Subject: Re: from TRANSNATIONAL - Satyagraha - No 10
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X-Comment: The Transnational Radical Party List
This latest communication raises some basic issues about the viability
of the Transnational Party from here on out. Perhaps some radical re-
thinking of past methods of operation are in order:
> Is the Radical Party still adequate in its structure and tools, as
> well as its form, to reach its objectives?
For one thing, the time may have come where it needs enough structure to
insure that any political decisions it takes do represent its membership
and don't become "hijacked" by any one person or small group of persons.
> Are its human and financial resources adequate to the ever growing
> financial needs? We can no longer evade these questions. We are
> getting to this Congress with our treasury empty and with necessary
> debts that risk to become unsustainable.
So the time may have come to rethink the way in which its income is
generated, (and of the optimal way of spending whatever funds are
available):
> Every day we feel that the battle against prohibitionism is being lost
> or won in the United States, a country where we practically have no
> members.
With one conspicuous exception, every American poster to this bulletin
board I am aware of is connected with an academic institution. U.S.
academics as a group do not have much in the way of disposable incomes,
as compared to posters from other countries. But because party dues are
assessed in proportion to national per capita income, few Americans on
this BBS can afford the dues, hence the paucity of American members.
When this issue last came up, the RP claimed that this method is the
most efficient. But not efficient in attracting U.S. members, and
short-sighted as well, to judge from this latest RP posting. The dues
of comparable organizations in the U.
S. are less than 1/10 of current RP dues. Surely 1/10 of current RP
dues X N U.S. members is better than Current RP dues X nothing?
> It is urgent that everybody be present at the Radical Congress in
> Rome, making the best use of all resources available and making
> whatever sacrifice necessary to be there.
I understand that this Congress is scheduled for April 6-9. I would
be surprised if more than a handful of Americans show up. Most of us
have to work (although most academics like myself have part or all of
the summer off) and don't happen to have an extra thousand or two
dollars lying around. If you want a broader involvement, maybe you
should be looking for ways of obtaining it, other than physical presence
in Rome.
> we have to fear that our party, due to a lack of tools, is becoming
> fossilized into an "Italy-centered" practice, which is both
> reductionist and dangerous.
See above.
Craig Harrison, San Francisco
