The character of a bourgeois government isn’t determined by the personal character of its members, but by its organic function in bourgeois society. The government of the modern state is essentially an organization of class domination, the regular functioning of which is one of the conditions of existence of the class state. With the entry of a socialist into the government, and class domination continuing to exist, the bourgeois government doesn’t transform itself into a socialist government, but a socialist transforms himself into a bourgeois minister.

– Rosa Luxemburg

That depends on what presence is there of a principled ML formation. Obviously, if the only representation of socialism is an org like the DSA, then I’d say it’s best not to put much stock into the election given that the idea of “socialism” being represented is really just a front for right-wingers.

Outside of the USA and opportunist organisations, elections carry weight in so far as it can be used as a platform for visibility and pushing the overton window further left. Communist formations being on the ballot and being visible in coverage is a good way to expose people to an alternative political philosophy to liberal idealism. Additionally, even if explicit communists don’t have high chances of gaining representation, it is nonetheless an option to vote for some other left-leaning formation that can stand as a principled counter-weight to right-wing influence.

That said, elections aren’t to be the totality of agitation for change and any change born of them won’t be meaningful or lasting.

pretty vague question. what do you mean “matter”? and for that matter “us Marxists”?

if i want traffic control infrastructure installed so kids don’t get hurt walking to school there might be a local election involved. does that matter? it’s not performing marxism to get a stop sign put up, but on the other hand getting a stop sign put up turned into the panthers.

I think we have to observe what is actively happening in real time if we are to apply our science to the current time. Otherwise, we won’t be able to form strategy or adapt tactics appropriately.

Simply put, it does matter! But it matters in the sense that people in general (not just socialists) are aware that something is very very wrong and that something has to be done about it. People aren’t widely aware that there even is an alternative to capitalism (according to my talks with today’s youth, the common belief is that there will just be collapse or total annihilation…a lot of them don’t even know what communism actually is), and if they are they’re programmed to immediately identify certain shibboleths that socialists and communists use (as I’ve noted with my conversations with people older than myself who believe that this is “just how it is” and shrug, or the youth who are funneled the mental equivalent of hydrochloric acid directly into their brains by said older people). Right now is a key point in time to start actually trying to educate people in earnest, as now people’s minds are more open to “something has to change”.

Cuz everyone knows. It’s only getting more expensive to live. We all, regardless of where we are on the political map, have to stare at the same ridiculous fuel prices and the same equally ridiculous posts being made on Twitter/X that all sound exactly like the very things once only said in satire. Denial isn’t working like it used to; we can and should take advantage of this!

🚫 Attempting to use elections to reform a bourgeoisie system from within
✅ Using failures or successes in elections as a means of agitating and organizing toward a vanguard party cause

🚫 Using an electoral success as a reason to go to sleep politically
✅ Using failures or successes in elections as a means of agitating and organizing toward a vanguard party cause

🚫 Viewing electoral jockeying between multiple parties as a sign of a “healthy democracy”
✅ Viewing consistently pro-social policies as backed by a communist vanguard party as a sign of a healthy democracy

🚫 Thinking you can hold politicians accountable after they are elected by voting harder next time or dunking on them on social media
✅ Building a system that can hold elected officials accountable to public good through a disciplined and principled armed force that serves a disciplined and principled communist vanguard party as the scientific socialist guiding force of societal development

Depends on the election. Some elections have real consequences. Others are just mildly interesting to gauge where public opinion is at. US elections fall very firmly in the latter category. “You can change the party, but not the policies.” That being said, even in the US, elections can be a good opportunity for an independent socialist party to agitate and educate the masses. But socialists have to make sure that the effort they put in to mobilize the working class is not wasted and all that energy does not simply get recaptured and redirected back into the corporate uniparty. The point is not the election itself, it’s the organizing opportunities that arise as a result.

Depends on the country. In the US they are useful as a popularity poll. We can run candidates and get an idea at how many people view us favorably enough to not vote blue no matter who. But also wdym about Rosa? She was explicitly not a reformist. This is my favorite quote from her “It’s not that we fear for socialists the dangers and the difficulties of ministerial activity; we must not back away from any danger or difficulty attached to the post in which we are placed by the interests of the proletariat. But a ministry is not, in general, a field of action for a party of the struggle of the proletarian classes. The character of a bourgeois government isn’t determined by the personal character of its members, but by its organic function in bourgeois society. The government of the modern state is essentially an organization of class domination, the regular functioning of which is one of the conditions of existence of the class state. With the entry of a socialist into the government, and class domination continuing to exist, the bourgeois government doesn’t transform itself into a socialist government, but a socialist transforms himself into a bourgeois minister.” [source]

she was killed for breaking with the reformist SPD.