Two years later I blogged about the 2014 conclave. This covers much the same ground as the 2012 piece. The convention concluded poverty was increasing in Europe--I put that exaggerated claim into perspective.
Then I commented on the 2016 convention, criticizing them for the seeming disconnect between the enormous economic crisis supposedly engulfing the world proletariat, compared to the pathetic response of the Party. The imminent destruction of the planet/immiseration of the working class/irremediable crisis of capitalism--all those challenges were to be met by increased sales of their print newspaper, a $25,000 fundraiser, and the sorriest presidential campaign ever launched in American history.
Finally, in February, 2017, I responded to the Declaration of a Faction Fight within the Fourth International, where SA proclaimed its heroic stand defending a proletarian outlook. I accused SA of setting "the bar for success very low." Definitely an understatement. We have, by the way, heard nothing about the faction fight since.
So now we come to 2018. At some point in October, SA announced that their paper would be taking a short break to allow for a convention later that month. The announcement is no longer on the web, but to the best of my memory the convention was held in the 3rd or 4th week of October. For most previous conventions the event was reported at length within a week or two after the meeting.
This year? Crickets. Not a word so far.
Now maybe it will still come--if so, I'm happy to eat my words--I'd love to find out what SA has planned for the coming period. Nevertheless, I'm getting worried. I'm afraid the Party is crawling into a hole and hiding from the limelight. Why?
One possible reason is that SA has become increasingly incoherent. That certainly seems to be the trend from 2012 to 2016. They've lost their Marxist bearings. They have no unique perspective on world politics. They're lost at sea when it comes to both strategy and tactics--and they're ashamed of themselves.
Or it could be there is a big faction fight in the organization and they haven't figured out what to write yet. I doubt that.
Or they just don't like criticism--not that they get very much of it. As far as I know I'm the only blogger who pays them any attention at all. My reach is pretty small, so it seems a stretch to think they're afraid of me. Yet they surely have gotten very secretive of late--they no longer publish locations or phone numbers of their branches, nor have they said anything about attendance at any of their conventions, and now they don't even want to say what they talked about at their meeting. It looks downright paranoid.
A pair of recent issues indicates the confusion. For starters, there has so far been no analysis of the Yellow Vest protests in France. SA is not alone--so far on my Beat only The Militant has covered the protests (here and here). Part of that is the Trotskyist news cycle is very slow. But I think the Yellow Vest movement must be especially embarrassing for Socialist Action.
The Yellow Vests put paid to the idea of a "Vanguard Party." The movement has no leadership--it is an entirely organic creation of social media. It's not organized around any coherent platform, much less the uniquely correct program sanctified by The Revolutionary Party. As far as I know, no Trotskyist organization of any denomination has played any role in the movement whatsoever. All SA can do is kibbutz from the sidelines.
Then the movement is a "weird" coalition between Left and Right--supported by both the National Front and far-left movements. I say "weird" because it's only weird from a Marxist perspective. Us normal folks see a confluence of interests between far Left and far Right--you both support more government intervention in the economy. In France they call that dirigisme. It's the very opposite of Trumpism.
Finally, and most disturbing for SA, is the movement's anti-environmentalism. The proximate cause of the riots was the imposition of a carbon tax (The Militant calls it a gas tax), ostensibly imposed to prevent global warming. Apparently French workers will have none of this global warming nonsense, especially since "fighting" it involves a severe hit to their standard of living. Can't say as I blame them.
SA, meanwhile, has gone whole hog for the most crackpot version of environmentalism. For example, in a recent article by Marc Rome on the role of the electric utility PG&E in "causing" the wildfires in California. The company is now subject to potentially bankrupting lawsuits from fraudster lawyers trying to make a killing.
SA apparently thinks those lawyers are heroes. After all, forcing the electric company out of business will certainly save on emissions--everybody will be cutting back when their power is turned off. And California has a warm climate, so what do all those people need electricity for anyway? Especially given the catastrophic threat imminent global warming poses.
Like the lawyers, SA is convinced the PG&E caused the fires. Now it may be true that the company caused the spark that lit the fires, but that's hardly the big story. According to Mr. Rome, the real cause is "climate change," that ill-defined, protean boogeyman that's about to destroy us all. SA apparently thinks PG&E singlehandedly caused "climate change," and therefore should pay the full bill.
So let's double or triple everybody's electricity rates. That seems to be SA's solution. Because somebody has to pay all those lawyers, and that somebody is gonna be rate payers. Or taxpayers, which is the government's solution. Mr. Rome's article is entitled California governor signs legislation to bail out utility that sparked deadly fires.
Actually, it's not PG&E that's getting bailed out. It's the shyster lawyers. SA is taking the side of lawyers--that's not very revolutionary of them. Here I thought they were supposed to be defending the interests of the working class?
Further Reading:
Actually, it's not PG&E that's getting bailed out. It's the shyster lawyers. SA is taking the side of lawyers--that's not very revolutionary of them. Here I thought they were supposed to be defending the interests of the working class?
Further Reading:
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