this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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On election day of all days? And none of you people see this as an obvious attempt to suppress the vote support for PSL?
We are not a PSL instance, we are not run by PSL. But I will point out that there are certain aspects of Dem-Cent that might be helpful to understand. Namely that once a decision is made by the party the party adheres to that line in public. They do not break ranks or show dissension. Now we could say that the US as a whole has failed to field any other socialist party and therefore we as a whole as a movement have elected PSL as our representatives.
We don't owe them adhering to their party line if we're not members but I think we owe them not criticizing them, being tactful in our timing of criticism of them not to do so at the last minute in a way that inflames feelings against voting for them on election day.
Just as we do not criticize and air our problems with say Iran on the day they are at the height of danger and anti-western propaganda for a war against them, it's wise not to air our problems with PSL on this fucking day when all the signature work they've done to get on the ballot is on the fucking line.
Because there isn't time for many people to sort through those feelings and act dispassionately and the concrete impact of a post like this on election day mere hours before some people vote is people will avoid voting for PSL on the national ballot because of this and feeling icky if they do so.
So OP is costing the movement visible support. They are an enemy of socialism in my mind even if an unintentional one. Socialists need to be more mindful and thoughtful than OP has shown themselves capable of being.
No one, least of all me is saying we can't ever talk about this, that we have to be silent on this or that we can't criticize PSL. What I am saying is the time for this discussion was 48+ hours ago or 24 hours from now. That's a lot of time (this is no secret, we've known PSL would be the US candidate on the national level for 6+ months) and it's telling this question was deployed NOW. Not earlier when there was time and passions would recede and people would still make the logical choice to vote PSL as Marxists, but now when it can inflict maximum damage and suppression and cause maximum drama and strife.
Which is exactly the problem with this post on this day and my entire point. Thanks for making it for me again.
It doesn't matter the scale. What matters is the problem it causes. If they dissuade 10,000 people and swing a state for Kamala is it a problem then? When is it a problem? The fact is we're not going to win. But the fact is the point isn't to win but to do enough damage to the major parties that people take notice and look into it. PSL volunteers sweated hard getting signatures to get on the ballot in so many states and you're just saying their effort was wasted. That it doesn't matter. That it's okay to throw it away. Anyways to my point, any suppression of support, especially on a platform like this on a day like today is not okay. It attacks the work of those people.
Also PSL is nowhere near the issues of CPUSA. One that regularly tails Democrats and embraces lesser evilism. On a theoretical basis CPUSA is not even in the running to be a vanguard or a party people can look to given its national leadership. I don't care for arguments about oh local branches this or that, I've seen the same thing with DSA and the fact is national has too much power for that to ever really matter.