, 2023 /

dealignment posting alone

From the sectarian left to mainstream socialists, many U.S. leftists put forward dealignment to explain politics today. Jacobin recently dropped an issue on the topic. As long time readers surely know, I have sort of a love/hate relationship with the mag. Its founder has done some good work. As has the mag itself. But the mag has its faults, which I’ve also discussed in a few posts.

But I’m not here just to talk about a magazine. I’m here to talk about dealignment, especially as it concerns class. And especially a recent article on it – ‘From Bowling Alone to Posting Alone,’ by Anton Jäger.

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bolshevik example

Don’t Follow the Bolshevik Example

February 13, 2023 /

As many readers are no doubt excited to learn, I continue making my way through the Russian Revolution unit in Mike Duncan’s podcast Revolutions. I’ve finally made it through his discussion of the Bolshevik victory in October 1917. Duncan lays out the main events in episodes 72-76.

But that’s not all he lays out in episodes 72-76. A number of leftists – usually sectarians, often ones very active on social media – look to the Bolsheviks as an example of a leftist success. Even some who don’t explicitly laud all their actions in those years still mine the writings of Lenin and/or Trotsky for good advice on strategy.

Let’s take a closer look.

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socialists and world war i

Socialists and World War I

February 6, 2023 /

I’ve written a few times about the work of podcaster Mike Duncan. He’s got a newer podcast called Revolutions, and I’ve been listening to the unit on the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917.

Duncan reviews an early 20th century divide in the socialist movement that should feel eerily familiar to most readers. Namely, the socialist parties of Europe backed World War I! In Britain, France, Germany, et al., the socialist parties set aside socialist internationalism, claimed that nation comes before class, and endorsed the war.

Why?

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