going about the process of building an organized, independent political alternative, are two very different tasks
I'm not denying that (and I don't think he is either). If you look at the historic successes of third parties and the recent succes of social-democratic candidates inside the democratic party, I don't understand how you can deny that participating in primaries in the democratic party is a succesfull strategy for the left. Participating in those doesn't mean you don't form your won political line, it does not mean you become subservient to the party. Some high profile individuals have done that in 2020, but DSA didn't.
his strategy for breaking with the Dems goes through the dem party.
Yes, that is correct. In a scenario like what's ahppening with Corbyn in the UK at the moment you could make such a break if you're willing to fight (unlike the British left is doing, regrettably). The fact that he's already making that intention clear now, shows prospect.
Changing the class nature of a centuries-old capitalist party
The democratic party has over 45 million members . Many of those people are working class, by defenition (the bourgeoisie isn't that big). The consciousness of the working class in the US simply isn't that great that you can just abandon this structure.
By the way, I would also like to make the extra point that what is called a "political party" is very dissimilar to political parties in the rest of the world, and I think this is a crucial point to make in this debate. A political party in the rest of the world is a private entity where individuals can join if they pay a fee, and in return they have a say in the political programme of the party. The "parties" in the US are of a completely different nature: you register with the governement to which one you belong, and in return you can participate in an electoral process. In that sense, they are much more similar to the first round of a two round electoral system (like in France for example) than to a party. They 're not 100% the exact same, but I believe this framing is helpfull to understand the role of primaries in the democrats.
If you understand parties in this sense, an organisation like DSA despite not being considered a "party" is is behaving like one, and the democratic party isn't.
I'm not denying that (and I don't think he is either). If you look at the historic successes of third parties and the recent succes of social-democratic candidates inside the democratic party, I don't understand how you can deny that participating in primaries in the democratic party is a succesfull strategy for the left. Participating in those doesn't mean you don't form your won political line, it does not mean you become subservient to the party. Some high profile individuals have done that in 2020, but DSA didn't.
Yes, that is correct. In a scenario like what's ahppening with Corbyn in the UK at the moment you could make such a break if you're willing to fight (unlike the British left is doing, regrettably). The fact that he's already making that intention clear now, shows prospect.
The democratic party has over 45 million members . Many of those people are working class, by defenition (the bourgeoisie isn't that big). The consciousness of the working class in the US simply isn't that great that you can just abandon this structure.
By the way, I would also like to make the extra point that what is called a "political party" is very dissimilar to political parties in the rest of the world, and I think this is a crucial point to make in this debate. A political party in the rest of the world is a private entity where individuals can join if they pay a fee, and in return they have a say in the political programme of the party. The "parties" in the US are of a completely different nature: you register with the governement to which one you belong, and in return you can participate in an electoral process. In that sense, they are much more similar to the first round of a two round electoral system (like in France for example) than to a party. They 're not 100% the exact same, but I believe this framing is helpfull to understand the role of primaries in the democrats. If you understand parties in this sense, an organisation like DSA despite not being considered a "party" is is behaving like one, and the democratic party isn't.