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MAPPING THE RESISTANCE Insurgence and Polarization Between 2016 and 2020

By Ethan Young Table of Contents

Up Against Trump: From Fragmentation to Unity...... 1

Mapping the Resistance

Insurgence and Polarization Between 2016 and 2020...... 2

By Ethan Young

Power and Resistance...... 3

Political Anatomy of the Resistance...... 5

Center-right and Centrist ...... 5

The Democrats and : Social Movements...... 8

Finding a Focal Point...... 13

The Union Dilemma...... 14

The Democrats and the Left: Political Action...... 15

The Socialist Dilemma...... 18

Political Problems of the Resistance...... 20

What Workers’ Movement?...... 22

United Front Today...... 23

Either/Or, Then and Now...... 24

Politicizing Social Movements...... 25

Published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, May 2018.

Editors: Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg Address: 275 Madison Avenue, Suite 2114, New York, NY 10016 Email: [email protected]; Phone: +1 (917) 409-1040

With support from the German Foreign Office.

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is an internationally operating, progressive non-profit institution for civic education. In cooperation with many organizations around the globe, it works on democratic and social participation, empowerment of disadvantaged groups, alternatives for economic and social development, and peaceful conflict resolution. The New York Office serves two major tasks: to work around issues concerning the United Nations and to engage in dialogue with North American progres- sives in universities, unions, social movements, and .

www.rosalux-nyc.org Up Against Trump: From Fragmentation to Unity

The day after the inauguration of President , “The Resistance” was born in the streets of cities and towns across the United States. The -organized Women’s Marches, held on Janu- ary 21, 2017, saw the largest-ever demonstrations in the country’s history. Since then, the anti-Trump have been joined by many other groups and constituencies, especially by those most affected by the policies of the Trump administration, including immigrants, LGBT people, victims of gun vio- lence, the poor, , and even scientists.

Over the course of the past eighteen months, however, the protests have lost some of their steam. Trump’s repeated distortions and lies, his sheer meanness (as in the case of DACA recipients), and the constant by his administration seem to have worn out the millions of activists fighting against the country’s shift toward an authoritarian . After all, resistance is not futile, but it can be tiresome.

In this analysis, Ethan Young examines the state of resistance to the Trump administration. In doing so, he refuses to buy into the centrist notion that the current President of the United States will even- tually be rejected, or maybe even impeached, for his deeds. In fact, Trump might be gaining ground, given the relatively strong macroeconomic indicators and the tax reform (including small benefits for many). How, then, can Trump be resisted? First and foremost, Trump and his cronies must be defeated at the polls in the upcoming midterm elections. However, voting Trump out of office will not be enough to defend against the Trumpists.

In this paper, Ethan Young demonstrates that the resistance to Trump’s “new ”— which is diverse, ranging from the radical left to the establishment center—only stands a chance if it is able to combine opposition to the far right with a rejection of neoliberal policies. In order to do so, we have to overcome the competition and fragmentation that exists among the political groups that are opposed to Trump. Only then is a new united front—outside of or beyond the political mold of twentieth-century —possible. Only once democratic political power has been defended against the onslaught of right-wing populism and neoliberalism can we move toward the task of cre- ating a new politics based on equality, , and .

Stefanie Ehmsen and Albert Scharenberg Co-Directors of New York Office, May 2018

1 Mapping the Resistance Insurgence and Polarization Between 2016 and 2020

By Ethan Young

The 2016 election and one year in office for tion and normalization of deadly force in law Donald Trump have resulted in an intensifying enforcement. Normalization of unhinged bel- polarization in mainstream US politics. A ma- ligerence in foreign policy and xenophobia in ny-sided attack is underway on democracy as it domestic policy. Increased destruction of envi- has been shaped by movements for protection ronment and infrastructure. Increased degra- of , living standards, and the environment dation of women and minorities. Criti- over the course of the last century. cal cutbacks in healthcare provision and public education. Meanwhile, responses to this attack suggest a revitalization of resistance to the Right and It’s easy to point to manifestations of all these to neoliberalism, with great political potential. problems in previous administrations, both Re- The alliance of right and far-right tendencies publican and Democratic. The difference now is that has taken control of the Republican Party, in the balance of political forces, with the Re- Congress, and the White House, has brought publicans holding the upper hand in all three on mass alienation that is sparking a growing, government branches, and the center (or mod- inchoate insurgence. The media have named erate) forces in that party rendered powerless. the broad manifestations of opposition “the (The moderate Republicans of today would resistance,” reflecting the fear that the Republi- have been considered far right before 1980. can-led government is moving towards . Nearly all have thrown in with Trump.)

The resistance is discovering that the Democrat- The partisan divide is nothing new, even though ic Party, for better or worse, is an arena for the both sides claim to be working for “bipartisan- Left. The campaign carried on ship” as some kind of magic balance combining the attempts, since the 1930s, to utilize the par- pragmatism and the desire for . ty to bring left politics to the electorate, usually But it has taken a particularly extreme form in in opposition to party leaders. Today the party the sharp right turn to unveiled racial polariza- is poised to challenge Republican hegemony. It tion, reviving the white backlash of Civil Rights faces the growing determination of its voting days. Then, however, the more open racism of base, and possibly of the national majority. But third party candidate George Wallace in 1968 the centrist leadership is torn between its reli- only earned him some camera time. After the ance on the corporate sector and the frustra- election of the first black president, white- na tion of Democratic voters. tionalists mobilized. Gross calls for violence helped bring Trump to power. The shift at the top has had dramatic conse- quences. Lawlessness in the market. Empower- This points up the underlying tension in US so- ment of blatant white nationalists at the height ciety, what once was called “the nitty gritty.” US of government. Open season on immigrants, democracy not only favors the few; it blatantly a crucial sector of the workforce. Militariza- disempowers African Americans and other en-

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tire demographic groups, based on the historic protests are symptomatic of the fragmentation color line. The question of racial justice is as- of the Left. serting itself in the culture, and in voting pat- terns. How the resistance responds to this will The day after Trump’s inauguration (January 21, determine whether or not it can conceive of a 2017), the Women’s March on Washington set democracy worth fighting for.1 a new record for a public (upwards of 600,000, with estimates as high as 4 million in corresponding protests in more than 100 cit- Power and Resistance ies and towns).4 It was virtually spontaneous, mobilized through social media in a matter of The Right, including those who have had misgiv- weeks. While the women’s movement had been ings about Trump’s delirium and boat rocking, at a relatively low ebb in recent years, sensitivi- sets out to purge the judicial branch of centrists ty to violence and discrimination against wom- altogether. This was the significance of the ap- en was brewing across the country before the pointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme election. The rise of Trump, a well-known mi- Court. Gorsuch is a leading advocate of dereg- sogynist egomaniac, over the female contender ulation of corporations, and increased state , was the spark that lit the tinder. repression in the form of the “ on terror” Trump’s support from the hypocritically puri- and the death penalty. Once appointed, feder- tanical, overtly patriarchal religious right added al judges can only be removed by resignation fuel. There was also a serious effort to break the or impeachment. Rightists are packing state racial/class barrier that tended to narrow the courts as well, at a frantic pace.2 more political wing of , which had gone all-out for the more “establishment” Clinton, The winner-take-all horserace of US politics while scapegoating the younger activists who fa- puts the Democratic Party in the position of vored Bernie Sanders’s left populist appeal. opposition, and the future of the country and the world depends heavily on how Democrats The Women’s March was the first indication in choose to play this role. There are complicated years that a single could win reasons why this role is not taken on by choice, support from many others. These ranged from and their reticence has created a major obstacle left-leaning unions, LGBTQ, immigrants, and for the cohering of forces that can counter the environmentalists, to the broader array of an- rightist onslaught against democratic norms.3 ti-Trump popular sectors. But women actively In the first year of Trump’s command, opposi- raising women’s issues take on even greater im- tion has come less from elected officials than portance as they emerge as the most insurgent from public protest originating outside elector- part of the , as teachers, nurses, al campaigns. The diverse themes of different domestic workers, low wage workers, student adjuncts, and defenders of the disenfranchised,

1 Sean McElwee and Jason McDaniel, “Economic anxiety children in particular. didn’t make people vote Trump, racism did,” The Na- tion, 8 May 2017. On March 24, 2018, 260 locations saw massive 2 Paul Rosenberg, “GOP’s court-packing spree: It’s only the beginning,” Salon.com, 3 December 2017; Char- turnouts for the March For Our Lives, centered lie Savage, “Trump is rapidly reshaping the judiciary: in Washington DC. It was an outpouring of teen- Here’s how,” , 11 November 2017; Ian Millhiser, “Republicans are using long-forbidden agers responding to the wave of gun violence tactics to chip away at judicial independence”, Think- at high schools around the country. This is un- Progress, 9 February 2018. 3 Will Stancil, “Democrats’ ‘resistance’ to Trump is erod- ing, and so are their poll numbers,” , 9 Feb- 4 Kaveh Waddell, “The exhausting work of tallying Amer- ruary 2018. ica’s largest protest,” The Atlantic, 23 January 2017.

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derstood as part of the resistance because of ry in 2016 surprised nearly everyone—includ- Trump’s and ’ fierce opposition ing the Republicans—but it was not the result to any serious move in the direction of gun reg- of a popular upsurge embracing the party.7 The ulation.5 (Trump has advocated arming teach- Republicans took every advantage the system ers as a defense against shooters with high and the hapless Democrats had to offer, and power automatic weapons.) While the achieved Trump’s non-popular election (via the organizers did not focus on Trump, they have indirect apparatus of the Electoral College) by worked to build active opposition to the Na- the slimmest of margins.8 Trump had no man- tional Rifle Association, a mass organization date, and the majority of those Americans who with overtly racist, pro-Trump politics, which concern themselves with politics were shocked threatens opponents with physical violence. into action before the off-year special elections The Marchers stand directly opposed to the of 2017. strongest -led force the US has seen since the heyday of the Ku Klux Klan in the Voters were dismayed at the grotesque cari- 1920s. The March organizers have also repeat- cature of a plutocrat in office, and, just as sig- edly called on young people to vote to defeat nificantly, traditional Republican voters were pro-gun candidates. confronted with a party now dominated by an alliance far to the right of any that ever swung Before the election, confrontations with elected a whip in national politics. The result, accord- officials outside the urban centers were- occa ing to the political FiveThirtyEight, was that sional and usually well-behaved. In the weeks in more than 70 special elections for state and after inauguration there was a steady wave of federal seats in various states in 2017—wheth- fierce “town hall” meetings in which residents in er in “red” (Republican) or ”blue” (Democratic) Republican-dominated cities and towns raised states—“Democrats are doing better in all types hell with their House and representa- of districts with all types of candidates.”9 tives. The main trigger for these actions was the attempt by the Republicans to overturn Obama’s A new development suggests a hopeful out- Affordable Care Act. Public sentiment in favor of come for this debacle: the trend toward first- a public national health plan (“Medicare for All”) time candidates, particularly women, jump- has pushed key Democrats beyond supporting ing into races for local seats and posing a real private insurance-friendly Obamacare.6 This threat to established warhorses from both was a telling indication of how mass opposition parties. “About four times as many Democrat- to Trump both encourages and incorporates a ic women are running for House seats as Re- general leftward push at the base level. Demo- publican women, according to the Center for cratic officials launched anti-Trump town halls American Women and Politics; in the Senate, in response to the Republican tax bill, a major the ratio is 2 to 1,” notes Time magazine.10 The wealth transfer from the middle and bottom to politics of these candidates vary, but the lean the wealthiest. is toward favoring both traditional Democrat- ic issues (such as reproductive rights and de- An electoral shift to the Left and Center-Left followed over the course of local races in 2017. 7 Nolan D. MacCaskill, “Trump tells Wisconsin: Victory In terms of historical timing, the backlash was was a surprise,” , 13 December 2016. 8 Steve Denning, “The five whys of the Trump surprise,” practically instantaneous. The Republican victo- Forbes, 13 November 2018. 9 Harry Enten, “Special elections so far point to a demo- 5 Alli Conti, “The March for Our Lives wasn’t just another cratic wave in 2018,” FiveThirtyEight, 13 December 2017. Trump protest,” Vice, 26 March 2018. 10 Charlotte Alter, “A year ago, they marched: Now a re- 6 Dylan Matthews, “The stunning Democratic shift on cord number of women are running for office,” Time, single-payer,” Vox, 7 September 2018. January 18, 2018.

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fending public services) along with the more There were other surprising signs of shifting challenging demands raised by the Sanders voting patterns. Open socialists running as campaign (Medicare for all, big money out of Democrats won several races and did surpris- politics, higher minimum wage, e.g.).11 ingly well in others, in a variety of political set- tings. The largest socialist group, Democratic The die was cast with the defeat of , Socialists of , claimed fifteen victories a religious lunatic and child molester who beat for candidates they worked for, just months Trump’s choice in the Republican primary for since its membership grew fourfold after their Senator from Alabama. He was taken down by work in the Sanders campaign. One DSA mem- a lackluster moderate Democrat despite (or ber and “Berniecrat,” Lee Carter, took the seat because of) heavy last minute support from of the Republican Majority Whip in Virginia’s Trump. Even in cold-blooded Alabama, Trump’s State House of Delegates. Carter, 30, running in actual popular support is restricted to a hard opposition to an energy monopoly that subsi- core that is being outflanked, as swing voters dized both parties, won by nine points.13 increasingly reject the Right’s crude demagogy. If this is the beginning of a popular leftward The decisive votes in defeating Moore came shift with political teeth, it opens the possibili- from African American women. In the deep ty that the resistance can go beyond restoring South, this is a historic development. But it pre-2016 norms, to ushering in a mass political was not a fluke. Voter mobilization groups had movement in opposition to neoliberalism, mili- been targeting black districts in Alabama for tarism, and xenophobia. Breaking the hegemo- years, and positive results were seen in local ny of the right/far right alliance may depend on elections before the Senate seat race.12 this outcome.

Political Anatomy of the Resistance

The of the opposition to the od just before and after his victory. Over time Trump administration runs from moderate right the pull of incumbency neutralized the influence to far left. There are a few open anti-Trump Re- of the remaining “never-Trump” partisans in the publicans, and probably more in the closet. The GOP, and center-rightists shed their centrist majority of Republicans chose to close ranks leaning. Today the party is an uncompromising around Trump, despite his having built his politi- force of retrogression and corruption. cal profile by smearing the party leadership. This “come to Jesus” moment happened in the peri- Center-right and Centrist Democrats

11 Zaid Jilani, Ryan Grim, and Rachel M. Cohen, “A year af- ter Trump, Democrats, Socialists, and Populists sweep Within the Democratic Party, the center-lean- elections,” The Intercept, 9 November 2017. ing-right wing of elected officials (self-pro- 12 Van R. Newkirk II, “African American voters made Doug Jones a U.S. Senator in Alabama,” The Atlantic, November 17, 2017; Will Drabold, “Black women fueled a grassroots 13 Democratic Socialists of America, “15 DSA members movement in Alabama—and may remake state politics,” elected!, 2017 election,” dsausa.org, 9 November 2017; Mic, 14 December 2017; Scott Clement and Emily Guskin, Osita Nwanevu, “What a Democratic Socialist’s upset “Exit poll results: How different groups voted in Alabama,” win suggests about the future of the democrats,” Slate, Washington Post, 13 December 2017. 10 November 2017.

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claimed “blue dogs”) and party functionaries 2. That majority, finding no support from the favor occasional concessions to the Right on Republicans, would join the Democrats; and issues like reproductive rights, immigration, 3. The investigation and indictment of Trump and police violence. While opposing Trump’s for eliciting Russian interference in the general direction as extreme, they favor pur- 2016 election would weaken the Republi- suing a course of conciliation with Republicans cans and bring waning corporate support in Congress, and are careful not to speak ill of back to the Democrats by default. evangelical churches and the gun lobby. They are hostile or indifferent to left social move- This scenario was designed for both short- ments, although they enjoy support from term or long-term developments. It expects or some unions. assumes Trump would be easy to beat in 2020. Or Trump could resign or be impeached before Center-rightists in both parties essentially are then, which would seriously weaken any at- playing a waiting game. They expect Trump’s tempt by the Republicans to elect Trump’s sec- power to wane eventually, and the old familiar ond-in-command, the lackluster theocrat Mike politics to come back into fashion. For the most Pence. Even if this plan did not pan out, four part they are party warhorses whose hope for more years of Republican rule would give the change veers more in the direction of the status Democrats an edge in 2024, in theory. quo ante (pre-Trump) than to a push for anti-cor- porate populism or stronger democratic power. There are some glaring problems with the cen- While rhetorically anti-Trump, they take pains to trist game plan: separate themselves from the resistance. 1. There are strong indications that voters , which include left- and right-lean- are open to the Left, and that the charac- ers, have control of the Democratic Party na- terization of swing voters among working tional and state leader ship. Their voice is heard class whites as Trump’s core base, per- when word comes down from the Democratic petually anti-civil rights, anti-government, National Committee, the Democratic Congres- and pro-military, came from social myopia sional Campaign Committee, and most state on the part of Democratic analysts. The parties. The party is roiled by staff and fund- rise of Sanders’s popularity despite his raising problems which became public knowl- media characterization as a leftist zealot, 14 edge only after the 2016 election. while Clinton’s poll numbers only decline, indicate that moderation vs. extremism is In early 2018 their voting power has increased, not the selling point for Democrats that it but only slightly. They still constituted a mi- was in 1964 (Johnson vs. Goldwater, the nority in government after the debacle of 2016. last Democratic landslide victory).15 Their position in preparation for the 2018 elec- tions was based on based on an analysis that 2. If there is inadequate opposition from presupposed a backlash against Trump: elected Democrats, Trump’s support will only grow. Passivity will not attract way- 1. The majority of voters, while firmly set on the ward Republicans or swing voters when Right, would reject Trump as an extremist; 15 Anthony DiMaggio, “Election con 2016: New evidence demolishes the myth of Trump’s ‘blue-collar’ popu- lism,” CounterPunch, 16 June 2017; , “The 14 Clio Chang, “Yes, Democrats have a fundraising prob- invisible undecided voter,” FiveThirtyEight, 23 January lem,” The New Republic, 22 August 2017; Ryan Cooper, 2017; Michael Sainato, “As Donald Trump’s popular- “This is the real scandal in the Democratic Party,” The ity dwindles, Bernie Sanders’ surges,” Observer (New Week, 8 November 2017. York), 24 October 2017.

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the cause of disaffection is distress, not for justice doubles as a plea for social , mere disappointment. Trump is gradually and the need for a party that can defuse un- gaining ground by default. rest, rather than exacerbate it through ev- 3. Most Democratic officials and Democrat- er-increasing violent repression, a Republican ic-friendly media are preoccupied with the trademark. (Democratic administrations also Mueller investigation’s outcome, hoping oversee violent repression, such as the crack- that it will prove conclusively that Trump down on the movement, but usually not as overtly or as openly aimed and Putin colluded against Clinton.16 How 18 many voters are concerned about collu- at particular constituencies. ) sion is open to question, one way or the This translates into incrementalism in meeting other. Whether or not the implication of the demands of the social movement constit- treason undermines the Republicans’ hold uencies they rely on for votes, and two steps on power, the strongest concerns connect- back for every small step towards anything ed to Trump’s policies and actions have that does not pay some private promoter big been given short shrift. Meanwhile, the dividends. But passivity also comes from the party’s base grows more frantic with each historical design and institutional memory new Trumpian barbarity. They understand of the Democratic Party itself. Party leaders that the assault on democratic norms and have inherited an aversion—even a terror—of social programs will not be reversed sim- being marginalized as leftist. When the party ply by waiting out the Democrats’ misfor- responded to the with tune. The Democrats’ own favorability as a positive reforms, following their 1964 landslide party is also in decline.17 victory over (what was then) the far rightist Goldwater, they lost to Nixon in 1968. When Prioritizing opposition, not just to Trump but they ran their most progressive candidate to austerity and the assault on democracy, since Roosevelt in the following election, they arguably would strengthen the party’s public suffered a disastrous defeat. When the Repub- standing. Not doing so in 2016 clearly did not licans ran Reagan, who was considered fur- help their chances. Why do the centrists in ther to the right than Goldwater, they beat the charge keep appealing for bipartisanship and Democratic incumbent Carter in 1980—and normalcy? subjected the Democrats to their worst failure ever in 1984.19 The apparent answer is that they work con- stantly to keep corporate donors on their side. These reversals, arguably, have less to do with They are caught in the crossfire of a the role of left social movements than with the in which their working class base are the pro- Democrats’ own presumed need to favor rul- verbial fish in a barrel, while the capitalists go ing class authority over movements that would nuts with AR-15s. Corporate America is fixated undermine it. The tendency in that direction is on increasing profits (and personal incomes, fixed, and gives rise to endless calls on the Left already beyond obscene). To win their support, to break from the Democrats immediately and the Democrats have to play their card as the completely. do-good party very carefully. Every appeal 18 Naomi Wolf, “Revealed: How the FBI coordinated the 16 Masha Gessen, “Russia: The conspiracy trap,” New York crackdown on Occupy,” , 29 December Review of Books, 6 March 2017. 2012. 17 AP-NORC Center for Public Research, “New year, same 19 Joshua Mound, “What democrats still don’t get about priorities: The public’s agenda for 2018,” apnorc.org; George McGovern,” The New Republic, 29 February Jennifer Agiesta, “CNN poll: Democratic advantage 2016; David Plotke, “Democratic Dilemmas,” Verso blog, narrows in 2018,” CNN.com, 21 January 2018. 28 November 2016.

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The centrists, out-maneuvered by the Right Some groups that might fall into that catego- repeatedly, are, like the Left, stuck in a defen- ry, such as MoveOn.org and Democracy for sive posture. Within the Democratic Party, the America, endorsed him, as Sanders pointed success of the Sanders campaign shows that out. These groups have big followings and com- resistance, rather than incrementalism, has paratively large funds available for political ed- the best chance of mobilizing Democratic vot- ucation and publicity. Their ties to Democratic ers. The Right has mobilized its base by baiting campaigns have been strong through the years. liberal centrists as radical leftists in disguise, But while they lean center-left, they are directly and centrists are unable to convince the Right’s and constantly targeted by the Right. They now base otherwise. The Center, politically bank- speak much more firmly in opposition to the rupt in its embrace of neoliberalism, needs the right/far right power bloc than the more than ever, to sufficiently square off Party as a whole. against the Right. Some centrists understand this, and intermittently act on it. In most cases The world of left and center-left nonprofits protest is necessary to budge the leadership.20 and NGOs shy away from party brands, partly for legal/financial reasons. Add to this increas- ingly left-leaning churches, synagogues and The Democrats and the Left: Social mosques. But the Republicans as a whole are Movements arrayed against these groups’ goals, and are actively working against them every day. While The left and center-left political sectors use many center-leftists resent Sanders’s opposi- public pressure inside the party and through tion to Clinton in the primaries, their priority is public protest to demand an alternative to cen- self-defense and survival. This requires focus- trist caution within the anti-Trump camp. This ing on unseating the Trumpites for as long as broad, diverse camp takes the form of insur- it takes. gent electoral campaigns and left social move- ments, along with political groups dedicated to These organizations are far-reaching in influ- mobilizing a progressive voting bloc. ence, after many years of service. The strongest examples are the ACLU, NAACP, NOW, the Si- When Sanders was running against Hillary Clin- erra Club, and the groups mentioned above; ton in the 2016 Democratic primary, he distin- and labor unions, three of which (SEIU, NEA and guished his camp from “the political establish- AFT) are among the top Democratic funders. ment”: “I have friends and supporters in the Other groups in this camp have social media Human Rights Fund [sic; Human Rights Cam- audiences numbering in the millions. paign is the largest nonprofit LGBTQ rights or- ganization] and Planned Parenthood. But, you Social movement groups tend to take an insur- know what? Hillary Clinton has been around gent direction, the closer they are to working there for a very, very long time. Some of these class constituencies in their actual settings, par- groups are, in fact, part of the establishment.”21 ticularly people of color, immigrants, women as a social sector, and youth. Street protests and confrontations with officials have been -break 20 David Weigel, “Why did lose the DNC ing out across the country. race?,” Washington Post, 26 February 2017; Alan Nich- ols, “The fight for power in Wisconsin: Neoliberalism, reported of the first summer of the Trump era: the crisis in the Democratic Party and the way for- ward,” Organizing Upgrade, 1 February 2018. For August 2017, we tallied 834 protests, demon- 21 Interview with , January 19, 2016, see Steve Benen, “Bernie Sanders takes a risky shot at the strations, strikes, marches, sit-ins and rallies in ‘establishment’,” MSNBC.com, 20 January 2016. the United States, with at least one in every state

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and the District. Our conservative guess is that From 2013, the share of wealth owned by the between 175,625 and 205,178 people showed up 1 percent shot up by nearly three percentage at these political gatherings, although it is likely points. Wealth owned by the bottom 90 percent, there were far more participants. Because main- meanwhile, fell over the same period. Today, the stream media often neglect to report nonviolent top 1 percent of households own more wealth actions—especially small ones—it is probable than the bottom 90 percent combined. That gap, that we did not record every event that took place. between the ultrawealthy and everyone else, has […] We estimate that 82.7 percent of the events only become wider in the past several decades.24 we recorded were opposing Trump’s policies, a higher percentage of events than in July. About 62 The Republicans’ 2017 tax bill, which promised percent overall were explicitly anti-Trump while cuts across the board, actually places new long another 21 percent overall took stances on issues that contradict those of the president.22 term burdens on the majority. Impoverished workers, mostly youth, laid-off tradespeople, The Crowd Counting Consortium estimated and immigrants, are virtually unprotected as that overall, between 5.9 million and 9 million health and housing costs soar. The labor move- people protested in the US in 2017, about 1.8- ment is hard-pressed to respond, for reasons 2.8 percent of the population, of which 89 per- described in another section below. Fierce pro- 25 cent were anti-Trump.23 tests broke out locally and in Washington. The strongest labor response so far was a nine-day This wave of protest does not come from any statewide strike of public school teachers in single organized political headquarters. It is West Virginia, begun on February 22, 2018. mostly haphazard and small scale in execution, It was noteworthy in at least four ways: the reflecting the fragmentation of the opposition workforce held the line after their union tried in all its forms. Mass organizations tend to be to push a compromise on their wage demand; top-down, with policy rarely set by membership the strike was technically illegal; they won; and in consultation with staff or boards. They- re in a Trump-friendly state, they had broad pub- spond to, rather than initiate, most anti-Trump lic support.26 protests. The actual mobilizing has been on- line, and can be initiated by any group, large or Unrestricted police violence and militarization: small. Widespread actions against police violence have been ongoing since the confrontation This testifies to the actual level of ferment in between civilians and heavily armed and for- the country. The protests respond directly to tified police in Ferguson, MO following an un- the government’s sharp turn against various punished murder by a police officer in 2014. popular sectors, and against laws put in place These events, and continued killings around in response to pressure from social movements the country, involving black civilians in huge as they organize in neighborhood settings. The numbers, triggered the issues are concrete and urgent. These include: movement. Trump advocated violence against

Income inequality: The ever-present split be- 24 Christopher Ingraham, “The richest 1 percent now owns more of the country’s wealth than at any time tween the very rich and the bulk of the popu- in the past 50 years,” Washington Post, 6 December lation has been exacerbated by the plutocratic 2017. administration. The Washington Post noted: 25 David Leonhardt, “A tax plan to turbocharge inequali- ty, in 3 charts,” The New York Times, 17 December 2017; Adam Gabbatt, “Sit-ins, protests, rallies: Activists’ 22 Erica Chenoweth and Jeremy Pressman, “Last month, mammoth push to thwart Republican tax bill,” The 83% of U.S. protests were against Trump,” Washington Guardian, 24 November 2017. Post, 25 September 2017. 26 Rachel Garringer, “Learning from the leadership of 23 Crowd Counting Consortium, https://sites.google. West Virginia’s striking teachers,” Scalawag, 7 March com/view/crowdcountingconsortium/home. 2018.

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protesters, and hard core white supremacists outrageous history as a “ladykiller,” mark him as (“white nationalists”) rallied to him. “Taking a the most misogynist president in memory. His knee,” silent protest by professional and college election undoubtedly contributed to the #MeToo football stars at televised games, provoked fur- explosion that brought to ’s center stage ther outrage from Trump and his supporters. what actor Eva Green called “the ubiquitous ex- The separation of Trump from black constituen- ploitation of power.” Trump, having transcended cies, already evident well before the election, is his old career as a Manhattan social climber, has now virtually unbridgeable. Even black business made himself over as a warrior against LGBTQ executives have spoken out.27 rights. One trans rights group proclaimed it “the discrimination administration.”29 of immigrants: Attacks and deporta- tions were already on the rise during the Obama Islamophobia: The number of Muslims living in administration. Trump’s crusade against im- the US rose from 2.35 million in 2007 to 3.45 migrants, especially from what he declared million in 2017. Islamophobia has also been ris- “shithole countries” (specifically Africa, Haiti, and ing steadily among all other group.30 Unlike Eu- El Salvador), may be the one campaign prom- rope, Islamophobia in the US stems less from ise he fulfilled. The federal immigration police cultural and religious differences than from force, ICE, have become Gestapo-like in their demagogic claims by mainstream politicians approach. In response, action by immigrants and media figures that Muslims as a group (1 and their supporters has become widespread. percent of the population) pose the greatest Church and community groups have harbored threat of terrorist violence. (Researchers found endangered neighbors and pushed for “sanctu- that the majority of terrorist attacks have come ary city” status in their localities. Protests and from native white supremacists.31) Trump made constituents marked for deportation have been Muslims, along with Latin Americans, a special supported by leading elected officials in cities target for his immigrant-bashing rhetoric and with high numbers of immigrants, where Dem- policies. Violent attacks on individual (assumed) ocratic office holders tend to predominate. A Muslims and on mosques have spiked since new peak of public outrage followed attempts Trump’s election. More recently, Christian fun- by Trump to intensify expulsion of “Dreamers,” damentalists have accused Muslims of trying to non-citizens brought to the US as children, who impose Sharia law on America, where Islam is a know no other home.28 distinctly minority faith.

Gender discrimination: Trump’s pandering to fake This has been met by opposition from oth- puritans of the religious right, along with his own er religious groups and civil libertarians. The

27 John Sullivan, Zane Anthony, Julie Tate, and Jennifer 29 Whitney Kassel, “Donald Trump’s presidency is an as- Jenkins, “Nationwide, police shot and killed nearly sault on women,” Foreign Policy, 4 April 2017; Michael 1,000 people in 2017,” Washington Post, 6 January 2018; D. Shear and Charlie Savage, “In one day, Trump ad- Sonali Kolhatkar, “In America, justice for victims of ministration lands 3 punches against gay rights,” The police brutality remains elusive,” Truthdig, 22 Septem- New York Times, 27 July 2017; Rebecca Buckwalter-Po- ber 2017; David Gelles, “The C.E.O. who stood up to za, “The end of gay rights,” Pacific Standard, 5 June President Trump: Ken Frazier speaks out,” The New York 2017; National Association for Transgender Equality, Times, 19 February 2018. “The discrimination administration,” transequality.org; 28 Ramon Taylor, “Amid deportation protests, ICE detains Lydia Wheeler, “Gay rights groups feel they are under immigrant-rights leader in NYC,” VOA, 11 January 2018; siege,” The Hill, 11 October 2017. Priscilla Alvarez, “Trump cracks down on sanctuary cit- 30 Besheer Mohamed, “New estimates show U.S. Muslim ies,” The Atlantic, 25 January 2018; Jose Olivares, “More population continues to grow,” Pew Research Center, 3 jurisdictions to provide legal defense for immigrants January 2018. at risk of deportation,” NPR, 12 November 2017; Joanna 31 Mythili Sampathkumar, “Majority of terrorists who Walters, “What is Daca and who are the Dreamers?,” have attacked America are not Muslim, new study The Guardian, 14 September 2018. finds,”The Independent, 23 June 2017.

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Muslim population includes Arabs, South and rights activists. These moves have been made Central Asians, and African immigrants. Tightly as part of the push against national healthcare knit communities from various predominantly provision and anti-discrimination guidelines Muslim nationalities have responded to Islam- for public schools. Cutbacks in aid are expect- ophobia with protests and public pressure on ed to lead to a steep rise in institutionalizing officials, mostly in urban centers.32 disabled people after years of pressure to en- sure their right to live independently. A wave of Enfranchised neofascists: Far rightists of various protests have called attention to the hardships stripes had a direct role in Trump’s campaign. these moves will bring. In June 2017, protesters His access to these groups, including armed in wheelchairs were ejected from the office of nativists, extreme religious social conserva- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and tives, the National Rifle Association, and overt arrested. Most of the protests were coordinat- “white nationalists,” was facilitated by his part- ed by the activist group ADAPT.35 nership with Steve Bannon, former chief of the rightist news site Breitbart.com. Mass revulsion Health care: The Right has made a centerpiece followed the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlot- issue of overturning Obamacare, the last ad- tesville, VA in August 2017. This was a major at- ministration’s attempt to deal with skyrock- tempt to bring overt neofascist groups out of eting health costs without defying the power the shadows, which mass (and elite) antifascist of private insurance and the drug industry. sympathies have successfully suppressed since This led to a merry chase after the election World War II. (It also brought the return of overt as Obamacare increased in popularity while anti-Semitic rhetoric chanted by torch-bearing the Republicans stampeded to put in place marchers.) A counter demonstrator was killed a more privatized, slapdash alternative plan. by a supporter of the rally. Trump’s defense The grassroots pressure group Indivisible and of the rally underscored how his presidency others protested and lobbied Congress into opened doors to a fringe which was previously delaying the Republican bill, which can only taboo in US society.33 Response has taken the grossly raise the cost of health care. As not- forms of widespread denunciation, particularly ed above, the popularity of Medicare for All in major media, and showdowns by antifascists, spread widely when Sanders campaigned on sometimes violent. Students and faculty are it. The single payer movement gained ground organizing to oppose neofascist infiltration of steadily for decades, and is now well-orga- campuses.34 nized in unions, and healthcare and medical professions. DSA voted to make Medicare for Disability rights: Trump and Congress have All its central campaign.36 tried to reverse protections won by disability

35 Rebecca Cokley, “The rights of disabled Americans are 32 Perry Stein, “Muslim Americans rally against Trump under attack,” CNN.com, 14 February 2018; Mike Lud- travel ban one day after a judge blocked it,” Washing- wig, “Disability activists crash congress to stop a bill ton Post, 18 October 2017; Peter Moscowitz, “We can that would undermine their civil rights,” Truthout, 16 fight back against Trump’s Islamophobia,” The Nation, February 2018; David M. Perry, “‘That’s just the life of 8 November 2017; Christopher Mathias, “The ‘March a warrior’: How disability activists are playing the long Against Sharia’ protests are really marches against game under Trump,” Pacific Standard, 22 January 2018. Muslims,” Huffington Post, 10 June 2017. 36 Amanda Zhou and Kris B. Mamula, “Single-payer 33 Michelle Chen, “Donald Trump’s rise has coincid- health care gains traction, local physician advocates,” ed with an explosion of hate groups,” The Nation, 24 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 23 November 2017; Julia Con- March 2017; J.M. Berger, “How white nationalists ley, “‘Kill the bill, don’t kill us’: Protesters arrested as learned to love Donald Trump,” Politico, 25 October GOP pushes Senate tax bill ,” Common Dreams, 2016; Joe Helm, “Recounting a day of rage, hate, vio- 28 November 2017; Robert Pear, , lence and death,” Washington Post, 14 August 2017. and Reed Abelson, “Trump to scrap critical health care 34 Colleen Flaherty, “Campus Antifascist Network,” Inside subsidies, hitting Obamacare again,” The New York Higher Ed, 17 August 2017. Times, 12 October 2017.

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Gun control: Gun violence and the open market Voter suppression: Changing demographics for weapons of war have been at issue for de- have been an under-the-radar concern of the cades, but an upsurge of protest, particularly Right. Specifically, whites are becoming the nu- among high school students, broke out in 2018, merical minority in state after state. Republi- over the mass shooting at an affluent subur- cans are pushing hard for local laws making it ban Florida high school. This is a direct, open harder for people fitting certain racial and eco- turn against the Republicans by millions, led by nomic categories to vote. They are also chang- furious teenagers. The constant repetition of ing Congressional district maps to undercut mass murders in broad daylight by “troubled the votes of districts where people of color loners” armed with easily accessed automatic predominate. This has led to serious pushback assault weapons led to a crisis for the National efforts from mass interest groups like the ACLU Association (NRA), which is a major actor in the and NAACP, which are gaining public support.38 American Right. The NRA doubles as a lobby for the firearms industry, and a mass organiza- Foreign policy: The has been tion with tons of money. Its leadership is highly at an ebb for years, despite the continuation political, utilizing white supremacist xenopho- of Washington’s longest war ever. This is the bia and fear of the central government to stoke weakest point in the resistance, particularly in their members. It is also the ideological strong- light of the administration’s belligerent rhet- hold of gun culture, which is rooted in an on- oric and promotion of . Democrats going violent climate, enforcing and reinforc- in general have not strayed far from Clinton’s ing white domination, from pioneer settlers to pro-Pentagon position. There has been some lynch mob terror to police sadism. negative response to Trump’s moving the US embassy in Israel to Tel Aviv, his sabre-rattling The NRA has mastered social media and mar- at North Korea and Iran, and his plan to hold an keting, and by promoting and ensnaring the unheard-of public military parade in his own politicians of its choice, has become a con- honor.39 trolling influence in the Republican Party. Now the demands for stronger gun regulation and Environment and science: The influence of the banning automatic weapons have made the fossil fuel-driven energy industry, combined NRA and its loyalists into political pariahs to an with the anti-science stance of the religious exhausted public. Mass protests by high school- Right, carry the denial of climate catastrophe ers put officials on the take from the NRA in a that guides current policy. Trump has also deeply compromised spot. A new online group, losing corporate ties amid calls for boycott in wake of #NeverAgain, formed instantly after the Febru- Parkland shooting,” ABC News, 27 February 2018; Ash- ary 14, 2018 massacre. The NRA has taken the ley Reese, “The NRA’s vice president is scared of social- ists,” Jezebel, 22 February 2018; Emanuella Grinberg offensive, targeting the Left (including DSA by and Nadeem Muaddi, “How the Parkland students name) and championing . Threats of pulled off a massive national protest in only 5 weeks,” CNN.com, 26 March 2018. violence have pervaded their stance, echoing 38 David Jackson and Deborah Barfield Berry, “Trump, Trump’s belligerence. This polarization may be after killing his ‘voter fraud’ commission, calls for new irreconcilable, bringing substantial new num- ID laws,” USA Today, 4 January 2018; T. Keung Hui, “An- ti-Trump sentiment brings crowd to HKonJ march in bers to the resistance, as evidenced by the Raleigh,” News and Observer (Raleigh NC), 12 February enormous national turnout for the March For 2018; Arielle Dreher, “The racist roots of disenfranchis- ing voters,” Jackson Free Press, 28 February 2018; Matt Our Lives on March 24, 2018, organized and ad- McDermott and Sean McElwee, “The cause the resis- dressed by high school students.37 tance cares most about is ending voter suppression,” Vice, 22 February 2018. 39 John Feffer, “The new, new ,” Foreign Policy 37 Dean Obeidallah, “The NRA’s worst nightmare is here,” in Focus, 7 March 2018; Ethan Young, “Where did the CNN.com, 25 February 2018; Maureen Sheeran, “NRA peace movement go?,” The Indypendent, 1 May 2017.

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overseen an unprecedented dismantling of the Media: Trump’s hostility to the press is now Agency. The envi- legendary, and major media outlets have re- ronmental movement, from the straight-laced sponded in kind. Of the four major daily pa- Sierra Club and NRDC to more the militant 350. pers nationally, three (Murdoch’s Wall Street org and Food and Water Watch, has never been Journal excepted) regularly attack the entire more opposed to a sitting president. Leaving Trump camp. The leading centrist cable news the Climate Accords, amidst increasingly network, CNN, is Trump’s favorite target. The menacing climate events worldwide, brought Federal Communications Commission has on strong condemnation. Scientists and other pushed forward privatization of the Internet by related professionals have spoken out against abolishing net neutrality, despite overwhelm- the strain of anti-intellectualism that debunks ing opposition. This move is sparking a mass teaching evolution. Earth Day was revived in movement that has polarized Silicon Valley the form of the March for Science soon after against the administration.42 Trump’s inauguration. The revolt of Standing Rock Sioux Indians against the Dakota Access Pipeline brought national attention and made Finding a Focal Point the Obama administration stop construction, only to see the decision reversed by Trump.40 Bringing together this fierce but fragmented ar- ray of social movements is now a major concern. Public and higher education: The furious 2018 A well-positioned group, People’s Action, made strike of public school teachers in West Virginia a potentially significant effort in this direction was a direct response to the attack on public in February 2018. The group is itself a merger education. Parents and teachers have called of several multi-region organizing efforts. Their out the appointment of Betsy DeVos, a reli- think tank, Institute for America’s Future, as- gious right privateer, as education secretary. sembled a broad list of public intellectuals, do- Hundreds of thousands have joined Network nors, and activists in support of a left populist for Public Education, a group that opposes cuts agenda for the Democratic Party.43 The breadth and the general direction of education policy. of social movements reflected in the endors- DeVos has hardened the burden of students ers—and the convergence of political positions living on college loans, and attacked the rights since before the election—are a starting point. of disabled students.41 Of particular note is the inclusion of the head of United Steelworkers, a major industrial union 40 Elizabeth Woodworth and Dr. Peter Carter, “Science that had made sympathetic gestures to Trump betrayed: the crime of denial,” Common Ground, 10 February 2018; Environmental Defense Fund, “Deep for his rhetoric against agreements.44 EPA cuts put public health at risk,” https://www. edf.org/deep-epa-cuts-put-public-health-risk; Chris Mooney, Joe Heim, and Brady Dennis, “Climate March Ultimately, the strength of social movements draws massive crowd to D.C. in sweltering heat,” Wash- short of participating in political processes and ington Post, 29 April 2017; Kyle Powys Whyte, “Why the Native American pipeline resistance in North Dakota exercising power, lies in their capacity to en- is about ,” The Conversation.com, 16 Sep- tember 2016. 41 Rebecca Klein, “One year in, Betsy DeVos has super- 2017; Taylor Hosking, “The changing landscape of stu- charged teacher ,” Huffington Post, 13 Feb- dent protest in higher education,” The Atlantic, 20 De- ruary 2018; Celeste Katz, “Betsy DeVos just made it cember 2017. harder for ripped-off students to get full loan forgive- 42 Chris Taylor, “They struck net neutrality down: Now ness,” Newsweek, 20 December 2017; David M.Perry, it’s becoming more powerful than they could possibly “Assessing Betsy DeVos’ rollback on disability rights,” imagine,” Mashable.com, 18 January 2018. 24 October 2017, psmag.com/education/betsy-de- 43 Richard Eskrow, “A pledge to transform the resistance, vos-rolls-back-disability-rights; Julia Conley, “Trying to and America,” OurFuture.org, 21 February 2018. deliver ‘failing’ grade to Betsy DeVos, teachers locked 44 Campaign for America’s Future, http://campaignfo- out of education dept,” Common Dreams, 9 February ramericasfuture.org/signers.

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gage and mobilize millions. This is the stated The Union Dilemma goal of the Poor People’s Campaign, launched by the North Carolina-based church leader The labor movement would be the heart of Reverend Dr. William Barber II. The campaign resistance in previous decades. Since the late was inspired by the last, uncompleted protest 1930s, they have been a bulwark against the action of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before his Republican Party. As noted above, three of the in 1968. largest unions—which mostly represent public school teachers and public sector workers in Rev. Dr. Barber and co-chair Rev. Dr. Liz Theo- government offices—are financial mainstays of haris have undertaken an ambitious plan de- the Democratic Party. Their constituencies are signed to bring poor people together from directly dispossessed by the punishing spend- across the country with a moral appeal. “This ing cuts that are the hallmark of Republican campaign is not about a single party or policy policy. agenda,” they wrote in Time. “It’s about sav- ing the soul of America by challenging the en- Yet unions have been stripped of power as meshed evils of systemic racism, poverty, the their membership has declined since the war economy, ecological devastation and our 1980s. Overall, Republicans have been com- distorted national morality.” They envision a batting unions through legal restrictions, un- “third Reconstruction” carrying on the mission dercutting dues-checking, and whittling away of the Civil Rights movement, centered by the at long-standing, hard-won pay, health care existing black movement but bringing in broad provision, and pension agreements. Deindus- sectors of economic victims of neoliberalism. trialization has drastically reduced private sec- Explicitly targeting Trump, they called for a tor industrial unions. As a result their finances campaign that would “unite the poor, disen- and ability to mobilize members is of less use franchised and marginalized to take action to- to the Democrats. gether, combining direct action with grassroots organizing, voter registration, power building Public sectors unions have grown compara- and nonviolent .”45 tively, but they face a bitter confrontation in the Supreme Court. The appointment of Jus- Barber’s standing is such that he will not have to tice Neil Gorsuch by Trump (a selection that work hard to bring out social movement organi- was Obama’s to make, but was blocked by the zations. Gatherings of this kind—minus the par- Republican majority in Congress pending the ticipation of really effective numbers of working election) guaranteed that the Court would be people—have been seen and heard from re- majority rightist. Janus v. AFSCME contests Il- peatedly. To actually change the country’s direc- linois’s requirement that public employees in tion, this campaign would need to inspire a tidal a unionized position pay a fee to the union if wave of the power-starved, on the order of the they choose not to join. The appellants accept- Women’s March, but with greater numbers and ed lower court rulings against them to get in militancy. If successful, a real midterm mandate position for a Supreme Court review. would be undeniable—for the resistance, with a revitalized broad Left heard from for the first A decision against AFSCME, one of the largest time in decades. public sector unions, threatens to cripple all

45 William Barber II and Liz Theoharis, “Rev. Dr. Barber such unions financially. This would not only & Rev. Dr. Theoharis: It’s time to fight for America’s drastically reduce unions’ bargaining power. It soul,” Time, 5 December 2017; Eleanor J. Bader, “Huge would also push labor to the fringes of politics, organizing effort, ‘40 Days of Action’ launching to fight poverty, Alternet, 4 March 2018. and undercut the Democratic Party deeply. The

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only established bulwark of and for workers Chances for a unified labor movement in re- would be so weakened, the entire opposition sponse to Trump’s attacks on workers’ rights to neoliberalism would be left to the mercy of and living standards seem remote. Some one trend in or another. Only working unions will increase their identification with class supporters could make up the difference, non-labor social movements, despite the in- and the ability to draw on those supporters fluence of the political far right among work- would be drastically reduced.46 ers who identify with nativism, militarism, gun ownership, and police repression in poorer Within the public sector branch of labor groups, communities of color. competition and fragmentation rule. They are also alienated from private sector unions, fur- The AFL-CIO, which includes most major unions, ther damaging the movement’s future. Some has moved away from its initial gestures of ac- unions representing industrial and building ceptance.48 Leaders in Sanders’s camp, Labor trades workers, as well as law enforcement, for Our , have been the most out- have leaned towards Trump. In a disastrous spoken in support of the resistance. National situation facing their members, these unions Nurses United took the lead in organizing Peo- cling to hope that Trump’s rhetorical calls for ple’s Summit meetings in Chicago, attracting increasing domestic manufacture and oppos- thousands of activists from across the country ing free trade agreements will benefit them.47 to discuss electoral strategy and the compli- cated politics coming out of far-flung localized Another, sorrier reason for unions’ acceptance electoral efforts.49 The extent to which a grow- of Trump is widespread acceptance of his an- ing resistance can speak directly to working ti-immigrant policies and his white nationalist people on issues of social and economic secu- rhetoric among some workers. Unions that rity and democratic rights, unions will be better worked for Clinton in 2016 found that this sen- equipped to take on the anti-labor confederacy timent, spread by far rightists in the rust belt now in power. It remains to be seen whether areas of key states, stymied the Democrats’ unions will actively join that effort, but the sur- efforts. Now they are at a disadvantage when vival of the labor movement may depend on it. they seek to mobilize their bases to join the resistance. The Democrats and the Left: Political Unions, even pitted against one another, serve Action their function in taking on income inequality and workers’ rights. Workers still turn to them The need for focus on political action often for support, notably in the low wage service and comes to the fore, more so than in previous agricultural sectors. Under Obama some head- years. There is a growing recognition that to way was made in raising the minimum wage. be effective, the movements’ issues need to Under Trump, the influence of Wall Street be- be expressed as part of the mobilization of came direct power in the White House, despite the majority of voters. New groups set up for his fraudulent claims of opposing bankers. that purpose, and to elect local candidates, ap- peared in the aftermath of the Sanders cam-

46 Michael Paarlberg, “The future of American unions 48 Michael Tackett, “Union chief says Trump, having ‘ac- hangs in the balance,” The Guardian, 26 February 2018. tively hurt’ workers, is losing support,” The New York 47 Steven Greenhouse, “The unions that like Trump,” The Times, 23 January 2018. New York Times, 8 April 2018; Richard Pérez-Peña and 49 Rand Wilson and Peter Olney, “From ‘Labor for Bernie’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Police unions hail Trump’s easing to ‘Labor for ’,” Organizing Upgrade, 13 of security: Local officials worry,”The New York Times, 4 September 2017; David Weigel, “Other lessons from April 2017. the People’s Summit,” Washington Post, 12 June 2017.

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paign. Sanders launched Our Revolution, which rate funding. That recognition sets them apart, has local groups in fifty states. not only from the “establishment” Democrats, but from the social movements and political left This type of group is not new for the US. Pro- groups still grappling with their traditional mis- gressive Democrats of America helped launch sions as they face the bitter new terms of the the Sanders campaign in 2015. Emily’s List has Trump era. been pushing a center-left feminist agenda for decades. The campaigns of past Democratic fig- There is a tension between Sanders and Clinton ures like one-time presidential contender How- supporters that continues to flare up at different ard Dean and the late Minnesota Senator Paul points, and this tension puts distance between Wellstone are survived by similar policy advoca- some anti-Trump electoral groups. In 2017, the cy groups and political funders (PACs). Some of party old guard exploited this tension in a party the established groups have edged to the left in vote for chairman, a position that commands response to the enormities of the GOP under little power but a lot of public attention. When Trump, while new ones are free of any historic Chuck Schumer, as Senate Minority Leader the attachment to inner party politics. most powerful post-Obama Democrat and a solid centrist, sought to mend fences by backing While the electoral activism in the resistance a Sanders supporter, he was pushed aside by takes the form of numerous groups growing in Obama. The party stalwarts went for Obama’s every state, 2018 and 2019 will test their abili- choice, who proved ineffectual, exacerbating ty to pull together. The largest groups function the tension and leaving the public puzzled as to independently of one another. Our Revolution just what direction the party planned to take.51 and others noted above have been joined by a deluge of networks and local groups with In a major upset, leaders of the Dem- names like Brand New Congress, Knock Every ocratic Party, a stronghold of the Center-left in Door, Flippable, Run For Something, and Sis- the party, voted not to endorse long-standing ter District. uses ballot Senator , a moderate, for re- status in a few localities to boost left and cen- election.52 ter-left candidates.50 The old guard Democrats have made some These groups are just starting out for the most moves that betray a fear of encroachment from part. Some have roots in Occupy, others come the Left. In Texas, where the Democratic Con- from the Sanders campaign. Still others were gressional Campaign Committee has set its pulled together by angry Democrats. Their com- sights on gaining a majority of Congress mem- monality is in their recognition that the priority bers in a Republican bastion (and where that task leading up to the 2020 election is breaking party has long been dominated by far rightists), the hegemony of the Republican Party (and in an attack on a center-left contender attracted many cases, right-leaning Democrats) free of national attention.53 This fight will not be- re the control of Democratic leaders and corpo- 51 Edward-Isaac Dovere, “DNC overhaul struggles as Sanders-Clinton rivalries persist,” Politico, 16 January 50 Charlotte Alter, “The resistance helped Democrats win 2018; Bill Barrow, “How to counter Trump? Democrats on Tuesday: Now they’re turning to 2018,” Time, 9 No- still searching,” Boston Globe, 21 October 2017. vember 2017; LA Kaffman, “The resistance to Trump 52 Seema Mehta and Phil Willon, “California Democrats’ is blossoming—and building a movement to last,” The snub of party icon Dianne Feinstein could be a speed Guardian, 9 November 2017; Peter Dreier, “The an- bump—or a signal,” Los Angeles Times, 26 February ti-Trump movement: Recover, , reform,” American 2018. Prospect, 4 April 2017; Mark Pazniokas, “The Working 53 David Weigel, “Democratic group faces backlash after Families, pushing Democrats to the left,” The Connecti- intervening in crowded House primaries,” Washington cut Mirror, 11 February 2018. Post, 2 March 2018.

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solved easily. If the insurgent Left in the party people who had attended a meeting, had already is suppressed, any appeal the party might have hosted multiple events with 200+ participants, for disillusioned Democrats will be offset by de- and had more than 3000 people as members in its FB group. Sitting in that meeting was my ‘holy moralization and disunity. “Resistants” will not shit’ moment. I was sitting there thinking to myself give up lightly in the face of the greater immi- — “Holy shit, D12 has hundreds of people in their nent danger of a second Trump term. base, and there are 15 other districts in Ohio. And Indivisible isn’t even the only ‘Resistance’ group. While social movements are just beginning to This thing is fucking massive!” […] lobby the party seriously, left populist political I realized in that meeting that I was only scratch- left groups are making it a priority. A fast-grow- ing the surface of the “Resistance.” In terms of ing new group, Indivisible, takes its lead from capacity, it’s not an exaggeration to say that an analysis of Tea Party tactics and their pos- the Ohio “Resistance” network has, by far, the sible application for developing a left populist widest base of any left-of center group in the politics. Indivisible played a leading role in or- state. [emphasis in original] There are important questions about ideology, program, demograph- ganizing mass opposition to the Republican tax ics, and the depth and durability of these organi- bill. The group also arranged showdowns with zations, but they are truly a grassroots force to be elected officials over the Republicans’ alterna- reckoned with. The defeat of Trumpcare alone is tive to Obamacare, delaying the vote which was an astonishing achievement. For me, being a part to have been Trump’s biggest first term coup.54 of the “Resistance” network in Ohio has been hum- bling, because of how massive their base is, and how its sheer size dwarfs much of the organizing In an enlightening essay, Stuart McIntyre de- work I’ve been involved with in Ohio.55 scribes the scope of the emergence of a “re- sistance network” in one state alone—Ohio, The scattered efforts to mobilize voters in a an industrial graveyard where Trump took out left direction can be found across the country, Clinton by 8.6 points: at state, regional, and municipal levels. Some operate independently of the Democrats, some The “Resistance” in Ohio is made up of hundreds of are Berniecrats or other dissident Democrats, grassroots groups that emerged after Trump was elected. The launch of the Indivisible Guide, which and some focus on local legislation rather than led to the formation of 7000+ groups spanning on electoral contests.56 In July 2017, twenty every single congressional district in America, and state-based organizations from thirteen states the Women’s March in January can be seen as the formed a working coalition, the State-Based starting point. There are nationally-based groups, Power Caucus, highlighting racial justice and such as Indivisible and Women’s March, state- class issues. Representatives from national net- based groups like Action Together Ohio, and also independent local groups. I would estimate that works and movement leaders are active in the there are still upwards of 100 active grassroots caucus.57 groups, and thousands of activists across the state that are part of the “Resistance.” Social movements have formed around single demands or identification with a particular I was first awed by the scale of the “Resistance” at a Indivisible District 12 subgroup leaders meeting in constituency. The traditional political Left has March. There were about 35 people at the meeting, grown out of various traditions, many of which each of whom led a “subgroup” within the district. In March, Indivisible D12 had 40+ subgroups, 500 55 Stuart McIntyre, “Six months in the ‘Resistance’,” Orga- nizing Upgrade, 29 November 2017. 56 Ethan Young, Growing from the Concrete: Left electoral 54 Doug Kriss, “What is Indivisible? Political group hopes politics in the United States, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung to be flip side of tea party,”CNN.com , 11 February 2018; New York Office, November 2015. Mark Brown, ”Fed by anti-Trump fervor, progressive 57 State-Based Power Caucus, “Twenty state organiza- activists gear up for 2018, 2020 elections,” The Chicago tions unite into state-based power caucus,” Organizing Sun-Times, 2 February 2018. Upgrade, 28 September 2017.

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were thrown up for grabs with the collapse of dates, and they have little influence in political the model and the adaptation of foreign campaigns outside of a few minor efforts. This social democratic parties to neoliberalism. is a far cry from the 1930s and 40s, when Com- munists and Socialists could swing elections in a few localities.59 The Socialist Dilemma Yet the impact of Sanders’s successes in various Centrists on the defensive have always been state primaries and party caucuses still has not particularly afraid of being redbaited. When dawned on many in the Left, in parties, social Bernie Sanders suffered no consequences- af movements, or intellectual circles. Sanders’s so- ter declaring himself a democratic socialist, it cial media-generated base produced the high- took the entire political spectrum by surprise. est vote numbers for an avowed socialist in US Even under Franklin D. Roosevelt, when the history, far and away. The claim by some that executive branch took on “economic royalists,” “he’s not a real socialist” can’t dispel the fact that the “s-word” carried the taint of the foreign, the avowed socialist finished the primary - sea the alien, mob rule. Recent polling shows the son with 13,206,428 votes. The previous high national mood about capitalism and socialism water mark for a socialist presidential candidate has shifted dramatically—and without a promi- was set by the legendary Eugene V, Debs on the nent, or even recognized national organization ticket in 1920: 913,664 votes out espousing socialism.58 of 26.75 million overall votes cast.

There are many left social movement leaders One group benefited heavily in the wake of the and activists who consider themselves indepen- Sanders campaign: Democratic Socialists of dent socialists. As they move into political ac- America, which grew explosively just before and tion, they do so less as socialists than as part of after the 2016 election. DSA had some success the anti-Trump camp. The resistance does not attracting young activists in the early 2010s, but promote socialism, despite broad identification they made their biggest impression since their with socialism as a political stance and opposi- founding in 1982 by throwing their forces into tion to capitalism as a system. In other words, it the Sanders campaign. is a popular front. The influx of young people into DSA has made it The old political Left, mostly socialist, remains the most important socialist group in the coun- isolated and fragmented into tiny groups. Ac- try.60 They benefited directly from Sanders’s ad- tivists who join to make an impact on the cur- vocacy of . But indecision rent political balance, find that lack of structure regarding non-socialist progressive candidates and funds prevent this. Existing in the margins has kept the traditional political Left, including has been their lot for so long that they accept it DSA, largely incidental to the direction of the as the natural order of things. Socialist groups resistance, with some important exceptions in become revolving doors where young activists 2017 elections. get basic skills and political grounding, then Other socialist groups gave the Sanders cam- move on to nonprofits and more established, paign quiet support, or opposed it altogether. non-socialist projects. Only a handful of social- ist groups favor working for Democratic candi- 59 Ethan Young, Mapping the Left: Progressive politics in the United States, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office, November 2012. 58 Max Ehrenfreund, ”Bernie Sanders is profoundly 60 Mike Konczal, “What Democrats can learn from the changing how millennials think about politics, poll Democratic Socialists about rebuilding the left,” Vox, shows,” Washington Post, 25 April 2016. 20 December 2017.

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Suspicion of Sanders stemmed mainly from his were over, or fast coming to an end. This read- choice to contend in the Democratic primaries ing may prove dangerously myopic. against Clinton, after a long political career as a left independent. The notion that Sanders sold Sectarianism has always been a mark of Cain out to the Democrats, and was being used as among American socialists. While the politi- a “sheepdog” to lure innocent radicalized youth cal movement has common roots with trade into a bourgeois party, was spread by a few so- unionism, it has been less attuned to concur- cialist groups. rent social movements over the course of two centuries. “Tradition’s chains,” sectarianism and This dismissal turned to hostility when Sanders dogmatism, distorted socialists’ grasp of Ameri- came out for Clinton after she won the prima- can phenomena like post-Civil War Reconstruc- ries, identifying Trump as too big a danger to tion, the omnipresence of white supremacy, ignore. At that point, a number of prominent and the historic waves of feminism. Ignorance, DSAers issued an open letter declaring they and stereotyped ideas of who “belonged” to the would not support Clinton over Trump.61 While working class and who opposed it, all alienated this was not the majority view, it soon metasta- the political Left from activists in social move- sized to the point where the national organiza- ments, to the detriment of both. tion downgrades campaigning for non-socialist candidates inside or outside the Democrats: A persistent pattern had every party and group “DSA will concentrate its scarce national elec- focusing on ensuring that the socialists of one’s toral resources on supporting chapters that are own group got to lead the broader movement. campaigning for open socialists who are run- The current resistance offers a new chance to ning as Greens, independents, or in partisan give socialism meaning in a mass setting that Democratic primaries.”62 already exists, instead of relying on agitation to create one from scratch, dominated by one This position ran counter to the trend towards group. a cross-ideological push against Trump and the Republicans. It puts the dream of a mass social- In another branch of left politics, signs of a dif- ist movement, brought about by DSA, above the ferent direction emerged out of the long fight urgent need to win political space for the broad for municipal power by black in Jackson, Left before any mass affirmation of socialism Mississippi. In 2017 Chokwe Antar Lumumba of is realizable. Effective electoral action against the Grassroots Movement, a black the Right is the primary means to winning that nationalist, organization, won the space. race for mayor of this important Deep South city by a big margin. His father Chokwe Lumum- Very few left candidates who run to win, run ba had previously won the seat but died shortly as socialists, because of the continued stigma after taking office. Antar, who ran as a Demo- against socialism in the US. On the surface, crat in the tradition of the Mississippi Freedom Sanders’s results and the good showing among Democratic Party led by and 25 socialists endorsed by DSA in November in Civil Rights days, is the most 2017 races encouraged the view that those days openly radical official in a position of this mag- nitude. He represents an ongoing movement 61 74 Members of Democratic Socialists of America, “The Left is under no obligation to support Hillary Clinton,” promoting participatory democracy and coop- In These Times, 4 November 2016. eratively run businesses and public services. 62 Joseph M. Schwartz, “DSA Convention adopts national As Lumumba told journalist Amy Goodman, political priorities,” Democratic Socialists of America, 16 December 2017.

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[O]ur plan is to incorporate more people, giving suppression of the Left, counterrevolution. people voice who have not had it. That is a shift The most serious threats are aimed at peo- from what we’ve seen in traditional politics. It’s ple of color, part of an entrenched pattern in usually the lay of the land is given to those who are most privileged. And so, we’re trying to incorporate American society. The FBI has begun direct- more people in the process, give voice to the voice- ly prosecuting those they call “black identity less. And it starts with identifying, you know, the extremists” as a criminal threat. This attack areas of greatest need. […] [We] need to show peo- move is familiar to activists of the and ple dignity and respect in their jobs and also see 1970s who were aware of the FBI’s COINTEL- the economic benefit of it. You know, Jackson is like PRO (“counterintelligence program”) campaign many cities: It does not have a problem producing wealth; it has a problem maintaining wealth. And of surveillance, infiltration, and assassination. so, if you put more money in the people’s hands The campaign was a more direct, and dead- that live and work here, you stand a greater chance ly, manifestation of state repression than the of receiving it back.63 post-WWII red hunt. COINTELPRO effectively wiped out the militants that emerged out of The 2017 Lumumba election connected a left the work of the civil rights movement, includ- campaign in the South to the Sanders campaign. ing the , prisoners, and This event hints at possibilities for change in students. “Black identity extremists” is a vague the relationship between the left populists and catch-all for the current Movement for Black the black electorate, and the white-dominated Lives and similar groups challenging police vio- Democratic Party in the Republican-dominated lence and militarization.64 South. Jackson, taken together with other elec- toral upsets in the region in 2017, suggests that The connection between the Department of a new multiracial voting bloc could shake the Justice under Attorney General Jefferson Ses- Republican stranglehold on power in the South. sions, which oversees the FBI, and white su- premacist power in the South, shows how he- All of these efforts are moving ahead under gemony for the Right and Far Right normalizes the shadow of a default mode of capitalism— practices which were pushed into the shadows by the social movement Left over the last fifty years.65

Political Problems of the Resistance

Taking the focus from the micro to the mac- US Left. The success of Trump and company ro, mapping the resistance brings up strategic re-raises a fundamental point: a direct route questions that place fast-changing phenome- na in the context of the larger history of the 64 Martin de Bourmont, “Is a court case in Texas the first prosecution of a ‘black identity extremist’?,” Foreign Policy, 30 January 2018; Mana Azarmi, “The FBI’s ‘black 63 Amy Goodman, “Jackson, Miss. Mayor-elect Chok- identity extremists’ report and the surveillance re- we Lumumba: I plan to build the ‘most radical city form debate,” Center for Democracy and Technology, 18 on the planet’,” Democracy Now! (television interview December 2017. transcript), 26 June 2017; Kali Akuno, Casting shadows: 65 Carimah Townes, “Despite his racist past, Jeff Sessions Chokwe Lumumba and the struggle for racial justice and confirmed as attorney general,” ThinkProgress, Feb 9, in Jackson, Mississippi, Rosa Lux- 2017; Sean McElwee “This is what a white supremacist emburg Stiftung New York Office, February 2015. Department of Justice looks like,” Vice, 15 January 2018.

20 ETHAN YOUNG MAPPING THE RESISTANCE

away from capitalism neither exists, nor can be movement—meaning, in the setting of the created through persistent agitation. The Left aftermath of WWI, the Social Democratic and must understand and meet mass unrest in the Communist parties around the world. This for- actual form it takes, independent of wishful mula was presented in the early Communist In- thinking, and without fixating on a program or ternational as an alliance between the parties’ inherited doctrine. leadership and ranks around shared goals, while they continued their internal fight over The resistance fits the description of a - popu reform vs. revolution. lar front: a broad alliance of liberal and radical forces from different classes against a common The postwar trend toward revolution waned threat. “Popular front” is not a common term in by 1920, and the workers’ movement was political discussion, though the historic Popu- weakened by the great pro- and anti-war split lar Front before and during World War II left a in the Second (Social Democratic) International strong mark on society. To some sectors of the during the war, which led to the formation of political Left, it’s the mark of the beast—Stalin- the Comintern. In 1928 the Comintern official- ism—or at least conciliation of the class enemy. ly shifted to the position that the Social Dem- For activists who accept cross-class alliances as ocratic party leaderships were enemies on a a necessity, welcome or not, the phrase rarely par with fascists. After the prevailed enters the conversation, but it’s relevant. over the divided Left in 1933, the Comintern revived united front as a strategic weapon Opposition to popular front tactics generally against fascism, and appealed for unity with come from left fear of co-optation, or the po- Social Democratic leaders. By moving toward sition that the danger of the tactic becoming healing the breach between the two major a strategy is greater than any gain the tac- wings of the movement, it was proposed that tic might achieve. This view attaches popular a strengthened movement could contest for front to every defeat in the face of fascism and power after the war. , and every victory is downgraded because they were seen as too compromised The Comintern’s revived united front position to be acceptable. The failure of workers to also advocated the popular front, which was unite against capitalism is chalked up to “false conceived as the united front extended to lib- consciousness” and “misleaders.” erals and non-socialist radicals who opposed Now we face a situation where the dangers of fascism. It was not projected as a revolutionary eroding democracy and climate destruction strategy, but a defensive move against the fas- define the terms of struggle in urgency and cist attack on bourgeois democracy and gains immediacy. The position that the Left’s prob- won by workers in the course of the modern lem is its unwillingness to go on the offensive, class struggle. can’t be justified. The US Left, to use a Nazi-era allusion, is naked among wolves. All it has is Today the movement is not just divided; it is potential numbers. The concepts of popular fragmented and isolated. Terms like “socialism” front and united front - in their differences and and “workers’ movement” require reframing, if their connections - are in need of revival and not reinvention. In the US, neither the Socialist rethinking. nor the Communist parties ever found the ba- sis for a powerful united front, and today they The distinction of united front in the 20th cen- are no longer an important factor in the direc- tury was its nature as an alliance of the two tion of either the fight for socialism or against socialist camps that dominated the workers’ fascism.

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What Workers’ Movement? There were complicated historical reasons for the Left’s failure to see the post-Civil War Re- Unrest is sweeping the US, and confrontations construction period as the strongest manifes- with powerful agencies are breaking out in un- tation of resistance to US capitalist social re- expected places. This is not usually described as lations in two centuries. But the failure had a class struggle, but that’s what it is. profoundly harmful effect on the Left’s ability to draw on the continuity of domestic class strug- Traditionally, both capitalists and socialists gle. Nor was the Left equipped to recognize that identified class struggle with trade unionism, realizing the working class’s potential for chal- especially the enormous organizing and strike lenging capital required consistent organizing campaigns that broke out at various times since against discrimination, segregation, and vio- the end of the Civil War, and into the 1950s. But lence against racially branded people, as forms this was not the only form of class struggle. of class oppression.

What were once called “new social movements” The limitations of bourgeois democracy were actually appeared at the same time as trade every bit as rooted in capitalist social relations and industrial organizing, and developed con- as was labor exploitation, and generally played currently. Leaders going back to Marx himself important roles in maintaining those relations. had a hard time with movements not explicitly The rejuvenation of the US Left after the 1950s fighting for the working class. Over and over, repression involved bringing this understand- concern about “alien ideas” and compromise ing to the center of intergenerational discus- with class enemies led to downgrading the de- sions of the Left’s decline. The resurgence of mands and accomplishments of women and social movements—most notably the “second oppressed racial groups and nationalities, not Reconstruction” of the Civil Rights movement, to mention other ostracized social sectors. So- the mass peace movement which challenged cialists tended to be more aware of injustice militarism and super-patriotism, and the “sec- and inequality than most political trends inside ond wave” of feminism—gave the the and outside the working class, but forms of re- living historical grounding to cut through gener- sistance to these problems often got short shrift ations of fixed notions. when they didn’t focus on the rights and wellbe- ing of workers as a collective, singular grouping. Today the potential for convergence of these movements is demonstrated by recognition The view from here and now exposes the blind- of their shared significance as opponents of spots of the last two centuries: failure to rec- Trumpery. This is not simply a turn to “inter- ognize enslaved Africans (and women keeping sectionality.” It does not manifest as diverse house, for that matter) as part of what the tra- movements dropping in fa- ditional socialist movement understood as “the vor of class solidarity, or embracing socialism. working class.” Taking on why that was, and The outbreak of the resistance is the motion too often still shapes the views of many in the of American working people—skilled and un- Left, is essential. Unfortunately the ideology of skilled, inspired by an array of demands stem- a segregated and racially stratified society re- ming from their specific conditions as subjects duces such questions to individualized blame, of capital. punishment, and redemption. In real life, per- sonal transformation follows the life ruptures Workers’ positions in relation to the means of brought on by political engagement, not the production, once the be-all and end-all for many other way around. a would-be Marxist revolutionary, is no longer

22 ETHAN YOUNG MAPPING THE RESISTANCE

cut and dried. The basis for unity is often un- political projects organizing around program, clear and old animosities continue to break out. candidates, or legislation; and left intelligentsia.

What binds them together and moves them is Social movements have been the main arena recognition that the country is turning to shit. for popular opposition to the damage done. Quality of life is plummeting, and the “Ameri- They often find one another at odds over turf, can dream” of upward mobility and increased funding, resources and choice of allies. Politi- security from generation to generation is turn- cal Left groups vacillate between trying to aid ing to dust before our eyes. The dream was the and move the movements towards fighting for alternative to the demand for healthcare, ed- power beyond individual reforms, and becom- ucation, safety, relative freedom from punish- ing sects. The intelligentsia produce theory and ment by law enforcement for everyday occur- analysis that give direction to the movements rences, and social security, as human rights. indirectly, sometimes through exposure to Neoliberalism and militaristic authoritarianism their ideas in school, sometimes through inde- are now removing the “middle class” access to pendent study. Each group vacillates between those basics, and the recognition is spreading identifying with, and rejecting, the other two. fast that these are human rights simply be- cause we can’t live without them. A twenty-first century united front requires a conscious effort by activists in all three areas The Left’s role is explaining that these rights to bring them together in common, coordinat- are achievable because of our own labor. ed political action and dialogue. The form such a front would take can’t be predetermined, but its purpose can be: developing a nation- United Front Today al opposition with a mass base and working class-interested politics. The resistance is a 21st century popular front. It takes many forms, since it is growing out of a Currently, both Republicans and Democrats fragmented populace. Its goal is not socialism are faced with disinterest and suspicion by vot- but stabilizing and enhancing democracy as ers. The parties are driven to jockey for pow- people have known it under capitalism. Which er in a marketplace of spectacle and celebrity is just as well, since we are nowhere near the worship, by ideologies framed in the long fight revolutionary situation where a society in over runaway profiteering vs. government reg- which workers run society collectively, is im- ulation. There is little room for direct public in- mediately foreseeable. tervention in this arrangement, and the parties usually respond with fear and evasion when As in the original model, this popular front confronted. In the era of social media and dis- needs a collective heart and brain that uses a trust of government by lobby and corporate united front of the Left to move in the direc- donations, the questions of democratic access tion of consolidating and winning democratic to power, and accountability of representa- political power. Today’s Left is not recognized tives, come to the fore. as large, visible political parties that might find a level of agreement amidst real differences on The old united front model was party-centric. long term vision. As a result its conception of democratic partic- ipation began and ended in the role of parties What actually exists are three sectors engaged setting terms and providing direction. This is in three forms of activism: social movements; impossible today, whether or not it is a prefera-

23 ETHAN YOUNG MAPPING THE RESISTANCE

ble setup. Movement organizations and unions from “formerly existing” socialist — that only mobilize members have bred a deep essentially saving democracy for socialism, the alienation from politics, and cynicism regard- same approach as DSA. His call for a “political ing what the ranks can actually accomplish. revolution” is distinct from old social democ- Engaging masses of working people today racy’s acceptance of democracy as defined by demands a deeper conception of democracy, current property relations—unquestioning ac- where policy-making from the base is encour- ceptance of elite government’s rules and neo- aged and political education and culture is fos- liberal ideology. tered. In an effective national opposition, it’s not enough that working people belong to it. It Communists never rejected the concept of must belong to them. workers’ democracy, however much their ef- forts ran counter to that principle. Now, how- Hopefully this understanding will shape a new ever, the Communists’ prior claim to being political Left as the fight for power sharpens supporters of democracy is moot, while the far before the next presidential election. Here is right is revealing its anti-popular, fascistic soul. where the distinction between front-building The radical role of working people in realizing and sect-building is made plain. The resistance democracy is coming front and center. is more important than any existing group, and the value of any political Left group will be Every form of representative or delegative measured by the extent to which they help or democracy is class-interested—reflecting the hurt it, not “lead” or capitalize on it. power and goals of a particular class or classes. implies democracy that is conducted in the interest of working people, Either/Or, Then and Now who are, after all, the great majority world- wide. In that sense, only socialist democracy Reform or revolution, socialism or democra- (distinct from the old political movement, so- cy—these were the Left’s hot “either/or” ques- cial democracy) really qualifies for the title. tions in the last century. In fact, revolutionary situations were few and far between, and in The twenty-first century has not provided us the between-times, abstaining from reform with a revolutionary situation, but it demands struggles meant complete irrelevance. That revolutionary solutions. The capitalist class has remains the same, but the question of how to taken the species to the brink. The ultimate re- take on reforms without surrendering to the sponse is not military or ideological, but politi- political premises of capitalism Is still open. cal: democratic assertion of democratic power, by any means available. In this process, just what is meant by socialism will be determined The anti-democratic practices of “existing” by the partisan workers themselves. socialist societies placed democracy at odds with revolution and radical reform. This was Seeing this political project through is the task constantly maximized by all the opponents of of the 21st century united front. Martyred socialism, and it handed the “franchise” of de- organizer María Elena Moyano of Peru (1958- mocracy over to imperialism and neocolonial- 1992) summed it up: ism in international discourse—“freedom to choose” under force of arms. […] the revolution opens up to life, to individual and collective dignity; it is a new ethic. The rev- When Bernie Sanders proclaimed himself a olution is not death, or imposition, or submis- democratic socialist, he was distancing himself sion, nor fanaticism. The revolution is new life,

24 ETHAN YOUNG MAPPING THE RESISTANCE

convincing people to struggle for a fair, decent overladen with “news” propaganda—free com- society, side by side with the organizations cre- mercials for the Right.67 ated by our people, respecting their internal de- mocracy and grafting new buds of power for the new Peru. I shall continue to stand alongside my Ideology also comes into play. Presumptions people, women, youngsters and children; I shall about different population sectors have to be continue to struggle for peace in the name of so- faced and squared with the goal of a multiracial, cial justice.66 mass political movement based on existing so- cial movements. The extent of racial and cultur- Moyano’s testimony is this century’s response al segregation in US society is overwhelming. to Rosa Luxemburg’s final either/or, “socialism The resistance is made up of people starting or barbarism.” at a disadvantage in cutting through their own isolation. Finding an identity can be personally liberating, but it really becomes socially useful Politicizing Social Movements in contesting for democratic space and power.

If social movements have any hope of unseat- Social movements are already poised against ing and defeating the Republicans and cen- the Right, and their effectiveness poses some ter-right Democrats, they have to prepare to of their adversaries’ biggest problems. But engage in politics. Some have already taken up working specifically to isolate the Right in its training to organize their base to register and various forms has to be a priority. The goals vote, teaching some basic political principles of disempowering the Right, defending dem- about whose interests reflect theirs, and get- ocratic rights, and building the organized po- ting acquainted with the land mines that try to litical strength of working class constituencies hold back democratic action in the electoral are already implicit in the work of social move- arena. ments, but they should be made increasingly explicit as the electoral showdown approach- These obstacles are legal and financial. All so- es. This is primarily up to movement leaders. cial movements need to be aware that voter suppression is ongoing, and it will take great The political Left, whether operating in so- numbers of people lobbying and protesting to cialist formations or within social movement push it back. groups, has a particular responsibility to take on the fragmentation of the broader Left. This Funding must be taken as seriously as a heart means reaching across old boundaries, initi- attack. While Sanders proved that the enor- ating discussions to put old rivalries and dis- mous piles of corporate money shoveled into putes into perspective, in light of the overarch- major party campaigns can be challenged by ing threat from the consolidation of right/far a lot of small donations, advertising and other right hegemony. The basis for each particular publicity are still expensive and indispensable. group’s political education and training will al- The electoral Left has stiff and wealthy compe- ways come from their ideological heritage and tition. Besides the Murdoch media empire, the experience, but that should not stand in the media corporation Sinclair Broadcast Group is way of agreeing on a framework for joint work expanding into a top monopoly owner of local in campaigns, and for solidarity against the television stations. Their stations are already Right’s onslaught.

66 Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide, “Maria Elena 67 Andy Kroll, “Ready for Trump TV? Inside Sinclair Broad- Moyano: A ‘pasionaria’ in the fight against poverty,” casting’s plot to take over your local news,” Mother en.Gariwo.net. Jones, November/December 2017.

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In short, the situation demands a transforma- decline of the Center and Center-right leaves a tion of social movements to become consciously vacuum which the Right and Far Right are filling. political, taking on electoral politics to win the Their America is one of suffering, militarization, political space needed for all parts of the Left and subjugation. Most people would prefer love, to reach more and more working people. The democracy, and food on the table. Just ask them.

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