The American left is larger than the Tea Party ever was!
Some optimism.
The American left is larger than the Tea Party ever was. This advantage is not by a little, but by a lot. The major American left-wing organizations had a total of 116,394 members in 2021:
Democratic Socialists: 94,915
Communists: 12,985
Industrial Workers of the World (US only): 8,494
Contrast this with Tea Party organizations and movements, which only ever achieved 67,000 members in 2010. And yet, they were seen as so much more by contemporary coverage compared to how modern political coverage views current movements; and even though they were statistically much smaller than current left-wing social movements. Perhaps that is part of how partisan politics influences analysis. Or perhaps because the bourgeoisie implicitly have a louder megaphone!
In all fairness, the Socialists heavily carry this statistic. The Communists and Anarcho-Syndicalists are much smaller organizations. Arguably, they also took longer to develop and grow. But regardless, they are still larger than the entire Tea Party movement put together. Something of a humiliation of the right’s efforts!
And of course, there are ideological differences. The DSA are known as the ‘’moderate’’ part of the left. The CPUSA and IWW are the ‘’radical’’ part of the left. Anti-capitalist politics is not all the same. But I think that distinction is less important just for analyzing the larger picture of these political trends.
Anyway, a little bit of optimism goes a long way.
Some sources:
[1] Memorandum Regarding NPC Recommendations to the 2021 Convention
[2] Maintaining momentum: Next steps in building the CPUSA
[3] 2021 In Review: Inspiration For A New Year Of Struggle
