The Green Party and "deep organizing"

Generally, it's good to do strategic thinking in politics. If you have a political goal, you need a means of achieving it, and not just an idea. Of course, recognizing the need for strategic thinking does not mean that ideas are of no importance -- both good ideas and strategic thinking are necessary.

But strategic thinking needs to recognize historic circumstances, and this is where Kate Aronoff's "The Left Deserves Better Than Jill Stein," a piece put forth last week (September 26, 2016) in In These Times, needs to go forward. Unfortunately, in this piece Aronoff can do no better than to suggest "deep organizing" as a solution:

...the Green Party’s stumble toward the presidency falls into the same traps that plague conventional Democratic Party politics: putting too much emphasis on the presidency and the electoral process itself, while declining to undertake the kind of deep organizing necessary to alter the state of play in these arenas.

Now doesn't that sound profound? The quote from Antonio Gramsci no doubt makes it even more so. And indeed Aronoff is correct to say that "the Green Party does not have a plan to build power." The problems with the Green Party, however, are problems intimately related to the political history of the Green Party in the United States, considered in context.

The Green Party is composed of whomever was left after everyone else who was interested in American politics deserted it for the Democratic Party over the years, most especially in 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for President for the first time and the Green Party was just getting started in the US. I remember the enthusiasm back in 1992 -- we had a vibrant local with regular members, a candidate for Congress, and a candidate for the State Assembly. It was a happening that could have attracted effective activists. But it didn't, and it fell apart after 1992.

At any rate, if the Green Party is characterized by "ineffectiveness" and "infighting" today, as Aronoff suggests, it is because the Green Party is a small, sectarian party today, and because ineffective infighters are what you see in small, sectarian parties. Small, sectarian parties, moreover, are composed of those few people who have vowed, over the years, to continue the fight, rather than heading for the seeming safety of spending eight years pretending Obama was a leftist, which is what the nice political conformists did here in America.

If you want to blame the Green Party for being ineffective, then, the first place to begin is with the activists who should have joined it back in 1992 but who instead spent the past twenty-four years pretending that everything would be totally kewl if only America had some more and better Democrats in office. Was Democratic Party cheerleading really the most effective use of time for such people?

The clinging to the ruling-class party was so strong over those years that it even controlled the Green Party itself; a case in point was the disaster in Milwaukee in 2004, in which the national convention chose non-candidate David Cobb as its Presidential candidate despite the much greater popularity of another Ralph Nader run. So you do the math. If so many activists in the Green Party, an already tiny entity relative to the US as a whole, really only want more and better Democrats, should it be any great surprise that the party itself is characterized by "infighting"?

All that's significant about the Green Party in the United States, twenty-six years after its founding, is that it offers a ballot line. If the "Left" were really interested in the Green Party, it would have taken over the Green Party quite some time ago. But at this point in the game the Green Party has become a protest vote, and only a protest vote, for people who wanted, and who now want, just such a thing.

Perhaps at this point the "Left" wants a party of its own. One option is of course to attempt another takeover of the Democratic Party. You'd think that, after more than a century of trying this strategy, its proponents would notice the general lack of success. Another option is to transform the Green Party into something more than a sectarian party offering protest votes in places where the ballot access laws permit them. A third option is to start a new party. What's curious is that, after thirty-six years of neoliberal governance with more on the way, so incredibly few people want to examine all the options.

If you want to blame someone for this sad situation, blame the likes of Kate Aronoff, who tells us that:

The Left has never needed to be more interested in winning than it does in 2016, using every tool available—the Democratic Party included—as a means to that end.

without asking the most basic question about the Democrats: who is using whom as a tool? If the "Left" in America is going to get behind Bernie Sanders, and if Sanders is going to end up "losing" thanks to election "irregularities" and then endorsing the beneficiary of said "irregularities" without so much as demanding an investigation, who is using whom as a tool? Or, as Ted Rall put it:

So how is that in any way a "Left" strategy? You know, if you want to do "deep organizing" rather than just using profound-seeming phrases like "deep organizing," it helps to have something out there to MOTIVATE people to "organize deeply." That's what Bernie Sanders used to provide. It doesn't come with chastizing the Green Party for putting too much emphasis on Jill Stein.

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...or at least attract, a segment of the population that is very intelligent, has devoutly progressive views, and is willing to take and defend their intellectual position any time anywhere. I would argue many of the folks here at C99 are members of this segment of the population, myself included. The problem is, we represent about 2-3% of the electorate.

One thing I learned from the Bernie Sanders campaign is, by staying on message and not getting bogged down in minutia, you attract a lot of people. Many of these people are young, energetic and will work endlessly once committed. This is a different type of individual from the average Green Party member. This is much more in keeping with DSA youth and Occupy.

Bernie provided leadership. A focal point for energy as well as a reflector of it. This is what Jill Stein apparently does not bring to the table. She also has not been granted access to media that Bernie received as a long time member of Congress and a registered Democrat.

So what should the Greens do ? Well I don't exactly know but an idea I have is to franchise itself. Align itself with local parties that are progressive and have successfully competed and even won local offices. This would include the Working Families Party, the VT Progressive Party. Peace and Freedom Party, The Mountain Party etc.

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Cassiodorus's picture

that all pieces of unsolicited advice for the Green Party should be accompanied by a questionnaire, which would go as follows:

1) When did you join the Green Party?

2) How many local Green meetings have you attended?

3) How many state plenaries have you attended?

4) How many national meetings (either GPUS, GPUSA, or ASGP) have you attended?

5) How many times have you run for office as a Green?

6) Do you know any Greens personally, and if so, who would they be?

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

riverlover's picture

audience. That is similar to in-your face screaming of 'why aren't you out here in the local rain/snow/wind/lightning/etc with the rest of us true believers? Infidel!

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

the problem Cass is talking about is that a lot of people who put forward opinions about the Greens haven't actually experienced the Greens, have never attended a meeting, and are basing their opinions on assumptions. It's not a guilt-trip about how much work people have done or whether or not people belong. It's NOT this:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m48xii7ndcg]

It's more like we're all talking about opinions that aren't grounded in any experience.

Now, though I've been a Green, I was one in North FL, and there wasn't much here from 2000-2005, so I have no experience inside the party either; thus, I've tried to stick to an examination of the problems I *know* exist, which exist for all 3rd parties in this system. Obviously, a ranked voting system and a working communications infrastructure are necessary as fundamental preconditions of any extensive 3rd-party success, and I don't have to know anything about the Green Party specifically to know that. The media issue in particular is one I focus on, because if this is true of you as a candidate:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/194162/third-party-candidates-johnson-stein-l...

It doesn't matter what you're saying, or how you look, or what you call yourself, or what issues you focus on.
You're never going to get more than 32% of the vote. Now one could ask "Why does Jill Stein have 3% of the vote instead of 32%?" but electorally, that's not really the issue, is it? At the very least, it's really premature.

People and parties aren't unknown because they have shitty messaging, a bad image, or focus on unpopular issues.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

riverlover's picture

Unless dissatisfieds are out there shopping for alternative candidate possibilities, yes. And then the sense of some that they don't want be be losers--something Bernie supporters are still wrestling with. Complete Losing My religion may be required. No prob for me!

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Cassiodorus's picture

composed entirely of people who condescend to tell the Green Party what to do and who to be without having the least bit of experience WITH the Green Party? I sure hope not.

At any rate, here are my answers:

1) 1992.

2) Back in '92, a bunch of them. More recently, rather few, and at least two County Council meetings which seemed to me to be somewhat of a waste of time.

3) Three that I can remember, in Nevada City, Los Angeles, and San Fernando.

4) None, though I did attend the first and only meeting of the "Green Alliance USA."

5) I knew Walt Sheasby before he passed, as well as Woody Nance and Deirdre Lashgari (both no longer with us), and I met Howie Hawkins, John P. Clark, Carl Romanelli, Joel Kovel, Starlene Rankin, Alex Briscoe (Kantorowicz?), and a number of other people whom I might see now and then by accident (Valerie Card, Cynthia Allaire, John Quiring) -- and then there are the people whom I met in Ohio (Daryl Davis and a number of other names I don't quite remember right now)...

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Cassiodorus's picture

composed entirely of people who condescend to tell the Green Party what to do and who to be without having the least bit of experience WITH the Green Party? I sure hope not.

At any rate, here are my answers:

1) 1992.

2) Back in '92, a bunch of them. More recently, rather few, and at least two County Council meetings which seemed to me to be somewhat of a waste of time.

3) Three that I can remember, in Nevada City, Los Angeles, and San Fernando.

4) None, though I did attend the first and only meeting of the "Green Alliance USA."

5) I knew Walt Sheasby before he passed, as well as Woody Nance and Deirdre Lashgari (both no longer with us), and I met Howie Hawkins, John P. Clark, Carl Romanelli, Joel Kovel, Starlene Rankin, Alex Briscoe (Kantorowicz?), and a number of other people whom I might see now and then by accident (Valerie Card, Cynthia Allaire, John Quiring) -- and then there are the people whom I met in Ohio (Daryl Davis and a number of other names I don't quite remember right now)...

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

As a tiny chunk of your target audience, I do not "condescend" to tell the Greens what to do. If I had actually joined them, maybe I would offer up direct advice. I would have tons of it.

I was never a registered Dem, either, though they've certainly received more of my votes than they probably should have, hindsight being golden and all that.

Most actual voters are not party affiliated anymore. And both major parties have changed profoundly during the course of my lifetime, for the worse. I don't have the kind of free time to try to climb the ladder to importance in a national party, even the Greens. All 4 parties are run by people who are wealthy by my lights. UMC and above.

I am blue collar, and FAR more concerned about the environment than the jobs issue, which I will assume will continue to suck as long as most of this over-populated planet remains in denial about Malthius. But just because I know we're overpopulated, doesn't mean I want a giant die-off of the ecosystem, including people, which is what climate change is offering, WAY too soon.

I am like most people. I cast my vote as my major input to politics. And I vote in primaries and mid-terms according to my own interests, and who I think will best serve them. Obviously, this time, neither of the major parties will help. I accept that Stein and Baraka are the Greens' candidates. I was too busy throwing my tiny weight behind Bernie to try to effect the Dems eventual "choice", to have even tried to effect the Greens in any way, shape or form.

What I am saying is that NOW, I accept their decision, and will throw my infinitesimally small weight behind their candidates, and my reasons are twofold; one decent, and one brutal.

The decent reason is that I agree with their platform, no matter how much I disagree with how they are going about nearly everything. As CSTS said, up-thread:

Both the major party candidates look like sociopaths to me, so that makes them automatically less qualified than anyone with basic good intentions toward this country and its people.

My second reason is simply revenge. The Dems have been trading away the safety net, and all prosperity, to the moneyed interests for so long, and their polished act of being unable to stop the onward ooze to the Right of our government, and, well, you know the litany. But I had really convinced myself that it was the Republicans who have been stealing elections and destroying our democratic republic since 2000, and now I know that it has been both major parties. The photo of HRC hugging W, the photos of Trump and both Clintons at Trump's most recent wedding, Trump's contributions to both the Clinton Foundation, and HRC's Senate run, et fucking cetera... They are all part of one big, happy ruling class of corporate shills. They are laughing their psychopathic / sociopathic asses off at our problems, and our suffering.

Do you understand why I want to throw in with the Greens, this year, now? There is nothing else on offer. Nothing. And I don't care if it's a mere mosquito bite to the major party potentates; I want to hurt that bunch of inbred nouveau-royalty in any legal way that I can.

The question is do we just wax philosophical as we let the Great Donkey walk away over our broken bodies, or do we pick up that Green shard, and stab it in the ankle? Forgive me, but I'm not Jesus. I have run out of "other cheek" to offer.

I understand if y'all want to just chalk this up to experience, and plan for the next time. I do. I will be all-in for that, just as soon as I'm done spitting Green at the oligarchs.

"Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this." -Hagakure

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"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

1 - I am registered Independent at this point in time. Declaring a party affiliation in VT is kind of pointless.
2 - One...it was an organizational meeting to gather signatures to put Stein on the ballot.
3 - Zero...don't believe there have been any.
4 - Zero
5 - Zero...I don't feel I am qualified to hold public office that would remotely interest me.
6 - No GP leaders - just some members.

When you're state party web page opens with this:

The Vermont Green Party is re-organizing from the roots up after a spell of inactivity. We welcome any Vermont residents who share our core values of social justice, nonviolence, grassroots democracy, ecology, and respect for diversity.

and the most recent posts on the news section of the website are 14 months old, I'd say they should be open to both constructive criticism and suggestions.

Frankly, I don't see the point in working to start a Green Party for local races here in Vermont, when it will compete with a robust Vermont Progressive Party (hence my suggestion). It's highly likely our next Lt Governor will be a Prog. He ran in the Dem Primary and beat the incumbent and is now the odds on favorite in the general.

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Cassiodorus's picture

whereas we in California must cope with a Green Party that is too well-established to be effective.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Roger Fox's picture

of responding to a due dilegence effort at writing a Comment.

Your response is the virtual equivalent of hand waving. "Well you're not a green so you woud never understand".

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FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.

Cassiodorus's picture

would also appreciate an attitude change on your part as well.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

shaharazade's picture

just another hit piece and more of the 'inevitability' of the duopoly propaganda. When people start throwing poll of mass deception numbers and voter demographic's about they confine it or 'frame' it as though the red and the blue were all there is in this country. When you really look at the real numbers the Democratic party does not constitute a majority. The Independent's are gaining voters at a fast clip. Then there is the huge number of people who do not vote. Why should they?

I think one of the first things we need to let go of is the conditioning and mind control by the owners of the place that 'frames' all electoral politics as a battle between factions in the endless culture war. This insane election has shown me and many that ordinary people are not as stupid as they are portrayed. The R and D duopoly pollsters and pundirts and 'strategists' and propagandists are having a hard time getting the horses to drink the poisoned water. This is because they went too far for the majority of people believe that this is what democracy looks like. They have managed to freak out most ordinary people out regardless of our ideological differences. The funny satirical political signs and cartoons are more popular then the campaigns of deceptions and fear sloganeering. A good sign that everybody knows.

I agree about deep organization. I think the time is ripe for taking them on. Hillary or Trump will win in November as it's rigged. Why not start politically organizing using any and all political vehicle's available? I can natter on about the Greens problems structurally or their 'messaging' or their issues. I think the first task would be to let go of fighting on the false grounds set by TPTB. Maybe quit thinking that the majority of people are not aware of being screwed over or that they need to be manipulated by appealing to the false messaging they are rejecting. Socialism when they poll on issues is well received but they don't poll people on real issues. George Bush great or greatest president? They dice and slice and weight the polls, discourage voting to reflect and reinforce the binary false breakdowns. That leaves the majority of us out in the cold with no direction home.

The good news is that more and more of us are not buying the show anymore. So why not use the Greens especially on a local state level to organize. Instead of saying they are not a viable vehicle because blab, blab, blab, why not use them to organize. It's not like we have a well funded political party. or a cohesive left coalition but that doesn't mean it's not possible. Me I'll take what I have gathered by coincidence and use what's at hand. Who knows what will happen but I do believe on every level people have had enough. If the current Green party does not want to be a inclusive vehicle that offers real representation and opposition at least the 'left' shattered coalition will be moved forward. I've seen no yard signs for any party this season but oddly in an white neighborhood a lot of Black Lives Matter yard signs.

After the fear and loathing circus of an election is over and the new D or R 'leader' starts implementing the new 'way forward' more people will let go of the binary myths of partisan politics. The fear factor will not be enough to make people acquiesce to the reality in store for us all. Seems to me that the Green's if willing would be a good place to start deep organizing. Not if they don't offer any structure locally and do not have open public meetings that are announced and occur more then once a year. How much money does it take to find some geeks and get a decent web site? Even flyers on poles or mailers would work in this city.

In my city Portland Oregon we have a Democratic city and state government from hell. People from all political persuasions do not like it. Looks like we just might get rid of the worst city supervisor who bills himself as a progressive and green. His opponent is a woman who just might win. She is weak tea however and refuses to tell it like it is. I have no idea what party she is flying under. It seems to be a city 'protest' vote, anybody but Steve Novick.

The Greens presence herein Portland is nil. I went to their so called web site and the only listing for a meeting was dated 2015. Not so good. I don't see any petitions or voter registration going on in a city where once almost every corner had lefty orgs. with ballot petitions and people with clip boards or tables set up for registering . This city used to be civic minded but not so much anymore. Why don't the Greens participate in the local or state political frays? I see more Socialist candidates on my ballot then Greens.

As for your questions no I have never been to a Green meeting. Yes I know a lot of registered Greens. In my immediate family there are about 5. There are also less and less Democratic party members in my family and friends as they have abandoned the Dems. and become Indies. I'm not registered as a Green. Should I be? if so why? I'm voting for Jill Stein. If there are any other Greens on the ballot I will vote for them. Your link of elected Greens in office was pathetic and sad.

Has anyone asked the Greens if they are interested in building a viable, local, state, and national party? Why can't they form coalitions with other active local left groups like Black Lives Matter, the water activists or Stop Demolishing Portland? I think it's ass backwards to blame people looking for a viable political alternative for the Green's party failures past and present. Who want's to join a party that has no interest in deep organizing to become a viable alternative.

So yeah I'm willing to work and donate for them but are they even interested in deep structural changes that are democratic and would entail them letting go of their weird current organization? The People Judean Front comes to mind when I watched their strange convention or come into contact with a lot the Greens I meet here.

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She brings up discussion-worthy points and is in a painful place. She may even be healthier than the majority of commenters here in that she is wrestling with her sorrow, not burying it. Bernie took us to the heights of possibility only to throw us away on the rocks below, with nary an explanation. This sounds like something an awful parent would do, resulting in lifelong therapy for their kid. I also agree that Bernie, if threatened, could easily have commanded a news conference, by virtue of garnering 40% of the vote. He could have named names and walked into the arms of the Green Party, and probably won. The Clintons wouldn't risk all that money just to get even and have him murdered. Besides, that's not how they operate. No, their style is to murder an enemy BEFORE they do damage, not after.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

everybody is fighting except that everybody's hurt and upset.

But it's not the people on this site who did the damage.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Deja's picture

Because I'm on my phone, and posting pics is too damn hard from it, here's a link:

https://goo.gl/images/7WoPKk

Or even better, two females: https://goo.gl/images/X9BWy9

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