File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1996/96-11-09.204, message 67


Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 22:24:11 -0600 (CST)
From: Chegitz Guevara <mluziett-AT-shrike.depaul.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: American Elections


On Thu, 7 Nov 1996, ty reynaldo r wrote:

> What is the Marxist attitude towards elections under a bourgeois system?  
> To participate or not to participate?  Make use of the bourgeois 
> "democratic" apparatus or to smash it?  Reform or revolution?  Why?  
> 
> Reynaldo 
> Philippines

Depends on the Marxist. Social democrats used to claim that socialism
could be built by taking over the bourgeois government, claiming that
Marx's statement in the 1872 intro to the Manifesto was "outdated." (Marx
stated that the workers could not use the bourgeois state, but had to
smash it.) 

Leninists have two approaches. Some are complete liquidationists, i.e., no
struggle in the parlimentary area. Bordigists also subscribe to this
tactic. Other Leninists claim that whether or not to run in elections, how
to run, and what goals you are aiming for depend on the concrete
circumstances. During the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, Lenin boycotted
the elections to the Duma, since it was merely a an instrument to help
restore legitamcy to the Czarist throne. Furthermore, the Bolsheviks
thought the outcome for the revolution was still up in the air. In 1907,
Lenin began to change his tactics, and began to call for using the
elections as a platform to being their politics before the workers. 

In some periods, the working class can use elections to advance their
demands. I believe that under most circumstances, revolutionaries should
struggle in the electoral area. We should fight the bourgeoisie in every
area open to us, even if we realize that ultimately, we must smash the
very state in which we struggle to be elected. 

Marc, "the Chegitz," Luzietti
personal homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett
political homepage: http://shrike.depaul.edu/~mluziett/chegitz.html

"What is robbing a bank, compared with founding a bank?" -- Brecht



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