Here's a constructive question for Hexbears who don't believe in making electoral politics a core part of their strategy. (Disclosure: I am one of these users)

How do you incrementally increase the power of your movement, without just trying to set off The Big Uprising that brings the whole bourgeois state down? You need strong organizations or federations or alliances to do this, and you need a lot of preparedness, contingency plans, and luck. What is there to do in the meantime besides just take long shots at the big prize, and what do we do to meaningfully increase our chances of making the long shots work?

If electoral campaigns don't bring lasting gains of people and energy to the movement, what does?

[–] ufcwthrowaway@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Anything where we can make and solidify gains on an incremental basis: for example, union drives, contract fights, tenant organizing, expanding land trusts.

The best is if these activities either: let us practice self management (for example, creating housing and business coops) or put us in direct conflict with the capitalist class (for example, a contract fight) or better yet, both (a contract fight in a union like UE, IATSE or the ILWU).

I actually think certain forms of electoralism can dovetail really nicely with this, if you run ballot initiatives that increase your capacity to organize (like, you could do a tenants rights initiative enforced through self-help and then organize people to do self-help en masse).

The old CPUSA of the 30s - 50s used to talk about "developing leaders" through union activity. So you'd organize a strike at a plant, find people who were really into it and then deliberately on-ramp them into the party. This way you're making both incremental gains for the class (in the contract) while also deepening the bench for your movement. There's no reason that organizing economic self-help like coops or tenant organizing couldn't develop leadership the same way.

[–] ratboy@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

Yesss this is the good shit waow-based

Finally someone talking sense in here

[–] homhom9000@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago

This is the way(as someone against electoralism) organizing through labor gives us more power, direct hands on experience, and a closer in with the working class. Same for disability and tenant organizing. Not everybody votes but people work or pay rent or are disabled

[–] starkillerfish@hexbear.net 7 points 1 day ago

To me the problem is not electoral campaigns, it is working within bourgeois parties (Dems) that’s the issue. You will never build a movement on the foundation of bourgeois orgs.