Why We Must Build a Mass Membership Party

A dues-paying mass-membership party has been the missing ingredient in third-party politics throughout American history.

To avoid the political cul-de-sac of choosing between a greater and lesser evil, the left must commit
itself to building an independent, membership-based working-class party. Such a third-party insurgency
in the United States must be built from the bottom up in two complementary ways. First, it must
organize the working-class majority at the bottom of the social structure into a political party that
speaks and acts independently for itself. Second, it must mobilize that base to participate in social
movement and electoral activities to win and consolidate power and reforms first in cities, then states,
and finally in the nation.

Building a mass-membership party is not only important for creating an accountable democratic structure that expresses the will of the membership. It is essential for unifying the working-class majority to take power. Local branches should serve as forums for political education where the disparate elements of the working class can find their common interests.