Base and Superstructure

Alienation, autonomy, and ideology

Category: Activism (Page 17 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.

iowa city activism

Iowa City Activism: The Good and Bad

April 4, 2022 /

I moved to Iowa City in 2007, and I got involved in Iowa City activist communities almost right away. That means I’ve had almost 15 years to see the good and the bad. I also find myself much closer to 40 years old than to 30. It’s left me in a position where I want to reflect on some of those experiences.

I wrote some time ago about Iowa City politics. And even there, I made a few remarks on local non-electoral activism. But I’d like to revisit that and say more.

I won’t review everything, and I’m not going to dig too deeply into details. At least not in this post. And I want to focus more on general lessons than on specific orgs. In short, I’m going to look at the big picture. What works well and what doesn’t? What strengths and weaknesses stand out in Iowa City activist communities?

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acab

‘ACAB’ as a Slogan

March 28, 2022 /

The slogan ‘ACAB’ (All Cops are Bastards) has been around a long time. It’s at least 100 years old, and was once used by gangsters and mobsters. More recently, anarchists and punks took it up. And yet more recently, ‘ACAB’ found a home among certain leftists and progressives.

I think it has its uses. But I have to admit, I find ‘ACAB’ as misleading as helpful.

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the state and revolution lenin

The State and Revolution: Leftist Ambiguities

March 7, 2022 /

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post on V.I. Lenin‘s essay ‘What is to Be Done?‘. I read it in a collection of essays called the Essential Works of Lenin. The same book contains his work The State and Revolution, which he wrote much later on the eve of the October Revolution.

In the other post, I noted some of the good and bad of Lenin. He thought a great deal about strategy and tactics. Along the way, he laid out a lot of insightful critique of magical thinking and bad strategy on the left. On the other hand, he clearly had an intolerant, authoritarian style and personality. This served him poorly, both as a philosopher and as a leader.

These same issues reappear in The State and Revolution. But we get something new in the later text: Lenin on the verge of power, now using a quasi-religious reading of the classic texts of Marx and Engels to justify his own views. One of Lenin’s uses of Engels struck me in particular.

With that in mind, let’s take a brief look at this line of thought in The State and Revolution.

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bark at the moon political strategy

‘Bark at the Moon’ Isn’t a Political Strategy

January 27, 2022 /

Every now and then, I blog about political and movement strategy. Those posts hit certain themes. I’ll hit those themes here, too. But I hope to do so in a fresh way. So, I’ll start with a claim: ‘Bark at the moon’ is a terrible political strategy. In fact, it’s not a political strategy at all.

It’s certainly not a strategy when it comes in the form of social media slacktivism. But it’s also a non-strategy in its more sophisticated forms.
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