by ANN ROBERTSON and BILL LEUMER
Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president within the Democratic Party has posed a challenge for the anti-capitalist left in the U.S.: Should his campaign be endorsed? Two parties within this radical left current have stepped forward, and while agreeing on many basic points, have reached opposing conclusions. The International Socialist Organization (ISO) has argued against endorsing the Sanders’ campaign while Socialist Alternative (SAlt) has chosen to endorse.

Both the ISO and SAlt agree that Sanders’ campaign within the corporate-controlled Democratic Party is a mistake and have encouraged him to run as an independent. For the ISO this is a decisive mistake, and consequently, they refuse to endorse Sanders. But for SAlt, this is not a red line. Instead, SAlt argues Sanders’ campaign, even though conducted within the Democratic Party, has the potential to “mobilize hundreds of thousands against corporate politics,” and it is better to be in the campaign in order to more effectively influence followers of Sanders in the direction of independent political action. “By boldly intervening in the Sanders campaign – supporting its call for a determined fight against big business while arguing for independent politics,” SAlt argues, “we can most effectively advance the project of independent politics under the current circumstances.” In other words, Sanders followers can then be enticed to join truly independent movements, such as the fight for $15.

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Surely, Sanders’ decision to plant himself firmly within the Democratic Party and endorse whichever Democrat wins the primary should raise problems for any revolutionary. The Democratic Party is basically top-down, controlled by corporations, and pro-capitalist. When a revolutionary supports a Democratic Party candidate, it is like boarding a train that is headed in the opposite direction of one’s destination. Even though SAlt argues that Sanders can still be supported as a Democratic Party candidate, it is hard not to conclude that such a stance will sow more confusion than clarity among SAlt followers. Sanders has organized his campaign within a corporate, capitalist party and is running on a weak, progressive program. How can such a campaign represent principled, independent working-class politics?

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Todd Cretien of the ISO, for example, notes that Sanders has operated closely with the Democratic Party by routinely caucusing with them; Sanders has supported the reactionary Democratic Party governor of Vermont; and he has supported U.S. government war efforts abroad. Moreover Sanders’ version of “socialism” is of the European social democratic variety, which has little to do with Marx’s definition of socialism. Social democracy accepts capitalism but insists on a strong safety net for the working class. And their acceptance of capitalism is crucial; it means that during an economic crisis, their first impulse is to support corporations, which are the mainstay of the economy. During the current economic crisis in Europe social democrats in one country after another have shamefully embraced severe austerity measures that punish the working class in order to strengthen the corporations.

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