Gonna say a few words about voting as an electorialism-critical person now, pls scream + mute for self-care if that sounds too horrendous/exhausting/disturbingly relatable.

I am, broadly speaking, inclined towards syndicalism, and fundamentally fairly antagonistic towards the party political structure. I spent over a decade not voting bcos of how shit the system is, and also bcos of my deep loathing for New Labour. Even now, Labour remains shit on>

(2) > issues such as control of migration (they want to), policing (they support it), & structural racism (they, like all political parties, suffer from it & have had a hand in perpetuating it). I’m glad of how much Labour has changed but I’m well aware it hasn’t changed so much.

(3) I don’t think a vote for the Labour Party is a vote for utopia, though I am at least occasionally a little utopian. I don’t think voting is the most important politics most of us can do, and I don’t think voting is much use without building grassroots networks of activism.

(4) I have complete respect for comrades who want to spend their energies on that and not on the party machine. They’re not wrong to see it as futile. I also respect comrades working in and around political parties with a critical eye, who understand that that is only one part.

(5) I will vote Labour in this election, despite my reservations, & despite not actually liking my local candidate very much. I am under no illusions that this isn’t a choice of lesser evil, but for me the disparity in size between the evils is exactly why I think it’s needed.

(6) I am voting because I want the Tories out of power, for the simple reason that it is a critical life-saving measure. People will surely continue to die needlessly under a Labour government, but the sheer volume of deaths from murderous Tory policies will continue to increase.

(7) Thanks to @SzMarsupial for phrasing this so eloquently, as, a Labour government being “the only starting point from which [many of us] can hope to survive”, which is how I feel. I understand that some people feels just as hopeless about a Labour government & they’re not wrong

(8) I don’t have good explanations for why I think Now is so critical. Historically speaking humanity is usually on the edge of some political precipice or other. But I do think Now, this election, will cast a particularly long shadow. There are so many forces aligning against us

(9) I regret that I’m not really doing good activism in other areas right now, and that’s on me. But I do think I need to vote and that has to be a vote to pause (it won’t end) the current Tory hegemony. I despise the Lib Dems but in a Con/Lab marginal I’d vote LD (with sadness).

(10) Advance warning that there will probably be some electoralism RTs around here for the next 3 weeks. I am not going to become a Labour stan, I’m not a Corbynite and my opinions of radical Corbynite potential are critical, tho not wholly dismissive.

(11) Voting is the ultimate transitional demand and is really just that, it’s a tiny first step in a huge process of building a better world. A Labour government isn’t at all the better world, but I think that Now, it’s a critical first step in getting breathing room for change.

(12) Anyway, as you presumably all know by now, today is the last day to register to vote. I’m not going to do voting pestering tweeting on the day or anything, since today is the biggest decision-making crunch day. And that’s probably everything I have to say on the matter.

(PS (13) - if you like - I’ve also been a Green Party member and would not rule out being so again in future, but pretty much the same reservations apply there, except without the big helpful/unhelpful infrastructures.)