A New Electoral Moment

What Kamala Harris means for the "Block, Broaden, Build" strategy

Liberation Road invites responses from leftists within and beyond our organization to our recent paper “Block, Broaden, Build: The 2024 Elections and the Threefold Tasks of the Left.” In our first response, Meizhu Lui argues that Kamala Harris’ candidacy shifts our focus towards the third component—building the left.

With Kamala Harris replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, everything changed in an instant.  

First, what about “block”? Up to now, this is where we’ve concentrated our effort, arguing that a vote for Joe was not a vote for Joe, but a vote to stave off the threat of the US becoming an openly fascist, white supremacist, imperialist country.  

But now (and this is not just due to the Kamala bump) this line of argument has been taken up not only by the Democrats, but by mainstream news sources—including the conservative Wall Street Journal! They’ve been attacking Project 2025 and its dangerous proposals to dismantle democratic institutions and practices so forcefully that Trump tried to distance himself from it. 

Broaden? As we’ve all experienced, Kamala’s entry immediately broadened the anti-Trump base. Sectors thinking about sitting this election out—African Americans, young people, women—are back in the game. There’s been an explosion of relief. Suddenly there’s enthusiasm, joy, laughter replacing the doom and gloom of Biden’s candidacy.

Building the left

We’re not abandoning our united front, and of course will continue to block and broaden. But with these changes, the Democrats have taken on a lot more of those tasks.

That leaves “build a left trend,” something only the left (duh) can do. Kamala Harris after all is another centrist Democrat. “Hear me when I say, ‘I know the type!’” So many progressives got snookered by Barack Obama, and a vote for Harris, even a historic vote for a woman of color, is still a vote not for her or her politics, but for time. Time for the left to build a movement with a left core that can push Kamala and the nation leftward.

Continue building independent political organizations. Base the movement in working class communities of color. Develop new ways to work better in coalitions, to live with discomfort. (I remember Bernice Johnson Reagon once saying, “If you're in a coalition and you're comfortable, you know it's not a broad enough coalition.”)

But most of all, we need to develop a positive vision agreed upon by a unified left, a vision of a “third reconstruction.” Why? This is not about socialism. At this point in US history, it’s about social transformation within the confines of capitalism. 

The first and second reconstructions did not foreground class contradictions. They tackled the racist roots of US capitalism that must be uprooted in order to unite the multinational working class. Each of the first two reconstruction periods lasted only a decade. Now, we must put down deep roots for racial equity, a precondition for the economic, political, and physical security for all.

With Kamala in the race, we can spend more energy on “build,” in order to challenge her centrist politics once she’s in office—or to be ready if the far right takes power. Our vision will be one of joy and love, rather than the MAGA vision of fear and hate; our agenda will be concrete proposals for action today.  Our eyes will be on the horizon, but our feet will be firmly on the ground as we map our path step by step. 

Let’s get to work. Build a MEGA movement!  Maximize Equality for the Good of All!

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Meizhu Lui, lifelong troublemaker, is the co-founder of the Mexico Solidarity Project,  https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/ and mexicosolidarity.com

To submit a response or reaction to “Block, Broaden, Build,” please contact us at info@roadtoliberation.org