"Ideal" electoral opposition?

  1. Die Neue Zeit
    Die Neue Zeit
    What is the "ideal" electoral opposition to go alongside mass ballot spoilage campaigns?

    This would have to be positioned against "just a tactic" tokens, reform coalitions, "municipal socialism," parliamentary cretinism, minority governments, ignorance of constitutional overhaul issues, and of course the conflation of electoral support with political support, not to mention the issues of majorities vs. pluralities.

    While he was still around here, comrade Miles derided the usual stance of "parliamentary activity as a tactic" because it leads only to token commitment in the first place, even in the best of circumstances. The comrade was by no means a parliamentary cretin, but something in between tactics and strategy has to be considered.

    What about this suggestion? The basis can be found earlier and may or may not be dependent on the voting system employed:

    http://www.revleft.com/vb/workers-go...html?p=2476823

    1) At the local/municipal level, there should be an electoral campaign to organize just enough candidates to hold the "balance of power" in the city council. This is definitely beyond token commitment, but this is also a stance against certain r-r-r-revolutionaries' support of "municipal socialism" by organizing enough candidates for a council majority. It doesn't help that the likes of Rosa Luxemburg herself supported local opportunism:

    http://www.icl-fi.org/english/esp/61/electoral.html

    Admittedly, the bourgeois parties know how to infuse their class content even into the economic and cultural functions of the municipality. But here socialists will never get into a situation of being untrue to their own politics. As long as they are in the minority in town representative bodies, they will make opposition their guideline in the same way as in parliament. But if they attain a majority, then they will transform the municipality itself into an instrument of struggle against the bourgeois central power.
    In this scenario, the aim is to have class opposition in the city council that would be outnumbered only by the combined forces of the other councillors. However, there would be the temptation to enter a reform coalition or to form an outright minority government, so party-recallable discipline and other sticks need to be employed.

    2) At all other levels below the federal, there should be an electoral campaign to organize just enough candidates to hold the "balance of power" in the respective legislatures. Again, there should be no organizing for a legislative majority. At these levels, constitutional overhaul needs to be a disciplinary issue for those who might entertain "provincial socialism" or "regional socialism" fantasies; there is the imperative to not assume provincial or regional governance when said overhaul isn't on the horizon.

    Again, the aim is to have class opposition in the legislature that would be outnumbered only by the combined forces of the other benchwarmers. This makes it much easier to discredit the other side as tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee, like with the perpetual governmental dance in Austria between the Christian Democrats and the Social-Democrats. However, again there would be the temptation to enter a reform coalition or to form an outright minority government, so again party-recallable discipline and other sticks need to be employed.

    3) At the federal level, there should be an electoral campaign to organize just enough candidates to hold the "balance of power" in the legislature. There should definitely be no organizing for a legislative majority. Constitutional overhaul is a very real issue when faced with the imperative to not assume federal governance when said overhaul isn't on the horizon.

    Like with lower levels, the aim is to have class opposition in the legislature that would be outnumbered only the combined forces of the other legislators. This makes it much easier to discredit the other side as tweedle-dum, tweedle-dee, like with the Grand Coalition in Germany. However, there would be the greatest temptation to enter a reform coalition or to form an outright minority government, so again party-recallable discipline and other sticks need to be employed.

    4) It should be maintained that electoral support /= political support, and that popular support /= worker-class support. Majority political support from the non-management workforce in developed countries is outside the scenarios above, but is all that should be required.