Moves to the Left?

Bernie Sanders Calls For Class War...

Sanders:

In a speech before the Iowa AFL-CIO Convention in Altoona, Iowa on Wednesday, August 21, Sanders called for winning the class war against the billionaires and the corporations.  Prior to this part of the speech, he laid out a program for vastly strengthening labor unionism in the U.S. regarding issues like card check, ending right-to-work-for-less laws (the open shop) and outlawing scabs.

"If there is going to be class warfare in this country, it's time that the working class of this country won that war."

https://america.easybranches.com/iowa/4146168 Des Moines Register video of speech

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GClPp-dqy6o YouTube video of speech

Sanders at AFL-CIO Convention in Altoona, Iowa

Notice the ‘if.’  Notice the polite medium-level applause, as this is the AFL-CIO, not an audience of socialists.  This wording is similar to his earlier call for a ‘political revolution’ - which did not jibe with his endorsement of Clinton.

As reported before, Sanders is both a sheepherder and a pyromaniac in relation to standard neo-liberal politics.  The dual nature of his impact is often ignored by social democrats and some leftists.

DSA:

In a move to the left given their long-held deep-entry practice, the social-democratic Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) voted at their August Convention in Atlanta to:

1.    Only endorse Bernie Sanders for president.

2.    Work for the formation of an independent political party out of the Democratic Party.

3.    Pressure Sanders to the left on international issues.

Whether this will mean any concrete action is left unsaid.  These developments might be related to the dissolution of the Schactmanite International Socialist Organization (ISO), many of whose members went into DSA.  It might also eventually lead to a split in DSA.

Red Frog

August 31, 2019