The Power of United Front Mass Action vs. Anarchist Pretensions
https://socialistaction.org/2020/09/24/the-power-of-united-front-mass-action-vs-anarchist-pretensions/
September 24, 2020
Here we reprint key sections of Socialist Action’s 2020 Draft Political
Resolution now under discussion in the party’s ranks as it approaches
its December 2-6, 2020 National Convention. The complete will be
published soon on our website. Readers interested in joining Socialist
Action should email: socialistaction@xxxxxxx
So massive and widespread were the anti-racist Black Lives Matter
mobilizations that few dared to characterize them as the violent deeds
of small groups of looters, anarchists or other marginal elements. To
the police and Trump charges of violent antifa [anti-fascist] outside
agitators and window breaking looters, the broad movement easily
retorted that Blacks have been looted for centuries, that the prime
source of violence is systemic racism, police brutality and murder and
social inequality across the board. The sheer mass character of the
mobilizations broke down myths of a society fully capable of rendering
justice for all, of a nation where hard work and dedication will raise
everyone’s status, where racism, sexism, LGBTQI+ discrimination and
immigrant oppression can be remedied with the passage of a few bills or
a change of guard in the Congress and White House. The mass character of
today’s movement has done more to fundamentally raise political
consciousness than a thousand election-time promises.
The past several months of intensive struggle highlight as never in
recent memory the inherent power of coordinated mass action wherein
those who previously considered themselves non-actors in society came to
realize their power – understanding that they were indeed the majority
and their minority oppressors were the defenders of a system where the
few rule over them. Again, this dramatic example of the power of united
front-type mass mobilizations lies at the center of our revolutionary
socialist tactical and strategic orientation. In this case the unity
consisted in the most often Black-led, indeed Black women-led,
multi-racial working class mobilizations that in turn fundamentally
altered the political and social consciousness of the vast majority, at
least for now.
Crisis of leadership
Had these mobilizations taken the form of consciously and democratically
planned and organized actions by a politically conscious leadership
emerging from and integrated into these mobilizations, the potential for
a major break with capitalist politics would have appeared for the first
time in the modern era. Yet, no such leadership exists today; hence the
inevitable, present, and in our view temporary retreat of the struggle
into reformist, that is, Democratic Party-oriented channels as with the
recent online Black National Convention, the Movement for Black Lives
(M$BL) organization and the August 28 Al Sharpton-led initiated March on
Washington. M4BL today states on its website, “BLM’s #WhatMatters2020 is
a campaign aimed to maximize the impact of the BLM movement by
galvanizing BLM supporters and allies to the polls in the 2020 U.S
Presidential Election to build collective power and ensure candidates
are held accountable for the issues that systematically and
disproportionately impact Black and under-served communities across the
nation.” All of these formations tout mobilizing for the 2020 elections
to “Dump Trump” as their primary solution to today’s multiple capitalist
crises.
Power of mass action vs. small scale “direct action”
Nevertheless, the example of the power of the mass action united front
has not been lost on our revolutionary nucleus and on millions of
others. We have been a minority in championing independent united front
mass mobilizations, while our reformist and ultra-left opponents
counterpose either subordination of the movement to electoral politics,
that is, the Democratic Party, or engagement of small groups in small
scale “direct action” or similarly small scale minority anarchist-like
actions to “fight the police” and/or to vandalize a handful of police or
corporate headquarters, if not small scale local businesses. Make no
mistake, it is exactly when these small scale and almost always
counterproductive and isolated actions take place that police agents and
tiny organized rightwing forces find opportunities to participate with
the objective of discrediting, via violence-baiting, the mass forces in
motion that aim at demonstrating majority power.
The power of the united front
Our united front method is fundamentally aimed at engaging millions in
action that allow for the physical demonstration of this majority’s
power as opposed to the anarchist schemes aimed at substituting the tiny
few for the power of millions to fundamentally challenge capitalist
power. Our orientation is aimed at educating in action the masses in
motion to understand that the capitalist government itself represents
the tiny minority, the infamous “one percent.” Today, this can only be
accomplished with the ongoing organization of massive peaceful
mobilizations. Any projected violence-oriented mobilizations today can
only result in the mass exclusion of the very forces in society with
whom humanity’s future rests. The most oppressed groups, such as
immigrants, Black communities systematically targeted by police, LTBTQI+
people, and women (especially those who are caretakers), cannot afford
to get arrested and are much less likely to participate in violent
demonstrations. It can only result in the violent ruling minority’s
increased capacity to portray itself as the defender of “peace” while
characterizing the emerging movement as the source of violence.
It is by no means excluded that future united front formations will be
based on the coming together of a variety of fighting formations
including organizations that coalesce from the present anti-racist
struggles and new ones that emerge from victories won by class struggle
union fighters who have won their stripes in re-building and
democratizing the trade unions and removing the present reactionary
bureaucratic misleadership.
Capitalist Reform vs. Socialist Revolution
We live in unprecedented times where capitalism’s simultaneous,
deep-seated and multiple crises have already taken a great toll on the
broad working class, with no end in sight. Few believe that the election
of Democrat Joe Biden to the White House will change anything other than
the crude, ugly and racist face and public demeanor of capitalism’s
accidental president, Donald Trump. Whether under Obama or Trump,
however, and now no doubt Biden, the policies adopted aim at serving the
interests of the corporate elite, whether it be in imposing massive
social spending cuts, ever gifting the billionaire class bailouts in
every form, ever increasing war spending and ever threatening
catastrophic climate and environmental disaster to the planet.
The difference between today and yesterday rests in the massive and
public exposure of capitalism’s inherent and deadly contradictions. It
can no longer hide its systemic racism, two words that are today
inextricably connected. It can no longer deny a climate crisis that
threatens life on earth itself, nor back off from its daily infliction
of misery and poverty in all their forms on the great majority.
Today, as never before in the modern era, the future of humankind is and
will be in the streets as the system itself drives increasing millions
to fight for their very lives at a time when real power can be exercised
for all to see to advance the life and well being of the most oppressed
and exploited and indeed for the 99 percent. That unity, expressed in
action in the broad working class, is the heart and soul of our optimism
for the future. That unity will render impossible the ruling class
promoted and imposed divide and rule scapegoating scenarios. That unity
will open the door wider than ever, with no exaggeration, for
revolutionary socialists to build a deeply-rooted mass revolutionary
party capable of playing a decisive leading role in putting this
diseased system out of business forever. Today, as never before, our
revolutionary program stands in sync with the aspirations of the vast
majority for a fundamental reorganization of society – for socialism.
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Robert G. Ingersoll
“Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. The Church never doubts, never
inquires. To doubt is heresy, to inquire is to admit that you do not know—the
Church does neither.”
― Robert G. Ingersoll,
