Socialists and Elections
by Adam Ritscher
With elections coming up again a lot of politically conscious
people are hitting the pavement to campaign for their candidates. Voter
registration drives, leafleting and yard sign distribution have become
the order of the day for many activists.
We in Youth for Socialist Action certainly commend people who take
politics seriously and who are committed to fighting for what they
believe in. However, when asked who we will be supporting in the upcoming
elections, we have to say “nobody.”
This is a reply that shocks a lot of people. Our reason for this is two
fold. On the one hand we don’t believe the ballot box is where real
social change comes from. As Marxists, we believe that the electoral
system has been set up and rigged by the powers that be to limit the
issues and candidates presented to voters to those that don’t
fundamentally challenge the status quo. Restrictions on who can get on
the ballot, the denial of press coverage for third party candidates and
the need for outrageous amounts of money to run a competitive campaign
add up to make it all but impossible for alternative ideas and candidates
to get a fair hearing.
In the same way that we really have very little power as a consumer,
since we are limited by what we have to choose from, our power as a voter
is all but nil. We believe that social change can instead be best
achieved through mass action – demonstrations, protests, strikes,
workplace actions – by building social movements. Our power as working
people comes from our numbers, and our location at the point of
production. After all - nothing moves without a worker moving it, and
nothing is made without a worker making it.
“But don’t socialists sometimes run in elections?,” some ask. Yes, we
sometimes do indeed run candidates, but we don’t do so with the belief
that getting people elected to office is the real way to effect change.
When we run candidates we do it as an educational campaign. Our
candidates use their campaign, and their office if they win the election,
as a platform from which to reach and mobilize people into the streets,
and to get them thinking about alternative, revolutionary ideas.
We live in a world divided by class. The interests of big business is
diametrically opposed to that of working people. None of the major
parties though (and few of the minor ones either!) admit this, and in
doing so – no matter how radical they may sound – they by default support
the status quo. Groups like the Democratic Party may seek to woo workers,
students and minorities, but don’t forget that they accept millions of
dollars from the same corporations as the Republicans – and nobody gives
anybody millions of dollars unless they get something in return! That’s
why when push comes to shove, on all the major issues, both major parties
trip over themselves to support the policies that benefit the rich and
hurt workers. Just look at what they’ve done to welfare and other social
programs, look at their willingness to send us off to war for the sake of
oil, their failure to give us even a decent minimum wage!
We need to be political, but we need a set of politics, and methods of
political struggle, that reflect our interests, and ours alone. You can’t
be neutral on issues like slavery, so how can you be neutral on class
struggle? Working people need their own party, and they need to avoid the
mazes set up to deflect and demobilize people in struggle (like elections
and lobbying).
For these reasons we urge you to reconsider how you react to the upcoming
elections. Take a second look at the candidates and parties that you are
supporting. Ask yourself how effective is it to vote for candidates who
fail to see that you’re either on the side of the workers, or you’re on
the side of big business.
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