New FRSO/OSCL Statement: Reflections on the November Elections
by National Executive Committee
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Though many activists on the Left, including those who want nothing to do with the Democratic Party, were thrilled that the Republicans were trounced on November 7th, it is critical that we think through the implications of what unfolded.
The election results clearly demonstrate fury with the Bush administration's policies on Iraq, but they also reflect (at least according to the polls) disgust with Republican corruption. According to a CNN exit poll on Election Day, 57% of voters disapprove of the war in Iraq and a Newsweek poll showed that 53% of Americans want impeachment to be on the agenda.
Both of these tendencies are something upon which progressive and Left forces can build. It is also interesting to note that more than 1/3 of the electorate saw themselves as explicitly voting against President Bush.
Clearly there is an indication of some cracks in the strong hold of the right wing. An interesting development is the growing divide between the Christian Right and the Republicans. Top Republican strategists are now calling their grassroots religious base “nuts”, and as a result much of the grassroots Right simply didn’t show up at the polls. Following the losses in Congress, many Christian Right leaders are moving away from the Republican Party and are looking at a base-building non-partisan approach. This could indicate a rupture in the right wing of the ruling class in the future.
While the Republicans largely lost, the Democrats, to a great extent, won by default. In other words, they did not win because they had a coherent, alternative program particularly but not limited to the Iraq War. Yet the growing anti-war/anti-corruption sentiment among the people was channeled through the Democrats. The 'mandate' of the Democrats can come undone, fairly easily as a matter of fact.
We do not wish to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, but there are immense dangers and possibilities in the current moment. The greatest danger is that of demobilization. One need only think back to the Clinton years and the manner in which his presidency effectively demobilized social movements, as well as liberal and progressive forces generally. The fear of criticizing Clinton because it might fuel the Republicans (at least that is the way that the rhetoric went) led to nearly complete silence while welfare was repealed, the anti-terrorism act was passed, more people were incarcerated in the U.S. than under any president, Yugoslavia was bombed, Iraq was being strangled...and the list could go on and on.
It is fairly clear, that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have a strategy for pullout from Iraq. This—plus the fact that the Democrats represent ruling-class interests, simply different bourgeois interests—will cause them to drag the war out. Most likely the Democrats will not pursue the goal of pullout and a call for the impeachment of Bush, but rather maintain a “safe” position and a bi-partisan relationship with the Republicans in Congress if left to their own devices. As always, “power concedes nothing without a demand.” Given the popular support and the “mandate” to end the war, the Left can play a strategic role in advancing the role of organizers beyond elections, escalating tactics and ultimately forcing the issue to an immediate end to the war.
At this moment we would suggest three basic points:
1. The need for strong social movement mobilization: Including but not limited to the anti-war movement, social movements need to advance challenges and put forward demands. United For Peace & Justice, as we understand, is planning on a major mobilization for January 2007 and this is precisely what must be done. In addition, we must consider upping the ante and escalating tactics focused on Congress and the Bush administration. The Left should propose its own demands for pullout including reparations, front ending what both the Democrats and Republicans refuse to talk about in concrete terms.
In addition, ecological consciousness, largely as a result of environmental and environmental justice movements is compelling millions to recognize the dangers to the great planet Earth that are unfolding. Katrina should remain our watch-word for the near genocidal treatment of the survivors and evacuees, as well as the domestic display of neo-liberalism at its swinest. We must keep the pressure on the politicians of both parties and not accept rhetoric and fine words in the place of deeds.
2. We need an organized force in the electoral arena that can challenge the Republicans and conservative Democrats: We do not believe that the material conditions exist at present to form a 3rd electoral party, but we do believe that at the local and national level there is a need for an electoral force(s) to advance a progressive agenda; an electoral force grounded among working people, oppressed nationalities, queers, and women and prepared to run candidates for office on the basis of its ties to progressive social movements. Noting that, initiatives against abortion and gay marriage continue to be used to mobilize right wing bases. These initiatives not only fuel homophobia and sexism, but they are a tool used to divide the working class, and therefore must be countered. Such a force needs to think in terms of promoting a progressive alternative at the level of program and action.
3. The Left needs greater coherence: Particularly at times like these when people are looking for answers, the moment is here to put on the table the major structural reforms that are necessary to meet the immediate and long-term material needs of the mass of people. Putting these proposals forward means, in fact, that we have to also be willing to speak to the need to move beyond capitalism. Both the global and domestic mess of capitalism demonstrates that it has no answers for the bulk of humanity. The Democrats and Republicans, as they fumble through one crisis after another, offer little in the political realm. We on the Left must seize the moment and build on the excitement that is present and the deep desire for substantive change. In order to position ourselves for the future, we should work together to strengthen Left theory, program, strategy and revolutionary organization. No time to hope for change; time to bring about change through struggle and organization!
[2006 Elections] [demobilization] [Democrats] [Republicans] [FRSO/OSCL]
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Though many activists on the Left, including those who want nothing to do with the Democratic Party, were thrilled that the Republicans were trounced on November 7th, it is critical that we think through the implications of what unfolded.
The election results clearly demonstrate fury with the Bush administration's policies on Iraq, but they also reflect (at least according to the polls) disgust with Republican corruption. According to a CNN exit poll on Election Day, 57% of voters disapprove of the war in Iraq and a Newsweek poll showed that 53% of Americans want impeachment to be on the agenda.
Both of these tendencies are something upon which progressive and Left forces can build. It is also interesting to note that more than 1/3 of the electorate saw themselves as explicitly voting against President Bush.
Clearly there is an indication of some cracks in the strong hold of the right wing. An interesting development is the growing divide between the Christian Right and the Republicans. Top Republican strategists are now calling their grassroots religious base “nuts”, and as a result much of the grassroots Right simply didn’t show up at the polls. Following the losses in Congress, many Christian Right leaders are moving away from the Republican Party and are looking at a base-building non-partisan approach. This could indicate a rupture in the right wing of the ruling class in the future.
While the Republicans largely lost, the Democrats, to a great extent, won by default. In other words, they did not win because they had a coherent, alternative program particularly but not limited to the Iraq War. Yet the growing anti-war/anti-corruption sentiment among the people was channeled through the Democrats. The 'mandate' of the Democrats can come undone, fairly easily as a matter of fact.
We do not wish to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, but there are immense dangers and possibilities in the current moment. The greatest danger is that of demobilization. One need only think back to the Clinton years and the manner in which his presidency effectively demobilized social movements, as well as liberal and progressive forces generally. The fear of criticizing Clinton because it might fuel the Republicans (at least that is the way that the rhetoric went) led to nearly complete silence while welfare was repealed, the anti-terrorism act was passed, more people were incarcerated in the U.S. than under any president, Yugoslavia was bombed, Iraq was being strangled...and the list could go on and on.
It is fairly clear, that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have a strategy for pullout from Iraq. This—plus the fact that the Democrats represent ruling-class interests, simply different bourgeois interests—will cause them to drag the war out. Most likely the Democrats will not pursue the goal of pullout and a call for the impeachment of Bush, but rather maintain a “safe” position and a bi-partisan relationship with the Republicans in Congress if left to their own devices. As always, “power concedes nothing without a demand.” Given the popular support and the “mandate” to end the war, the Left can play a strategic role in advancing the role of organizers beyond elections, escalating tactics and ultimately forcing the issue to an immediate end to the war.
At this moment we would suggest three basic points:
1. The need for strong social movement mobilization: Including but not limited to the anti-war movement, social movements need to advance challenges and put forward demands. United For Peace & Justice, as we understand, is planning on a major mobilization for January 2007 and this is precisely what must be done. In addition, we must consider upping the ante and escalating tactics focused on Congress and the Bush administration. The Left should propose its own demands for pullout including reparations, front ending what both the Democrats and Republicans refuse to talk about in concrete terms.
In addition, ecological consciousness, largely as a result of environmental and environmental justice movements is compelling millions to recognize the dangers to the great planet Earth that are unfolding. Katrina should remain our watch-word for the near genocidal treatment of the survivors and evacuees, as well as the domestic display of neo-liberalism at its swinest. We must keep the pressure on the politicians of both parties and not accept rhetoric and fine words in the place of deeds.
2. We need an organized force in the electoral arena that can challenge the Republicans and conservative Democrats: We do not believe that the material conditions exist at present to form a 3rd electoral party, but we do believe that at the local and national level there is a need for an electoral force(s) to advance a progressive agenda; an electoral force grounded among working people, oppressed nationalities, queers, and women and prepared to run candidates for office on the basis of its ties to progressive social movements. Noting that, initiatives against abortion and gay marriage continue to be used to mobilize right wing bases. These initiatives not only fuel homophobia and sexism, but they are a tool used to divide the working class, and therefore must be countered. Such a force needs to think in terms of promoting a progressive alternative at the level of program and action.
3. The Left needs greater coherence: Particularly at times like these when people are looking for answers, the moment is here to put on the table the major structural reforms that are necessary to meet the immediate and long-term material needs of the mass of people. Putting these proposals forward means, in fact, that we have to also be willing to speak to the need to move beyond capitalism. Both the global and domestic mess of capitalism demonstrates that it has no answers for the bulk of humanity. The Democrats and Republicans, as they fumble through one crisis after another, offer little in the political realm. We on the Left must seize the moment and build on the excitement that is present and the deep desire for substantive change. In order to position ourselves for the future, we should work together to strengthen Left theory, program, strategy and revolutionary organization. No time to hope for change; time to bring about change through struggle and organization!
[2006 Elections] [demobilization] [Democrats] [Republicans] [FRSO/OSCL]
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