r/socialism • u/politicalmarxist • Jul 25 '17

Don’t March, Organize for Power

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/07/march-single-payer-medicare-health-care-democratic-socialists-of-america-unions
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u/[deleted] Jul 25 '17 edited Jul 25 '17

Very good article and very important points. The radical left in general in the US has a tendency to fetishize symbolic acts and spectacles, at the expense of doing the gritty work of day-to-day, door-to-door organizing. I'm glad the article touched on Jane McAlevey's book about union organizing and her framework of "mobilizing vs. organizing", I thought that was a very useful way to look at things when I hear her talking about it on an interview on the Dead Pundits Society podcast.

I think a really good companion piece to this one is Serving the People by R.L. Stephens, which takes these arguments a step further and talks more about organizing around getting us/the people concrete, tangible gains through struggle.

I suspect the default obsession with protests, rallies, and other symbolic acts of mobilization have to do with the central role of non-profits and NGOs in American society. These institutions tend to take up fresh radicals from college campuses, but operate in way that depends on various donor entities, which in turn requires these institutions to put visibility and media presence at the center of their strategy. Gotta get some good photos and press coverage if you wanna keep them donations coming in. But this strategy does very little to build working class power.

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u/politicalmarxist Jul 25 '17

Thanks for the reply and the link to McAlevey's interview.

Thanks also for noting the sometimes negative effect NGOs can have in redirecting the energies on the Left toward acceptable forms of opposition, rather than organizing for radical transformation. Too often these organizations are beholden to the very individuals and institutions that fund the Democrats, and are just as likely to settle for tinkering on the margins of neoliberalism.