Alienation, autonomy, and ideology
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.
I’m not big on prayer. I’ve been an atheist since about age 15. That’s more than 20 years ago, so it’s something that probably won’t change. But here’s one situation that comes close to driving me to prayer. It pops up from time to time from social justice activists who take perspectives like this one from DiDi Delgado writing in Medium.
Let’s take a look at what’s wrong with this perspective.
Many leftists propose some form of vanguard theory of socialist change. From the Leninist idea that a vanguard party will form working-class consciousness to the identitarian view that certain identity groups will lead the way, leftists have long looked for shortcuts to change. Some – most recently, various DSA caucuses – propose unions as a vanguard. This calls to mind older ideas like workerism or certain forms of class reductionism.
But, whether new or not, is it right? Can unions be a vanguard for socialist change?
No. At least, not in anything like their present form. Nor in any form they’re likely to take in the near future. Let’s talk about why.
Groups working to put ‘justice’ in ‘criminal justice’ face choices about how to frame the issues and focus their efforts. Many groups join movements out of concern for racial equality or racial justice. And many of us know the criminal justice treats black Americans worse than whites. But I’ll point to a tension in some of these issues – one that shows the benefits of a transformative justice approach. Only by working for transformative justice as its primary goal will leftists achieve what they have in mind.
The U.S. left – especially the leftist factions most excited about Bernie Sanders – never figured out how to handle Joe Biden. Sanders folded right away. He endorsed Biden, and then he spent endless hours campaigning for him. Most progressive advocacy groups did the same. As usual, they dropped any and all non-electoral work to focus once again on electing Democrats. Now they’ve got a Biden presidency on their hands.
I won’t remind readers what I think of all this. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you know I think progressive advocacy groups fuck up by focusing on electing Democrats to office. They fail over and over, and they’re the Charlie Brown of politics.
But as Biden’s inauguration proceeds after the Trumpist insurrection, many issues remain unsettled. What should we expect from the Biden presidency? What kind of job will he do in office? And do progressives have any chance at all of ‘pushing Biden to the left’?
Any reader not living off the grid knows about the Trump insurrection on January 6 (and second impeachment). Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol. And they did so with a bit of help from some police officers and violent conflict with others. The Trump insurrection involved a conflict between QAnon conspiracy theorists, other Trumpists, and the police. Insofar as that’s true, I’m inclined to grab and modify Trump’s ‘very fine people on both sides’ remark.
In the Trump insurrection there were, indeed, very bad people on both sides, i.e., Trumpism and policing. We might say a great deal about how the left should respond. But I’m inclined to say the left shouldn’t directly involve itself in a fight between a Trump insurrection and police officers. Because that’s not really our fight.
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