2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Cornel West and James Zogby do not represent the Mainstream Democratic Party [View all]political marxist
(22 posts)I certainly think there is a good chance for an independent socialist party to emerge in the near term, perhaps coming out of a movement during the general election that opposes both Trump and Clinton. The group that helped elect Kshama Sawant to office, Socialist Alternative, is calling for just such an effort to begin organizing on the basis of Bernie's platform and an anti austerity position. Naturally, they're hoping to introduce an actual socialist agenda of worker and community controlled workplaces, guaranteed incomes, single payer health care, etc., etc. In the long run, that would be precisely what a socialist party would want to do, but getting there will require meeting some short term goals that produce positive results in terms of social security, minimum wage protections, ending assaults on public education and so on.
To my mind, we've reached a critical juncture in the U.S. that threatens to very quickly present us with a fascist political nightmare. The governing neoliberal consensus has crumbled and both parties are now viewed as part and parcel of a rigged polity that is beyond reform...hence the rise of Trump on the right and Sanders on the social-democratic left. The level of anger throughout the working class is to a degree I've never seen before and it's imperative that it not be hijacked by the nativist and racist forces driving Trumpism. Thanks for the heads-up on the Socialist Progressives group; I'll have a look.