Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Activism (Page 16 of 31)

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.

lean production politics

The Politics of Lean Production

May 16, 2022 /

I subscribe to a few leftist magazines. One of them – Catalyst – has published a few contributions to a debate over the status of Lean production. Not long ago, I read the most recent article in that debate: one by the title ‘The Politics of Lean Production‘ by Matt Vidal.

The debate itself concerns both the theory and economics of Lean. Is Lean a bad thing by its very nature? Or, on the other hand, do we have ways we can redirect it for the benefit of the left? Vidal reads his opponents as arguing for the former, while he argues for the latter. And while Vidal doesn’t really want to go there, no less than Lenin himself once tried to re-capture something a bit like Lean.

Let’s take a look at this debate.

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No Shortcuts Jane McAlevey

Organic Leader: Potential Problems?

May 2, 2022 /

Just about everyone involved in leftist organizing in the last 5 years knows about Jane McAlevey. No Shortcuts became the go-to book for it. There’s a broader debate out there on how well McAlevey’s methods do in the real world. But I want to hone in on one idea from her book – the notion of the ‘organic leader.’

McAlevey advocates for an organizing model whereby the organizer – union organizer for McAlevey, but we could apply the model well beyond unions – starts by identifying organic leaders among workers. From there, the organic leader takes the lead in building support for the org.

There’s a lot I like about McAlevey’s approach. But I also think there’s a lot riding on the very organic leaders she appeals to. If we find problems with the very idea of an organic leader, it could put the org in trouble right from the start. So, let’s talk about that.

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pandemic change

Change and the Early Pandemic

April 18, 2022 /

I’m a regular reader of the magazine n+1. In each issue, we get a little set of essays at the beginning called The Intellectual Situation. This typically amounts to an essay of a few thousand words on some recent major topic. Ideally I think the topic stands out as one that’s particularly pressing among n+1’s readership. The idea isn’t without its problems. The essay often ends up centering the concerns of professional class progressives from New York. But it works out well enough.

Anyway, in the most recent issue, the author suggested that the early pandemic produced large changes in what’s politically possible. Changes that, ultimately, went away as the pandemic wore on.

Do readers agree with this? I know we saw large checks from the federal government in the early pandemic months. And we saw a rise in some kinds of social supports. But we also saw great inequality and, frankly, large pockets of selfishness.

I’m not convinced much changed, politically. The system adapted itself to the pandemic in as minimal a way as possible. For the most part, I think the background work needed was mostly missing. And so, most efforts at deep change made only small gains.

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