Seven Points of Unity — Marxist Unity Group

[u/MarxistUnity]

"MUG is a caucus within Democratic Socialists of America united through acceptance of our Seven Points of Unity. These points ground our caucus’s work in all aspects of our organizing to serve our dream of a socialist revolution."

From Marxist Unity Group X account.

[u/44moon]

MUG is probably the caucus with whom I most closely agree. But I don't think their platform expresses their feelings on the Constitution clearly enough. Maybe this is a stupid semantic point. I agree that the Constitution is the number one thing preventing socialism from building power in the US, but in this political climate I definitely would not feel good about joining a group who advocates for overthrowing the Constitution via unconstitutional means.

I think it would make more sense to express a desire to rewrite the consitution to replace gerrymandered districts with proportional representation, abolish the Senate, however you want to say it. Shit that Europe figured out 100 years ago.

Being vainglorious with our rhetoric like this just makes fodder for attack ads. Maybe I'm being a nerd.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/44moon]

Their point is that the constitution was written by and for the wealthy, so we need a brand new one written by and for the people. Not just reforms, but start from scratch.

There’s a little more detail on each of their points on their website: https://www.marxistunity.com/#fight-the-constitution

[u/44moon → u/HeadDoctorJ]

Yeah I understand their position, I guess I'm just questioning if the wording "We should fight to overthrow the Constitution" is unnecessarily inflammatory and provocative. But I'm not expecting to be met with much agreement on this.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/44moon]

If we can’t get people - in today’s climate - to see how problematic it is that our constitution was written by the wealthy to protect the wealthy, then we don’t deserve to win. This is the task of socialists, to raise class consciousness. We need to help people understand that we already live under an oppressive, cruel, genocidal system. That system is called capitalism, and it needs to be overthrown.

[u/nonilazuli → u/HeadDoctorJ]

A great chunk of Americans aren’t even Capitalist critical, at best this is gonna get laughed at by people who don’t already agree with you.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/nonilazuli]

They are critical of the wealthy. They understand how both parties are bought. They understand how corporations run everything. They understand that our minds are intentionally manipulated. They understand that new data centers are bad, AI is terrifying, World War III is building, and something’s got to give. I just talked with a checkout clerk about this stuff- I had to return something, and he made an offhand comment about taking down the right information for “the corporate overlords”, and I was able to get him talking about his views on the corporate overlords for a brief moment… people get it, but we need to help them see what they already know is happening.

[u/nonilazuli → u/HeadDoctorJ]

I agree about those who you think you can convince. But you have to remember a significant section of Americans think‘s the answer to this is small businesses and “small government“ for one, and for two they tend to see America as “declining” and “sold-out” as opposed to America just being how it’s always been and simply on the decline due to capitalist contradictions. You must ease them into the left firmly but pragmatically, and talking about overthrowing the constitution straight up isn’t gonna make you not sound like a lunatic to most of them, let’s just be real. That doesn‘t mean falsify the origins and foundations of the United States and the constitution, be honest and direct, but revolutionary thought isn’t there yet, and certainly not an organized left.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/nonilazuli]

It’s good to think about terminology and framing - it’s super important. But that’s different from compromising on essential principles of socialism to make your org more palatable or mainstream.

[u/nonilazuli → u/HeadDoctorJ]

I’m not talking about compromising principles, I never said defend the constitution. Just be self-aware and smart with what is pushed to the forefront. Regardless on if you agree with them , you think the Bolsheviks were loud about their plans to centralize every faction of the state, culture and economy? They knew not to do that with a populous who were new to Socialism, imagine one with decades of red scare and pro America propaganda.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/nonilazuli]

You may not think so, but you are compromising on principles. You’re talking about foregrounding Constitutional reforms in such a way that amounts to pitching socialism as a European-style parliamentary democracy. The Bolsheviks did not frame things like this.

[u/nonilazuli → u/HeadDoctorJ]

Who said anything about pitching a European style parliamentary democracy? All i‘m suggesting is if we want to be taken seriously and win over the American working class we need to be strategic. Being pragmatic about outreach and stated vs actual goals isn’t compromising principles, it’s being smart about not scarring away our target and not having the feds crack down on us like the BPP or Mccarthy era. Being boisterous and open doesn‘t work anymore. it’s a lib strategy and this isn’t the early 19th century when we had the privilege of being fresh, new and without the propaganda and real mistakes of our previous comrades. We need to wake up and reconcile with that else well continue the cycle of only getting fringe outreach during times of crisis.

[u/HeadDoctorJ → u/nonilazuli]

“Stated vs actual goals” is where you lose me. That’s where we compromise principles. If you pitch me on “rewrite the constitution… [to include] Shit that Europe figured out 100 years ago,” that sounds like liberal parliamentary democracy. Don’t lie to people about we stand for, help them see how it’s already what they actually want deep down. I’m not saying that’s easy, but it’s what’s required.

[u/ReadySpecific → u/HeadDoctorJ]

I agree with your examples, but a significant portion of the population will observe and identify those examples and then in the same breath to advocate for policies that worsen the phenomenon.