Alienation, autonomy, and ideology
These are posts on elections from the blog Base and Superstructure. Topics include international elections, American elections, and local Iowa elections. There’s a particular focus on describing and explaining leftist electoral results.
Let me start with a confession. Contrary to what many leftists predict, I think Joe Biden will probably defeat Donald Trump in the November U.S. election. Yes, it’s still early. And no, I’m not expressing certainty. So, Trump could win.
But he probably won’t. However, even starting from the assumption that Biden probably wins, a few questions remain.
How will Biden beat Trump? What will his coalition look like?
As leftists, many of us spent 2020 engaged in handwringing over whether we should vote for Joe Biden. I evaluated the arguments and concluded there wasn’t much of a case for doing so. Biden wasn’t interested in winning our votes, and I wasn’t interested in giving one to him.
Why?
Biden built an electoral coalition around moderates, centrists, and the suburbs. He won the votes of those who found Trump and his impact on U.S. politics distasteful. But his voters didn’t necessarily have major policy objections. Furthermore, progressives never showed much interest in genuinely holding Biden accountable or pushing him to the left.
But what about 2024? Should we vote for Biden? Under what conditions?
A quick glance at the results of last November’s city council election in Iowa City doesn’t show much. It reveals only blowout elections and unopposed candidates. A closer look, however, reveals a big win for the city’s major business org (the Downtown District) and a loss for working-class candidates.
Let’s take a closer look.
We have two at-large city council seats on the ballot in Iowa City in November 2023. For anyone who doesn’t know this, all the candidates go on the same ballot and the top 2 candidates win. Voters pick 2 from the total list of names.
Let’s talk about how it’s going to go down.
The DSA is full of divides and false dichotomies. So let’s try to intervene against some of that. Some in the DSA world divide the org’s electoral strategy into two possible routes. The first one amounts to collaboration with – and capitulation to – the Democratic Party and its interests. And the second is a Bolshevik inspired strategy called ‘Tribunes of the People.’ In that latter strategy, a core of united DSA elected officials stick to the party line and agitate the working class into a political force.
Various DSA caucuses, usually obscure and sectarian ones, promote this division. But in light of actions from The Squad and majority factions within the DSA, we’ve seen it erupt in larger DSA blocs and spaces. Such as the recent public event put on by several DSA caucuses.
I share many of the critiques of the DSA ‘majority’ faction’s electoral strategy. That strategy amounts to a shortcut to build on-paper membership in the short term without building a sustainable organization that can win power in the medium or long term.
But I’m hardly more impressed by the Tribunes of the People strategy. Let’s talk about that.
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