This is not a debate about principles but tactics. The only principle anyone can break is abandoning the ultimate goal of revolution from below and settling for electing more or less left wing people to existing positions in society.
Will Obama being returned to office result in an uptick in working class confidence and activity? Liberals and left-wingers will certainly feel better if Obama defeats Romney, but we have no right to expect Obama to organise his supporters to build a mass social democratic movement of any kind.
Will the calls of left-wing groups inside America, let alone outside it, make much of a difference to the outcome? It’s doubtful.
What is there then to do? Socialists must look for the vanguard of the working class, try to win it and organise it. The vanguard in America is the group of people, wherever they happen to be, who look beyond the Democrats without looking beyond the Democratic base.
If no left-wing group stands to gain out of a call for an Obama vote (a strictly different thing from an Obama win) then there is no point in doing so. This is all the more the case with socialists outside America. I remember being told in 2008 we had to ‘relate’ to the Obama victory. I thought, why? Who are we supposed to be impressing?
My predictions for the election tomorrow: 1) there will be a voting controversy and 2) Romney will win, his base is more energised and more likely to vote, also the extent of racism means Obama’s polling is generally over reported (people say they’re going to vote for him but they’re not).
Brace yourself. This is another dimming in the decade of darkness, 3,000 days of night. Obama or Romney, whoever is president, there is a struggle to be had.