revolut1917

there are revolutionary socialists and communists within the DSA, i'm not trying to call them a revolutionary org, but there are factions within it that are struggling to make it more of one

yeah they swelled their ranks due to the Bernie campaign but that was more of a by-product, and as we're seeing, a lot of those people basically want the org to be a Democrat-supporting NGO because their thinking didn't evolve beyond "elect socialists as Democrats". I don't think Mamdani's going to have the same kind of effect, either.

mainly by legitimising the bourgeois electoral process as a means to achieve power against capital, which forestalls the development of revolutionary consciousness. if the DSA were more like a Bolshevik party (or a party of any kind, really) then these campaigns would be more useful bc they'd be able to dictate his moves and use him to demonstrate the inadequacy of bourgeois electoralism, but instead this campaign is leading the DSA in the direction of further participation in electoral politics as a route to achieve "socialism".

What revolutionary capacity exists that this guy is draining?

it's more about how over-emphasis on electoral struggles in imperial countries prevents the necessary development of revolutionary capacity. the only usefulness of these kinds of candidates is when they inevitably move into the Democratic mainstream and inadvertently disillusion a lot of people who were hoping they'd be more radical, which results in SOME of them developing more revolutionary ideas as a by-product (while pushing more of them into apathy or outright reaction)

it may be hard for you to conceive of this but the DSA is a relatively large (by the standards of the US left) organisation which can direct its membership to participate in different political activities, and if they choose to direct them to do one thing, then they can't actually do others as much. so the decision about what is prioritised does matter. this is called "political strategy".

no, the stuff i was saying is the issue i'm highlighting, not the stuff that i didn't say, which as you'll notice, i didn't say

pessimism of the intellect optimism of the will

my issue is more that there are obvious and inherent flaws with the idea of "get socialists elected as Democrats" that are manifesting before our eyes, as they have done many times before, and that all the organising it took to get him to this point will end up being a counter-productive waste as well as legitimising the right wing of the DSA. like yeah we shouldn't be aiming to put socialists in positions where they have to smile and shake hands with pigs.

before building power and popular support that could protect him from the police

a) are the DSA actually "building power that could protect him from the police"

b) he is already the most popular candidate in the race by far

c) the NYPD is not going to assassinate him get over yourself he's a Democrat not Fred Hampton

you sound a lot like the people who were saying "Starmer will move left once he's in power just watch" a year ago

as socialists we do not aim to convince people by misleading them about our aims and practices. if you try that then you'll end up disappointing and pushing them away.

i don't expect him to say "ACAB" or be a Maoist but there are ways to phrase that kind of sentiment that will command majority support and legitimise that way of thinking amongst a populace constantly browbeaten into not thinking that way. instead he's choosing to legitimise the role of police in a society which generally mistrusts and fears them. and he already won the election that actually matters. he didn't back down on anti-zionism before he won the primary and it worked, so why start backing down on issues and flirting with mainstream democrats now?

Did you actually think Mamdani was going to abolish the NYPD

no, i'm not an idiot

He would be the fucking head of the NYPD, for Christ sake.

yeah that's basically the whole issue with this "just elect socialist candidates as Democrats" project that has so far resulted in nothing positive at all. based on Mamdani's climbdowns over other issues such as the intifada fiasco, this is just looking like another AOC situation and another bunch of wasted potential and energy that could have gone towards more useful organising efforts. Talking about jobs cops shouldn't do obviously suggests that there are jobs that they should be doing, which is a complete capitulation, unless you're some kind of liberal who believes in the legitimacy of settler-colonial police forces.

I don't see why he should moderate his rhetoric more given that he's already basically certain to win. He should be doing the opposite if he's a candidate worth supporting. But instead he's just going to keep moving right and legitimising the rightmost sections of the DSA, who are hell-bent on making sure the organisation never becomes anything more than another Democrat-aligned NGO.

the one that revolutionaries have been trying to build against American capital since the 1960s? including the campus uprisings and the largest wave of rioting in the US in history that both occured in the past 5 years? if you aren't aware of the use of that term to describe the role of left-liberal politicians in capturing and containing radical dissent that would otherwise lead to an escalation of struggle then you can just avoid participating in the conversation, you know.

unironically doing 4D political judo to twist Americans' brains into supporting leftist policies

come on man you can't "trick people into supporting socialism". a significant part of New York's population supports socialism and hates zionism, which resulted in his victory. he's not tricking poor people into voting in their interests.

i mean praising the NYPD commisioner and shaking hands with those pigs is pretty alarming for me given that they're an occupying army who murder people constantly and beat the living shit out of anti-genocide protestors, but whatever. this impulse to justify the rightwards drift of DSA electeds no matter what has achieved so much in the past (look at AOC's stellar record for example), so what do i know.

And look at that fucking account lol

idc about the account you can watch the video or google his comments yourself