http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/images/billfletcherjr.jpgBF: To borrow from the late Dr. Manning Marable, we need a movement for a "Third Reconstruction." The first was 1865-1877. The second, metaphorically, was the 1960s. We need a third which really moves to expand democracy, take on racial and gender privileges, address the environmental crisis, and alter US foreign policy. I do not think that this means that socialism is on the immediate agenda, though it is clear that socialism has risen in the polls recently. The "Third Reconstruction" is a metaphoric way of referencing a popular-democratic movement that actually fights for power and introduces major structural reforms. Movements such as Black Lives Matter, the immigrant rights movement, Occupy, etc. can all play a major role in the configuration of such a movement. Yet, to build such a popular-democratic bloc, there will need to be a "political instrument," to quote Marta Harnecker, that is, an organizational formation on the Left that helps to bring such a bloc into existence. It will not happen on its own and it will not happen as simply a spontaneous reaction to increasing authoritarianism and right-wing populism.

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