I like the optimism of your edit but just don't see that matching the material reality of America. And if it is a revolutionary moment, then the result might be more likely that you will see many accounts on this site never post again.
What happens in the event that both Biden's administration and Trump's administration try to operate in parallel? Assuming they won't attempt a military approach first then the obvious path would be to simply start running their administration from a different location to the White House.
They would speak to states and administrations, seeking that they recognise and deal with them instead of the White House. This will likely work with blue states and cities, they would recognise Biden's administration. What happens when federal police are sent in by Trump to ensure federal buildings operate the way he wants?
There is the real potential for two competing administrations to attempt to run the country for a period of time. That is the very definition of an incredibly weakened state in my book. They will be much too busy competing with one another to take notice of revolutionary organising and the organising that does occur will get far less attention than it deserves based on the threat it represents.
And what happens as the population becomes more and more and more agitated by this dual competing administration situation? A slow slide towards physical conflict. The people become more and more electrified.
What could socialists do in those kinds of circumstances? Why accept either administration? Local agitation could lead to the formation of local worker councils to self administrate. Many areas will be willing to reject either Trump or Biden's admin in favour of local political power. There will be fascists that take advantage of this and socialists should too.
Assuming that is what's coming of course... My assumption would be that they wouldn't IMMEDIATELY roll over and accept it. They'd make some sort of go at getting capitulation to occur.
I think there is real potential and a real moment coming here. I don't think the left is strong enough to take the entire country but I do think the left could take advantage of the situation to catapult its organising efforts in that kind of scenario.
While in general yes, all past successful attempts at revolution have exploited a situation like this (arguably a socialist revolution is even impossible without parts of the ruling class warring against each other) such an optimistic scenario hinges entirely on there actually existing a deep split within the American bourgeoise. Ultimately we have no way of truly knowing if this is the case (unless we have some high ranking insiders here).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is about to be a revolution itself, but that it is a passing revolutionary moment that could be exploited for the goal of revolution if the forces that wanted it were strong and organised enough. I don't actually think either the left or right are strong enough to exploit it, not for the goal of taking the entire US, but I do think that if the above plays out then it is the greatest opportunity for gains that has been seen within the US within the entire period since ww2.
Absolutely, the American left should be prepared anyway, if not explicitly for this specific opportunity then at least generally for the ones coming next.
I like the optimism of your edit but just don't see that matching the material reality of America. And if it is a revolutionary moment, then the result might be more likely that you will see many accounts on this site never post again.
What happens in the event that both Biden's administration and Trump's administration try to operate in parallel? Assuming they won't attempt a military approach first then the obvious path would be to simply start running their administration from a different location to the White House.
They would speak to states and administrations, seeking that they recognise and deal with them instead of the White House. This will likely work with blue states and cities, they would recognise Biden's administration. What happens when federal police are sent in by Trump to ensure federal buildings operate the way he wants?
There is the real potential for two competing administrations to attempt to run the country for a period of time. That is the very definition of an incredibly weakened state in my book. They will be much too busy competing with one another to take notice of revolutionary organising and the organising that does occur will get far less attention than it deserves based on the threat it represents.
And what happens as the population becomes more and more and more agitated by this dual competing administration situation? A slow slide towards physical conflict. The people become more and more electrified.
What could socialists do in those kinds of circumstances? Why accept either administration? Local agitation could lead to the formation of local worker councils to self administrate. Many areas will be willing to reject either Trump or Biden's admin in favour of local political power. There will be fascists that take advantage of this and socialists should too.
Assuming that is what's coming of course... My assumption would be that they wouldn't IMMEDIATELY roll over and accept it. They'd make some sort of go at getting capitulation to occur.
I think there is real potential and a real moment coming here. I don't think the left is strong enough to take the entire country but I do think the left could take advantage of the situation to catapult its organising efforts in that kind of scenario.
While in general yes, all past successful attempts at revolution have exploited a situation like this (arguably a socialist revolution is even impossible without parts of the ruling class warring against each other) such an optimistic scenario hinges entirely on there actually existing a deep split within the American bourgeoise. Ultimately we have no way of truly knowing if this is the case (unless we have some high ranking insiders here).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is about to be a revolution itself, but that it is a passing revolutionary moment that could be exploited for the goal of revolution if the forces that wanted it were strong and organised enough. I don't actually think either the left or right are strong enough to exploit it, not for the goal of taking the entire US, but I do think that if the above plays out then it is the greatest opportunity for gains that has been seen within the US within the entire period since ww2.
Absolutely, the American left should be prepared anyway, if not explicitly for this specific opportunity then at least generally for the ones coming next.