Thread by @Cajsa

This belief is so common among self-styled "progressives" it deserves a rebuttal.

Let's consider Robert Lee Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier
ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jim…

He looked at the inaction of the Hoover Administration in its response to the Great Depression and recognized that a political party unwilling to act in the face of widespread despair and dispossession would never act to protect the rights of Black people.

It came down to the GOP belief that the government should play no role to constrain capitalism or uplift the poor and working class. If they won't act on behalf of white people in distress, they sure would not act on behalf of Black people

At the same time, the Democrats were definitely problematic. Woodrow Wilson had purged Black workers from the federal government & fought the anti-lynching law. The Klan was closely tied to Dems in the south, but northern Dems were less comfortable with their open racism.

Also, the GOP was rabidly anti-Catholic, something Vann saw as reminiscent of the anti-Black racism of the Democrats. The GOP had also purged the Black & Tans from their party - driven out by the Lily Whites. They were not at all concerned about hiding their racism.

So, here's the deal. Vann saw FDR's activist ideology as a potential to work with. So here were the parties.
Racist and Activist Democrats and Racist Laissez-Faire Republicans. Rather than feeling hopeless, Vann decided that it was possible to gain influence by voting

So, he gave a speech explaining the GOP did nothing and will do nothing and that it was time to vote for Democrats. The speech was called "The Patriot and the Partisan" and it was absolutely prescient. Over time, they could change the party and they did

This was an incredibly sophisticated political strategy. Look at that "progressive" complaining that the party pays too much attention to Black voters. Vann was right.

Meanwhile, the strategy of the so-called "left" is to withhold their votes, time, and money, thinking extortion rather than struggle is how to take over a party. Spare me lessons in political sophistication. They only teach Democrats to discount them as part of the coalition

White progressives like this guy think a Marxist vocabulary is the ultimate sign of political savvy yet the strategy chosen by the Rose left is the strategy of marginalization. They mistake memes and rallies for votes.

Here's the thing, who is in the White House is not a matter of life and death to most white men and women. They can afford to be politically sloppy and naive. For minoritized people, though, it can be absolutely a matter of survival

And of course, these are generalizations. I'm white and think voting is a matter of survival. But then I would not be so feckless as to promote a candidate without national viability in the general.

Pragmatism is a dirty word among the idealists, but pragmatism is far more strategic than pouty revenge politics.

npr.org/2020/03/10/813…

Black intellectuals have promoted the welfare of Black people throughout our history. There were Black women suffragists even before the Civil War. I think the problem with lack of education might be the other way around. Someone knows too damn little about Black history.

Meanwhile, let's consider the brilliant strategizing of the M4All team. 1n 1993, they opposed HillaryCare and introduced competing bills. They allied with the right to stop the legislation. Health care was put away as too hot to handle until 2009 and ObamaCare.

It passed the House with a public option but that died in the Senate thanks to needing 60 votes to get cloture. That meant we needed Lieberman's vote and he refused to allow the public option.

Rather than focus on improving the ACA by campaigning for a public option in 2010, the single-payer left advocated boycotting the election leading to a Republican victory in the House and Senate, giving them redistricting for a decade.

In 2016, Hillary was not their SayMuch/DoNothing savior, so they boycotted or voted 3rd party and we got Trump who tried to sabotage what we had won. And now in 2020, their M4All/Defund/Abolish sloganeering cost us Senate and House seats.

The way to win influence is to deliver victories, not defeats. If their work leads to Dem defeats, Dems learn to avoid them and purge them. If their work leads to Dem victories, Dems would give them more influence.

So any progressive arguing that Black people are unsophisticated voters with poor strategy and lack the vocabulary to be progressive...well, at least Black people know how to win elections and influence parties.