Todd chretien iso

The immediate pretext was the alleged internal mishandling of an accusation of sexual assault by a leading ISO member in The brouhaha about the sex allegations provided a noisy, diversionary cover for a change in the orientation of the ISO or its remnants to direct participation in bourgeois politics, largely through the medium of relations with the Democratic Socialists of America DSA , a Democratic Party faction. Whatever misgivings ISO leaders may have had in the past about expressing support for Sen.

Bernie Sanders and other left-talking Democrats have been swept away in the muddy torrent unleashed in March. Those former leading ISO members with a public presence now think nothing of directly passing on communications from the Democratic Party and its orbit without comment or criticism.

This goes hand-in-hand with a virtual silence on the fate of the organization with which some of them were associated for decades. She openly expressed contempt for democratic procedures when it came to sexual assault cases.

Back in May , while enthusiastic about Sanders' left-wing message, I wrote: "[T]here's one way that Sanders' campaign doesn't stand out, and it's decisive for socialists. He is running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, and he has ruled out in advance an independent campaign in Unfortunately, I concluded that "[t]here's no reason socialists shouldn't take him at his word.

Look, as I said a million times, I think the idea of a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. I will do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to make sure that that does not happen.

And if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, I will certainly support her. Thus, socialists faced a dilemma: How to relate to "the Bern," while not becoming ensnared into support for the Democrats and their candidates.

Thus, we were surprised that SA has spent the last year supporting Sanders' campaign within the Democratic Party. Back in May , Philip Locker argued that SA could "boldly interven[e] in the Sanders campaign," but that "[w]e will not help to sign people up for the Democratic Party. All the same, this is precisely what SA has been forced to do. Sanders is running to win the Democratic primaries--and if he were to win, SA has pledged repeatedly to support him in the general election as the Democratic Party nominee.

So what does it mean to organize a Movement4Bernie as SA has done? It can only mean organizing a Movement an electoral campaign for to vote for Bernie Sanders, who links progressive proposals to support for the Democrats. In fact, SA has been arguing contradictory positions. They have , in practice, put their efforts into helping Sanders win the Democratic nomination and pledged to support him if he does.

And in the far more likely scenario that Clinton wins the nomination, they have stoked the illusion that Sanders might run as an independent, even offering him tactical advice about how to do so without disrupting Clinton's electoral chances against Trump. Sawant rightly amplifies Sanders' attacks on Wall Street, though she doesn't criticize Sanders' foreign policy, which, if less hawkish than Clinton's, hardly challenges the dominance of U.

Sawant does warn absolutely correctly against falling for supporting Democrats as the lesser evil to Republicans: "This undemocratic primary and undemocratic party is a prison for the 99 Percent. Let's break out of this prison!

We cannot stop [Trump and Cruz] by silencing our voices, holding our noses and voting for Clinton, the candidate of Wall Street, Walmart and warmongering.

So why shouldn't Bernie run all the way? The problem is that this strategy has already derailed the Green Party in the very recent past. After Ralph Nader won 2. And in the next election, rather than supporting Nader and socialist vice presidential candidate Peter Camejo, the Green Party chose a nominee with a "safe state" approach that got just , votes. The ISO has adopted a different approach in this election. We welcome "the Bern" as a sign of a political radicalization in the U. However, we have stated forthrightly that we will not endorse a candidate running inside the Democratic Party.

Indeed, we have found a layer of Sanders supporters who are already critical of the Democratic Party and eager to discuss how to win socialism. And since last fall, we have supported the campaign of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein as a step toward building an alternative to the two-party system.

SA's failure to take a similar independent course has weakened the effort to confront the two-party system, not strengthened it. I believe its strategy, rather than being a short-term mistake, flows directly from deeper political problems. Blog at WordPress. Share this: Facebook More Email Reddit. Like this: Like Loading Comments 5.

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