What do you think?
Rate this book
Verso Reports
Socialist Strategy and Electoral Politics: A Report
A timely, free ebook about the fight for working-class power.
With the far-right on the rise globally, a viable left-wing alternative movement is urgently needed. In the United States, a growing socialist movement seeks to confront and defeat Trump's toxic mixture of racism, misogyny, isolationism, and empty “anti-establishment” rhetoric, as well as the bi-partisan status quo that gave him room to rise. This reborn socialist movement faces many questions about strategy—especially in its approach to electoral politics.
In this collection of new and previously published essays, activists and scholars from across the socialist left seek to grapple with politics in the wake of the election of Donald Trump and the surprising popularity of Bernie Sanders' primary campaign in 2016, as well as the failure of center-left parties across the world to halt the ascent of right-wing populism. They refuse to be satisfied with asking, “Who can we get elected to office?” Instead, they consider how and why socialists should participate in the electoral arena. Some reflect on the possible gains: that through electoral campaigns our ideas might spread and our ranks could swell, or that we might learn valuable lessons for the next fight. Other contributors argue that we should pay more attention to those who are left out of electoral politics—the disenfranchised, the undocumented, the poor—and be wary of the narrowing of horizons that is, in general, the result of governing. Despite these disagreements, the goal of all contributors is to help the left understand where it should go from here, and inspire those not yet organized and active to join the growing socialist movement.
Contributors include Seth Ackerman and Daniel Denvir, Sofia Arias, Sumaya Awad, and Bill V. Mullen, Ben Beckett and Neal Meyer, Eric Blanc, Todd Chretien, Danielle Corcione, Ariel Diliberto, and James Yeun, Meagan Day, Barry Eidlin, Nick Estes, Ted Fertik, Lauren Fleer, Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, Charlotte Heltai, Matthew Karp, Kim Moody, Charles Post, Aziz Rana, Kshama Sawant, Lester Spence, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and the Viewpoint Collective.
With the far-right on the rise globally, a viable left-wing alternative movement is urgently needed. In the United States, a growing socialist movement seeks to confront and defeat Trump's toxic mixture of racism, misogyny, isolationism, and empty “anti-establishment” rhetoric, as well as the bi-partisan status quo that gave him room to rise. This reborn socialist movement faces many questions about strategy—especially in its approach to electoral politics.
In this collection of new and previously published essays, activists and scholars from across the socialist left seek to grapple with politics in the wake of the election of Donald Trump and the surprising popularity of Bernie Sanders' primary campaign in 2016, as well as the failure of center-left parties across the world to halt the ascent of right-wing populism. They refuse to be satisfied with asking, “Who can we get elected to office?” Instead, they consider how and why socialists should participate in the electoral arena. Some reflect on the possible gains: that through electoral campaigns our ideas might spread and our ranks could swell, or that we might learn valuable lessons for the next fight. Other contributors argue that we should pay more attention to those who are left out of electoral politics—the disenfranchised, the undocumented, the poor—and be wary of the narrowing of horizons that is, in general, the result of governing. Despite these disagreements, the goal of all contributors is to help the left understand where it should go from here, and inspire those not yet organized and active to join the growing socialist movement.
Contributors include Seth Ackerman and Daniel Denvir, Sofia Arias, Sumaya Awad, and Bill V. Mullen, Ben Beckett and Neal Meyer, Eric Blanc, Todd Chretien, Danielle Corcione, Ariel Diliberto, and James Yeun, Meagan Day, Barry Eidlin, Nick Estes, Ted Fertik, Lauren Fleer, Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, Charlotte Heltai, Matthew Karp, Kim Moody, Charles Post, Aziz Rana, Kshama Sawant, Lester Spence, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and the Viewpoint Collective.
- GenresPoliticsNonfictionEbooks
240 pages, ebook
First published February 1, 2019
102 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 2, 2023
Väga hea kogumik artikleid, mis on kirjutatud vahemikus 2016-2018 ning keskenduvad USA kaheparteisüsteemi probleemide kirjeldamisele ning kuidas praegusesse süsteemi sobituvad organisatsioonid, mis soovivad seista USA tööliste ja sotsialistlike vaadete eest. Artiklid käsitlesid väga huvitavaid ning erinevaid teemasid, alustades Democratic Party rolliga tööliste eest seismisel, vähemusõiguste ning immigratsiooniga tegelemisest, lõpetades USA poliitikaga Iisrael-Palestiina teemal.
Artiklid andsid ka palju paremat aimu USA kohalike omavalitsuste toimimise kohta ning kuidas grassroots organisatsioonid saavad tööliste jaoks palju ära teha. Ainus osa, mis lonkas, oli välispoliitiline artikkel, mis oli Lääne vasakpoolsetele omasel kombel uskumatult idealistlik, nagu Vene imperialism poleks pärast külma sõda tagasi tulnud (nagu see oleks kuhugi kadunud) kui vaid USA oleks olnud sõbralikum ning NATO piirid laiendamata jätnud.
Artiklid andsid ka palju paremat aimu USA kohalike omavalitsuste toimimise kohta ning kuidas grassroots organisatsioonid saavad tööliste jaoks palju ära teha. Ainus osa, mis lonkas, oli välispoliitiline artikkel, mis oli Lääne vasakpoolsetele omasel kombel uskumatult idealistlik, nagu Vene imperialism poleks pärast külma sõda tagasi tulnud (nagu see oleks kuhugi kadunud) kui vaid USA oleks olnud sõbralikum ning NATO piirid laiendamata jätnud.
December 31, 2019
Very much US-focussed, which I found unhelpful mostly — very few of the chapters had much relevance to UK politics. Fleer’s chapter on a left-wing district attorney was interesting in terms of the limitations of electing socialists to public office, although there’s no equivalent to an elected DA in the UK, and Corcione–Reun–Dilberto’s chapter on base-building was good on the limitations of electoral politics and what can be done around/outside that — particularly because there’s nothing about that that’s US-specific.
A couple of the chapters were interesting from a historical perspective (e.g., Eidlin’s on the history of the Democratic Party and how US politics came to differ from Canadian), and Nick Estes on indigenous politics too (I’ve been planning to read his book).
But for the most part it read like a overview of Jacobin articles on why socialists should support Bernie Sanders.
A couple of the chapters were interesting from a historical perspective (e.g., Eidlin’s on the history of the Democratic Party and how US politics came to differ from Canadian), and Nick Estes on indigenous politics too (I’ve been planning to read his book).
But for the most part it read like a overview of Jacobin articles on why socialists should support Bernie Sanders.
February 7, 2020
This anthology is not much more than a collection of Jacobin articles, which means it often suffers from a lot of the problems Jacobin does: an overweening arrogance, a self-defeating ideological purity and a numbing prolixity. That said, I did enjoy a couple of the chapters – particularly ones analyzing historical or international events. Unfortunately, the bulk of the book focuses on the tiresome debate over whether the Democratic Party is an adequate vehicle for leftist political ambitions – an interesting and important question that could be handled with one chapter for "pro" and one for "con." Needless to say, it gets many more than just two chapters here.
Overall, not a total disaster, but more judicious editing would have made this a shorter, snappier, less off-putting project.
Overall, not a total disaster, but more judicious editing would have made this a shorter, snappier, less off-putting project.
October 18, 2019
An interesting consolidation of different essays on the state of electoralism in the U.S. and the left's opportunities moving into 2020. While I didn't find this to be that ground breaking, it is an important primer for people to see the successes that have been made and the long road ahead.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews