The left in the United States has long been divided over strategy, and that division has often done as much to weaken movements as the actual forces of corporate power we are fighting against.
Noam Chomsky has argued that change happens when mass movements apply sustained pressure, regardless of the political party in power. Chris Hedges has warned that reforming institutions from within is often a dead end, as the Democratic Party has been structurally designed to absorb and neutralize progressive challenges. Yet history shows that there are many paths to political transformation—none of them easy, but all worth pursuing.
If Trump could take over the Republican Party, it’s fair to ask why a progressive movement couldn’t do the same with the Democratic Party. The answer is complicated. The Democratic establishment has strong defenses against grassroots takeovers, from corporate donors to media influence to the internal mechanics of the DNC. Trump succeeded where Sanders failed because Trump still aligns with ruling class interests, despite his anti-establishment public persona. But that doesn’t mean an insurgency is impossible.
The Working Families Party (WFP) and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are actively working to push the party left while also building independent power. It is a yes/and strategy built on bottom-up organizing: supporting candidates both inside and outside the Democratic Party based on local logistics.
Our Revolution has chosen to focus on taking over the Democratic Party and winning down ballot races.
The Sunrise Movement is working to build power that can influence whoever is in office.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation focuses on building people power through grassroots organizing, third-party runs, and media education.
Whether we fight inside or outside the Democratic Party, or focus on building regenerative alternatives beyond traditional politics, they are all fronts in the broader fight against corporate rule. The point is to pick one and invest in it instead of spending our time tearing down the other strategy all the time.
That said, this doesn't mean we shouldn't have some real conversations about what isn't working, and that brings us to the Green Party. Put simply, their (mostly) top-down strategy has not been effective. After decades of pursuing long-shot bids for the presidency, they have yet to even break 5%. At a time when dissatisfaction with both parties are at all time highs, there was close to 90 million people who chose to not vote at all rather than vote third party. That's a hard truth we have to reckon with.
The outlook on running third-party for Congress or the Senate doesn't look great either:
Since 1946 there have been over 17,000 elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. How many have been won by a third-party candidate? Zero.
In the U.S. Senate, there have been two third party candidates elected: William F Buckley’s brother, James L Buckley, in 1970 on the New York Conservative line (usually a fusion Party); and Joe Lieberman, founding member of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party.
Final score over the past 78 years: Connecticut for Lieberman 1 Green Party 0.
The record is just as bad statewide and in localities. There have literally been millions of elections since WWII. The number of third-party victories is infinitesimal, less than one-tenth of 1%. - Alan Minsky
Critics rightly challenge corporate Democrats for running conservative-lite candidates over and over again, just hoping neoliberalism will win this time. John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris all ran on a conservative neoliberal agenda, and won once in response to four years of Trump. We'd be doing ourselves a disserve to not recognize that repeating the same Green Party playbook again isn't a wise move. We've got to mix it up.
If people are willing to rebuild the Green Party into a true grassroots movement—one that invests in local elections, labor organizing, and direct action rather than mainly just running presidential candidates—we salute that effort. I see it like a chess game. You don't go for checkmate after 4 moves. You've got to build up power from below first, through local wins, and build a coalition of dozens of members in Congress before going for the presidency.
Until then, we're faced with the urgent need to challenge the Republicans, and so we find ourselves agreeing the best path is an insurgent campaign to take over the Democratic Party through aggressive primarying and a bold, populist agenda.
That's our take, but the real issue is not which strategy is "right," but whether we are building real power in our communities.
May the best strategy win victories for us all.
There are almost 90 million people on the sidelines, so there's no need to aggressively attack Democrat or third-party voters. Electoral politics is also just one tool. The real work is in organizing—whether that’s in workplaces, neighborhoods, mutual aid networks, city hall, or movements that refuse to be co-opted by party structures.
We need to stop wasting time attacking each other’s strategies and focus on building pluralistic movements that challenge the oligarchy that rules us. Whether that means taking over the DNC, growing third-party alternatives, or fighting outside the electoral system entirely, the goal must remain the same: dismantling corporate power, resisting militarism, and securing economic and social justice for all.
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Films For Action ·
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Shareable ·
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Gene Sharp ·
Practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of “nonviolent weapons” at their disposal. Far too often people struggling for democratic rights and justice are not aware of the full range of methods of nonviolent action.
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John Dear ·
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Starhawk ·
This series of writings is an experiment—a new way of writing a book that inviting you all to participate in. I’ve written or co-written thirteen published books over more than four decades as an author, and a number of others (we...
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Laura Basu ·
The pandemic is very quickly teaching us what’s important: health, love, food, a safe and comfortable home, creativity and learning, connectedness, and being able to get out into nature. Shouldn’t those things be the pillars around...
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