Open letter to Max
[Max Sawicky was the editor when I was a cub reporter for the Rutgers Targum. We both were student radicals and then lifelong leftist activists. Back in the day he knew that the Democratic Party is more a part of the problem than a part of the solution. But he was not inclined to do his political work at the margins and he became one of the DSA’ers who prioritize working within the Democratic Party to try to transform it into a social democratic party.]
https://sawicky.substack.com/p/left-wing-twittergasms-if-you-dont
“There are those within DSA who uphold certain left stances for the sake of driving the organization into the swamp of third party or no-party politics. Many years ago, I could have been one of these people, so I understand the mindset. I also know where it leads — to a big fat nowhere.”
Max, my friend . . .
Greens say:
What could be clearer than the need for and the interest in Green politics? Live Green. Vote Green. Such is gradually resonating all over the world. And so all advanced democracies have Green parties … and most of them are gradually growing larger and more impactful.
So there was no question that this country would have a Green Party. But in this country third-party politics is a bitch. It’s frustrating, it’s hard, it seems thankless.
Yet there is a rationale for our work. Significant (major) social change occurs in the wake of crises. When a crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on theory that has been percolating and praxis that has been in development. So our immediately-thankless endeavor is to keep alive an alternative that can be available when the “politically impossible” becomes relevant, then appreciated . . . along the lines of the old formula: First you’re ignored, then you’re disdained, then you’re attacked, then what you say and do starts to get embraced.
Let’s live to 100, Max, in which case I’m confident we’ll see the point reached where you’ll say to me: “OK, I concede that it made sense to keep working for the endurance of the Green Party.”
