What we can learn from the defeats of Sanders and Corbyn

The disheartening defeats of Sanders and Corbyn were also extremely instructive, but many people aren't learning the right lesson.

1) It was always a rigged game, so blaming Sanders and Corbyn is pointless victim-blaming. It's missing the big picture.
Even if they ran perfect campaigns (which they didn't), they always had the odds against them. In what other instance do you blame someone for losing a rigged game?

2) The moderates in the U.S. and U.K. would rather lose to a right-wing fascist than win with a leftist.
This is the biggest favor that Sanders and Corbyn did for us. It's now undeniable that they are as much our enemies as the right-wing is.

3) The moderates in the U.S. and U.K. have weaponized charges of racism and sexism against the left, with obvious cynical double-standards.

However the big lesson here, the most important one, is HOW the establishment beat the Left.
This is big because the debate on the Left is always a) take over the Democratic Party (which never works), or b) jump to another party (which never works).
Both sides of the debate are doomed unless we address the method of the establishment's source of its power.

4) The Left has grassroots organization work to do.

Let's face it. The Democratic Party establishment and the media will always be against us.
However, that isn't even the most important parts of the establishment, and it's something that the Left absolutely must fix regardless of whether the strategy is to take over the Democratic Party or jump to another party.

For starters, let's look at the one place where the Left should dominate - Labor Unions.

Endorsed Sanders:
bernie_5.PNG

Endorsed Biden:
biden_4.PNG

Biden is no friend of labor.

At no point in his career has Biden proven willing to take the slightest political risk on behalf of workers. His appearances in union halls occur when he needs something from labor...

In fact, I can find reports of only two instances of Biden appearing on a picket line or otherwise supporting embattled workers at any point in his very long public life: once in Iowa, during his 1987 presidential campaign, and just this month in Boston. Now, his first major presidential fundraiser is being hosted by the founder of one of the country’s leading anti-union law firms. The man running to be labor’s champion is sponsored by someone who has made millions choking the life out of the labor movement.

No left-wing movement worth a damn fails to have labor behind it.
The same goes for civil rights and enviromentalist groups.

This is true whether you want to take over the Democratic Party or jump to another party.
There is no shortcut.

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Cassiodorus's picture

The serious strikes in the past decade have been wildcat strikes -- teachers in "Red" states, for instance.

Awhile ago in 2013 there was a Firedoglake (now "Shadowproof") forum with Philip Mirowski, author of "Never Let a Serious Crisis Go To Waste." Mirowski's primary point was, if I recall correctly, that neoliberalism, under the guidance of what he calls the Neoliberal Thought Collective, has installed itself so completely in our society that no competing belief system has even got a competing non-neoliberal foundation for going forward. I'm not seeing the discussion for this forum, though at the bottom of the Shadowproof webpage there is this enticing hint that once upon a time there were 142 comments.

This is what we're starting at the beginning with. Neoliberalism is everywhere and there is no serious concept of resistance. Bernie Sanders is done and none of his ideas will have any traction and he and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are kept busy paying dues for an organization which deserves to die. As for the "election," such as it was, you can see from Jeremy Scahill's moral calculus that the whole thing is damned close to being pointless, if it's not that already. But this is all people will be discussing before they die of medical inattention in the new regime of COVID-19. We are, in short, looking at a six-and-a-half-month stay-at-home period before any transformative politics can be conducted, and before any competing foundation to that of the Neoliberal Thought Collective can be created.

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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

snoopydawg's picture

It was always a rigged game, so blaming Sanders and Corbyn is pointless victim-blaming. It's missing the big picture.

If Bernie had knowledge that the game was definitely rigged against him, but he chose to play it anyway you can be darn sure that I will blame him. He must know that the 2016 primary was rigged so it seems obvious he knew that this one would be too. We were all looking for it to happen, but I never imagined that they could do it so blatantly. Offers real hope and it's based on a lie is beyond reprehensible and downright evil.

As to Cass' comment that talks about neoliberalism this article goes even further in depth.

https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/politics-of-the-pandemic-the-failed-ne...

It's very long and hard to excerpt.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
and persuade us to stay and play — the message being, if we only keep at it long enough, we’ll eventually win — knowing full well that every game in the casino is rigged to favor the house.

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@lotlizard
Bernie has been sandbagging us for 50 YEARS!
He never believed in civil rights or empowering workers. All of this time he was coordinating with the DNC, who actually loves Bernie.

Is that the point here?

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@gjohnsit First of all a sheepdog does exactly what his owners want, or he is replaced.

The 'owner/donor' class of the Dim Party wouldn't command that dog to go and get fires burning in huge flocks all over the Country by barking about 'free College,dismiss student debt, Medicare for All, Green New Deal, public financing of elections etc.

Also with Bernie's past, that dog wouldn't get the opportunity to shepherd those flocks.

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@gjohnsit

Bernie isn't a bad guy, and I suspect (hope?) most wouldn't characterize his time in office as one long tenure of sandbagging.

Opining that his actions with respect to how best to accomplish real, fundamental change in this country are out of line with reality isn't the same as thinking they guy's been conspiring with the democrats for 50 years. Neither is thinking his two presidential runs and subsequent sheepdogging for the democratic nominee the same as thinking he's been a sheepdog for 50 years or that he's a sellout, etc.

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@BayAreaLefty

Bernie isn't a bad guy

If you believe that he deliberately deceived his supporters twice, then YES, he's a bad guy.
He's one of the worst.
That's exactly what people here are saying.

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@gjohnsit

I think Bernie sincerely believes he was building a movement and, once it became clear he "lost", that it was paramount to bring that movement into the Democratic Party. That's sheepdogging. I doubt he thinks of himself as a sheepdog, but as a matter of practice that's the role he's playing. He's also a useful idiot of the democratic party, which is where progressive ideas and policies go to die.

That doesn't make him a bad guy; just wrong and misguided.

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lotlizard's picture

@gjohnsit  
The “for 50 years” frame and flame seems like a deliberate misconstruction here.

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@lotlizard
Bernie has been sandbagging us for 5 YEARS!
He never believed in civil rights or empowering workers. All of this time he was coordinating with the DNC and the media, who actually loves Bernie.
It's a complicated conspiracy in which lots of people were involved.

And by defrauding his supporters twice, that makes him one of the worst people in politics.

Better now?

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lotlizard's picture

@gjohnsit  
are resorting to this passive-aggressive shtick in lieu of actual argument.

Why inject civil rights etc. into the discussion as a red herring? The point is, if someone gets a lot of people to give them money and follow them into a casino, and said casino cheats them and their followers for five years, I think that at some point they have an obligation to point out to both their followers and the general public that that is in fact what happened.

Not go on singing the praises of the establishment and its crooked operators.

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@lotlizard
is that Bernie intentionally sheepdogged his supporters.
That is not me being passive-aggressive. That's what's being said here.

That means he intentionally deceived his supporters.
Which means he lied and defrauded them.

If that isn't what you meant then perhaps you should've used different words.

I think things are basically what they appear to be.
Bernie never had the killer instinct necessary.
Which is a problem of tactics, not character.

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snoopydawg's picture

@gjohnsit

is that Bernie intentionally sheepdogged his supporters.

You are saying that people are accusing him of just being a sheep dog for 50 years. No one has said that but you. I have denied saying he had. Twice. Quit putting words in people's mouths that they did not say.

But I do think that this campaign lacked a lot of the fire that he brought in 2016. Even his campaign advisors have said that. MSNBC was one of the media outlets that attacked him most viciously and here he is going on them without even calling them out for how he was treated or how they treated his supporters.

What people are pissed off about is covered here.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObIYUVXpMKc&list=TLPQMjIwNDIwMjDPcW4gIkH...

Bernie is asking people to send money to the DNC. The DNC that did everything it could to block him from becoming the nominee and left his supporters with a future that is very grim. That is the definition of sheepdawging.

How can you endorse someone that is 180 opposite of what he stands for? Bernie has to know that Biden has problems with his mental faculties but here he is going to push people to vote for him. He is doing so many things right now that definitely earn him his sheep dawg label. In my opinion which is hopefully allowed.

Jimmy says that Bernie made a non aggression pact with Hillary. WTF? You really might want to watch this.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@gjohnsit

Bernie has been sandbagging us for 50 YEARS!

As she said only from 2016-2020 and my point is that it is only if he knew the primary was being rigged against him. I don't see how he couldn't see it then or now. See how this makes a difference? The Iowa vote debacle would have been his first clue. Can you honestly say that he did everything he could to win this time and especially after Biden became the nominee? I can't. He left so many things unsaid.

I doubt anyone is saying that his whole career was just him sheepdawging. I'm definitely not saying that. I can acknowledge all the great good he has done for the country and is still trying to do.

BTW has anyone heard that Cuomo might keep him off the NYC voting rolls because of some old clauses that have to do with money for elections? This decision will be made Monday. Stay tuned for more vote rigging right in front of us.

Here's the article

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-new-york-primary-ballot_n_...

New York election officials are poised to remove Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) from the state’s primary ballot on Monday, thanks to an obscure provision in the state budget law enacted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) earlier this month.

The provision empowers the state’s election officials to remove from the ballot any candidate who has announced they have stopped running and is thus “no longer eligible” to win the nomination.Kellner, who was appointed by then-Gov. George Pataki (R) in 2005 at the behest of the Democratic-controlled state assembly, told HuffPost on Monday that his job is to interpret the statute. While the law only states that election officials “may” determine that a candidate is no longer eligible, Kellner interprets that language to mean they’re effectively required to remove Sanders.

“It’s not very controversial that Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign,” Kellner said. “I anticipate that we will be removing him.”

Well why the hell not remove him? This way he will get less delegates and less power to make changes to Biden's malarky platform.

He put out another word salad tonight. Something about how we don't have to do any socialism kind of malarkey. Way to try to get folks to vote for you Joe.

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3 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg
Bernie has been sandbagging us for 5 YEARS!
He never believed in civil rights or empowering workers. All of this time he was coordinating with the DNC and the media, who actually loves Bernie.

Occam's Razor be damned.

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snoopydawg's picture

@gjohnsit

only from 2016-2020 and my point is that it is only if he knew the primary was being rigged against him. I don't see how he couldn't see it then or now. See how this makes a difference? The Iowa vote debacle would have been his first clue. Can you honestly say that he did everything he could to win this time and especially after Biden became the nominee? I can't. He left so many things unsaid.

Or this?

I doubt anyone is saying that his whole career was just him sheepdawging. I'm definitely not saying that. I can acknowledge all the great good he has done for the country and is still trying to do.

I did not say this:

He never believed in civil rights or empowering workers. All of this time he was coordinating with the DNC and the media, who actually loves Bernie.

Again can you honestly say that he did everything in his power to go after Biden for the legislation that he was running on to fix? He wanted to give students a loan discharge because they can't do it now because of Biden's bankruptcy bill. I don't know if he ever mentioned who was responsible for the $1.3 Trillion debt. I do not recall him mentioning that in the debates.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

thanks to the shifting nature of work and a decades long effort by Democrats and Republicans alike to reduce their numbers and strength.

Labor unions' leadership (and therefore, their endorsements) should be considered compromised at this point. They're next to worthless except possibly as a signal for who not to support. Far more important are laborers. Organizing them is critical, but the wealthy have done a very good job of making their lives so hard that political activity is hardly something they can afford.

As for Sanders: if he really cared as much as he claims to, he'd have been working hard on upending the two-party system, not working within it all these years. Maybe he's not to blame for the Democrats' sham elections, but He certainly isn't blameless with regard to how we got to where we are now.

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Cassiodorus's picture

@BayAreaLefty because even organizations such as DSA still conclude that the time is not yet ripe for a "third party." So we get to slog on for the next six and a half months until this idiocy results in its final pseudo-contest in November, with predictably-rigged outcome.

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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

@BayAreaLefty If you look at "labor", the vast majority of workers are NOT union members. In a way the United States itself should be the biggest labor union. These days the unions are more likely to be on managements side and be willing to bust the heads of anyone who stands between their paycheck and the project. I would be more open to unions if they worked to support the left, but so far they are more likely to do the opposite.

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It's even apparent to me, now. There is no path for the left as things are now. The deck is stacked.

The left should have the biggest union in the country behind it. The union of citizens that haul their sorry asses off to jobs they hate for abusive management. That toil for lesser wages with few protections and no safety net, who are pitted against each other in the dog eat dog economy fighting over scraps.

The unions we have now are powerful enough to survive, and those too weak were busted. With good wages they're more likely to side with conservative politicians.

If unions were for the rest of us it would be different, but right now it's "all for one, none for all."

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@Snode

There is no path for the left as things are now.

Then why even bother to tell people that?
What good is done by telling people that they shouldn't bother fighting for a better world?

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@gjohnsit of describing the situation we are in. The path isn't through the democratic party, or even the 2 party system anymore. Maybe it has to be, as you say, grassroots but at the state level. The problem with that is the democrats are more than willing to meddle in local elections. I can't see the way through, but there will be one.

I am optimistic because as you laid out, and I think more and more are realizing, working within the system, lesser of 2 evils, centrist, moderate thinking and voting is just slow death, putting in hope and reaping disappointment. We know what's wrong, we know what doesn't work and we mostly know why it doesn't work. I sound cynical, but knowing that we always get sidetracked by illusions gives me hope we can start searching for a different way. I read this requiem for Bernie https://www.concordmonitor.com/Why-Bernie-matters-33870537 and everything he fought for is still worth fighting for. If this ends with Bernie then there will really be no hope. I can't believe that will happen.

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@Snode

even without bernie there is hope
we need to be the change we need
it is within our realm to make a difference
now is the time

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RantingRooster's picture

there is no "Left" in America. All levels of government and across all branches of government, there is no real left. There is only center, and center right, and extreme right wing.

Unions, they are a total joke and waste of time, imho. I admit I have a serious aversion to "unions", who "believe" in seniority, not in competence. Why would anyone pay union dues when the unions just sell out their members for fat cat positions and salaries, as well as perks the membership doesn't receive. I admit my experience with unions is not a good one. I spent nearly 18 months working along side the UAW. Heck I even used to smoke cigarettes on the front porch of the GM tech Center in Warren Mi, with the number 2 of the UAW. He didn't like the fact that I drove a Toyota 4x4 on the GM tech center grounds everyday. I showed him the "UAW sticker" on the inside of my truck door, indicating my truck was assembled by the UAW, so I wasn't taking food off their table.

The "solution" was to rent me a 800 dollar a month car, from Avis, which GM owned. The Union leadership was/is about a intelligent as concrete. Gee, and I thought I was saving money on the project. I did help GM save over a billion dollars in operating costs.

Consider the judiciary. Where is the "left" judiciary? Why do "corporations" have more rights and privileges than actually citizens? We have thrown off the yoke of one monarchy, and shackled our selves with tens of thousands of them, ie corporations. Slavery hasn't gone away, only the "physical chains" have been removed. You are now "free" to move about the plantation as long as your back at "work", slaving away Monday morning.

Consider Law Enforcement. About the only LEO organizations that could be considered slightly left leaning is L.E.A.P.. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Other than that, they are nothing but right wing, trigger happy paramilitary units ready to wage war on their own citizens. There is no bravery in killing unarmed suspects. IT IS FUCKING MURDER!

Consider the Military. There is NO left elements within the military. There is no integrity, no honor, and certainly no duty to protect and defend the constitution from ALL enemies, both foreign and domestic. Where is the missing TRILLIONS from the DOD budget? Gee, on 9/10, Donald Rumsfeld testified about the military waste, and some 2.3 Trillions from the DOD they can't account for. That number has only skyrocketed over the last 2 decades.

Consider that Americans have been propagandized for over a century to hate Russia, Capitalism is the greatest thing since sliced bread, Wall Street are "job creators", Truth, Justice and the American way. Gee the "American way" is pure Mafia business model, pay for die.

The "Left" has allowed emotion and outrage to dominate the discourse without realizing we can not appeal to the "better angels" of ruthless killers, ya know the kind that justifies letting our own citizens die by the tens of thousands, simply because they can not afford life saving healthcare or that want us to sacrifice our own lives, our parents and grand parents, because, well, their campaign contributors profits are too important!

The "left" are a bunch of lazy fucks who don't want to do the hard work of getting elected locally. (Wear it if the shoe fits, compost it where it doesn't) Their own ego's, to run for a higher office, gets in the way and they are too busy getting bogged down in "identity politics". The "tea Party" took over the republican house, within a year or two. Now the Republicans own this country, lock, stock and barrel.

The fulcrum that enables this entire shamble of a country to exist, is just simply the "fear of loss". Well, I've already lost everything, and I'm to the point I just don't give a fuck any more. It doesn't matter who becomes our president, they are all just ruthless killers.

The country is too far gone to bring it back from to brink of total destruction. The patient is terminal and we on the so called left need to understand that, and allow the patient to die.

ET02Y7dUUAIl_86.jpg

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

@RantingRooster
Let's say that you are 100% correct.
Let's say that there is absolutely no hope and we're all permanently screwed, like you say.

What good is that to me?
What good is that to anyone?

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@RantingRooster They're teachers aides, chambermaids, gigsters, jiffy lubers, retail clerks, Amazon and Walmart warriors...you know who I mean. You're right about the propaganda. With the religion of capitalism, they're all sinners. They work full time or 3 part time jobs and still can't make a decent life, and it's their fault they're so needy, and they're ashamed. Calling them the left will insult them, though. Propaganda tells them so.

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@RantingRooster

you will not move the masses with this missive
please consider offering options to responding
perhaps idea 1 entails personal sacrifice
or maybe option 2 involves rejecting piecemeal
incremental destruction -- offered as an option
followed up by a more constructive approach
we already know the bottom of the barrel.
Let's find a way up.

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It is a fool's errand to attempt a progressive take over of the democratic party. The leadership and base are center and center/right. Democrats may poll in favor in progressive policies but they will not vote for candidates who support those policies--but rather support candidates like Biden who are actively opposed.

One solution here is to have a strong minority progressive wing of the party. Not sure how to make it happen but make the progressives in Congress not be chickshits.

Many unions have become front organizations for the democratic party. By front group I mean the leadership of the unions puts the interests of the democratic party above their members. Need a base revolt to first removed those leaders. Start with SEIU.

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@MrWebster but we need leaders. Not from Harvard and Exeter/Andover or whatever 1% factory turns out our overseers. Those used to be our best and brightest. Maybe some scholarship kid at Harvard will see a path forward, and actually believe in the America that could be, not the one we have. I hope they're the leader we need.

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