Thanks you two, I appreciate it! I got a copy of
k-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (well - the digital version anyways, physical is coming through the mail rn) and Simon Reynolds' intro mentioned Dissensus, so I was curious if it was still around. I thought it'd be nice to join a forum on cultural/political/musical theory with like minded people. Closest one to this was a "European culture" forum I was briefly on that was filled with a bunch of fash.
Welcome Diefreien! Yes, antebellum America is precisely the historical period I had in mind. Good to have ya
For a more contemporary example of what major third-party performances may look like in the future, the period between roughly 1892 and 1944. During this period a number of left-wing parties - usually in the Republican-dominated Midwest - would receive national attention. It was a lot more touch-and-go than with the Antebellum period, they would ebb and flow into periods of popularity before fading away, usually during boom periods when agricultural prices had settled to normal or above-normal. Groups like the Populist Party in the 1890s, (funny how the first modern usage of the word "populist" was by leftists, and now it's a word used to demonize anyone against the neo-lib status quo) the Progressive Party(ies) in the 1910s and 1920s, the Nonpartisan League in the late 10s and early 20s, and the Farmer-Labor movement in the early 20s to 40s briefly would arrive on the scene in times of economic windfall, dominate state politics, and then merge with one of the two main parties. Of course then the Dems and GOP were less divided by political differences (they both had fairly comparable progressive and conservative wings_ than by ethnic differences, so the ability for unwieldy coalitions to rise and fall like that did make more sense.
Still, you have the Vermont Progressive Party which has sizable influence in their home state, and shares some important offices with the Dems (former Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman is both a Dem and Prog Party member, though he runs under the Prog banner). In 2016 the 3rd party progressive Mountain Party (which is affiliated with the Greens) got nearly 6% of the vote in West Virginia gubernatorial elections. Though that's mainly due to Gov. Jim Justice who won in 2016 -- he was a Republican before 2015, ran for governor as a Democrat in 2016 (somehow winning the primaries), then in 2017 switched back to be a Republican.
I think any future of third-parties (particularly on the left) here will be similar to that of the Vermont or West Virginian progressives, and having off-and-on coalitions with the Dems, but walking out if they go too far right. That or local level politics, like the Trotskyist on the Seattle City Council (Kshama Sawant - member of Socialist Alternative) the CPUSAer on the Ashland City Council in Wisconsin, or the Greens/SAers in Minneapolis.
It'll be interesting to see if the DSA does eventually pull the gambit and become an independent party. I hope not, I feel like they'd squander a first-rate opportunity to shift the Dems to the left.
yeah, welcome Diefreien. good points, agree. I will say while the progressive wing do tend to side with moderate Dems, Biden's agenda out of the box in 2021 is far more progressive than what he might have proposed had he run and won four or eight years ago. The entire Democratic Party has moved left, what's considered moderate Dem now would have been progressive a decade ago.
Oh yeah for sure, I was surprised by Biden's overtures to the left, particularly w/ Yemen. Personally I think part of it may be Bernie liking Biden more than Clinton and being able to work out some compromises. It is definitely a sign where the party's headed that the under 45-vote overwhelmingly went for Sanders this past election season. Back in the early 2000s, the "progressive" choice would've been what - Howard Dean?
The question is whether the progressive-socialist wing will be able to grab any part of the party mechanisms before it's too late.