Ralph Nader in quite a
Ralph Nader in quite a humourous article tries to re-direct the Occupy Movement into re-adopting leadership and re-entering into conventional reform politics. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/22/ceos-contemplate-the-occupy/ “…Let me show you why they are here today and will mostly be gone tomorrow. Do they have leaders? No, they proudly reject leaders and even the very trait of leadership. Show me a successful movement or business or union drive, and I’ll show you leaders. It can’t happen without leaders to give form and direction over time, no matter how unpleasant they may be……Occupy has no agenda or program that millions can relate to. Sure ‘inequality, inequality, 99 percent, 99 percent’ make good slogans because people believe them to be true. After all, don’t we really? But without either a religious fervor, some kind of ideological ‘ism,’ – both out of tune with the times – all they’re left with are actual reforms for which they have little interest or patience. This is where they’re really missing the boat and the vehicle of change. Because they detest politics……by detesting politics, they avoid surrounding members of Congress at their offices back home or on Capitol Hill. They avoid the single victory that could be theirs in this election year. And that is raising the federal minimum wage to $10 per hour…over 70 percent of people polled support keeping the minimum wage raises current with inflation. Hundreds of groups of influence want it – at least they are on the record like the AFL-CIO, the National Council of La Raza, the NAACP, social service and religious charity groups – just about everybody.The Occupiers… can galvanize all these groups to pour it out on members of Congress. Imagine the gratitude of 35 million workers who are now making ten dollars or less per hour for their families. Imagine a victory in an ocean of gridlock to whet the appetite of tens of millions of Americans for more of what they call their fair share. Once the masses get moving, as you know, they’re hard to stop……The Occupy people are increasingly bickering amongst themselves in an imploding way while dispiriting themselves with the endless democratic assemblies where majority rule is out. They do not want leaders, or a real-life agenda. They are tussling with anarchists and hired provocateurs, and they disdain any discipline, much less paying full-time organizers. One might uncharitably say they are not serious about anything described as victory – even one in their hands that will bring them great admiration…” I understand the under-lying assumption of the article concerning the positive effect of making gains. The strength of unions, for instance, is dependant about winning benefits, and getting better conditions at work. The whole point is to win real tangible gains that in turn can bolster people, particularly their morale and confidence, and show what can be done, allowing momentum to build, and winning more people over to a critical analysis of the society they live in.Stuart will correct me if i am wrong but i think this is the point he is making. But it does demonstrate the slippery slope into reformism that Adam fears occurring and which Ralph Nader is actually recommending we take. The middle way, to employ Stuart’s buddhist sympathies, as i see it, is that groups like our own advise the working class to seize whatever immediate advantage they can but ultimately the struggle for them should be a means to an end. Ideas are not empty gestures. Ideas offer us the opportunity to think and act , to cross into new lines of inquiry and take new positions. We have to be involved in that communication of the socialist alternative as a practical possibility.