In light of the presidential season and the total lack of influence the Left has had in this election cycle, we want to propose a new strategy for socialists who feel the need to be involved in electoral politics. It’s time to face reality: the competing electoral strategies of the socialist left have collapsed. On the part of socialists, neither critical support for Obama nor tailing the third party campaigns of Jill Stein or whoever else will have any impact because we’re so few. We need to retreat to countryside and reorient ourselves toward local politics.

Here’s an anecdote to show that many veteran activists have already adopted this approach.

Several years ago, one of us worked for a seniors’ activist organization in Massachusetts with a dedicated member named Dick. Dick was a Communist of the old school and afellow traveler of the Workers World Party. He believed it was inappropriate for socialists to publically criticize the USSR and exalted Joseph Stalin as the great leader who defeated fascism. He saw President Barack Obama as a capitalist stooge (and rightfully so).