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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.

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Mass Action versus actions by a mass
Nick,
I was very interested in your distinction between mass action and actions carried out by masses of people, and I wish you could elaborate on it. It seems that your distinction is between an action carried out by a group of people that understands the larger social strategy behind the action and an action in which people have various possibly unrelated motivations for participating. I'm thinking that you mean something similar to Marta Harnecker in the following thesis: "On the other hand, the history of triumphant revolutions clearly demonstrates what can be achieved when there is a political instrument capable of raising an alternative national program that unifies the struggles of diverse social actors behind a common goal; that helps to cohere them and elaborate a path forward for these actors based on an analysis of the existent balance of forces. Only in this manner can actions be carried out at the right place and right time, always seeking out the weakest link in the enemy’s chain." In other words, mass action is action which understands its place in a larger systemic strategy that aims for fundamental change, not simply the goal of this or that action.