Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Activism (Page 3 of 29)

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.

A banner that says leftist infighting veteran.

The Descent of Left Activism

August 12, 2024 /

Tim Alberta begins his book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory with a personal story about the evangelical church in the Trump era. Increasingly angry at its own leaders and fellow members for even minor deviations from political orthodoxy, radical church members even berated Alberta at his father’s funeral.

Right wing Christians were always a cantankerous bunch. But since the election of Trump in 2016, and especially since the start of the pandemic in 2020, they’ve gotten much worse. They’ve fallen deeply into Trump inspired conspiracy theory. And they attack even fellow right-wing Christians like Mike Pence – and even their own right-wing pastors – as ‘woke,’ far left radicals.

Alberta thinks the Religious Right is tearing itself apart. It has jettisoned even its core religious beliefs, falling into more of a warped Trump cult than a religious community. It believes whatever Trump and the far right media circuit say on any given day.

As I read Alberta’s book, I realized I’ve seen things like this in left activist groups. And I want to dwell on that for a bit. I’m hardly the first person to draw a comparison between leftists and evangelicals. And the comparison is usually a trite and uninteresting one.

I’ll see if I can draw it in a more useful way.

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A photo of Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).

Jamaal Bowman and the DSA Electoral Project

July 1, 2024 /

Jamaal Bowman lost last week’s primary to moderate Democratic challenger George Latimer. Coverage of the loss – both in the mainstream press and on the left – focused on his shifting positions on Israel and Palestine.

That’s fair enough. Israel and Palestine turned out central both to the campaign and its funders, in light of the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza. But this leaves out a broader ideological struggle within the Democratic Party between a more moderate and a more progressive wing. Latimer might have run on foreign policy issues, but he’ll also join Congress as a voice against ideas like Medicare for All.

However, the struggle between Democratic moderates and progressives typically doesn’t involve foreign policy.

Indeed, that fact is highly relevant to internal struggles within the Squad and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Most progressives don’t see foreign policy as central to their political project. They’re often willing to vote in favor of the foreign policy consensus on most issues, so long as those issues don’t involve U.S. troops literally on the ground. They give ground on foreign policy because it’s not central to their political vision. It’s not very important to them.

AIPAC exploited this very division in the ways it heavily poured funds into the Bowman vs. Latimer race.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s start by talking about why Bowman lost. And then let’s ask what his loss means for DSA and the electoral left.

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Jacobin Study, Part 3: Left Populism

June 17, 2024 /

In two previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), I detailed studies sponsored by Jacobin magazine on working-class politics and the left. Among other things, the studies concluded that voters prefer a ‘progressive populist’ (and later, ‘left populism’) message to a ‘woke progressive’ message. Readers can review the links above.

In my discussion of those studies, I pointed out that while the electorate – especially working-class voters – prefer left populism, they’re not yet on board with many left policy ideas. We have an electorate open to us. But we haven’t yet reached it. And so our task should involve building a majority. Not simply assuming our majority is already out there.

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A photo of four signs for the Johnson County Iowa Democratic primary.

How Mandi Remington Won

June 5, 2024 /

I have to start by saying I’m very pleasantly surprised by the results of the county supervisor primary in Johnson County. The winners, of course, were Rod Sullivan, Lisa Green-Douglass, and Mandi Remington (in that order).

The first two names should surprise no one. They’re incumbents. Incumbents can lose in Johnson County Democratic primaries, in the sense that it’s a theoretical possibility. But it happens about as often as Iowa football scores more than 60 points in a game.

Indeed, the last couple of decades solidified what had already appeared by the 1980s: the Democratic Party runs Johnson County, in effect, as a one-party state. Democrats hold every partisan office in the county. Republicans haven’t won a partisan local election in four decades. And that’s not going to change soon. Just as Democrats stand little chance of taking power statewide, the local GOP is doomed.

This creates curious effects in local politics, where Democratic voters combine anger toward state government with complacency toward local government. They might get worked up about city politics from time to time – a city pool here or a zoning issue there – but they merrily vote for the person with the “D” next to their name in county races and call it a day.

So, that’s JC politics in a nutshell. Democrats always win. And Democratic incumbents almost always win, usually easily.

But then there’s that third name: Mandi Remington. She soundly defeated the third incumbent, Royceann Porter.

Let’s talk about why.

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An artistic image depicting Soviet managerialism, with red and yellow rays and a man and woman staring at the screen.

Managerialism and Socialism

April 22, 2024 /

Ronald Purser’s recent article in Current Affairs, “Against Managerialism,” brought to mind for me a common motivation for socialism. It’s one we easily forget, even more so when we dive into the weeds of talking politics or running a socialist org.

I’m talking about economic democracy – the idea that regular, everyday workers are the most qualified to run their workplace. When I think about socialism – really reflect on it – I see economic democracy at the heart of it. And to create a real economic democracy requires us to rid the world – and ourselves – of managerialism.

Let’s say a bit more.

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