Win or lose, Bernie has reshaped the landscape of American politics. Where does the political revolution go next?The political ambitions of the movement behind Bernie Sanders have never been limited to winning the White House. Since Bernie first entered the presidential primaries in 2016, his supporters have worked to organize a revolution intended to encourage the active participation of … participation of millions of ordinary people in political life. That revolution is already underway, as evidenced by the massive growth of the Democratic Socialists of America, the teachers Bernie motivated to lead strikes across red and blue states, and the rising new generation of radicals in Congress—led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar—inspired by his example.
In Bigger than Bernie, activist writers Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht give us an intimate map of this emerging movement to remake American politics top to bottom, profiling the grassroots organizers who are building something bigger, and more ambitious, than the career of any one candidate. As participants themselves, Day and Uetricht provide a serious analysis of the prospects for long-term change, offering a strategy for making “political revolution” more than just a campaign slogan. They provide a road map for how to entrench democratic socialism in the halls of power and in our own lives.
Bigger than Bernie offers unmatched insights into the people behind the most unique campaign in modern American history and a clear-eyed sense of how the movement can sustain itself for the long haul.
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Bigger was written by two Sanders’ supporters and members of the Democratic Socialists of America. The publishing house Verso, based out of London and traditionally aligned with the British and European socialist and Marxist movements, seems to have taken an interest in building a stronger American-centric catalog with this title and a few others.
Verso, founded in London in 1970, was formerly called New Left Books (NLB), part of the ‘new left’ movement that has been publishing New Left Review journal since the early 1960s. NLB became the review’s in-house publisher for their leading writers. By 1970, Perry Anderson, Robin Blackburn and Tariq Ali were the leaders in Marxist economic analysis and political commentary in England. They also published in English the seminal work by Belgian economist Ernest Mandel, Late Capitalism. They aligned (and still remained aligned) with the radical portions of the British Labour Party. They were huge supporters of Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock (Labour Leaders from 1980 to 1995) and Jeremy Corbyn (2015-2020). Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics by Richard Seymour is a well-documented analysis of the rise of Corbyn, his opposition by the more corporatist wing of Labour and an excellent overview of Corbyn’s plans and policies. In fact, this book serves a mirror to Better than Bernie – it speaks to the groundwell of support that a left-ish candidate received in opposition to the entrenched political class running Labour and the U.S. Democratic Party.
At first glance, Day and Uetricht easily espouse Sanderism: “justice, equality, security, and shared prosperity in the form of free education, affordable housing, free high-quality health care, full employment, a secure retirement, and a clean environment for all.” But on closer examination, Sanders seems to be for good versus evil in such generic terms that anyone following him can cast their own views through these ideals. In fact, other than Ron Paul, I can’t think of a candidate for president since George Wallace that didn’t endorse these ideals. Ronnie Reagan against justice? Bush and Cheney against security? Other than differences on the extent of Sanders’ desire for ‘free’ health care and a ‘clean’ environment, Sanders has mastered the Clintonian (Bill, that is) approach of believing in everything that is good!
Day and Uetricht also give us a short list of the accomplishments of socialist-oriented politicians in the United States (most particularly aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America) over the last few years. Without documentation – only using their cherry-picked anecdotes – they assert that America is “moving left on key issues” although most reputable pollsters say that generic policy ideals (such as “Medicare for All” or free college tuition) can never be accurately polled. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is a prime example: as opinions varied widely before it passed and even through the first 5 years. Also, the politicization of these ideas makes polling even harder. In one famous poll in 2015, a Republican majority favored what was accurately described as the tenets of Obamacare. When asked about approval of Obamacare, two-thirds were strongly opposed. Day and Uetricht should have been more forthcoming in that polls show that people would like to see changes to heath care, tuition, the environment and the like is, in their words “moving left.”
The biography of Sanders himself is shallow and misleading. There seems to be a blank 15 years in Sanders’ resume (not even the right-wing could find anything involving substantial work or contribution to the working class in all that time). Instead, he seems to be a perennial candidate – seeking local electoral power, funded by what appears to be family inheritances. I won’t even address the naïve and totally inaccurate description of the wane of the New Left in the late 1970s. And of course, Bernie didn’t join the DSA because they weren’t even founded until 1982. Oddly, one of the key founders of the DSA and legend in the US leftist movement Dorothy Healey (who died in 2006) never mentioned Sanders nor did Sanders ever mention her.
Day and Uetricht take us through high school civics to explain electoral politics. But they have a solution: “In the long term, if we’re going to win the kind of world we want, we’ll need to ditch the Democrats and start a party of our own…. The only way we’re going to build a durable movement to change the world is by building a very big movement to change the world.” But watch out: “Under capitalism, the only thing worse than being exploited and abused by your boss is not being exploited and abused by your boss, because that means you don’t have a job and thus can’t support yourself and your family.” Certainly an interesting comment written in an era with the most workers ever employed in this country’s history. They completely miss the under-employed class: those workers who don’t make enough to survive or must work more than one job.
The congressional victory of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez actually points the way forward to the DSA and aspiring socialist wannabes: substance over slogans. As evident in the battle with Amazon, she didn’t just focus on sloganeering and posturing. She demonstrated to her constituents and others in the Queens area the devastation that an Amazon presence would have. The people rejected it and pressured the other politicians to the point that Amazon back pedaled. The important part, however, is missing from the book: she is a genuine organizer who knew the details (after all, she may have been employed as a bartender when she ran for office but she has degrees in international relations and economics from Boston University – a fact oddly not mentioned in the book).
Frankly, this is one of the worst books ever published by Verso. The authors are obviously enthusiastic about Sanders and do their best to will the connection between anti-Trumpism and the Obama Democrats to a groundswell movement to socialism. Yet, they are betrayed not just by their thin research but their almost complete lack of understanding what socialism is as well as a number of handful of terms tossed around in this book usually to criticize not only Obama Democrats but white collar workers and the owners of just about any business. Yet, if they turn off their Apple devices, they might see the interconnectivity of the world – capital, labor, the environment, human rights, health care – and realize Sanders’ program merely placates the capital system rather than upend the inherently “rigged” pattern.