How exactly is Mamdani using parliamentary election in a revolutionary / communist manner? What you quote is specifically calling to criticize people like him. Do you even see what you are copy pasting?
By wedding the normalization of socialism with rudimentary state power to affect the lives of working-class people, the average New Yorker believes the two-year rent freeze is a socialist policy that has been advanced by socialists; whatever theoretical or definitional quibbles you have with that are irrelevant in the face of the real-world shift it has created in the minds of average Americans; it’s even irrelevant if you are someone who claims Mamdani did it accidentally or purposefully; what matters is that “parliamentary elections” has led to the generation of rudimentary class consciousness and working class interest in the concept of socialism
It’s the job the socialists to take advantage of this situation, to make corrections, to advance and wed the theoretical with the excitement, and to push for more demonstrations of how easily state power can be wielded to improve the lives of the working class
The persona of Mamdani is irrelevant; what matters is the effect and excitement he generates, which should be treated by us as fuel to feed real socialist fires, not as a permission slip to scoff at rudimentarily condition-setting developments, that are necessary for the eventual emergence of real working-class organizing
Also that quote is clearly talking about Ultra-left election boycotters, who believed ANY participation in the legal and electoral system of a capitalist polity was unconscionable, as that troll above aptly parodies
these difficulties cannot be successfully overcome without combining legal and illegal work, and without testing the “leaders”, among other ways, in parliaments. Criticism—the most keen, ruthless and uncompromising criticism—should be directed, not against parliamentarianism or parliamentary activities, but against those leaders who are unable—and still more against those who are unwilling
I agree with Lenin that what matters is the orientation of that participation and its proximity to the illegal element of organizing (embodied in this case by the Gaza genocide protests), and whether it is oriented toward the interests of the working class or the bourgeoisie, and the two-year rent freeze is the proof of concept that the orientation of the Mamdani phenomenon is pointing toward the working class, at least for now, assuming socialists actually get off their asses and take advantage of the phenomenon
How exactly is Mamdani using parliamentary election in a revolutionary / communist manner? What you quote is specifically calling to criticize people like him. Do you even see what you are copy pasting?
By wedding the normalization of socialism with rudimentary state power to affect the lives of working-class people, the average New Yorker believes the two-year rent freeze is a socialist policy that has been advanced by socialists; whatever theoretical or definitional quibbles you have with that are irrelevant in the face of the real-world shift it has created in the minds of average Americans; it’s even irrelevant if you are someone who claims Mamdani did it accidentally or purposefully; what matters is that “parliamentary elections” has led to the generation of rudimentary class consciousness and working class interest in the concept of socialism
It’s the job the socialists to take advantage of this situation, to make corrections, to advance and wed the theoretical with the excitement, and to push for more demonstrations of how easily state power can be wielded to improve the lives of the working class
The persona of Mamdani is irrelevant; what matters is the effect and excitement he generates, which should be treated by us as fuel to feed real socialist fires, not as a permission slip to scoff at rudimentarily condition-setting developments, that are necessary for the eventual emergence of real working-class organizing
Also that quote is clearly talking about Ultra-left election boycotters, who believed ANY participation in the legal and electoral system of a capitalist polity was unconscionable, as that troll above aptly parodies
I agree with Lenin that what matters is the orientation of that participation and its proximity to the illegal element of organizing (embodied in this case by the Gaza genocide protests), and whether it is oriented toward the interests of the working class or the bourgeoisie, and the two-year rent freeze is the proof of concept that the orientation of the Mamdani phenomenon is pointing toward the working class, at least for now, assuming socialists actually get off their asses and take advantage of the phenomenon