Transformative Strategies and Electoral Politics

Monday, June 14, 2021 - 1:00pm
CDT
John Lawrence

The popularity of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 and again in 2020 demonstrated the appeal of progressive ideas among the electorate.The success of numerous young candidates who are now in Congress showed it was possible to even win elections.This has inspired John Lawrence to dream big.He asks, can the Left build a progressive party which could defeat the corporate oligarchs and start to build an egalitarian democratic society?He will tell us how he thinks it can be done.

Fragmentation is the Achilles Heel of an oppressed majority, he says.The capitalist class dominates the majority working class in large part because the working class does not have the institutional capacity to democratically plan, coordinate, and act in unison. In the U.S., the corporate-dominated two-party system in the U.S. has effectively prevented a working-class party from forming.

In an essay in Jacobin entitled “A Blueprint for a New Party,” Seth Ackerman laid out a strategy for building a mass working-class party that can organize inside or outside of the Democratic Party.

In this talk based on a paper published in Socialism and Democracy, John Lawrence argues that the U.S. Left should start planning the organization of such a “party” now. Taking lessons from progressive electoral activism since the 2016 Sanders campaign, the Left should plan big and imagine scaling electoral activism and fundraising to actually compete with corporate parties. Polling data indicates that a well-organized working class in which everyone votes has the potential to overcome the rigged electoral system and vie for power with the capitalist class. To win, the “party” will need to organize a comprehensive fight for our democratic rights. Moreover the “party” will need to model an innovative internal mass participatory democracy. To inspire mass participation, the "party” platform will have to be both bold, envisioning a transformational, environmentally sustainable political economy grounded in democratic egalitarian principles, and specific; the nuts and bolts of the platform need to be understandable and doable. Now, is the time to plan BIG!

UPCOMING TOURS

June 15, 2025 to June 25, 2025
Join us in an exciting visit to Cuba--a country committed to building socialism. We will learn about Cuba’s stunning accomplishments such as free health care and education, its collective production in agricultural and urban cooperatives, We will dialogue with leading thinkers about their visions... Read more
March 3, 2025 to March 7, 2025

We will depart from San Miguel early in the morning to Patzcuaro, where we will spend three days. We will visit the most important buildings and churches in Patzcuaro and also visit a number of nearby indigenous villages:

Upcoming Forums & Films

Monday, March 3, 2025 - 1:00pm
CST
Omar S. Dahi
Location:
Join in person at the Hotel Quinta Loreto Community Room

Omar S. Dahi is Professor of Economics at Hampshire College and Founding Director of Security in Context, a research network on peace, conflict, and global affairs. He was born and raised in Syria and currently lives with his wife and two children in Amherst. Dahi has served as a lead expert on the United Nations Economic and Social... Read more

Monday, March 17, 2025 - 1:00pm
CST
Harry Targ
Location:
Join in person at the Hotel Quinta Loreto Community Room

Behind the turmoil of the Ukraine and Israeli wars, tensions between the United States and China, African contestation over neo-colonial political, economic, and military influence, and US meddling in the politics of Latin America, there are fundamental forces in play that seek to rearrange and change the architectures of global social... Read more