The Obama movement is a spontaneous upsurge of the most advanced workers in the country. It is an emerging class alliance of the progressive social forces of the new economy. Whereas Clinton and McCain supporters desperately cling to the old economy of the 20th century (each in their own way), the diverse constituencies uniting around the Obama campaign are natural economic, political and cultural allies in the 21st century. The millions of students, Afro-Americans, Latinos, grassroots and netroots activists, unions in expanding industries, technicians, artists, engineers, and other professionals that support Obama’s candidacy all share an unyielding commitment to democracy, creativity, productivity, diversity, collaboration and progress. They also share uncanny abilities at self-organization, mobilization and networking (each in their own way). They represent the potential for a revolutionary democratic coalition that could challenge the unfettered rule of capitalism in the US if we, as progressive and revolutionary organizers, recognize the opportunity before us and do all that we must to empower this movement to come into its own, strike independently and realize its aspirations of freedom for all.
Cross posted at piratecaucus.com.
(You can read Part I of this diary here. It focuses on the many constituencies in the Obama movement and on the how and why they came together to support his candidacy.)
Déjà vu: Danger and Opportunity in a Time of Crisis
The 21st century progressive class alliance that buoys the Obama candidacy possesses the means, ability and motivation to start a process of radical transformation of society and to win over the great majority of people to the cause of revolutionary democracy. But it can only do so if it can develop an understanding of its own revolutionary potential as a united and independent movement. All of the most advanced social forces of the new economy now work or volunteer side by side in the Obama campaign. Professionals, IT workers, students, Afro-Americans, progressive unionists, etc. are getting to know one another, exchanging ideas and even at times thinking about their common goals. But they have no plan for independent activity as a united movement after the November elections, whether Obama wins or loses. And the Obama campaign will not and cannot provide such leadership to the Obama movement.
A significant danger accompanies the opportunity before us. There are other classes in contention in this time of crisis! Along with the new economy come new capitalists, new billionaires (86) that very much intend to prevent democracy from interfering with their accumulation of wealth and power - even if the new technology their industries produce happens to empower the emerging revolutionary democratic coalition. Obama’s big financial backers hope to capitalize on the failures of the old economy (collapsing infrastructure, war, corruption, economic downturn, cultural staleness, etc) to seize the leadership of the country for their own purpose. (87) And in a much more threatening scenario, a collapse of the Obama campaign (88) could lead to the apocalyptic return of the old order, of the most backward forces that rose to power in the old economy to rule the Bush White house and threaten the very future of the entire planet. (89)
The same class forces faced off once before in a mighty clash at the end of the 1960’s as "creative class" workers, students, Afro-Americans, unionists, activists and Latinos attempted to coalesce into a revolutionary democratic coalition for the first time. Back then the new economy was much more immature, making it almost impossible for the movement to consolidate its power to challenge the old order successfully. Following the assassinations of Martin Luther King (and before him Malcolm X) and of Robert Kennedy in 1968, the burgeoning revolutionary democratic movement split apart and collapsed – without a united vision, without a strategy, without leadership, without even a clear understanding of its own revolutionary potential. (90)
The current presidential campaign then is a replay of 1968 – with Obama as RFK (channeling the legacy of MLK), Clinton as Hubert Humphrey (shamefully channeling George Wallace) and McCain as the ghost of Nixon. But forty years later, the new economy has grown to such an extent that the liberal forces of the old economy (Clinton) faced defeat at the hands of a brand-new liberal political campaign organization (Obama). With the Republican Party is disarray, the money-churning Obama campaign looks to defeat the McCain camp soundly in the general election. The questions that remain just as relevant in 2008 as in 1968 are: Win or lose, what will the movement do after November? Who will exert the most influence on this new progressive class alliance and how?
We need to look no farther than to ourselves for the answer.
Waiting for Lefty
We cannot succeed in the critical tasks at hand unless we shake off the ideological hangover of the traditional US Left that remains mired in 20th century worldviews rooted in the disappearing old economy. Among the "established" groups contending today for the title of "leadership" on the grassroots activist Left, proposals for activity in this landmark election year range from timidity to wishful thinking to nihilism.
Some recommend that we support Obama unconditionally so as to not jeopardize his chances to defeat the Republicans (and we know how well this worked out in 2004 with the Kerry campaign). Others propose that we give Obama only "conditional" support while criticizing him from the "left" (as if the Obama campaign cared about the support of hopelessly fragmented and isolated activists). Others yet remain on the sidelines as armchair critics of the two-party system (stating an obvious problem and offering no viable solution). Worst of all, the most recklessly self-important propose to "recreate 68" and glorify pointless disruptions with dangerous consequences at the hands of police well trained in "crowd control." This last and most reprehensible proposal willfully ignores that 1968 saw the assassinations of the most progressive mainstream political leaders (Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy), ushered in the collapse of the revolutionary Left (from Students for a Democratic Society to the Black Panther Party) and gave us the Nixon White House that served as the training ground for the maniacal Neo-Cons currently misruling the country (Cheney anyone?).
The common thread in the traditional US Left narrative is the failure to comprehend – or even to attempt to comprehend– the profound political, economic, cultural and social changes that have taken place in the capitalist system in the past decades. This revolution in the production process transformed the US economy from an industrial "old economy" mostly based on physical labor to an information-based "new economy" mostly based on mental labor. Each of these economies is powered by very different classes of workers and capitalists. For the past several decades, these various class forces all contended over who will control the future. The forces of the "new economy" steadily grew along with relentless technological development while the forces of the "old economy" desperately clung to power in one incarnation or another. (91) And whereas this complex struggle mostly took place between different sections of capitalists financing the political campaigns of Democrats and Republicans, the sudden rise of the Obama movement represents not only the final ascendency of the big capitalists of the new economy in the US but also the first mass mobilization of the workers of the new economy whose newfound means and ability to produce and reproduce our society has emboldened them to stake their own claim to the future (if still so tentative).
Whether they call themselves anarchists, socialists, communists, radicals or situationists; whether they are committed to identity politics or to organizing "industrial workers", the "poor", the "oppressed" or the "alienated", most leftist activists cannot account for –and much less take an active role in – the rising 21st century progressive class alliance because they rely on outdated understandings of what makes people revolutionary. They do not grasp that all of the diverse constituencies coalescing in the Obama movement play key roles in the new economy. They do not grasp that all of these constituencies are natural allies because together they possess the means and the ability to empower the great majority to take control of society, rescuing it from the capitalist system that can never deliver on the promise of democracy. Predictably, traditional leftist activists do not offer any plan to engage the Obama movement in any concrete activity (beyond tailing the Obama campaign and encouraging voter registration or protesting it to no avail), vainly hoping to draw a few stragglers to the musty old leftist political programs of yesteryear.
Revolutionaries actually interested in building a new society based on the principles of democracy, equality and progress need to do more than talk or posture about challenging the absolute rule of capital (or imperialism or the "system"). The Obama movement gives us a first glimpse of the extraordinary potential of the rising 21st century progressive class alliance coming together at breakneck speed before our eyes (and hinting at the potential speed of radical changes to come in the near future). Our primary concern should not be Obama the candidate, and much less the Obama campaign. We must focus on the role we must play in the Obama movement. And in a much broader sense, we must focus on the role we must play in the 21st century progressive class alliance that began before, currently energizes, and will outlast the Obama movement far into the future.
It is incumbent upon those of us committed to revolutionary democracy to:
• understand what 21st century progressive class forces are coalescing in the Obama movement, how they came to be, why they are revolutionary and what they could accomplish should they consolidate into a revolutionary democratic coalition independent of the Obama campaign;
• understand what we as revolutionary organizers must do to facilitate this consolidation and empower the Obama movement to become fully conscious of its own revolutionary potential;
• develop and put forth our own proposals, analyses, plans for action and strategy for revolutionary democracy and engage the Obama movement in concrete activity to build and seize revolutionary democratic political, economic, cultural and social power wherever they are.
Obama’s candidacy has revealed and greatly accelerated the unification process of the 21st progressive class alliance. It is up to us to organize and empower this alliance to become conscious of itself as a revolutionary democratic movement that can lead us into the future.
Dual Power & the Tasks of Revolutionary Organizers
It falls on us, revolutionary organizers and progressive allies, to do all that we must to empower the Obama movement to recognize its revolutionary potential, to strike out on its own and to consolidate into a coalition for revolutionary democracy. It falls on us first and foremost because we ourselves belong in the 21st century progressive class alliance. As students, professionals, activists, union organizers, teachers, artists, engineers, technical workers, we count among the most productive forces of the new economy. For us to organize in the Obama movement means to organize ourselves, our peers, our co-workers and our natural economic, political and cultural allies in a revolutionary democratic movement to emancipate us all, based on our complimentary positions in the modern production process that make it possible for us to transform our world.
The contention between the new economy and the old economy represents a unique opportunity to build and seize revolutionary democratic dual power. (92) The big capitalists of the new economy are taking over the system as they consolidate their money power, but the big capitalists of the old economy won’t go lying down. As they struggle over control of the world’s resources, our 21st century progressive class alliance must strike independently and consolidate people power to implement revolutionary democratic control over the system’s resources ("work together, decide together"). (93)
By developing and implementing a revolutionary democratic dual power strategy, we can use the inherent momentum of the new economy (superseding the old) to empower our 21st century progressive alliance to build and seize power "where we can get our hands on it", (94) beginning in the spheres of control that are within our immediate reach (urban college towns, IT workplaces, growing unions, childcare centers, educational institutions, etc). Local revolutionary democratic coalitions can challenge and displace the remnants of the "old economy" at their weakest point by defeating corrupt city political machines, organizing advanced workers to win profit-sharing and democratic governance in modern industries, building progressive independent institutions like street universities and co-ops right where we live, etc. (95) A decentralized but highly communicative network of such local revolutionary democratic centers of activity could then grow into a nationwide and eventually worldwide movement to overcome capitalism itself. (96)
The advanced workers of the new economy already run the businesses they work in, except in name (and ownership!). We could very well displace useless boards of directors (representing stockholders that know nothing about and produce nothing of value for the business) by progressively replacing them with democratically-elected and infinitely more qualified workers’ representatives. The same applies to governmental administration and to the production and reproduction of culture and social life: Nowhere are the current powers-that-be anywhere near as qualified as the workers of the 21st century progressive class alliance to run the modern world! (Think of municipal bureaucrats! Record company execs! HMO directors!) The very basis of dual power can be found in the rapid technological transformation of our society: The new economy requires that more and more day-to-day control be put in the hands of larger and larger networked groups of advanced workers in order to function!
As organizers for revolutionary democracy, we must actively engage the Obama movement because it contains all the classes with revolutionary potential for the future. We must engage these progressive class forces with bold vision and concrete action and inspire them to form their own revolutionary democratic coalitions in every city, on every campus, in every workplace, in every union, in every church and pool hall. We must empower our natural economic, political, cultural and social allies to realize that the myriad skills we all learned at school, work and online can be used not merely to help elect a presidential candidate, but to build and seize power in a revolutionary and democratic way one step at a time, starting today.
What are the concrete tasks of revolutionaries in the coming months?
- The Nomination: Let’s not assume that Obama has the nomination locked in until he is declared presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention. Let’s not forget that the Clintonistas of the old economy still hide behind the curtain with daggers drawn, waiting for any opportunity to strike. (97) Revolutionary democracy must use all available means to help the Obama movement fend off any attempt by the forces of reaction to overthrow democracy in Denver. We have a key role to play in promoting greater understanding of the revolutionary potential of the Obama movement in general, especially among newly energized grassroots leftist activists. We must counter the immature call by so many "leaders" of the traditional US Left to protest the Democratic Party indiscriminately in the streets of Denver. The Democratic Party never was and never will be a revolutionary party or even a democratic home for progressives. But the Obama movement will pick up its greatest momentum in the fall, with Obama as the official Democratic presidential candidate. Rather than yielding once again to "protest mode", genuine revolutionaries and progressives who make it to Denver need to seize the opportunity to sit down with all willing forces on the US Left and make plans to address this key question: how do we organize for revolutionary democracy within the Obama movement beyond the convention and beyond the election? (98)
- The Election: Eight years of the Bush regime have finally laid to rest the reckless falsehood peddled by some on the US Left that it makes no difference whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. We cannot understate the importance of a decisive defeat of the warmongering and gluttonously greedy Republicans – the most backward regime that the old economy can muster. In the best case scenario, the energy and enthusiasm of the legions of voters (old and new) in the Obama movement –combined with the Dean/Obama 50-state strategy- could overwhelm the Republicans and relegate them to the status of regional southern minority party. (99) Again, revolutionaries and progressives can best help this effort by contributing their organizing skills to the Obama movement –especially in "battleground states" that are still given a disproportionate impact on the election by the undemocratic Electoral College system. One option for grassroots revolutionary democratic groups is to initiate voter mobilization efforts that are coordinated with but independent of the Obama campaign, ideally around a progressive campaign at the ballot box (for initiative and referendum or for an independent local progressive candidate for example). (100) The point is not to assimilate with the Obama campaign but to organize within the Obama movement, encouraging all volunteers to consolidate into a revolutionary democratic coalition with concrete plans to build dual power at the local level starting right here and now.
- Beyond the Obama Movement: All of our organizing efforts leading up to November must of course look ahead to the future. We must think beyond the presidential election but also beyond the Obama movement, which is in the final analysis an Obama moment. The movement that a transformational liberal political figure such as Obama will leave in his wake will be whatever movement that revolutionaries and progressive allies build out of the spontaneous upsurge that powers him into the White House. (101) We must empower the Obama movement to consolidate into a revolutionary democratic coalition independent of the Democratic Party and of the Obama campaign. This requires that we engage all of the constituent parts of the 21st century progressive class alliance through:
a. Concrete initiatives to build revolutionary democratic dual power politically, economically, culturally and socially right where they live (e.g. rent control referendum, unionization for profit-sharing and democratic governance at work, people-powered culture, alternative educational institutions, etc.)
b. A deep and broad vision, a revolutionary democratic strategy that underscores the potential for this consolidating progressive class alliance to accomplish on their own all the change they hope Obama will bring about for them.
c. A beginning infrastructure for decentralized communications and consolidation where all emerging local revolutionary democratic coalitions can freely exchange ideas, experience, plans, analyses and proposed strategies (ideally, a highly interactive internet hub that would serve as the scaffolding for the building of a nationwide movement). (102)
We must urgently prepare the millions of volunteers in the Obama movement to shake off whatever temporary disappointment they will experience when the Obama candidacy and/or presidency fail to live up to their expectations. Our plan cannot meekly rely on recruiting a few disgruntled volunteers to the tired oppositionist politics of the traditional US Left. Our aims need to be as ambitious as the Obama movement itself (to elect a young, unknown black man president!). Let’s organize the great majority of the Obama movement into a brand new progressive movement, powered by the creativity and energy of the most productive classes in the new economy. As a more modest starting point, should revolutionaries and progressive allies recruit but 1% of Obama’s 6 million volunteers, we could be looking at a revolutionary democratic movement of some 60,000 diverse, bright and bold new organizers– the largest and most productive progressive movement in the country in decades.
Obama’s greatest contribution to the revolution thus far –whether intended or not- came through his role as a catalyst for the spontaneous upsurge behind the Obama movement: He has given us a first glimpse of the enormous energy and synergy of the 21st century progressive class alliance as it coalesces nationwide, a first glimpse of its revolutionary potential as a mass movement. And the Obama movement has performed beyond the wildest expectations of even those among us who have provisionally organized for years to build this 21st century class alliance at the local level, mostly in urban college towns scattered across the US. We need to study and learn from this experience. We need to experiment with this emerging movement. But above all, we must stop waiting and catch the wave!
Regardless of what Obama does, the 21st progressive class alliance will continue to develop along with the growth and deepening of the new economy. (103) We have reached a turning point. The technological developments that brought the new economy into existence presage future technological breakthroughs that will radically transform our world in the near future. The struggle between the old economy and the new, and ultimately between capitalism and democracy, will likely lead either to the full emancipation of humanity or its destruction. The opportunities are immense, the stakes even higher. And although the past can inform us, it cannot save us. Revolution implies change. We must start rethinking today to prepare for tomorrow.
The challenge may at first look daunting considering how puzzled the traditional US Left is by these new developments. Let’s remember that independently of both mainstream politics and the Left, the advanced social forces that today coalesce in the Obama movement have been organizing on their own: socially, culturally, economically, etc. Revolutionaries today do not have to build a new movement from the ground up. We need to empower the constituent groups of the 21st century progressive class alliance to realize their existing potential and to fulfill their aspirations of freedom for all.
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Appendix A: The Last Will Be the First? Women & the LGBT Community
A chronological and sequential account of the development of the Obama movement may provide a lively and dynamic analysis but falls short of accurately portraying the full breadth of the 21st century progressive class alliance from which this movement emerged. Although women as a distinct gender group did not coalesce fully into the Obama movement until late in the primary struggle, they represent a fundamental progressive force behind the rise of the new economy.
The consolidation of the women vote behind Obama was delayed by the Clinton campaign, which was a trailblazing phenomenon in its own right. This should not be overstated, however. Contrary to the traditional media’s fabricated narrative that claimed women would not support Obama, exit polls show that Clinton got overwhelming support only among older white and (to a lesser extent) Latina women (age 50+). (104) As soon as Clinton finally admitted defeat, the vast majority of her supporters lined up behind Obama. (105)
Women’s key role in the 21st century progressive class alliance requires much more in-depth analysis that can be afforded in an article on the Obama movement. Suffice it to say for now that in numerous economic sectors that form the foundation of the new economy women workers perform a disproportionate share of the work (106) , particularly in the development and maintenance of human beings (from childcare, to education, to nursing, to elderly care) (107) and increasingly in the professional occupations that require advanced education and that make up the bulk of the "creative class". (108)
The same applies to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community that historically played a disproportionate role in the "creative class" (109) and in urban dynamism in the US. (110) Although his track record on LGBT issues is well rated (111), Obama has kept prominent support among the LGBT community at arm’s length just as previous mainstream presidential candidates have done. (112) But whatever public/private role the LGBT community plays in the Obama movement, it will not diminish its continued importance in the 21st century progressive class alliance.
Women and the LGBT community have now firmly aligned behind Obama since they know that their future does not lie with yet another backward, chauvinist, warmongering representative of the most reactionary sectors of the old economy such as McCain. But regardless of the history of the Obama campaign and of the 2008 elections, women and the LGBT community will continue to play a disproportionate role in the development of the 21st century progressive class alliance and in the consolidation of any revolutionary democratic movement.
Appendix B: Shortcomings
Due to time constraints and limited resources, this article provides but a first tentative treatment of the subject at hand: the rise of the new economy, the development of the 21st progressive class alliance and the potential for the consolidation of a revolutionary democratic movement that can challenge the absolute rule of capital with a dual power strategy. Much remains to be investigated, researched, studied, analyzed, debated and synthesized so that it can lead to action. (113) Such a task absolutely demands the very decentralized, collaborative and synergistic process of production that the new economy and its technological developments brought to us. There are countless leads to follow up on. Here’s one for starters: the role and contribution of the growing immigrant Asian, Indian, South Pacific and Middle-Eastern communities and their extraordinary contributions to the new economy (especially in the IT sector and in scientific research).
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(86) And along with them, old economy billionaires that embrace a transition to the new economy – hence the friendship between Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (who is an Obama adviser)
(87) The influence of new and even some old economy establishment figures on the Obama campaign can be felt as he pivots to the right on key questions leading up to the general election such as FISA, the death penalty, etc. For a list of largest contributions by industry see:
http://www.opensecrets.org/...
(88) Whether by a self-inflicted wound or by a wound inflicted by the enemies of progress.
(89) The first consequence of a McCain victory would be to drive away the most creative class forces from the US, thereby dealing a devastating blow to the new economy –a phenomenon already documented by R. Florida in "Creative Class War." See: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/...
(90) SDS in its first incarnation wrongly believed that students are not an agent of change and that they must seek revolutionaries among the "other".
(91) Getting increasingly desperate and ruthless, from the relatively benign Clinton years to the neo-fascistic Bush years.
(92) For more on the key concept of dual power from a revolutionary democratic perspective, check out the Pirate Caucus blog.
(93) The simplest definition of revolutionary democracy coined by the Tent State movement.
(94) As Amiri Baraka would say.
(95) Of course, the capitalists (both old and new) will not simply hand over power to the people! A revolutionary democratic transition would likely take place through forward and backward motion (with hard lessons learned), at times slow and painstaking, at other times chaotic and dangerous. The key is to conceive of revolution as a process, and not to reduce it to some mythical insurrection on the barricades in a distant future (the pipedream that so many young activists end up giving up on since they cannot live for tomorrow endlessly). An insurrection is merely a tactic (useful to the extent that conditions call for it at a given time and place). The revolution needs a dual power strategy. For more on this topic, check the Pirate Caucus blog.
(96) This of course does not imply that the US would spearhead the building of a global revolutionary democratic movement. In many ways, Latin America -led by the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela – is far ahead of North America in that endeavor.
(97) As with the recent disingenuous comments by Clinton campaign strategist Wolfson who falsely claimed that had Edwards dropped out before Iowa, Clinton would have won the nomination (in light of the revelation of Edwards’extramarital affair). See http://www.dailykos.com/....
(98) One can only hope that the organizers of "Tent State DNC" will be able to do this, considering their lack of resources, great pressure from the traditional US Left and limited experience outside of "protest mode." See www.tentstate.org.
(99) This would provide a much more favorable terrain to build a genuine, nationwide mass progressive third-party movement in the years to come.
(100) See for example the campaign for a ward-based system by Empower Our Neighborhoods in New Brunswick, NJ at empowernb.com.
(101) Just as the Communist Party USA saw its greatest years of growth in the early years of the Roosevelt administration and the New Left (especially SDS) emerged following the election of John Kennedy.
(102) A new take on some of the ideas introduced in the essay "Where to Begin?" by V.I. Lenin. For more on this topic, see recent articles at piratecaucus.com
(103) Although an Obama presidency would certainly help this process along.
(104) See the Seattle P-I article "Among women, Clinton-Obama contest is one for the ages" at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/....
(105) This only came as a surprise to the corporate pundits and to a few dead-enders whose gender identity politics date back to the 70’s.
(106) Whereas 73% percent of women perform "white collar" work mostly in the new economy, most of the jobs being shed by the old economy were traditionally held by men. See the AFL-CIO’s Professional Women: Vital Statistics at http://www.pay-equity.org/....
(107) Again, see the AFL-CIO’s Professional Women: Vital Statistics at http://www.pay-equity.org/... .
(108) See the AP article "Women Excelling in Earning Advanced Degrees; Men ‘Stagnant’", archived at http://origin.foxnews.com/....
(109) For a more unexpected example of this phenomenon, see the Richard Florida article "Technology and Tolerance: The Importance of Diversity to High-Technology Growth" at http://www.urban.org/....
(110) The concentration of the ‘open’ LGBT community in urban centers may become a thing of the past however. The excruciatingly slow but steady process of increasing tolerance for alternative sexualities in the US has empowered the LGBT community to some degrees to make more choices about where to live in urban, suburban and small-town America. See for example, "Demographic research debunks gay stereotypes" archived at http://findarticles.com/... and the Villager article "Goodbye, Gay Ghetto; we’re everywhere in the city" at http://www.thevillager.com/....
(111) See "Barraka Obama on Gays and Lesbian Rights" at http://lesbianlife.about.com/....
(112) Obama also hit a couple of wrong notes on LGBT issues earlier in his campaign, see for example "Obama Criticized Over Singer" at http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/....
(113) As Marx said, "So far the philosophers have interpreted the world, but the point is to change it!"