The Case for an Independent Left Party: From the Bottom Up

by Howie Hawkins

At a time when a newly emerged socialist movement has entered the capitalist Democratic Party, Howie Hawkins, a longtime socialist and Green Party cofounder, makes the case for an independent left party.

The United States is the only major industrial country without a major working-class party of the left. Insurgent progressive third parties were a major force in American politics and set the reform agenda from the 1830s until the 1930s. Hawkins argues the failure to consolidate a working-class party is not due to often-cited electoral barriers, such as onerous ballot access laws and the absence of proportional representation of parties. The failure is because America’s left third parties, with the exception of the Debsian Socialist Party in the early twentieth century, copied the elitist memberless structures of the Democratic and Republican Parties, leaving a base of voters who were atomized and powerless.

In this expanded edition of his landmark article, revised and designed into ebook format, Hawkins argues that a mass party of the left should be organized as a dues-paying membership party that is well-funded by a mass membership organized into local branches where members have a voice and power in a grassroots-democratic party structure. He argues the party must be built from the bottom up by organizing the working-class majority to speak and act independently for itself in political education, social movements, and election campaigns.

This book serves as a guide for ecosocialists who want to change the capitalist system, not just lobby the capitalists’ political representatives in the Democratic Party.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

34 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Howie Hawkins is a cofounder of the Green Party in the US and a 2020 Green Party presidential candidate. He was the first US candidate to campaign for a Green New Deal in 2010. Howie became active in “The Movement” for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam in the 1960s as a teenager in the San Francisco Bay Area. From the start, he’s been committed to independent working-class politics for a democratic, socialist, and ecological society. Outside of electoral politics, Howie has been a constant organizer in peace, justice, union, and environmental campaigns. His writing has appeared in Against the Current, Black Agenda Report, CounterPunch, Green Politics, International Socialist Review, Labor Notes, Z Magazine, and other publications. He is the editor of, and a contributor to, Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (Haymarket Books, 2006).

Reviews

[Yamil Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR: Clear argument for breaking with hollow centrism, insisting the left must build power outside decaying parties.

[Ashley Donohoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short and gets to the point, however I’m quite unconvinced by the thesis presented. There’s a well established inadequacy in the current party system instituted in the United States, but I don’t think the book properly addressed how a third party could actually rise to prominence. Rather than offering consistent evidence on how this is feasible, Hawkins repeats that it would be preferable. However, preference doesn’t always reign supreme in the work to usurp power from the corporate elites. Spending multiple points in this book outwardly attacking Bernie Sanders was also quite bold. The criticisms were interesting, yet felt unjustified without a proper argument defending the thesis at heart. With Bernie Sanders proposing the closest policy to socialism America has in its current day and age, it felt slightly like attacking one’s own team to beat down continuously on his decision to work with the corporate Democrats, as that choice is not as unreasonable as Hawkins portrays it. It’s a short read, so I still recommend purely for the thought provoking nature of what is proposed, but I don’t think there was quite enough brought to the table to cover the entirety of what is being argued.

[Tuan Nguyen]

Most people outside of the US like me don't care for their efforts with the electoral system, so I'm not giving this a starred rating and only read it for some good criticism on Sanders, a socialist who twiced funneled revolutionary energy into a political dead-end. And we saw the futility of forming a third party. It's still class collaboration all the way down.

Yeah, I call Sanders a socialist because Kautsky and Bernstein were also socialists. Socdems have always been socialists--social chauvinists to be precise.

[Nechayev_V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very convincing book. It details precisely how the left needs to have a party consistently pushing society forward, and how that will help advance progressive causes. Too bad he isn't an ML tho.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started getting (more) into the Green Party within the last month and saw that their presidential candidate was Howie Hawkins. When I checked Hawkins's Wikipedia article it says that he favored anarcho-communism, a political position that I have favored for at least the last decade however have not heard much about in current affairs which not only reaffirmed my position but got me even super excited about the Green Party and Hawkins, especially after seeing that Hawkins is living in Syracuse (NY) which is practically my home town. Anyways, Hawkins has this "book" available on his site for free so I decided to read it.

I call it a "book" due to it's length. It's listed at 90 pages however this feels like a stretch. I am by no means a fast reader, and although I did find this "book" delightful, I still don't think I could read 90 pages in two nights which is what happened with this book. There are some notes/references/resources at the end of the book that may have brought down the book to 75-80 pages (guessing), but I still don't think I could read that many pages in two nights. Although this book is brief, it is very "dense" (not in a negative way) as it is packed full of useful information with all the fluff cut out. Gets right down to business and maintains throughout this literature.

You can definitely see Hawkins's anarchy and socialism influences which is displayed as he discusses Bernie Sanders and how even if he was able to be elected, it wouldn't be as beneficial as an independent party member election and why Independents should not run as part of another party; working class parties, their history and how it relates to our current political system; why the two party system has failed us and why another party needs to rising up is a necessity; how a third party could rise up (using a bottom up approach); and why our current political maelstrom is the perfect breeding grounds for this to happen.

Although I wish he spent more time discussing the importance of preserving our nature and ecology, it's outside the scope of this book, but would have been nice to have his insight and knowledge collected on additional aspects.

Found myself agreeing with so much that was discussed in this literature, enough that I would have to list this literature as among my favorites. Highly recommend this book, but especially to Green Party and Hawkins supporters. Everyone knows that our two party system has failed us and fails to even remotely represent the majority of Americans, but we have been unable to move away from this system because of the people in power, it's time for a change!

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Democrats may replace the irrationalities and racist revanchism of Trump, but they won't replace the austerity capitalism and militaristic imperialism to which the Democratic Party is committed. It is a key institution upholding the broad policy consensus of America's ruling class and it's political representatives in the two-party system of corporate rule."

Hawkins makes some good points regarding the need for a third party and how it can distinguish itself. When you look at how unliked the two existing parties are it's a wonder that a third hasn't risen by now. I can't explain it without saying that the game is rigged.

I'd recommend this book for everyone who is tired of being given a false choice between the two parties. If you're sick of the lack of a choice, start looking for something outside the norm.

[Samuel Saul Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I expected it to be more about the Green Party it was more of various suggestions as to how to form a functioning workers class political party. Pretty short. Makes some good points about how the political duopoly is an ultimate failure and how more attention should be paid to local politics.

#SelfTaughtPolitics

[Gini · Rating 4 out of 5]

made some good points; I would've liked something a little more in depth personally (though I understand a shorter book is more accessible and acceptable to a wider variety of people).

[James Belcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent framework for new political parties.

https://isreview.org/issue/107/case-i...