Admittedly, I’ve also been disillusioned by the political system. It’s easy to get down. Capitalism wants you that way. Many of my friends have been forlorn and passive after a second failed Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. They feel betrayed by the DNC and helpless against the backdrop of choosing between a fairly moderate Democrat and fascism. But, I encourage you not to let these feelings defeat you. There are reasons for hope.

Electoralism

Elections are the bare minimum but also the last step in any hopeful socialist movement. Whether you believe that peaceably electing politicians within the establishment parties, electing true-workers parties or violent revolution is the answer, far more work needs done than actions at the voting booth. Would electing Bernie Sanders have expedited the process? Perhaps. But electing a socialist-sympathetic politician from one of the capitalist parties is not going to revolutionize the system. Electing just one, even if it is a president, is not going to fundamentally transform our conditions.

The Democrats continue to fight progressives within their own party tooth and nail. Nancy Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to endorse a moderate challenger to an incumbent progressive Democrat in the Senate. They are not openly embracing anything that approaches leftist politics, and certainly the Republicans won’t either. We can continue to try and beat our heads against the wall in hopes we can make a few cracks in the brick, or we can try to address the root of the problem. Socialism remains an unpopular position among the voters.

Let’s not pretend that the Democrats are standing on some ground of ideological purity. They are not. They stand for political expediency and it explains why despite the likes of Bernie Sanders and AOC attempting to push the party leftward, many Dems continue to drift right to fill the vacuum left by the Republican Party’s rightward leap. Politicians are single-minded seekers of reelection. This isn’t necessarily a negative thing. After all, even if a politician has great ideas they cannot enact them if they are not in office. So instead of begging the capitalist parties to suddenly embrace socialism, we need to make socialism tenable.

If we wish to do that we need to normalize socialism. And, if you want to normalize socialism electorally it means we need to elect socialist. The two party system in America is a very real systematic issue for third parties, and lying about their viability will do nothing to help us achieve that change. But, that doesn’t mean all third party candidates are nonviable. There are several third party candidates running every year for offices around the country that have very legitimate chances of winning. Seating proud socialist politicians can go a long way to normalizing that rhetoric. To making socialist rhetoric electable. After all, how many Americans do you think are personally familiar with a self-professed socialist?

There are more socialist candidates running for office than I could list, and probably more with a real shot at winning than I could list. I’m going to name three that you should be helping achieve their electoral goals:

–Franca Muller Paz – is running for Baltimore City Council. Ms. Paz is a Peruvian immigrant and public school teacher in Baltimore, MD. An activist from a younger age, Franca Paz is promising to bring policies of diversity, inclusion, environmental justice, emancipatory politics, redistributive politics and socialism to her community, if elected. She’s currently running against an incumbent Democrat and has managed to outraise him on the campaign trail. Franca is a political starlet with a name and story that is both marketable and fundamentally important to the American experience. I challenge any leftist/progressive to read her campaign literature and find her less preferable than status quo politicians.

–Jake Tonkel – is running for San Jose City Council on a platform very similar to what Ms. Paz is running on. He came in second place in the California blanket primary while the incumbent Democrat received 49% of the vote (just shy of winning the election outright). Tonkel’s 22% in the primary shows his electoral viability and with great public exposure during the general election campaign, Tonkel could outright win the election. San Jose and Baltimore are not small cities, and the election of proclaimed socialists to these offices is not a small gesture.

–Lisa Savage – is running for the US Senate in Maine. Maine has ranked-choice voting and it’s given Lisa a real shot at victory. She’s been polled as the most common 2^nd choice among Maine voters though she’s rarely been polled at all thanks to the corporate parties helping block her voice. With that in mind Lisa has still managed the qualify (or be invited to) the first three debates against incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democratic nominee Sara Gideon. Lisa Savage would be the first Green Party member ever elected to the federal Congress, a distinction of reasonable import. You could have an avowed socialist sitting in office in the federal government for the first time in a hundred years. All she needs is you support.

There are socialist candidates running for office that can win. They just need your help. They need you to amplify their voice. A few terms in the Baltimore City Council can become a campaign for the US House seat in the same district. A few terms in the San Jose City Council could turn into a campaign for the US Senate. A few terms as a US Senator could turn into a Governorship or a credible presidential run. But if you want to normalize socialism as a winning electoral stance, we have to support socialist candidates for office. There are other, more important, ways of normalizing socialism as an political viability.

Organization and the Labor Movement

Where do politicians come from? They usually come from organizations and sectors that get involved politically. They could be recruited by political parties, they could be community organizers, they could be labor leaders, they could be prominent local voices like teachers or PTO leaders. In all cases many politicians emerge from some semblance of an organized apparatus. If you want socialist politicians, you need socialist organizations.

Creating organizations already predisposed to support socialist rhetoric will make electing politicians who use socialist rhetoric that much easier. This means creating political parties that are fighting for socialist causes, creating labor organizations meant to organize the proletariat and disseminate information to them, creating pro-socialist youth groups for young people to prevent them from being propagandized by capitalism. Creating these organizations is hard, but lucky for you many already exist.

The Democratic Socialists of America, Solidarity, Communist Party USA, Socialist Party USA, Socialist Rifle Association, Assata’s Daughters, the Green Party. These organizations are out there. The best thing any of us can do is to connect with these groups and connect with other left voices. We can organize with them and lobby for attention. We can conduct rent strikes or worker strikes or sit-ins or marches. We can have a movement that marches on city streets for labor rights just like the BLM or Occupy movements. We can affect change. And this step in and of itself is far more important than voting in the longterm.

If we can create groups that demand socialist change in America then we can use them to impact the political system. No more pushing liberal candidate ‘x’ and hoping they can somehow make the Democrats give a shit about us. Imagine electing ten candidates to the left of AOC that do not have to operate within the Democratic Party. Imagine gaining enough strength and political clout that you get progressive Democrats to re-affiliate as Greens or Socialist party USA members. Making socialism electable requires more than electing socialist politicians. It requires organization and recruitment. Talk to your friends, family, coworkers about socialist values. Poke holes in capitalism. No need to lie, no need to connive or scheme. Present to them socialism as you know it to be and convince them that collectively you can make a change. Because you can. And it starts well before anyone gets to the voting booth.