William is right in part. Street demonstrations were -- and are -- not the
road to power.
But they were and are a means of building a movement. Where the left has
always failed is translating protest energy into a means of vying for power
or of shaping public policy. Slogans aren't enough. And the best of
political theater is useless if there is no larger strategy to advance
specific programs or compete for power. In the sixties, there was little
faith in the electoral process. There still isn't and unless we have true
campaign finance reform -- i mean full public funding as in the clean money
reform -- the electoral process, as a means of gaining political power, is
pretty hollow. (But useful and necessary for minor reforms and as a means
of stopping bad stuff happening).
Marty Jezer
At 08:56 PM 8/4/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>The rapid decline of the Sixties left was due to its assumption that the
>capitalist
>state would yield to what were essentially street parades and a few broken
>windows and
>turned-over cars. When that state resorted to the guns of the National Guard
>at Kent
>State and Jackson State it became clear that street theater was not the road
>to power.
-- Marty Jezer * 22 Prospect St. * Brattleboro, VT 05301 * p/f 802 257-5644Author: Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words (Basic Books) Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel (Rutgers University Press) The Dark Ages: Life in the USA, 1945-1960 (South End Press) Rachel Carson [American Women of Achievement Series] (Chelsea House) Check out my web page: http://www.sover.net/~mjez To subscribe to my Friday commentary, simply request to be put on my mailing list. It's free!
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