The Reverend Jesse Jackson passed away this week at the age of eighty-four years old. A national figure and leader in civil rights, international diplomacy, and the Democratic Party, he occupied a space few could in US politics.
While much less prominent in his final years as illness took him away from the spotlight, Jackson’s influence is felt today in many ways. One major impact is how left-wing challenges in Democratic Party presidential primaries with a socialist influence or character have grown over the past four decades.
Jackson was a major presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries in 1984 and 1988, winning over 1,200 delegates in his final race — over triple what he had in the first campaign. But his legacy was defined less in quantifiable delegate counts than in qualitative success, in showing how multiracial politics could advance economic justice.
Jackson’s left-wing economic views attracted supporters, especially among socialists, including a range of anti-capitalists like current and former Maoists, members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and the then-independent-mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders.
While even the most progressive Democratic presidential candidates do not typically receive significant socialist backing, DSA’s shift on Jackson was a harbinger for broader political movements. DSA declined to back any candidate in the Democratic primary in 1984 — which was notable after one of its predecessors, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, had gone all in for US senator Ted Kennedy’s primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter.
DSA went from neutral on Jackson in 1984 to enthusiasts in 1988. This transformation went noticed in the New York Times, which highlighted Jackson’s embrace of the socialist group’s endorsement and his collaborations with its then-cochair Michael Harrington.
DSA’s move reflected how both it and Jackson adapted over the two campaigns, which had broader…
Auteur: David Duhalde
