Breaking the Impasse: Electoral Politics, Mass Action, and the New Socialist Movement in the United States

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In his latest book, veteran socialist writerKim Moody provides a masterful analysis of the political impasse which has shaped the rise of a new socialist movement in the United States: recurring economic and political crises, sharp inequality, state violence, and climate catastrophe proceed apace as the right ascends across the world, while the US political scene remains defined and dominated by two capitalist political parties. Moody situates the historic electoral campaigns of Democratic Socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as the growth of organizations like the Democratic Socialists of America, in this context, and incisively assesses the revived movement's focus on electoral strategies.

Offering an important account of left attempts to intervene in the American two-party electoral system, Moody provides both a sobering historical corrective and an alternative orientation for the future, arguing that the socialist movement should turn its attention toward a politics of mass action, anti-racism, and independent, working-class organizing.

Author Bio

Kim Moody is a founder of Labor Notes in the US and is the author of several books on labor and politics, including Tramps and Trade Union Travelers: Internal Migration and Organized Labor in Gilded Age America, 1870-1900 and On New Terrain: How Capital Is Reshaping The Battleground Of Class War. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Westminster in London, and a member of the University and College Union and the National Union of Journalists.