Should I bother trying to work in D.C.?

[ComingUpForAir]

I have a question for all in this forum:

Is it pointless to work in D.C. in any capacity? I have been seriously considering it for a long time and have asked before.. I believe organizations like The Democracy Collaborative and The New Economics Institute would be ideal places to work at... they are founded by Richard Wolff and Gar Alperovitz..

I would never want to be a reformist who simply is there to waste my energy while an activist on the reactionary end basically makes me efforts obsolete.. but then I remember Lenin's "Left Communism: An Infantile Disorder".. and I wonder if working within the system is one of the ways Marxists can surreptitiously work towards a better society. I am aware that revolution is really the only way (via Luxemburg), yet I am almost positive there are Marxists or Socialists in the democratic party (The Progressives... can they really all have never read Marx, Enels, et al)?

Friends of mine on the hill have said that I should be willing to work on Capitol hill to build my resume... but my only interest is in Think Tank, NGO, etc. type work.. there are however, no organizations besides the two I mentioned above which are not pro-capitalist. Is it a waste of time? Is the best way to change the world to organize on the streets an agitate an educate like the Occupy Movement?

Your thoughts? Would I be wasting my time? As a Marxist I have a healthy disgust for advertising, marketing, most business honestly.. I really don't know what is ideal work for a young college graduate 3 years out (I'm 26). Advice would be appreciated!

[MarxSchmarx]

I have a question for all in this forum:

Is it pointless to work in D.C. in any capacity? I have been seriously considering it for a long time and have asked before.. I believe organizations like The Democracy Collaborative and The New Economics Institute would be ideal places to work at... they are founded by Richard Wolff and Gar Alperovitz..

I would never want to be a reformist who simply is there to waste my energy while an activist on the reactionary end basically makes me efforts obsolete.. but then I remember Lenin's "Left Communism: An Infantile Disorder".. and I wonder if working within the system is one of the ways Marxists can surreptitiously work towards a better society. I am aware that revolution is really the only way (via Luxemburg), yet I am almost positive there are Marxists or Socialists in the democratic party (The Progressives... can they really all have never read Marx, Enels, et al)?

Friends of mine on the hill have said that I should be willing to work on Capitol hill to build my resume... but my only interest is in Think Tank, NGO, etc. type work.. there are however, no organizations besides the two I mentioned above which are not pro-capitalist. Is it a waste of time? Is the best way to change the world to organize on the streets an agitate an educate like the Occupy Movement?

Your thoughts? Would I be wasting my time? As a Marxist I have a healthy disgust for advertising, marketing, most business honestly.. I really don't know what is ideal work for a young college graduate 3 years out (I'm 26). Advice would be appreciated!

I say it's worth applying for if they have job openings that match your skills and education. My impression is that those places, especially the anti-capitalist ones, are always severely strapped for cash, so unless you work in IT or have a promising career as an academic or attorney, even getting routine clerical jobs with them are not easy.

Personally, I think if you really see "working within the system" (ie. advancing the cause as part of your job) as a serious mechanism for change I think you should become a union organizer, even for a reformist one, instead. You will learn mad skills that will be very useful for activism very fast. You will also meet some amazing, courageous and truly inspirational workers trying to organize their shops.

[o well this is ok I guess]

Depends on what you mean by "work". Do you mean a paid gig, or volunteer shit? Do think tanks even pay money?

[Jimmie Higgins]

If you think you'd be good at one of these jobs and could get one and then seperate your work from activism, then I guess it's do-able... if the money's worth it.

...But I think the reason you give in relation to "Left-wing communism" is a wrong reason to go for a job like that.


I would never want to be a reformist who simply is there to waste my energy while an activist on the reactionary end basically makes me efforts obsolete.. but then I remember Lenin's "Left Communism: An Infantile Disorder".. and I wonder if working within the system is one of the ways Marxists can surreptitiously work towards a better society. I am aware that revolution is really the only way (via Luxemburg), yet I am almost positive there are Marxists or Socialists in the democratic party (The Progressives... can they really all have never read Marx, Enels, et al)?

First I don't think it's analogous. Unions (not counting state or employer-run unions), no matter how reformist or accomodationist on the leadership level are still an organization for any worker to defend themselves on the job. So being involved in a beurocratic union has the potential to connect radicals to rank and file workers who are most likely not yet radical but at least have some rudamentary class consiousness in the form of realizing the need to counter the bosses in order to even hope at having some security or decent job conditions. And beyond that, there's the potential to organize a counter-force to the beurocracy and advocate a militant and democratic tactics and a revolutionary alternative to what the beurocrats offer in terms of vision and strategy.

In an NGO, who is the audience? Maybe you'd go out and work with people who, say, are fighting a housing fight or something, but you will probably be directed to do so in a legalistic way, where any organizing is to create public pressure and help the legal battle. So the people radicals want to organize, tend to be an auxiluary or cheer-leaders for the people trying to lobby or win court cases.

You might be able to meet some people at the job who, through their experience seeing some of the limits of reforms, would be open to radical ideas, but really that's the same type of political work that can be done on a one-on-one basis in any workplace where there isn't really an active struggle going on. And besides, going around an NGO office and saying, "Isn't all this ultimately self-limited and inadaquate" probably won't win many people - or win you any promotions or job security:lol:


Friends of mine on the hill have said that I should be willing to work on Capitol hill to build my resume... but my only interest is in Think Tank, NGO, etc. type work.. there are however, no organizations besides the two I mentioned above which are not pro-capitalist. Is it a waste of time? Is the best way to change the world to organize on the streets an agitate an educate like the Occupy Movement?

Your thoughts? Would I be wasting my time? As a Marxist I have a healthy disgust for advertising, marketing, most business honestly.. I really don't know what is ideal work for a young college graduate 3 years out (I'm 26). Advice would be appreciated!
Well considering that the problem and direction of insitutions like this is structural, not the result of bad or or half-hearted efforts from NGOs and so on, I don't think it's really possible to change the system from within in this way - more likely, and there are countless examples, the system will change you much more than you would be able to impact it from within.

The best way to change the world is to attempt to help efforts of workers organizing themselves in their own interests. This change on our own terms and intitiative, would need to come from below IMO.

So get a job that will pay you the best and give you the best options, but I think you should focus your desire for social change directly on the people who can make that happen.