Problems Facing Any Third Party.

• Author: McReynolds, David
• Position: Brief Article

Let me try to suggest both areas where we will, as folks involved in "minor" parties, have disagreements, and areas where we should have working agreements. First, while there may emerge at some point a genuine coalition or confederation of forces that might constitute "An American Progressive Electoral Coalition" --ie., a Labor-type party in the US--that is not going to happen soon and Ralph Nader is not leading that move, even if he thinks he is.

Summary of the Nader Situation

He ran a very good campaign, worked very hard, and I sensed moved to the left as he ran. However he is a man shaped by legal struggles who somehow managed to avoid involvement in the civil rights and Vietnam movements. (This is not an attack on him--he did marvelous and important work on consumer issues--it is simply a note on his limits in terms of outreach to labor and the various communities of color). He is also not familiar with the democratic process. He has been making statements about the future of the Green Party, yet he belongs to neither faction and so far as I know has not consulted with either faction before making the statements. My sense is that what we have is Nader and his own organization, and then the Green Party USA and the ASGP. Nader himself has historically been committed to court battles. But a serious new movement will also have to be committed to (I hope peaceful!) street actions, demonstrations, civil disobedience, etc. The system is not going to yield only to legal actions-though their importance is very great.

Second, Areas of Disagreement

Again and again people on the edges of all of our movements say "why don't you all get together?" Just as Ralph Nader was urged late in the campaign to withdraw and support Gore, I was urged steadily by friends outside (and some inside) the Socialist party to withdraw and support Nader. It would not have been realistic or possible in either case. The folks who put Nader on the ballot would have been outraged if he had withdrawn. So would the people who put me on a number of ballots. Right now, when I do not believe there is a real progressive coalition, it is helpful to have the various groups use the elections as a referendum on their ideas on the national level. What direction do we want society to move in? Toward the general approach outlined by Nader? Toward a democratic socialist approach? Toward some other approach? In this context, it was very important that Joel Kovel challenged Nader "from the...