om maktbaser som er og som må bygges
I was in Philadelphia when the news came, and a
major Count Every Vote rally hosted by unions and community groups instantly turned into a Thank God That’s Over rally. There was a forest of waving signs promoting unions, and the Green New Deal, and democracy itself. Biden-Harris signs were relatively hard to find. Because even Joe Biden’s own victory party was not about Joe Biden.
It was, first, about the end of the Trump nightmare. And second, about the
possibility of something good happening again, one day. Biden himself had little to do with it. No one has ever been excited enough about Joe Biden to
party in the streets.
In fact, Biden’s entire campaign rested on the idea of him not so much as a visionary leader but as a vessel into which an incredibly broad spectrum of Americans could pour their hopes. After a frenzied early primary surge by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the entire Democratic Party seemed to coalesce around Biden overnight, based on the theory that the most mediocre candidate would be the safest bet against Trump. That bet paid off — with the help of the party’s left wing, whose activists did as much as anyone to elect Biden. When the euphoria of Trump’s downfall wears off, the Left must wake up to one thing that will not have changed: The president-elect, like the sitting president, won by explicitly running against progressives.
[…]
For the millionth time, the Left will see its political utility to the Democrats evaporate after Election Day. Hope springs eternal, but the raw logic of our two-party system devastates us anew, again and again. The way out of this trap is to build a power center that is not locked into the electoral system, where it is virtually impossible for the Left to consistently win.
Where can such power be built? The rich build it on Wall Street and in the corporate world. For the Left, it is the labor movement, the sole institution that enables working people to build and
exercise real economic and political power not beholden to the veto of big companies or politicians.
[…]
Unfortunately, the establishment of the union world has become just as maniacally
focused on electoral politics as the establishment of the Democratic Party. It is not easy to organize an enormous revitalization of union power when so many unions are themselves more interested in congressional campaigns than union campaigns.
But 2020 has brought us the most vital ingredient of all: an energized and radicalized nation of workers in dire need, who are about to be disappointed by how the system delivers on its big promises.
This election wasn’t about Joe Biden. It was about getting back to a baseline of normalcy. That normalcy means class war. If we focus on giving the working class an adequate weapon, we won’t be in for quite so much disappointment by 2024.
The Left needs workers more than it needs the Democratic Party.
inthesetimes.com