Sanders, Socialist Alternative and the Green Party.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Kshama Sawant, the leading member of  Socialist Alternative embraces Sanders the nominee for the Capitalist Democratic Party. On the other hand a scowling Sanders holds his hand up from Savant's shoulder. He does not want to be seen to be too enthusiastic about being too close to the socialist. 

by Sean O'Torain.

There is significant confusion to say the least within the Socialist Alternative (SA) group about the Sanders campaign. Its best know spokesperson Kshama Sawant,  is quoted in a SA statement in relation to a Sanders visit to Seattle that she gives: “a socialist welcome to Bernie Sanders.” SA also shares the stage with Sanders and has, “welcomed” the campaign of Sanders.

This can only build support for the Sanders campaign. But Sanders is running as a Democratic Party candidate. The Democratic Party is one of the two parties of US capitalism, one of the two parties that leads the offensive of US capitalism against the US and world working class, one of the two parties of US imperialism. The Democratic Party is the only party that ever dropped nuclear bombs on civilian populations. It is not acceptable for a group that calls itself socialist to share a stage with Democratic Party primary candidate Sanders without criticism, without pointing to his silence on these issues and instead welcoming his campaign.  Yet this is what SA does.

However a careful reading of SA articles shows that there are strains within this party on this issue. A leading member of this party recently wrote a learned sounding article on Sanders. It tried to cover up these strains. It still continued to call for support for Sanders. But in doing so he writes: “This does not mean we forget the key political differences with Sanders – the reactionary role of the Democratic Party, his reactionary foreign policy record and policies etc., which we have to continue to raise.”

Having said this this article goes on to precisely “forget” these reactionary policies, Sander’s Zionism, his support of US imperialism and militarism, his support for the offensive of US capitalism against its own and the world working class. Support for Sanders rhetorical ranting against the “billionaire class” and adopting his slogans is no substitute for pointing out and opposing Sanders support for US capitalism and its role. 

This writer of  this article quotes from Marx and Engels and writes: “Communists never cease, for a single instant, to instill into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeois and proletariat.”

But this article is just cover for the adaptation of the SA to the Sanders movement. It is contradicted by the statements of Sawant and other statements of the SA. They precisely do not “instill” into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeois and proletariat. No they give a “socialist welcome” to Sanders. They share the stage with Sanders, a member of the Democratic capitalist Party, a Zionist and supporter of US imperialism. In fact, they go further. Sawant explains: “If Bernie (yes this is the way she describes him) is unable to win the Democratic Party Primary – which is dominated by corporate cash- we cannot support Hilary Clinton or other corporate Democrats who will not be our allies in the fight against the billionaire class.”

Sawant is the most prominent member of the SA. She is clearly implying here that Sanders would be an ally of SA in the fight against the billionaire class. She also seems to be saying that if Sanders won the nomination that SA could support him as the Democratic Party candidate.

Leaving aside the imprecision of the term billionaire class, this is a fundamental mistake. Sanders would not be an ally in the fight against the,“billionaire class.”  SA’s refusal to take up and explain Sanders’ real role, is as bad a mistake as when Akrivos writes, “That this does not mean we forget the key political differences with Sanders – the reactionary role of the Democratic Party, his reactionary foreign policy record and policies etc., which we have to continue to raise.” And then goes on to ignore his own advice.

Support for Sanders’ rhetorical ranting against the “billionaire class” while never speaking of ending this class, is no substitute for pointing out and opposing Sanders support for US capitalism and its role. 

In his article Akrivos tries to deal with the break in the situation that lies ahead when Sanders comes out for the Democratic nominee, most likely Clinton, or becomes the Democratic Party nominee himself which is extremely unlikely. Akrivos recognizes that there will be a lot of people looking for an alternative at that time. So what does he suggest?

He recognizes that there will be no Labor Party around given the role of the trade union leaders. He recognizes this by never mentioning it. Just glosses over this fact in spite of SA’s campaign for a Labor Party for years before Sanders arrived on the scene. The other reason Akrivos does not mention this is because the prominence of the SA’s $15.00 minimum wage campaign has brought it into closer contact with a wing of the union bureaucracy which supports the Democrats and opposes the building of a Labor Party, and SA does not want to come into conflict with this wing.  Akrivos and SA (as Labor Militant) came under the same pressure test in Mazzochi’s LPA/LP and failed it then.

So how does Akrivos and his supporters in the SA try to deal with this coming break in the situation?  They come out for a “protest vote” for Jill Stein and the Green Party. This is just an effort to cover their backs. This is not a serious effort to try and bring together and mobilize the forces that will be disillusioned when Sanders exposes himself. All SA is offering them is a “protest” vote for the Green party. In this they are pretty much like all the left groups. Their sectarianism and ultra leftism frightens them away from facing up to reality.

The reality is that groups like SA and also like our forces the Project for a Working Peoples World (PWPW) are tiny. And as serious revolutionaries in the past pointed out, what you do and what you advocate if you have a few hundred members is very different from what you advocate if you have tens of thousands of members.

We in (PWPW) face up to reality and this includes the fact that we are tiny. We cannot affect the consciousness of the tens of thousands who are presently looking to Sanders. These tens of thousands who will be looking for an alternative to Sanders when he exposes himself would not see the PWPW as an alternative. Neither would they see SA as an alternative. Even the Green Party is not a major force. But it is the closest there is to a national party with some recognition. And its opposition to climate change and its generally progressive policies on economics and social issues make it attractive to many and would make it attractive to many of the former Sanders supporters.

So instead of advocating that these forces register a protest vote which is a relatively impotent act, what should be done is what we in PWPW proposes. Break all connections with Sanders immediately, come out against any vote for Sanders immediately, and instead of saying in the future give a protest vote to the Greens, actually join the Green Party and build it now. This would increase the prominence and raise higher the flag of the Green Party for when the break comes with Sanders and when tens of thousands of young people and workers will be wondering what to do, drop out of struggle or support the Democrats or what. Join and build the Green Party now. It is true the Green Party is not a workers Party. But neither is it a bourgeois Party. The reality is that its class character has not yet been defined. It is not even been defined whether it will develop into a permanent mass party. But in the meantime what PWPW proposes is the best way to gather together and organize and take forward the tens of thousands who will be looking for an alternative when Sanders is exposed. 

But PWPW does not leave it there. The issues facing the working class and society in general society cannot be solved on a capitalist basis. Only a socialist world can solve these problems. What this means is it is necessary to advocate international and socialist policies within the Green Party and build a socialist current within the Green Party as the means to transform the it into a socialist party. This can only be productive if it is done in a democratic and non-sectarian way.

But even this is not enough. Only the working class can bring about the changes that are necessary if the human species is to have a future, if capitalism is to be prevented from destroying life on earth. It is therefore necessary to advocate within the Green Party and build within the Green Party a current which seeks to transform that party into a workers party with its foundations and roots in the workplaces, the rank and file of the trade unions, the working class and middle class communities, the schools and colleges.   

We offer this alternative to the members in SA and to all other activists who are presently faced with the rapidly evolving situation in US politics and society. There is an opportunity to build a sizable nucleus out of the Sanders movement but only if a principled position is taken against the pressures of opportunism and adaption,  which flow from the Sanders movement.