[VIDEO] Voting & Electoralism: Steelman Debates Steelman
This video is a debate between two fictional characters: One in favor of voting and electoralism, the other bitterly opposed.
My personal opinion is I don’t have a problem with voting but believe that electoralism is harmful. Regardless of whether or not you vote, we should focus on building a mass-movement to win reforms by our own actions and build our capacity for revolution.
This video was published two weeks before the 2020 U.S. election and uses it as an example. However, the issues discussed and arguments made can generally apply to any “democratic” country in any year.
Canvassing is not organizing
Ray Valentine argues that the skills built in canvassing for an electoral candidate do not translate to organizing workplaces or tenants. This article first appeared on Organizing Work.
Fear and Loathing: Electoral Politics in a Capitalist Crisis
Submitted by Internationalis... on Dec 20 2019 11:27
What we are looking at in this election is the victory of the concept of nation over that of class. But then it could be said of all elections.
Every Vote for Labour is a Vote for Capitalism
Submitted by Internationalis... on Dec 1 2019 13:42
For those not fortunate to have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth and happy with the status quo, who want to see change, the task of finding a political home is no mean feat. For many the answer is obvious enough. It may be a simple ”Leave the EU” or “Get the Tories out”. But for many workers, Corbyn and his Labour Party represent the way out.
Don't Play the Capitalist Game! Don't Vote!
Submitted by Internationalis... on Nov 29 2019 11:23
As the Brexit pantomime plays on, a General Election is now thrust upon us. Like all capitalist elections it will be a sham. About a third of the electorate (mostly working class) already have no illusions that a vote will do anything for them. In the UK the sham does not mean that ballot boxes will be stuffed with fake votes. Our rulers don’t need to do that. They have worked out how to get a result acceptable to the system without it.
Let Us Not Talk Falsely Now
Submitted by Serge Forward on Aug 30 2019 18:10
The Anarchist Communist Group on Boris Johnson's proroguing of parliament.
Crisis and Mobilisation in the UK
A proposition for how Marxists, communists and anarchists could, or perhaps should, consider the challenge of building dual-power, and counter-institutions in the UK. - reposted on request of the author from https://medium.com/@aralkosig/crisis-and-mobilisation-in-the-uk-a51ebe57b39c
Brief comments on the Libertarian Socialist Caucus’ 2018 platform
Submitted by sherbu-kteer on Sep 24 2018 21:22
Some brief, preliminary comments on the new platform released by the Democratic Socialists of America-Libertarian Socialist Caucus. A good sign, but should there be more?
Abstentionism and anarchism
An article by Camillo Berneri arguing that electoral abstentionism should not be considered dogma by anarchists, written shortly after the victory of the Popular Front in the Spanish elections of February 1936. The translation does not imply endorsement.
The Electoral Trap
An article published on October 2017 in the first issue of 'Intransigence', a collaborative effort between the Workers' Offensive group in Miami and other internationalist communists in the United States. This article argues for principled abstentionism, or non-participation in bourgeois elections, citing their harmful role of integrating workers as willful participants in the capitalist order.
